There are far more important aspects of Bill De Blasio’s record as Mayor of New York City that are worth examining when considering him as a presidential candidate than the failure to secure a stadium for NYCFC. But with the team making progress on finalizing a site by the end of the year, De Blasio the Presidential Candidate will have to consider how much De Blasio the Mayor can support an inevitably controversial development.

A deal for a stadium collapsed before De Blasio took office but his office worked with NYCFC on building 50 pitches across the Five Boroughs and his deputy mayor Alicia Glen said the failure to secure a stadium deal was one of her greatest disappointments before she left for the private sector. De Blasio’s support for a stadium was predicated on two modest conditions: no public funding and the inclusion of affordable housing units. NYCFC have the means to privately fund a stadium and are open to including the housing units as their proposal for the Harlem River Yards site showed.

But if NYCFC meet both demands, can they really expect to have De Blasio be the champion for the proposal that they need him to be?

Each of MLS’ most recent stadiums (Minnesota United and LAFC) including FC Cincinnati’s under construction stadium required some political capital from local mayors to see the project through an approval process — especially so in Cincinnati. The West End Stadium was criticized for displacing local residents and for a controversial tax package. Without Mayor John Cranley advocating the West End Stadium as a boom for development, it’s likely that the narrow City Council vote would not have gone FC Cincinnati’s way.

The publicized Harlem River Yards proposal and the potential development at Willets Point each drew critics so the opposition to the actual proposed NYCFC stadium is inevitable. And there are perfectly valid reasons to criticize a stadium proposal: New York City’s affordable housing crisis continues, the potential for gentrification in the South Bronx or the displacement of businesses at Willets Point and the ties to Abu Dhabi are all going to come up. As much as CFG can prepare themselves for each talking point, they need a mayor who can take the time and capital to convince skeptics that a stadium is worth the tradeoffs.

That’s a tough ask for any Mayor of New York, let alone one that’s actively seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States. It’s hard to square De Blasio telling voters of his commitment toward improving the lives of poor minorities if he returns to the South Bronx to champion a stadium in one of the City’s poorest neighborhoods. On a similar vein, how are potential voters who are appalled with the UAE’s conduct in the Yemeni Civil War look at Candidate De Blasio if Mayor De Blasio signs off on Etihad Stadium USA. Along with the contradictions comes the practical reality that De Blasio will be spending more time on the campaign trail than anywhere helpful to the stadium effort. That may suit De Blasio just fine.

As for NYCFC, their ambitions may depend on whether their ‘ally’ fulfills his own first.

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As for where the stadium talks are at, someone with direct knowledge of the recent Community Board meetings in The Bronx said the local Board was seeking a status update on the stadium development as opposed to any sort of plan to announce.

Talks continue on three sites. Two in the South Bronx and Willets Point in Queens. The Community Board and the politicians are waiting for NYCFC to decide on which site it will pursue. NYCFC are continuing to weigh each site but it’s likely that they will make their choice and announce their intentions some time this year.