CONCOURSE — The New York City Football Club's inaugural season at Yankee Stadium starts in just over a month, but many Bronxites still don't know about the team.
“I guess they’re a club about football,” said 38-year-old Highbridge resident Nickey Harris. “I don’t know who they are.”
The Major League Soccer team, owned by the Yankees and Manchester City owner's City Football Group, is scheduled to play its first game at Yankee Stadium on March 15.
Mouktar Faisal, 17, said he knew about NYCFC forward David Villa, but not the team itself. However, he said he would try to go watch some matches when he found out about it.
“Maybe it’s going to bring more opportunities, like people can accomplish their dreams to be players,” he said.
But not everyone is in the dark.
Samuel Brobbey, who lives close to the stadium, said he was a huge fan of soccer and knew about NYCFC’s and the controversy over midfielder Frank Lampard not starting to play for the team until July.
He said he was thrilled to have a professional New York soccer team that actually plays here instead of New Jersey, as the Red Bulls do.
Additionally, Cary Goodman, executive director of the 161st Street Business Improvement District, said the team partnered with local sports bars to give away free tickets, had players come in for autograph signings, and members are planning a series of community events throughout the city in early March to introduce the team, Goodman said.
"I frankly feel that they’re setting the right example for what we want a soccer team doing," he said.
Goodman said more people would learn about the team as opening day gets closer and the neighborhood was excited about NYCFC, especially given the middling performance of the Yankees for the past few seasons.
"The Yankees have not been very good the last couple of years," he said. "I think this is a neighborhood that’s used to having a winning part of it. People are enthusiastic about the possibilities that maybe this soccer team will be a championship team."
An NYCFC spokesman said that the team has done a large amount of community work in the South Bronx and was looking forward to doing more.
The team has run a free after-school program at The Shakespeare School to support nutrition education, according to the spokesman, and it selected South Bronx United Soccer as one of its youth affiliates.
So far, the team had Villa visit kids at SBUS to play soccer with them and taken some youth players to practice at its training center, according to SBUS Program Director Carlos Bhanji.
"They’re all super excited about it because it’s not something they’ve had close to them," Bhanji said. "Going to Red Bulls' stadium isn’t super accessible."
However, Bronx Community Board 4 District Manager Jose Rodriguez said he has not heard much about the team from neighbors.
"Folks haven’t really talked about anything, good or bad," he said. "There’s no word that I know of."
Rodriguez did say he thought the team would be good for local businesses and that chatter might increase once spring arrives.
"I think once the warm weather breaks in, you’ll have folks being really excited about it," he said. "And you’ll have folks who are never excited about anything that ever happens."
Luigi Henriquez, who lives blocks away from Yankee Stadium, said he was a bigger fan of Spanish teams than American ones, but would consider checking out an NYCFC match.
“When the Yankees are not here, we can watch a soccer game, I guess,” he said.
