Reader Poll Stadium Results: Build it in the Bronx

The votes are in and the people have spoken: New York City FC fans want to keep the Bronx blue.

Hudson River Blue readers to our poll on which stadium scenario is best for NYCFC, and the Bronx option won 53% of the vote. New York City fans want to keep the team in their current borough, and build NYCFC’s future home in the Bronx.

The Bronx as a whole has been a lovely home for NYCFC since their inaugural season in 2015. And while there have been many complaints about the difficulties of playing in Yankee Stadium, very few have laminated its location as a drawback. It’s easily accessible by both the 4 and D trains from Manhattan, by Metro-North Railroad, or by car if you’re coming from New Jersey or Connecticut. There are bars right outside the stadium to catch a pre or post-game pint — that’s a damn good start for me.

But, we’d be kidding ourselves if we thought that many of us didn’t vote for the option that was simply the closest to us. So, to our Queens and Brooklyn crowd, we’re sure many of you would have preferred the Willets Point option for that exact reason.

But it’s not just the geography of it all that suggested that Queens might be a great home for the team. Many have discussed the atmosphere at Citi Field being top-notch for NYCFC games this season, and many have touted the borough as being a more “soccer-loving” community than its Bronx counterparts. With 43% of the vote, it is clear that Queens would also be a well-received option if the club were to follow through with the Willets Point project.

But the surprise was how little love the Temporary Randall’s Island proposal received. With only 4% of the vote, it barely made a dent in our poll. But we get it. We’ve been nomads for too long now to be building a short-term solution to what is ultimately a long-term issue. NYCFC and their fans deserve a place to call home for the long haul, and until that can be guaranteed to us, we might as well keep searching.

If we were to combine the Randall’s Island option with either the Bronx plan or the Queens plan, then we’re talking about a ‘best case scenario’. We get our forever home four to five years from now, and in the meantime, we at least get something to call our own. It’s a big ask, but a fan can dream...right?