Excitement Builds For NYCFC's Inaugural Home Match At Yankee Stadium
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City FC will be playing its first Major League Soccer home match at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, and area businesses and fans couldn't be more thrilled.
When there's no game over at the Stadium, it's kind of quiet at Belly's Sports Bar, but when there is a game, manager George Manesis says they do six times the business.
"It's like day and night," he told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell. "Non-game days we have 300 people, game day we have 2,000 people in and out."
Merchants, Fans Can't Wait For NYCFC's First Home Game
He's hoping for a big turnout this weekend.
"We've had soccer games in the past over here and it was kind of more crowded than a Yankee game," Manesis said. "I think soccer fans are more rowdy than Yankee fans."
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Down the block at the Bull Pen Deli, Basam Alhadi said this should be huge.
"When there's a game that's the time to make profit," Alhadi said.
NYCFC Fan Club President Excited For Inaugural Home Game
Hardcore soccer fans like William Howell think this will be a better experience than a Yankees game.
"We're going to try to create more of a loud, boisterous atmosphere than you would normally hear in most American sports," said Howell, an organizer of the NYCFC's fan club, The Third Rail. "Opening game day is going to be ridiculous."
Fan club president, Chance Michaels, could barely contain his excitement during an interview with 1010 WINS.
"There's a lot of anticipation right now as we prepare for the inaugural home game," Michaels said. "It almost has kind of a sense of magic...It's a huge opportunity for sports fans to be able to say, 'I was there when it began,' this an opportunity for everyone to really get in on the ground floor."
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira fears the field will be torn apart by the soccer cleats, but Yankees management says the pitch will be perfect, 1010 WINS' John Montone reported.
