pitched at MLS Stadium as the anchor for a development with a hotel and dining apartments.
Potential owners of Major League Soccer and MLS Developmental League teams are pitching Albany officials for an 8,000-seat stadium that will be the centerpiece of downtown Albany's Liberty Square entertainment district.
NextProp, a developmental league under MLS, aims to have a team playing in Albany by 2026, in time for the start of the 2026 Soccer World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. times union report.
The soccer franchise, which doesn't yet have a name, will primarily include Business for Good founders Ed Mitzen and Lisa Mitzen, as well as real estate developers Jeff Buell and Chris Splaragen. will be owned by a group of investors including:
The Developmental League team has the backing of MLS executives, who met with elected officials Thursday to build a 9-acre site in the Liberty Square area that includes a hotel, restaurant and apartments next to the stadium. announced plans for a $300 million entertainment district.
“The Capital Region has been on our radar for a while,” Charles Alczek, NextProp League chairman and MLS executive vice president, told the newspaper. “From a market perspective, we didn’t need any convincing.”
Team officials said they planned to ask the state to help fund the project, but stressed that most of the funding would come from private investment, the report said.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan called the proposal a “once-in-a-generation transformational opportunity” for the Liberty Square neighborhood. “We will do everything in our power to make this happen,” Sheehan said in his statement.
Schenectady-based Reform Architecture created initial site plans and renderings for the proposed stadium district.
Team officials are also in talks with Populous, the architecture firm responsible for Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and the new Buffalo Bills football stadium, to design a stadium in Albany that could be expanded with additional seating, the report said. Stated.
In addition to soccer, the Albany facility will also host concerts and other events that MVP Arena and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs lack the scale to do. The NextPro League is scheduled to take place in 2026 with his 28-game schedule, including 14 home games.