Bronx residents up in arms over proposed soccer stadium--Daily News 1/16/2013

Tensions hit a fever pitch. Residents traded barbs Wednesday over the possibility that the Yankees and their wealthy Middle Eastern partner will build a soccer stadium to house a new Major League Soccer franchise in the Bronx. The New York City Football Club is looking for a home, and scores of Bronx residents, community leaders and officials piled into a community meeting organized by the 161st Business Improvement District to debate whether the project was in-bounds. Outraged protestors balked at giving tax dollars to wealthy organizations while their neighborhood still copes with scarce funding. This discussion is not about soccer, said Mychal Johnson, a co-founder of South Bronx Unite, a coalition of community residents and organizations that has vigorously opposed a plan to award more than $100 million in city and state subsidies to Fresh Direct, to lure the online grocer to Port Morris.

PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images Yankees partner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan So much has gone by the wayside because of a lack of money, Johnson added. I am against giving one dollar toward a soccer stadium. The proposed stadium, which would be located in the shadows of Yankee Stadium on 157th St. and River Ave., would be home to the Major League Soccer expansion team set to debut in the 2015 season, co-owned by the Yankees and Manchester City of the English Premier League, a club owned by billionaire Sheikh Mansour of the United Arab Emirates. If they want to pay for the stadium, fine, but they should use their own money, said Jackson Strong, 27, a member of Community Board 4, which encompasses the stadium site. Tax the poorest urban county in the country and give

it to billionaires? There is no justification for that. Supporters of the project also turned out, and said the stadium would be a perfect addition for the boroughs international community. American baseball is apple pie, but there are so many new immigrants in the Bronx, said Carol Boykins, 59, who has lived on Jerome Ave. in the shadow of Yankee Stadium for decades. Around the world, (the popular sport) is soccer. Officials have been hesitant to endorse the stadium until more of the project details emerge. A deal to commit $300 million in tax free bonds and demolish of one of the bankrupt Yankee Stadium parking garages was not finished before former Mayor Bloomberg left office, leaving the de Blasio administration to start from scratch. Our office has not yet made any decisions as to whether or not we would support this project, said John DeSio, communications director for Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. Major League Soccer was in talks with the city over $340 million, 25,000 seat stadium on parkland in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. Strident local opposition stalled the project, and Diaz courted the league in an effort to bring the stadium to the Bronx.

Bronx Residents Debate Plan For Major League Soccer Stadium--CBS NY 1/16/2013
A town hall meeting on a planned soccer stadium near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. (Credit: Holli Haerr/1010 WINS)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) A proposal for a new soccer venue adjacent to Yankee Stadium drew strong words on both sides of the issue at a town hall meeting in the Bronx Wednesday night. The Yankees and Sheik Mansour Bin Zayed al Nahyan owner of the Manchester City Football Club want to have a parking garage demolished and replaced with a $350 million Major League Soccer team New York City Football Club, according to multiple reports. Community opposition kicked any soccer stadium plans for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, so the new plan was issued to put it in the Bronx, on River Avenue near Yankee Stadium. The city-owned parking garage would be torn down and G.A.L Manufacturing Corp, an elevator parts company on 153rd Street, would also have to move to make room for the facility.

The proposed stadium would occupy land from 153rd to 157th streets . Importantly, it would also do away with the entrance ramp to the northbound Major Deegan Expressway. The soccer team was announced as the 20th Major League Soccer franchise last year, and is seeking to begin operation in 2015. As 1010 WINS Holli Haerr reported, some area residents said the idea would benefit the Bronx financially and culturally, particularly given the popularity of soccer worldwide. American baseball, apple pie, but we are generations of immigrants, and so many immigrants coming, and around the world, its soccer which is called football, one woman said. We love baseball, but I think soccer is something that is valuable, and lots of people enjoy; its the number one sport in the world, a man said. But another woman said the stadium would be vacant most of the time and would actually be detrimental to the area. The traffic problems are horrible. Its not good for local businesses. After the construction, there wont be any new jobs . The site will be unused more than 300 days a year, she said. Another took aim at the sheik and his personal fortune.

Sheik Mansours personal wealth is listed as approximately $12 billion. Why does the South Bronx have to build him in a stadium? How many jobs would a stadium create annually for only 35 games? Cary Goodman, executive director of the 161st Street Business Improvement District, said the town hall meeting was held to give residents an opportunity to speak before any plan it finalized. The last few times there have been development projects around here, the community has not been involved. Things went forward, and then the community caught up later or never caught up at all. This is a chance to give everybody, right from the start, a blank slate, he said. There is no deal. What do you think? Haerr reported the town hall meeting was packed, with some people waiting outside to get in. Overall, the opinion was slightly in favor of the stadium, Haerr reported. The meeting was civil with one exception, as a man began cursing and was escorted out, Haerr reported.

Deal for Bronx Soccer Stadium in Works as Clock Ticks--NY Times 12/11/2013
The owners of New Yorks new professional soccer team and the Bloomberg administration are nearing a tentative agreement to build the citys first soccer-only venue: a $350 million, 28,000-seat stadium near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. But it is far from a done deal. Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, who was not briefed on the deal until Wednesday, did not immediately embrace the proposal, in part, because the Bloomberg plan entails tax breaks, the sale or lease of public land and public financing. Lis Smith, a de Blasio spokeswoman, said, We have real concerns about investing scarce public resources and forgoing revenue to support the creation of an arena for a team co-owned by one of the worlds wealthiest individuals, and will review any plan with that in mind. The team, now starting to take shape and known as the New York City Football Club, is a partnership between the Manchester City Football Club of England, which is owned by the billionaire Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Yankees. The stadium is on a long list of projects that Mayor

Michael R. Bloomberg has been eager to nail down before he leaves office at the end of the month. His initial plan to put the stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park ran into widespread criticism from local groups and park advocates. For the past six months, the teams owners have focused on the Bronx and a spot south of Yankee Stadium. The Bloomberg administrations signing of even a nonbinding agreement would present a challenge for Mr. de Blasio, who has vowed to negotiate better deals for taxpayers than his predecessor has. The accord would almost certainly reignite a debate about providing public subsidies for lucrative sports franchises. In the past, Mr. de Blasio was critical of what he described as the overly generous subsidies the Bloomberg administration provided to the Mets, enabling the ball club to build Citi Field in Queens. The soccer stadium project would still have to make its way through the citys approval process next year. Public financing would need the approval of the citys Industrial Development Agency, which may be reorganized under the new mayor. However, the nonbinding agreement as currently envisioned includes a clause that would put pressure on the de Blasio administration to act quickly: The team owners and the city would have until the end of March to sign a predevelopment agreement and lease, according to one official briefed on the terms. A spokeswoman for the Bloomberg administration said that talks were

continuing and that nothing was final. Richard Brodsky, a former state assemblyman from Westchester County who has been a critic of public funds for professional teams, said, This is the Yankees and the third-richest man in the world asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money. Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, who said he had not made up his mind about the deal, has promised local community groups that they will have a role in shaping the deal for the stadium. Randy Levine, the Yankees president and the soccer team executive who has led the negotiations with the city, declined to comment. In order to build the stadium on a 10-acre site south of Yankee Stadium, the soccer franchise would have to buy the land now occupied by GAL Manufacturing, a familyowned business that employs about 400 people, and build a new factory nearby. The team would also have to come to terms with the Bronx Parking Development Company, which controls a garage on the site that would have to be demolished. The parking company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, a move that could leave the city liable for its $240 million debt. Mr. Levine has offered the company about $25 million. But the team also needs to buy or lease adjacent parking lots from the city and gain control of a section of East 153rd Street.

At the same time, the team wants the city to issue $250 million to $300 million in tax-exempt bonds. The team would be responsible for paying off the debt, but the bonds would save the team millions of dollars in federal and state taxes over 38 years. In addition, the deal would include sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions worth an estimated $21.5 million.