The New York Times is reporting the USTA is concerned about Major League Soccer’s proposal to build a 25,000-seat stadium in Flushing-Meadows Corona Park, home to the US Open, The USTA also has expansion plans, but they are on a much smaller scale and will take up far less land, a little less than one acre to 7.5 acres for the soccer stadium.
As it is proposed today, the soccer stadium would be located in the middle of the park, not very close to subways and trains, which would mean that it would likely require more roads and parking, some of which would be close to the National Tennis Center .
“It raises a lot of concerns for us,” said USTA executive director Gordon Smith “We ought to be considered in a very different light, because we raise almost none of those complications.”
There is also a major retail complex that is planned in the area of Citi Field, where the baseball New York Mets play.
The Pratt Center for Community Development estimates that combined by 2018, these three projects will requite 13,000 more parking spaces, but the US Open only plans on adding 700 of those.
©Daily Tennis News Wire
Topics: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Sports, Tennis News, US Open, Usta