In sports, home is where the people show up

New York City FC is playing in their secondary home this Decision Day. Yankee Stadium was held in case the Yankees were good enough to be in the ALCS – they were not. Citi Field is the actual home of the Mets. Similar to Yankee Stadium it is smaller than typical for MLS and the ad boards aren't at typical placements which creates weird visuals for players too.

In 2027 NYCFC will finally have a home. There's actual construction on their permanent soccer stadium. Unlike the Red Bulls, this stadium is actually in New York City.

To this point NYCFC played home games in seven stadia in four states. Red Bulls (previously MetroStars) also lacked a home. They chose the play in the 'burbs route that was popular in MLS until the 20-teens. It's a path that Sounders ownership has indicated they may follow – a path to smaller crowds with heavier traffic that lacks direct connection to the city on the shirt.

Owning your own home is a great quest. It is appealing to individuals and sports teams. Most certainly better than playing home games 2,500 miles away as New York City have done, it may not be better than renting in downtown.

Can anyone really think that Red Bulls are more relevant in the metro area of New York than City is? Chicago Fire are abandoning their suburban stadium. LAFC being in the city took a ton of juice from Galaxy (it didn't help that Galaxy decided to be awful at the same time).

The expansion teams that dominate the success narrative as business entities are in the city – Seattle, Portland, Nashville, Orlando, Atlanta. Teams like the Philadelphia Union long to be relevant in their market as they camp in one suburban corner begging for attention.

New York City FC is going to be a better business than Red Bulls not because they own their home (both will) but because their home is in NYC rather than the suburb of a suburb. Red Bulls home submarket is still many millions of people in North Jersey.

Commercial real estate for sports teams is one of the hardest things to unlock. Multiple entities attempted to bring the Sonics back. They all failed, no matter their location. New York City will take a decade to solve their quest.

In the end they got it right – a team controlled stadium in the city that bears their name. That's where teams belong.

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Catching up on Sounder at Heart

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Sounders

Next match: Saturday, Oct. 18 at New York City FC | 3 pm PT | MLS Season Pass

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Reign

Next match: Saturday, Nov. 2 at Orlando Pride | tbd | tbd
Reign are currently in 3rd with a week and a half of games still to go in the season. Seattle clinched the playoffs.