Liga FPD club AD San Carlos Sporting Dir Gustavo Perez said that club's second leg Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 match between NYCFC "will be played at Red Bull Arena," according to Dylan Butler of PRO SOCCER USA. Perez said that NYCFC "struggled to find a venue to host and begrudgingly agreed to play at Red Bull Arena." Perez: "They wanted to avoid playing there because of the rivalry they have with the Red Bulls, but in the end they had no choice." Butler noted with Yankee Stadium unavailable, NYCFC "sought an alternative venue that would have kept the match within the city's five boroughs." A source said that Concacaf "rejected" Belson Stadium in Queens, where NYCFC played a U.S. Open Cup match last summer. The club "also investigated the possibility" of playing at Single-A New York-Penn League Brooklyn Cyclones' MCU Park in Coney Island (PROSOCCERUSA.com, 2/5). On Long Island, Ryan Gerbosi notes NYCFC "long has desired building its own ground within the five boroughs, most recently near their current home in the Bronx, but nothing has come to fruition and no plans have been announced" (NEWSDAY, 2/6).
