Stadium at Willets Point? Queens Borough President says announcement is coming

Could New York City FC’s existence-long search for a permanent home be close to an end? Teasing comments made by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards make it seem like an announcement of a soccer specific stadium for NYCFC at Willets Point is imminent.

While speaking earlier today in a webinar titled “The Future of New York: The Economic Impact of Queens,” Richards was asked about what he envisions Queens looking like in 10 years time. The Borough President replied, “If you like soccer, the redevelopment of Willets Point...we’re going to have some announcements on with New York [City] Football Club.”

You can watch the clip of Richards’ NYCFC stadium statement below.

This comes not long after City Football Group CEO Ferran Soriano similarly hinted at an approaching announcement of NYCFC stadium plans, so we might truly be entering “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” territory as it pertains to a stadium announcement.

The webinar on which Richards made this most recent tease of NYCFC stadium development was actually promoted by the club’s own Associate Partnership Twitter account, which has been busy dropping breadcrumb after breadcrumb for supporters desperate for any morsel of news on the stadium front.

Rumors on the stadium front have largely died down since they perked up a bit during the summer, which saw The Outfield report that NYCFC had showed renewed interest in building at Harlem River Yards, a 28-acre site in the South Bronx. That was followed not long after by rumors of NYCFC moving into Randall’s Island’s Icahn Stadium, though it’s been radio silence on both Harlem River Yards and Randall’s Island since those summer reports.

This brief statement from the Queens Borough President is obviously not iron-clad confirmation of a final plan, but it is the latest in a string of hints that seem to have brought us as close as we’ve ever been to the announcement of NYCFC stadium plans.

You can watch the full webinar here: