The MetroStars "will announce plans" for their new,
25,000-seat, multipurpose, $40-60M stadium on Monday,
according to Alex Yannis of the N.Y. TIMES. Team GM Nick
Sakiewicz "declined to disclose many details yesterday
except to say that the stadium would be built" in NJ.
Sakiewicz said the facility will have "a big part of it"
financed privately: "It will be a unique design, like a
community center. Its amenities will be user friendly to
the general community." The stadium would be expandable to
40,000 seats, take 18 months to build and be "finished in
time for" the 2003 season. The Meadowlands and the Harrison
areas in Northern NJ "were among the candidates for" the
location of the MetroStars facility (N.Y. TIMES, 11/28).
Despite the focus on Northern NJ, Sakiewicz added that the
team "would consider other sites if the price was right."
Sakiewicz: "We are prepared to invest money in this. It
depends on who our partners will be" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
11/28). MetroStars VP/Media Relations Chris Brienza said
that Newark, "once considered a potential site, has been
dropped" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 11/28). Sakiewicz is hoping to
have a short list of sites by the end of March and final
sites by early summer 2001 in order for groundbreaking to
take place next September (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 11/28).
TO LIFE! TO LIFE! Sakiewicz, on the planned facility:
"There is something for everyone in this stadium. We could
hold bar mitzvahs there" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/28).
METROMEDIA'S OTHER TEAM IN QUEENS: Sakiewicz said that
Metromedia, which operates the team, would also begin
operating a N.Y.-area MLS expansion team in the 2003 season,
as that team would have its own stadium, "most likely" in
Queens. Sakiewicz: "Ninety percent of the MetroStars fans
come from New Jersey. A study showed that there are 4.2
million people emotionally connected to soccer in New York,
and very few cross the [Hudson] river to watch us. There is
a very huge population that is soccer starved on the other
side of the river" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/28).
