It’s possible that this squandered first decade won’t matter in the long run. If you squint, you can see progress toward becoming a fixture in the city: the stadium deal, the championship, the club-branded mini-pitches installed all over town. MLS writ large exists in a strange place right now, a new media rights deal and a fledgling network being built on the fly, a sense that the real goal is to build momentum to capitalize on the 2026 World Cup. NYCFC going with the flow isn’t a team killer.
It is a waste of time, though. And the team sits in a more precarious position than the league.
An $800 million valuation (sure …), losing $12 million a season, backed by an ownership group targeted for dramatic financial improprieties by one of world soccer’s most powerful governing bodies. If the Premier League comes down hard on Manchester City, how might that affect CFG more broadly and NYCFC specifically? No one can say for sure, but it likely won’t be positive.
The MLS campaign, however, waits for no team. The club opens on the road at Nashville SC. A week later, they take on the Chicago Fire in the Windy City.
On the Tuesday between matches, Cushing and his staff, along with sporting director David Lee and NYCFC executives, are hosting a charity fundraiser on a Tribeca rooftop. Tickets can be had for $350 (cocktail hour), $750 (cocktails plus dinner), or $6,000 (half a table). It’s billed as “A night to remember to kick off the 2023 season!” What or who, exactly, will be remembered remains to be seen.
