Can a new tri-state team be moving into the Big Apple? Well, it’s been long speculated that Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, would be interested in reeling in a brand new MLS team, and earlier this week City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. was quoted on Thursday as saying that the National League club is “very interested and fully capable” of bringing Major League Soccer to Citi Field, as was reported to New York Daily News. The stadium, which would be located on/near Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, would also cost an estimated $300 million to build, and create anywhere from 2,100 to 2,300 construction jobs, and 160 full-time jobs and 750 part-time positions, in the area.
“The Mets would be open to discussing the use of Citi Field for a potential MLS team,” Horwitz said in a statement.
MLS spokeswoman Risa Heller, however, is not a proponent of bringing soccer to the four-year-old stadium.
“An MLS team at Citi Field is a nonstarter for us,” she said in a statement. “A soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is a win for soccer fans, a win for the Queens community and a win for economic development.”
Assemblyman Francisco Moya is also against the idea, though he is heavily in favor of bringing professional soccer to the borough.
Donovan Finn, an open-space advocate who is against building the stadium in the park, believes that using Citi Field would be the perfect solution.
“This sounds great for Citi Field — more business, more revenue, less competition,” he said. “(And) it doesn’t take away much-needed parkland.”
Source: CBSLocal
