NEW YORK – The home kit has been unveiled. So, too, has the home opener at Yankee Stadium, which according to the club, will tentatively be played on March 15.
As for most other pressing business with New York City FC, it’s like the movie trailers at your local theater – coming soon.
That is true about the club’s away kit, which is finalized and NYCFC Chief Business Officer Tim Pernetti calls “nothing short of fantastic.”
“I think it will be an incredible seller in the market and I think it’s going to really connect with New York sports fans,” he said without stating when it would be released. “It’s great.”
Pernetti also said the number of season tickets has increased to 11,000 and continues to grow, which could impact how many seats are utilized for NYCFC matches.
“The beauty of our relationship with the Yankees and Yankee Stadium is that we’ll have the ability to scale the building in a variety of different ways, whether we want to scale smaller or larger than people would expect,” Pernetti said.
As for a permanent home, Pernetti said there’s been no news to report, although he confirmed the only sites NYCFC is considering are within the five boroughs of New York City.
“It’s a challenge, but we’re spending all of our time trying to find the right site to build a world-class facility, especially for soccer,” Pernetti said. “While we’re as anxious as our fans are and everybody is, we want to take the time we need to get it right because we’re only going to get one shot to get it right.”
While Pernetti said the club will train at Purchase College in Westchester during the season, Claudio Reyna, NYCFC’s sporting director, said the club is still tying up its preseason plans.
“Prior to [the Carolina Challenge Cup] we should be finalizing and announcing our preseason we hope really by the end of the month,” Reyna said. “We’re just trying to finalize a few opponents, but we’re close to announcing and finalizing that.”
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Reyna did say there was a distinct possibility the club would spend part of preseason in Manchester, perhaps utilizing the newly built City Football Academy (CFA).
“We’re thinking about that as an option. We’re waiting,” he said. “They just moved into a brand new facility, CFA, which is one of the best in the world. We just need to figure out how that works.”
Reyna said the search continues for a third Designated Player, with the hopes of signing either a "goal scorer" or "goal creator". He said he’s confident the club can get that done before the start of the season.
Reyna declined to comment on the reports that NYCFC has been in contact with Sunderland regarding US national team forward Jozy Altidore, but expressed interest in having an American international on the roster at some point.
“Whether we actively go out and go after some of the bigger names, that’s an option,” Reyna said. “In the future it’s important we have a presence on the national team to develop our club. It’s important.”
