New York City FC: Making a mockery of MLS
New York City FC will play their playoff games at Citi Field should they clash with the New York Yankees’ potential playoff matches. It really makes a mockery of an apparently professional Major League Soccer.
Major League Soccer is attempting to present itself as a professional, competitive, world-class league. It wants to be taken seriously as a global league, one that is a leading division in the world, one that players want to come to, TV stations want to cover, and fans want to watch.
But while this is its overall goal, there are some decisions that are made, from the league, the organisations within the league and even the players, that suggest that this goal is not always at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
The latest example is New York City FC. They played their first game in 2015. They are the second club in the metropolitan area of New York and the first within the city limits. There was a terrific excitement about having a New York City-based team, one that could attract world-class players, linked with Manchester City, boasting heavy investment and a growing fan base in a soccer-loving city.
But while all of these positive have remained true and the team has been one of the elite sides in MLS ever since their inception, there has been one looming problem that has hung over everything that they do: the stadium.
Since 2015, New York City FC have played in Yankee Stadium, sharing it with MLB’s the New York Yankees. It was a bad idea before they started playing there. Nothing since then has changed anyone’s minds to the contrary.
Most frustratingly, — and embarrassingly for the apparently professional MLS — the pitch is inexcusable. There is the obvious problem of the size. It is too small, especially regarding its width. But the turf quality is very poor, with parts of it pulling up in some games, the camera angles are awful for a TV-watching audience, and the atmosphere is lacking as a result of the stadium having been designed for baseball, not football. And this season, it is about to get a whole lot worse.
The New York Yankees have made the postseason. So have New York City FC. And the two playoff calendars could clash, should the two clubs progress far enough. Without digging into the details too much, what has been agreed is that NYCFC will play at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, if and when the Yankees are playing at Yankee Stadium. It is a farce.
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Of course, New York attempted to polish a turd, with CEO Brad Sims providing an incredibly PR-contorted statement:
"“This season has been incredible and we are excited to kick off our playoff campaign. We’re also happy for our partners at the New York Yankees for having a fantastic season, and while we recognize their success could relocate our playoff games and is not ideal for our fans, we’re extremely confident that Citi Field would provide us with the home field advantage needed. On behalf of myself and the entire Club, I want to thank our fans for their incredible loyalty, passion and support throughout the season.”"
This whole calamity makes an utter mockery of MLS. How can a league claim to be professional and competitive and globally relevant when the second-best team in the league has to move stadium for their most important matches of the season because they do not have their own stadium and play on a poor quality pitch that barely abides by FIFA’s international laws?
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Whether it is New York City FC’s fault or not, the fact that MLS are allowing this every season is farcical. It is making a mockery of the credibility of their league. And with every passing year, whatever credibility there is left only diminishes.