It seems New York City FC will be moving its reserve team across the Hudson River.
According to sources, who were granted anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the information, New York City FC II is planning to jump from New York City proper to Middlesex County, New Jersey.
Sources said Hometown Soccer Holdings has been in talks with multiple sites in both New Jersey and New York. However, a new sports development project in Middlesex County seems to be the overall favorite. The venue appears to be the Middlesex College Stadium in Edison, New Jersey, a soon-to-be-completed 6,500-seat multi-purpose stadium that is said to "meet Big Ten, NCAA, Minor League Baseball, and FIFA standards," and will also be home to Rutgers University's baseball team.
New York Soccer Journal reached out to Hometown Soccer Holdings and asked for comment on the planned move for NYCFC II, but Hometown Soccer Holdings said it would not be commenting. New York City FC, KKR, and The Sports Facilities Companies (SFC), operator of the new Middlesex College Stadium, did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
The move for NYCFC II would be made as part of the new Hometown Soccer Holdings initiative. In April, MLS Next Pro announced it was partnering with private-equity firm KKR to create a central entity, Hometown Soccer Holdings, that would take control of commercial operations for Next Pro teams, should the MLS-affiliated Next Pro teams opt in to the endeavor.
MLS teams would retain all control of the soccer decision-making and operations, but their Next Pro affiliates would become new teams in new markets, ideally with new, appropriately-sized soccer-specific venues.
Last week, New York City FC's president and CEO, Brad Sims, participated in a roundtable interview with members of the media where New York Soccer Journal's founder and editor, Andrew Leigh, asked about the reserve team and the potential for opting in to Hometown Soccer Holdings, with NYCFC II rebranding and relocating.
"I'll give a quick answer: Yes, we're going to do it, yes I think we'll be one of the first teams that do it, maybe the first team that does it," Sims said.
In his response, which you can read in full here, Sims said the final details of the new plan for NYCFC II would be publicly announced in "30-to-60 days," while also praising Hometown Soccer Holdings as "a smart business model," comparing it favorably to Diamond Baseball Holdings, the entity that currently owns and operates around 50 Minor League Baseball teams after an HSH-like collaboration with another private equity giant, in this case Silver Lake. Incidentally, HSH is led by CEO Tom Glick, a former president of New York City FC from 2015 to 2016.
New state, new me
Details at this time are scarce, but it appears this would be a complete rebrand of the NYCFC II team. According to a source, this would include a separate, but connected, staff in New Jersey, with all training and other activities being detached from the training facility in Orangeburg, NY.
