A new article written in a soccer publication, makes a well-thought-out case that Sunnyside Yards could be the optimal location to build a stadium for the NYCFC. That would be the NYC Football Club for the bulk of us not familiar with the acronym, but don’t let this new professional soccer team’s relative obscurity make you relegate the stadium idea as a lark.
That is because, as the author points out, the team is majority-owned by Manchester City, a well-known (and as you’ll see, well-funded) and newly successful team in the English Premier League, and Manchester City is wholly owned by one Sheikh Mansour. Now as it turns out, the Sheikh is also on the board of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which a quick google shows has about three-quarters of a trillion $ in its coffers!$!
Not that there’s any shortage of capital looking to be put to work within spitting distance of midtown, but with that kind of heft, the ADIA may be willing to provide some very generous financing to make this struggling project more palatable. Plus the new stadium angle allows the Mayor to do a major rewrite on what’s turning out to be a very difficult sell. Add the fact that the NY Yankees are the minority owner of the team, and you have another powerful and connected gorilla in the room helping to push it through.
Now the above is just my handicapping the possibility of the stadium happening. I am still very much against the Sunnyside Yards project, and will continue to refer to it as the NYCBD, aka the NYC Big Dig. It will be good for the 5-10 thousand residents who score an affordable apartment, it will be great for the developers, and it will be bad for the 2.3 million other residents of Queens mainly due to the drastic effect of overcrowding at the margins.
Nevertheless the writer does a good job of covering all the positives, including the Sheikh’s $, for NYCFC’s putting a stadium here – most of which accrue to the team/owners. So for those keeping an eye on the big picture LIC-wise, you should read it. While you’re at it, two of the other articles we link to are also really good, in particular the Nathan Kensinger piece, and finally one that is laughably petty from a journalistic point of view. Well the Bierocracy one is pretty mundane and at this point old too, but the writer of it is a great Queens food blogger named Joe DiStefano, so I’ve included his homepage as well. Futbol e mangia, let the weekend begin!
Sunnyside Yards: NYCFC’s Dream Stadium Location – who knows?
A Dispatch From the Last Wild Days of Hunters Point South – the fantastic Nathan Kensinger at it again
Bierocracy Brings Czech Beer Hall Culture to LIC – ehh, nothing new here. Skip it and go to link below
Chopsticks+Marrow – gastronomic adventures w/ Joe DiStefano
Family Fights to Get Deposit Money Back After Waters Edge Owners Arrest – a $1,500 loss? They should consider themselves lucky that’s all, but I’m surprised the LICpost didn’t run hard w/ this “expose’, haha
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