Last week, City Football Group CEO Khaldoon Al-Mubarak made a rare trip to the Five Boroughs to take stock of his neat little stateside investment, the soccering franchise known as New York City FC. What was the big man doing in the City? The Boys in Blue were about to play a road date in Houston; he certainly wasn’t here for the chicken buckets.
Today, thanks to a report from our friend Christian Araos at Empire of Soccer, we have a far clearer picture of why Al-Mubarak decided to roll through: the word is that NYCFC is ramping up to announce an imminent plan to construct a training facility in Orangetown, New York, just a quick drive from the City over in Rockland County.
Per Araos’s story:
“NYCFC have been eyeing the parcel of land across the street from the home of youth affiliate World Class FC for much of the year. The land lay unused for more than a decade until March when the Town passed resolutions to remove restrictions in the original agreement allowing the owner, STEJ, to sell the land to the LLC NYCFC formed. A source in the Town said the two sides had completed the purchase.”
While nobody is confusing Rockland County for the Five Boroughs, it’s an easy shot from Orangetown to our City. It’s a twenty mile drive to Manhattan via the George Washington Bridge, and just about the same distance from the Bronx via the Tappan Zee Bridge. Heading to Yankee Stadium, the trip is a few minutes quicker from Orangetown than from SUNY Purchase, where NYCFC have trained over these first two years.
Credit: hudsonriverblue.com
