Orlando miss out as NYC get a second club
MLS commissioner Don Garber recently announced New York City FC as the 20th club to play in the league, ahead of a rival bid from Orlando.
Although Florida remains a state of interest to the MLS for the future, the possibility of creating a cross-town rivalry between the new franchise and New York Red Bulls was too good an opportunity to miss.
English Premier League side Manchester City and Major League Baseball legends New York Yankees have gone into partnership with NYC FC to help create a powerful new force in US soccer. Former Sunderland, Manchester City and New York Red Bulls midfielder Claudio Reyna was installed last month as the club's director of football, in charge of player and back-room staff recruitment. One of the biggest names in USA soccer history, Reyna has been charged with the task of bringing in the best players he can muster, while putting in place a coaching and scouting network to put NYC FC in contention for MLS glory as quickly as possible.
The new club won't begin competing before 2015 and may need a temporary home in which to play their matches. They are currently exploring the option of building a new stadium in the Flushing area of the city, but clarification of such a step is yet to come. If permission is granted for the build, it'd likely take until at least 2016 for the ground to open.
In the meantime, the club will be afforded the expertise of Manchester City and Yankees officials during the set-up of the new team. The intention is place NYC FC at the top of the MLS tree from the beginning and Reyna's work is already well underway to do just that.
Fan reaction globally and locally is one of excitement at the prospect of seeing the new franchise in action, with many New York soccer fans happy to finally welcome a team to their city having seen NY Red Bulls play over in New Jersey for many years. Now, fans have a NYC-based club to follow and with millions of residents in one of the world's great cities to reach out to, the new side will hope to swiftly garner a strong level of support.
It's a huge development for the leaders of soccer in America as they aim to enhance their competition further, having already made MLS one of the most-watched sporting events in several cities across the US. A local rivalry in the New York metropolitan area can only be good for the league and should see interest in the sport rise considerably. The hope is that the Red Bulls and NYC FC can begin a journey together that will eventually help replicate other footballing arch-rivalries across the world, such as Celtic versus Rangers and Liverpool versus Everton.
Those that doubted the country's capacity to firstly accept and then cultivate a successful soccer league have been made to eat their words, as MLS continues to expand and become stronger. New York City FC is another giant leap in the right direction for commissioner Garber and Major League Soccer in the quest to put soccer firmly in the limelight in the USA.
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