by DAVE MARTINEZ

The verdict on the New York Cosmos’ Elmont Stadium bid is now over three years in the making.

Will this year finally yield a decision?

One way or another, Cosmos COO Erik Stover believes it will.

“Since that process is moving forward and we all feel very encouraged about it,” Stover told reporters at a round table discussion Tuesday morning. “You have to play close attention to that. We’ve got to see that process out.

“We fully expect an answer is coming. Whether it’s yes or no determines our next step.”

The Cosmos responded to a New York State RFP for the redevelopment of a large swath of land adjacent to Belmont Racetrack back in 2013. The original scope of the project included two parcels of land where the Cosmos proposed a 25,000 seat stadium, a hotel, and restaurant row.

However, at the close of 2015, the Empire State Development Corp. changed the specs to the three year old RFP, taking away the area of land closest to Belmont Racetrack and leaving the footprint area for the Cosmos stadium up for grabs. Since then, New York have readjusted their bid, consolidating all of their plans into a single parcel and re-imagining their stadium with an attached, 300,000 square foot retail space.

The project is estimated at $400 million — all paid for by the club.

While the developmental area is smaller than the original proposal, the Cosmos are encouraged by their plans and — more importantly — the renewed lines of communication with Albany.

“We haven’t heard anything on a time line, but the back and forth, the questions and answers, the communication on process is more than it’s been since the very beginning,” Stover said. “So it’s clear to us that there’s an effort to get to an answer on this RFP. I just don’t know exactly what the timing is. But certainly, a lot more communication over the last two months than what we’ve had for over two years.”

Asked why the bid has lingered for so many years, Stover said, “I don’t know what was happening in Albany, what was happening at the ESD that made other things a priority, so I can’t comment on that. What I do know is that the process seems to be clear now. They are moving towards an answer. They are asking poignant questions and we are giving what we feel are good answers. There’s clearly an urgency to get to an answer.”

The Cosmos are working under the assumption that the other three bidders vying for this land (Bluemenfeld Development Group of Syosset, N.Y., the Engel Burman Group of Garden City, N.Y., Basser-Kaufman of Woodmere, N.Y., and Related Cos. of Manhattan) have all submitted their revisions.

However, the team also recognize that their stadium efforts have reached a crossroads, and the answer from the ESD will certainly shape their plans moving forward.

“If it’s a yes, then we’re pouring a lot of money into making that a reality, negotiating with the state, investing in architecture and engineering, environmental impact studies, all the things that are required to actually get to putting a shovel in the ground,” Stover said. “If it’s a no, the two or three sites that we’ve been looking at, now we have to start investing in feasibility studies. Which of those sites gives the best opportunities for us? Not only from a construction, engineering, access point of view, but also from a marketability point of view. There are hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars that would have to go into that this year.

“It depends,” he continues. “There is a fork in the road coming. That fork will be determined by the answer from the ESD we think in the short term.”