New York City FC are preparing to submit a bid to build a soccer stadium adjacent to Belmont Park racetrack, according to multiple reports.
Newsday and the New York Post reported that NYCFC will submit the bid to New York state agency Empire State Development Corp. by the Thursday, September 28 deadline for proposals. The potential bid would put the club in competition with the NHL’s New York Islanders’ plan to develop a hockey arena at the 43-acre state-run site, which is located on Long Island just over the Queens border in Elmont, N.Y.
Empire State Development Corp.'s decision on the bids isn’t expected for several months.
Newsday also indicated that NYCFC are also currently “looking at a handful of other spots within the [New York City] limits” that it prefers over the Belmont site, but the organization felt that it made sense to submit a Belmont bid given that the state had called for proposals for sports and entertainment venues at the park.
NYCFC, who are owned in part by the New York Yankees, have played their home games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx since they entered in MLS in 2015. A recent scheduling conflict created by a rescheduled Yankees game caused NYCFC's Week 29 match against the Houston Dynamo to be hosted in East Hartford, Conn.
Club president Jon Patricof was bullish about NYCFC's stadium prospects earlier in September.
"We have multiple sites right now that are under consideration," he told the Soccer in the City podcast. "Some involve public processes. Some are private. And it’s, I think, going as well, and we’re as far along in terms of progress as we’ve been, certainly since I’ve been here over the last 18 months."
