And here’s the pitch.
MCU Park’s baseball field will become a soccer pitch this spring when the New York Cosmos — formerly of Long Island — make their new home in Coney Island. The fan-shaped field — also home to the Brooklyn Cyclones — will host all 16 home matches for the defending champions of the second-tier professional North American Soccer League starting in April.
And park honchos are promising fans a better view of the action than when the ill-fated Brooklyn Bolts football team imposed a gridiron over the baseball field in 2014.
“With the Bolts football field, since they only played at MCU for three games, MCU wanted to avoid moving the pitcher’s mound because it’s a hassle,” said park spokesman Billy Harner. “But since the Cosmos are playing for 16 games, it makes sense to go through the extra work of removing the pitcher’s mound.”
That means the pitch can be closer to seats than the gridiron was, he said.
Plus, the stadium will roll out the green carpet — Astroturf, that is — so players won’t have to contend with clay from the diamond, and so fans won’t have to look at baselines during the footie, Harner said.
“I think that’s ideally what we’ll do so we also don’t have 100 different lines on the field and it won’t look like a grammar school gym. We’ll see what works and what doesn’t, but we’re looking forward to it to really make the ball field and Coney Island a year-round spot.”
The soccer season will not interfere with Clones games, Harner said.
The Cosmos made a one-night-only showing at MCU Park in 2015, and they even ran some drills with a sea lion from Coney Island’s aquarium.
