SECAUCUS, N.J. - Red Bull Park is expected to be completed by the early fall of 2009, said Erik Stover, the new managing director of the New York Red Bulls.
Stover, who was named Marc de Grandpre's replacement last week, told reporters at the club's headquarters Monday that the long awaited new 25,000-seat home for the Red Bulls will soon have structural steel erected from the site in Harrison, N.J.
"At that point we will have symbolically turned the corner and people will stop staying that this stadium will never happen because they will see it going up from out of the ground," Stover said.
He said the sight of the structural steel, which will happen either at the end of this month or early July, should help to relieve the club's frustrated fan base, which has been promised the opening of a new facility for years.
"It's been eight years of pain and suffering and negotiations and lawsuits, starts and stops," Stover said. "Once that steel goes up everyone can take a deep breath and know that it is coming soon."
It is the new stadium that first attracted Stover to work for Red Bull and he was hired by de Grandpre to be the Red Bulls vice president of operations and the general manager of Red Bull Park in January.
"I've never heard of a new stadium in the last 20 years where the designer took suites out of the building," Stover said. "We went from 60 to 30 so we could add more seats for the average fan to have a better experience."
Stover, who most recently served as general manager of Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, said he had no plans on becoming the club's managing director and said De Grandpre's resignation on April 9 took him by surprise.
And while he might not have a soccer background or experience running a team, Stover said he has done a lot of the things required of him as a managing director.
"I have done negotiations, leases, I've been on the other side of leases so I understand that point of view with unions," Stover said. "I think it's also important for everyone to understand that this position is not the position that it was when Nick Sakiewicz had it (in 2005). We're structured differently now."
Stover is also very familiar with the New York-based MLS team, having worked with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority for nine years, rising to the assistant vice president of stadium operations of Giants Stadium.
"Nobody wants to get out of there faster than I do," Stover said. "No offense to all my friends who work there, but it just doesn't work for us."
The Red Bulls training facility in Hanover, N.J. has also reached a snag and is currently delayed because of legal red tape, Stover said.
"We're hoping to wrap that up very shortly and get out there. Those legal concerns, those hurdles, are going to delay us," Stover said. "We're not sure where we're at."
For now, Stover said he is working with Montclair State University, where the Red Bulls currently train, to make sure the club has a place to practice beyond this year.
As for the sporting side of the club, Stover said he will defer to Jeff Agoos and Juan Carlos Osorio on player signings, although he won't be completely hands off.
"I get challenged from our owner regularly and then I have to turn around depending on what we're talking about, to challenge our staff for the proper answers," Stover said. "I talk to Jeff three or four times a day. I can't envision a scenario where I'd say Player A over Player B."
But Stover is the guy who gets approval from the corporate offices in Austria. While he has yet to have a discussion with Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, Stover was able to take Red Bull's pulse by speaking with Markus Egger, the Red Bull General Manager Soccer.
"They're happy with the direction ... but we're not where they want us to be and the league is not where (Red Bull) wants it to be," Stover said.
To get there the club needs some stability, which it hasn't had since its inception. No other MLS team has had as many coaches (11) and there have been four lead executives in less than three years.
"There hasn't been a revolving door with this position, there's been a revolving door with everything, with the coach, with the owner, with the sporting side, with the office staff," Stover admitted.
"Like any message, talk is cheap," Stover said. "Sticking with it is the most important thing and sticking with our people."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
