Yankees, Manchester City partner on MLS franchise

• Manchester City CEO says team could send some players to NY on loan
• Partnership ends nearly 20-year effort to launch second MLS team in New York
• Levine says Yankee Stadium could be an option for team%27s debut in 2015

The New York Yankees are teaming up with one of the biggest names in English soccer to bring the beautiful game to New York City.

Major League Soccer on Tuesday unveiled its long awaited 20th franchise, called New York City FC, which will be financed by the owner of English Premier League's Manchester City FC and the Yankees. The club will begin playing in 2015, however it does not yet have a home stadium.

Randy Levine, president of the Yankees, said the baseball team is a minority investor in the union, but said both teams share a common vision. "Manchester City has the same philosophy as us — this is about bringing a championship soccer team to the fans of New York," Levine said in a news conference Tuesday. "That is the eminent goal."

Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City, said the English club would likely loan its marquee players to the New York team at some point. The organization's extensive scouting network in Europe and Latin America could help the club achieve immediate success, he said.

"We are going to make extensive use of our expertise and knowledge," Soriano said. "I have the self confidence to build a winning team that does not lose money and follows the rules."

The partnership ends a nearly 20-year effort by MLS to bring a second team to New York alongside the Red Bulls, one of the league's original teams. MLS Commissioner Don Garber said the league always hoped to create a cross-town rivalry in New York to mimic successful soccer rivalries in London and Manchester.

"It was part of the original business plan of the league," Garber said. "To have this rivalry adds enormous value to what we're trying to achieve, which is more interest and more popularity."

Garber's predecessor, Doug Logan, who was commissioner from 1996 until 1999, said in the mid 1990's he pitched ownership in a second New York city club to Mets owner Fred Wilpon as well as to soccer star Péle. Logan said he discussed MLS' New York ambitions with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, but he never made an official pitch.

"We never even got to first base with [Steinbrenner] — there was very little interest there," Logan said. "We thought this would be a seven-year project, and low and behold it took 18 years."

Logan said MLS' original plan called for the New York MetroStars — which became the Red Bulls in 2006 — to cater to fans in New Jersey, while the second New York team would serve fans in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. Philadelphia Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz, who was president of the MetroStars from 2000 until 2005, said New York's soccer market is big enough for that plan to still work.

"The vast majority of license plates in [the MetroStars] parking lot were from New Jersey," Sakiewicz said. "It was tough for fans in western Long Island or Queens to get to our games."

For the past three seasons Garber had said the New York expansion team sat atop the league's list of business goals. In the last month, reports had linked MLS' New York team to Manchester City's owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. But in March, Garber told reporters that the league might drop the project altogether if a deal could not be reached within two years.

Garber had also wooed the Wilpon family as potential owners. The Yankees, however, were never mentioned for possible MLS ownership. Levine said the relationship with Manchester City started through their business relationships through Legends Hospitality.

Garber would not comment on the franchise fee paid by the owners, however numerous reports pegged the amount at $100 million. He said the league is working on a stadium plan, and that the proposed site in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens was still an option.

Levine said Yankees Stadium could be a viable option for the club's debut in 2015. He also said there will be opportunities for business synergies between the soccer club and the baseball team.

"Maybe this means [soccer] is on the YES Network," Levine said. "We know how to market and gain sponsors. There will be an option between Manchester City's sponsors for some cross-pollination. We haven't gotten into it."