The recently revived New York Cosmos have presented plans to build a new $400 million soccer-specific stadium in the Elmont area on the eastern border of the Queens borough.
The new stadium will be equipped with 25,000 seats and be part of a larger plan including retail, restaurants, a hotel, and a public park. The stadium will be completely privately financed by the new owners of the Cosmos, the Saudi marketing group Sela Sport.
The New York Cosmos, who achieved temporary fame in the 1970s when they attracted the likes of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer, have not yet played an official match since having been brought back to life, but will join the US’ second-level NASL league starting this year.
Their plans, however, may conflict with the MLS’ plans to build a new stadium in nearby Queens, which the MLS have destined for a second New York franchise:
Here’s SI’s Grant Wahl on the issue:
“I made it clear from the start: We’ll look to build our own home,” Cosmos chairman Seamus O’Brien told SI.com. “We’d evaluated a number of sites within greater New York City. … It’s a state tender, so we’re responding to an RFP, not trying to stick the stadium somewhere else. It’s in a neighborhood that’s effectively zoned as a sports facility with great transportation linkage, road and rail straight in, and a huge car parking [area].”
In a metro area that already includes the New York Red Bulls’ MLS stadium in Harrison, N.J., the Cosmos’ plan joins another high-profile proposal by MLS for a privately financed $300 million soccer stadium in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park section of Queens. The MLS stadium plan has gotten the support of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others.
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“I’m not going to comment on what MLS want to do,” O’Brien said. “All I know is [a stadium plan] would make us a more compliant owner than we may or may not be now. We have a soccer-specific stadium. So surely they’d have to be delighted, wouldn’t they?”
It’s fair to say that MLS is hardly delighted by the news, however, considering its own separate plans. MLS executive VP Dan Courtemanche did say this in a statement:
“Major League Soccer continues to work with the city of New York and local elected officials on our quest to build a soccer stadium in Queens and are making progress with the project. We are in discussions with a variety of potential ownership groups, all who are very interested in being involved with the division I soccer league in North America. MLS continues to support the development of the lower leagues.”
The New York Cosmos hope to have their new stadium ready in 2016, exactly when the MLS also hopes to complete their proposed new stadium.