Due to poor field conditions at Sports Illustrated Stadium, Gotham FC has moved its NWSL semifinal match scheduled for Sunday against the Kansas City Current to the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in Manhattan.
“We exhausted every possible avenue before making this decision, and we are deeply disappointed that so many of our fans will now be unable to experience this moment alongside our team,” Gotham FC governor Carolyn Tisch Blodgett said. “Our players deserve a playing surface that meets the standards of a professional semifinal, and our fans deserve the opportunity to support them. We have worked tirelessly to deliver on both and are disappointed that we cannot.”
The playing surface at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, NJ — the 25,000-seat home of MLS side Red Bull New York in which Gotham FC are tenants — has been well below passable for each of the NWSL side’s last two matches. The club was fined $10,000 by the league for poor conditions during its regular-season finale on Nov. 1 against the Utah Royals.
Players and coaches alike blasted the condition of the pitch following Sunday’s NWSL quarterfinal, a 1-0 Gotham victory over the Seattle Reign.
Just one night before, Red Bull New York hosted Atlanta United in its regular-season finale, a 3-0 victory. A Gotham club source told amNewYork that before Sunday’s quarterfinal date was set, the team explored nearly a dozen other venues if they were forced to play on Saturday. This came during weeks-long conversations with Red Bull New York and Sports Illustrated Stadium about improving the quality of the field.
Instead, results around the league saw the match against Seattle fall to Sunday, and what was left was a sandy, soft mess.
“I feel the obligation to almost apologize for the state of the pitch,” Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amoros said.
Gotham won despite failing to produce a single shot on target — the first time in NWSL history that has happened. An own goal by Seattle defender Jordyn Bugg in the fourth minute proved the difference
“We as a team worked extremely hard to earn a home playoff berth,” Gotham FC captain Tierna Davidson said. “What we got was a field that is not the standard this club, this league, or our fans deserve.”
The field at Sports Illustrated Stadium is set to be used yet again the night before Gotham’s tilt against Kansas City, with Red Bull New York facing Mexican side Club America in a friendly on Saturday.
“We wish Gotham FC the best of luck in their semifinal at Icahn Stadium,” a statement from Red Bull New York read. “We look forward to our match on Saturday at Sports Illustrated Stadium.”
According to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, Gotham, Red Bull New York, and the NWSL all collaborated on potential options for the field. The last and best hope was a hybrid model that would sew artificial threads into the problematic spots of the Bermuda grass pitch. However, it was unclear if such a project would be completed by Red Bull’s match on Saturday, and that plan was abandoned. Red Bull will play its match on the existing pitch, while Gotham will lose out on 20,000 potential tickets with its move to Icahn Stadium.
“We felt it was important to prioritize a playing surface that appropriately allows our athletes to perform at their best,” Gotham president Yael Averbuch West said. “Providing our players with a high-quality surface to compete is a responsibility we take very seriously. We fully understand and appreciate the impact this has on our fans, and we are equally disappointed that we won’t have the opportunity to play in front of more of our supporters at our usual home venue. Unfortunately, we were faced with a difficult situation, and at the end of the day, the game is played on the field. Our responsibility is to provide our players with the best possible conditions to compete, and ultimately, we felt we had to prioritize the playing surface.”
For more on Gotham FC, visit AMNY.com
