by DAVE MARTINEZ

It’s not easy being green.

The New York Cosmos have waited nearly four years for the Empire State Development Corporation to decide on their bid to build a stadium in Elmont. Meanwhile, the team has slowly but surely worn their welcome thin at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium.

And at no time was that situation more evident than Thursday afternoon.

Still basking in the glow of a thrilling victory over New York City FC and ere hours after a U.S. Open Cup draw granted the New York Cosmos hosting rights against the New England Revolution, team COO Erik Stover called an impromptu press conference, revealing Belson Stadium — not Shuart — as the home venue for this critical fifth round encounter.

“The issue we are facing is we have been told by Hofstra that we cannot host any MLS teams in the Open Cup at Shuart Stadium,” Stover said.

The reason for the University’s decision isn’t due to a congested schedule. Rather, fan altercations in past matches are at the heart of this ban.

“This stems from some security issues and altercations, fan behavior over the last couple of years of matches we have hosted there,” Stover revealed. “We spent time trying to change their mind of that decision. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that.”

While there were some light skirmishes with Red Bulls fans in 2014 at Hofstra, it was the 2015 encounter with New York City FC that turned Hofstra off to future Open Cup matches on their campus.

“There were a few altercations and there was some incidents of theft, scarves and hats and things, a fair amount of complaints for the University from patrons at the event,” he explained. “Nothing unusual that you’ve seen in soccer matches before. We haven’t had any security issues really through the three plus season we have played there except last season at the NYCFC game.

“Obviously, any altercation is totally unacceptable,” Stover clarified. “But my understanding of the circumstances was it wasn’t excessive in any way like riots or anything like that, or the hooliganism we have seen elsewhere.”

With Shuart off the table, Belson Stadium has become the go-to venue for the Cosmos. There are other venues the club has considered, but each has their issues. As Stover explains, playing conditions and presentation at Mitchel Field make the venue less than desirable. Mitchel is also fully booked. As for MCU Park, complaints from visiting teams about the different color turf (from brown baseball path to the green grass areas) make it unfit for the tournament.

That has reunited the Cosmos with Belson Stadium — an intimate 5,000 seat stadium on the campus of St. John’s University.

“Irregardless of how far we go through the tournament, Belson will need to be our home stadium,” Stover said.

He did, however, leave the door open for larger venues if the Cosmos advance further.

“We may find ourselves in a situation where it’s in the best interest of the tournament where hosting at Belson is not the right thing to do,” he said. “If you dont have your own stadium with reliable dates, we find ourselves in a situation like this.”