In the latest piece of evidence of a continuing trend towards globalisation in football, Manchester City are to acquire a majority share in a Major League Soccer franchise with the New York Yankees baseball team. There is thus ‘crossover’ both in sports and countries.
City will have a team called New York City FC playing in MLS from the 2015-16 season, with the Yankees, a top global sporting brand, holding a 25 per cent stake. The new club could play in the same sky blue colours as City.
In the latest piece of evidence of a continuing trend towards globalisation in football, Manchester City are to acquire a majority share in a Major League Soccer franchise with the New York Yankees baseball team. There is thus ‘crossover’ both in sports and countries.
City will have a team called New York City FC playing in MLS from the 2015-16 season, with the Yankees, a top global sporting brand, holding a 25 per cent stake. The new club could play in the same sky blue colours as City.
It is also possible that the Yankees will play baseball games at the Etihad Stadium. The relationship between the two businesses began with the Yankees’ stadium concessions business, Legends Hospitality, providing services at the Etihad.
The new club may well play their inaugural season at Yankee Stadium where City face Chelsea in a friendly match on Saturday. There are plans to build a new stadium in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park in Queens which is home to the New York Mets baseball team at Citi Field and the US Open tennis tournament.
However, there has been opposition from local residents, not ostensibly on the usual NIMBY grounds, but because of the human rights record of Abu Dhabi, whose ruling family owns City. Other potential sites, including one in Manhattan, have been investigated.
New York is the most crowded professional sports market in the US with two baseball teams, two football teams, two basketball teams, two hockey teams, and now two soccer teams. However, the area is home to 19m people and MLS is hoping for an intense local rivalry between the new club and the New York Red Bulls.
The move reflects the way in which MLS has established itself in the United States, attracting the third highest attendances in US sport after the quintessentially American games of American football and baseball. This means that it is ahead of [ice] hockey which is the favoured game in Canada. It has attracted a host of blue chip companies from Pepsi to Microsoft as sponsors.
It has been a long-standing ambition of MLS to attract a major European football club to invest in a franchise. Barcelona looked closely at taking up a franchise that was available in Florida. Its vice-president at the time was Ferran Soriano who is now chief executive of Manchester City.