MLS Commissioner Don Garber said the league is still focused on putting an expansion team in New York, but reiterated that the biggest hurdle is getting a stadium, not finding suitable potential owners.
In today’ State of the League conference call, Garber discussed a wide variety of topics, from the league likely going to an unbalanced 34-game schedule next year to MLS Cup being hosted by the highest seed to his frustrations with D.C. United’s inability to get a stadium deal in place. But he also talked about a stadium being the holdup in placing a 20th team here in New York.
“The issue remains the soccer stadium. We do believe we have two or three sites that are viable, and we’re going to continue to work as hard as we can to move this as fast as we can,’’ said Garber, who added MLS has hired a full-time staffer, as well as consultants _ architects, lawyers and land-use advisers _ to explore sites.
The league has always seen Willets Point as the No. 1 target, and the Wilpon family as a top contender. And even though their recent financial and legal woes have seen them take a step back, Garber was hopeful they’d return to the forefront.
“We have not had much contact with the Wilpon family (lately),’’ Garber said. “I respect the challenges that they’ve been going through. I’m glad they seem to be coming out on the positive end of this process, and when it’s through, we’ll re-engage with them.’’
Garber said the lawsuit filed against the rebranded New York Cosmos wouldn’t rule them out of the running, especially since they’re now under new ownership. Owner and CEO Paul Kemsley resigned, with Garber scheduled to meet with the new Saudi Arabian ownership group Sela Sport at MLS Cup.
“We’ll continue to work with (the Cosmos), but also with many others,” said Garber. “People think we throw that out just to have leverage. (But) people in New York know there are several potential ownership groups and _ until we’re further along in the process _ we’re going to speak to as many people as we can.
“That’s the best way to ensure that we get an ownership group that will have resources and be able to make the commitments to be good partners in Major League Soccer.”
Another potential site is on Randall’s Island, former home of the original Cosmos. But Garber wouldn’t say whether that meant expanding Icahn Stadium or building a new one, and expressed concern over ingress and egress.
“Randall’s Island is a viable possibility, but there’d be a lot of work to make a stadium work on the island,’’ said Garber. “We’re spending time researching it, trying to see about getting people on and off the island. We have not even begun to determine the path of securing land on the island. There are a wide range of mechanisms.’’
There is no guarantee that team No. 20 will be in New York. Garber met with a potential ownership group from Orlando yesterday, and is still talking with groups from Las Vegas and Detroit. And he even openly addressed the possibility of having to relocate original club D.C. United, citing they pay more for substandard RFK Stadium than any lease deal in the history of the league.
“I remain concerned and continually frustrated…We have to aggressively figure a solution out,’’ said Garber. “If that means they can’t get one in D.C. and they have to move to another facility in the region, then I’ll support them”
Garber also praised the work teams have done in building up their academy systems with 40 products now having signed contracts, and hoped David Beckham _ whose contract expires after this season _ will return to the Galaxy, although he wouldn’t go so far as to say he expected the star midfielder back.
“I certainly hope to see him back. I think that he and (his agent) and Tim Leiweke at AEG will go through a process after the Cup to try to determine what David’s future is,’’ said Garber. “I certainly hope to have him back. I don’t know if I expect to see him back. David has delivered on all aspects.’’