A late August visit to one of New York`s approximately 1,700 parks perfectly embodies the city`s quintessential summer spirit. This idyllic backdrop set the stage for Manhattan`s first top-tier soccer match in several years.
Anyone familiar with New York`s perennial soccer stadium debates knows the frustration regarding venue locations. Fans have often been resigned to traveling to New Jersey or watching the sport in a baseball park at Yankee Stadium. Icahn Stadium on Randall`s Island, however, where NJ/NY Gotham FC kicked off their Concacaf W Champions Cup title defense against Monterrey, offered a compelling location for Gotham`s inaugural official game within city limits. The island is reasonably accessible from four of New York`s five boroughs (Staten Island being the exception), connected to both Manhattan and Queens by three pedestrian and bike bridges, with occasional NYC Ferry service. The promise of a picturesque New York outing seemed almost guaranteed.
“I know there are people who are like, `Finally! There`s a game in New York,` so it`s been nice to achieve that.”
— Yael Averbuch West, Gotham general manager
Yet, a block from the footbridge at 125th Street and 2nd Avenue in Harlem, Hurricane Erin`s winds made umbrellas futile for the roughly 30-minute walk to Icahn Stadium. The envisioned pleasant summer outing quickly transformed into a struggle against the elements, a perfect start to a unique evening that highlighted the charmingly inconvenient surprises inherent to the New York soccer experience.
Is Convenience Relative?
Randall`s Island may lie between the Harlem and East Rivers, theoretically within reach for many New York City residents, but its accessibility truly straddles a fine line. The footbridges are scenic, but the bus is faster and connects directly to exits for the 4, 5, and 6 subway trains. This highlights a paradox: in a city famed for its railways, Randall`s Island is most easily reached via roadways. A relatively robust bus system addresses this, but as one long-time fan noted:
“It`s nice for folks who live in New York to have a somewhat closer venue. I know it`s not ideal for a lot of them, too, because there`s one bus that comes here but you adapt.”
— Jen Muller, official Gotham supporters group Cloud 9 member
About two hours before kickoff, the M35 bus ran roughly every 12 minutes – not a beacon of convenience, but still quicker than the 20-minute wait for a PATH train out of Sports Illustrated Stadium after a regularly scheduled Gotham home match. In true New York fashion, minor inconveniences are often balanced by surprising ease. The M35 stops directly behind Icahn Stadium, and perhaps more importantly, next to a truck serving tacos and Mister Softee, the ice cream truck as ubiquitous in the city as Starbucks.
Icahn Stadium itself is the definition of quaint. On a damp day, it felt as though someone had transplanted the English non-league football experience to New York. The venue offers its own eclectic blend of the ordinary and the glamorous, true to a city that is enjoyably grittier than its superficial portrayals in film and television often suggest. Though dulled by cloudy conditions, a light blue track encircles Icahn Stadium`s pitch, famously where Usain Bolt set the then-world record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 9.72 seconds.
“My parents are both track and field athletes and inside on the wall, there`s this list of all the world records that were broken here and my dad is actually here tonight. He competed at [the] Olympic trials level and stuff, he competed here at times so understanding the historic aspect of this place and being in New York and even the view and everything about it, I think it`s really iconic and really special for us to be here.”
— Yael Averbuch West
Randall`s Island also boasts significant soccer history. Icahn Stadium was built on the grounds of Downing Stadium, the venue that hosted Pelé`s debut for the New York Cosmos in 1975, a nationally televised event. It was perhaps a fitting destination for the first-ever Concacaf W Champions Cup winners as they began play in the competition`s second season, even if Icahn Stadium`s historical layout presented a slight disruption.
“It is what it is. It`s obviously not ideal for convenience. You`re further away from the field, too, with the track here but that`s what happens when you don`t have your own stadium, right?”
— Jen Muller
Gotham Goes Stadium-Hopping
While Yael Averbuch West didn`t explicitly cite scheduling conflicts at Sports Illustrated Stadium, the New Jersey-based home of MLS`s New York Red Bulls that Gotham rents for NWSL matches, she explained that the Concacaf fixtures offered a unique opportunity to play elsewhere. With past Champions Cup matches not drawing massive crowds, the 5,000-seater Icahn Stadium was a suitable choice, primarily because it allowed Gotham to truly embody its name as a club representing both New Jersey and New York.
“We don`t ever get to be closer to our New York contingent so we felt like it was obviously a really cool venue and opportunity for us to be more convenient for a group of our fans that travel to New Jersey every week to see us play. We always have the debate – are we more New Jersey or are we more New York and we really are both.”
— Yael Averbuch West
Muller noted that Cloud 9 boasts a fairly even split between fans from New Jersey, where the team has historically been based, and New York – a long-standing development. New York-based fan groups previously traveled to Rutgers University`s Yurcak Field, the team`s home before 2020. Gotham has since played in a handful of area venues, including MSU Soccer Park during the pandemic-era NWSL Fall Series and some one-off games at Subaru Park, home of MLS`s Philadelphia Union. Muller clarified that Subaru Park is not convenient; Icahn Stadium surpasses it, even if it brought a nostalgic feel reminiscent of Yurcak Field in some ways.
Beyond its inexpensive concessions with vegan options, the Randall`s Island venue also boasts something other regional stadiums currently lack: a pristine pitch. A $3 million donation from New York City FC in 2023, whose MLS Next Pro team now calls Icahn Stadium home, ensured this quality. The pitch appeared to withstand Wednesday`s wet and windy conditions admirably, a welcome change for players compared to Sports Illustrated Stadium`s grass, which still bore scars from a concert weeks prior.
“I don`t really want to talk too much about it but the Sports Illustrated Stadium has traditionally been the best pitch in the league, and the last couple of games, it`s definitely been far away from that so this pitch here is outstanding.”
— Juan Carlos Amoros, Gotham head coach
It was a perfect setting for a novel kind of chaotic Concacaf night, one where the players had the freedom to embrace the unexpected. A free-flowing first half, seeing Gotham score twice and Monterrey once, gave way to a more organized second half, contrasting with the increasingly heavy downpour that, combined with the floodlights, resembled fog. The acoustics were remarkable, perhaps thanks to the utilitarian corrugated metal roof attempting to provide cover from the rain, even if the wind had other ideas. The typical sounds of a sporting event were amplified, with cheers from both sets of fans resonating loudly and clearly. There were plenty of unique auditory experiences that underscored Icahn Stadium`s quaintness: players` voices were audible from the last row, as were the sirens of an emergency vehicle passing by in the opening minutes of the match. Most authentically New York was Mister Softee`s iconic jingle, starting and stopping three times pre-match – a more genuine city anthem than anything produced by Frank Sinatra or Taylor Swift.
“These Concacaf games are always a little crazy. It`s fun. I just think it brings new challenges, playing teams from other countries. I think it`s a cool opportunity just playing teams from all over so I think it just throws new things at us constantly so I think there are always so many fun new components that we don`t always see in the NWSL.”
— Shelby Hogan, Gotham goalkeeper
Concacaf`s reputation for unexpected events precedes it, yet seldom does the confederation align so perfectly with New York`s entertaining disorder. Just as few would argue Concacaf consistently offers the highest quality soccer matches, none of the 858 fans in attendance would claim Icahn Stadium should regularly house a professional team. But this misses the point entirely: the world`s most popular and diverse sport isn`t solely about glitz and glamour, nor has it ever been. One watches a Concacaf-organized match as a soccer romantic (or a soccer sicko, arguably the same thing). New York mirrors this, a city often sanitized for the masses but at its best, a vibrant mix of lived-in, hole-in-the-wall establishments tucked into small but mighty neighborhoods.
Surprisingly, Wednesday`s match, with all its inherent obstacles, may have just delivered the most authentically New York soccer experience.
