Saturday, June 29, 2013

Soccer stadium coming to Queens-Nassau border?


From CBS New York:

The Islanders are moving to Brooklyn, but will Long Island soon gain a professional soccer team?

The New York Cosmos have big plans for a soccer stadium on the Queens/Nassau County border.

But as CBS 2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported Wednesday, not everyone’s a fan of the idea.

In the shadow of Belmont racetrack, sits a specific parking lot. However, soon, weeds could be replaced with stadium grass, and parking stalls with sidelines.

The Cosmos, a world famous franchise that was reborn recently following three decades of dormancy, has proposed a 25,000-seat privately funded soccer stadium for the site. Proponents say it’s just what Long Island needs to generate jobs and tax revenue.

“The whole idea of taking a weed-infested parking lot and replacing that with a state-of-the-art $400 million stadium, I think, just makes all the sense in the world,” said state Sen. Jack Martins (R-7th District)

The local soccer club president welcomed community fields.

But not everyone in Belmont’s backyard is cheering. Critics are going door to door gathering signatures against the stadium.

“Selling hot dogs just does not translate into sustainable economic development for any community,” Elmont community activist Aubrey Phillips said.

“We know crime will come up and we also know that traffic will be a nuisance, and we don’t want our property values to go down any further,” added Milagros Vicentre of the North Valley Stream Neighborhood Association.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's this big push for soccer stadiums and now cricket stadiums ?? It's obvious that developers are trying to get into politicians pockets . But enough already. We don't need stadiums! We need more green spaces and parks!
Stop overdevelopment of Queens!!!

Anonymous said...

Soccer is boring and will never overcome Americans short attention span. And major television networks will never sign on ....they couldn't play enough commercials to turn a profit because the game is played uninterrupted, with no game breaks.

Anonymous said...

ESPN is already going all in on soccer, so that's no longer an issue. How well they'll do rating-wise is another matter.

This is a much better location than FCMP, but that's not saying much.

Anonymous said...

"Soccer is boring and will never overcome Americans short attention span"

Some would say the same for baseball.

The country has a very different demographic makeup then it used to have. The audience for soccer is growing and will grow very rapidly soon.

Anonymous said...

"just what Long Island needs to generate jobs and tax revenue"

Oh BS !! Jobs for who union rackets, father and son concrete & trash carting operations ?
They need to STICK IT. Both the white and black people living on Long Island dont give a shit about soccer nor do the people next door in Jamaica.
I cant imagine the traffic jam's this would cause. Both the Cross Island Parkway and LIRR currently can not handle a 1/2 capacity Saturday afternoon race at Belmont

Alen said...

yep, a lot of new immigrants coming over now hate baseball and only watch soccer. football is on its way out.

i love baseball but the rules are too complicated for a lot of new arrivals. and soccer is a worldwide sport so they can trash talk with friends back in the old country

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