"Outflanking the USL?": Div. 3/4 Soccer into Edison, NJ
Will this affect the USL NY/Paterson Cosmos or the upcoming USL Real NJ?
NYCFC II is moving to the NYC burbs in NJ
(article from the The Soccer Business Newsletter by Simon Evans).
NYCFC II SET TO REBRAND AND RELOCATE TO NEW JERSEY UNDER MLS'S NEW "HOMETOWN SOCCER HOLDINGS": New York City FC's reserve team, NYCFC II, is on track to leave New York City for Middlesex County, New Jersey, according to sources cited by New York Soccer Journal. The presumed new home is Middlesex College Stadium in Edison — a soon-to-be-completed, 6,500-seat multi-purpose venue built to Big Ten, NCAA, Minor League Baseball and FIFA standards, which will also host Rutgers University's baseball team. The move would come under MLS Next Pro's new "Hometown Soccer Holdings" initiative, announced in April in partnership with private equity firm KKR: a central entity that would take over commercial operations for MLS Next Pro affiliates whose parent clubs opt in, relocating those reserve sides to new markets — ideally with new, appropriately sized soccer-specific venues — while MLS parent clubs keep full control of soccer decision-making.
NYCFC president and CEO Brad Sims all but confirmed the move in a roundtable with reporters last week, telling New York Soccer Journal founder Andrew Leigh: “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 full details would be announced within “30-to-60 days” and praised Hometown Soccer Holdings as “a smart business model,” comparing it to Diamond Baseball Holdings — the roughly 50-team Minor League Baseball consolidator built via a similar private-equity partnership with Silver Lake. Hometown Soccer Holdings is led by CEO Tom Glick, who previously served as NYCFC's own president from 2015 to 2016.
Little else is confirmed publicly, but sources indicate the move would amount to a full rebrand of NYCFC II, with a separate-but-connected front office in New Jersey and training operations split off from the club's existing facility in Orangeburg, NY. Hometown Soccer Holdings declined to comment, and NYCFC, KKR, and The Sports Facilities Companies (operator of the new Middlesex stadium) did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.