Plans To Bring MLS Expansion Team To New York City Proper Take Step Forward

It's the money, silly: New York City still leading candidate for MLS expansion

Orlando remains very much in the running to get a team, but Don Garber's latest statements suggest it will only come after NY2.

Turns out, MLS isn't quite as crazy as feared when it comes to NYC stadium

Contrary to what seemed to be a growing popular belief, the New York City stadium that MLS is trying to get built would be paid for by the prospective owner of the 20th team.

Queens, MLS A Near-Perfect Match, Assemblyman Says

As if the momentum pushing toward New York City as the 20th MLS franchise needed to get any strong, it appears at least some local politicians are starting to make a pretty strong push for a potential stadium site in Queens. Assemblyman Francisco Moya, in explaining some earlier remarks about his affinity for Barcelona to Gothamist, added some detail about what makes this potential stadium site so interesting:

I saw what other cities were doing, what the short term and long term economic impact was in those areas, and then I approached Major League Soccer about it, and talking about having them look at this particular area in Queens, which was supposed to be the area the Jets Stadium was going to be on. And say, look, we have the infrastructure for it, because you have the major hubs of public transportation. The 7 line, the LIRR, you have the bus terminals there, every major highway artery: Grand Central, Van Wyck, LIE all converge in that area. So it's easy access.

That a local politician, whose district stands to gain some significant tax revenue and jobs, is supporting the stadium is probably not a shocker. But he does ably illustrate why this particular location has so much potential. Not only is it located within the New York City limits, but it would be built on top of what is essentially useless land, has good public transportation access and is already a bit of a destination.

There's obviously still a lot of space between here and shovels breaking ground, but this location seems to have as good a chance of succeeding as any other we've heard about. Whether putting another team in the New York market is a good idea, of course, is another thing entirely.

Plans To Bring MLS Expansion Team To New York City Proper Take Step Forward

MLS appears to have settled on some property in Queens as the possible site for a new stadium.