Beep Boosts Soccer in Brooklyn

By MICHAEL HEUSNER

The New York Cosmos soccer team and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Tuesday tried to drum up support for their first game at MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, as well as a potential new stadium,in the borough.

The Cosmos are a team without a stadium even as they prepare to face off against Ottawa Fury FC on May 2. Since 2011 he team had been in talks to build a stadium in the Long island town of Elmont, near the historic Belmont racetrack, but as those plans stalled they began to look to other locations, said Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese.

The Cosmos would be in Brooklyn permanently if it was up to Adams,who gave his full support to having the soccer team stay permanently on Coney Island.  Adams portrayed soccer is the flagship sport for a borough as diverse as Brooklyn.

“Forty-seven percent of Brooklynites speak a language other than English at home,” he said, stressing the international flavor of the sport.

But the final decision might rest in the hands of the mayor

“Hopefully the New York Cosmos will play full time in Brooklyn,” said National Premier Soccer League Chairman Joseph Barone. “Hopefully Eric, or across the river, our mayor can make it happen.”

It was clear that the Cosmos May 2 game would serve as an trial run to determine whether the team will generate enough buzz to justify a stadium in Brooklyn.

But as the Cosmos fate in New York City remained uncertain, Savarese made one thing clear:“We are committed to being able to build a stadium. The borough that makes that happen is the one [where] we will decide to be.”