The New York Cosmos' bid to build a stadium in Elmont has been dragging on for years, with little movement at all until ESD requested that all bidders make alterations in December. Now tht the revised bids have been submitted to the state, Cosmos' CEO Erik Stover is encouraged by what he's been seeing:
"Since, that process is moving forward and we all feel very encouraged about it, you obviously pay attention to that to see the process out. We fully expect that an answer is coming. Whether it’s ‘yes’ or ‘no’ determines our next step. If it’s a ‘yes,’ then we’re pouring a lot of money to make that a reality in negotiating with the state, investing in architecture and engineering, environmental impact studies and all of that before actually putting a shovel in the ground."
"If it’s a ‘no,’ then the two or three sites that we’ve been looking at, now we have to start investing in feasibility studies. Which of those sites is the best opportunity for us? Not only from a construction and engineering or access point of view, but from a marketability point of view. There’s hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars that will have to go into that this year. It depends. There’s a fork in the road coming, and that fork will be determined by the answer from the ESD, we think, in the short term."
SBI Soccer also notes that two of the three alternate sites are within the city limits, and that the club would likely look at as many as six other alternate sites should they be forced to move on from Belmont.
Ideally, the club will hear a 'yes' on the Belmont site soon, allowing them to get moving on a 25,000 seat home of their own, and out of Shuart Stadium as soon as humanly possible. Yes or no, however, it will just be nice to have a definitive answer after years of waiting for one.