Sports

Finding field an obstacle for New York’s new MLS team

The partnership of the Yankees and Manchester City joins two of the world’s richest teams, buying an MLS expansion team called New York City FC. There is no doubt the Bombers know the city and Manchester City knows the game, but the marriage leaves a host of questions unanswered, both athletic and ethical.

* Will Manchester City and the big-spending Bombers be able to build a winner in the salary-cap MLS?

* Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour is a member of the royal family in Abu Dhabi — an emirate with a notoriously poor human rights record. Will the league be judged by the company it keeps?

* And where will this team play if community backlash — much of it against Sheikh Mansour — nixes its proposed stadium in Queens?

While part of the backlash is against New York City FC building on 13 acres of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, part is due to the United Arab Emirates outlawing gays.

But it is no coincidence the MLS sees its deals with ESPN, NBC Sports and Univision which all expire after next year, and will welcome NYCFC in 2015. And after the Yanks and Manchester City forked over a $100 million franchise fee, MLS handed over the responsibility of finding a home.

“Wherever it’s built, we’ll go through the process. We understand it, we know how to do it, how to deal with the community, how to deal with elected officials,’’ said Yankees president Randy Levine. “And we also know to deal with the doom-and-gloomers and the people that don’t tell truths. We’re very effective in dealing with them also.’’

Levine, Yankee managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and MLS commissioner Don Garber all told The Post they had not spoken to Mansour. Now Levine, Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano and NYCFC director of football Claudio Reyna must either close the deal in Queens or look elsewhere.

“I think the best place for it is in the eastern end of Flushing Meadow Park. It’s a part of the park that’s been neglected for a long time … [and] it would improve dramatically the rest of that park,’’ said Mayor Bloomberg, adding “Nobody should think they’ve got a lock on this. There are lots of different places you could build a stadium of 25,000.’’

Mayor Bloomberg confirmed the plan would require use of the Mets’ parking lot at Citi Field, and Garber said New York City FC plans to spend $50 million to improve the park. But if they can’t get the go-ahead, Pier 40 could be back in play.

“[Soriano] is staying in a hotel that overlooks Pier 40,’’ Garber said. “He got up [Wednesday] to work out, he’s putting on his gym clothes, looked down at those soccer fields and said ‘Man that’d be an amazing sight for a soccer stadium.’ So we can add him to the list that thinks it’d be pretty cool. But that’s a difficult site.’’

Reyna, who played at Manchester City and St. Benedict’s in Newark, said in the interim NYCFC could play at Yankee Stadium or even Citi Field.

“We need to find a home, and that possibly could be either Yankee Stadium or Citi Field. We still haven’t figured that out,’’ Reyna said.

“There’ve been discussions with a few, both the Yankees and the Mets, and there’s nothing concrete yet, but we will find a home in time. … It’s important we find something that makes sense for us and we feel welcome. That’s the most important thing.”