One Year Later: Red Bull Park Groundbreaking

Are they digging up or burying hope for their own stadium?

From Frank Giase's "Etc" column in this morning's Newark Star-Ledger:

"Tommorrow (Sept. 19th) is the one-year anniversary of the Red Bulls' stadium groundbreaking. In a time frame that has seen other Major League Soccer teams complete or nearly complete new facilities, the Red Bulls are still trying to clear the land and establish a date when construction will begin."

What is going on with Red Bull Park? No one wants a return to the time of "60-90 days" announcements every other month but RBNY is so much more tight-lipped than the previous regime when it comes to discussing progress of the much-maligned project. They may be taking it too far, leaving people to start making up their own stories (partially due to a frozen webcam); with rumours of AEG's stake in the facility being bought out and Red Bull opting to move into the new Giants-Jets Stadium that is under construction swirling, wouldn't it behoove RBNY to make some sort of statement?

If they aren't careful, the silence will start to get deafening. At what point do New York fans (not to mention the taxpayers of Harrison, NJ) begin to question that this place is really going to get built? At what point does The Don & co. at MLS HQ say "enough is enough, get on with it or get out"? And at what point does some reporter, ANY REPORTER, decide to get the stones to start asking some hard questions about the holdup?

It is somewhat odd and troubling that no one in the NY soccer press, national press, or even the Harrison High School newspaper has really dug their teeth into this one. Perhaps someone has and but hit the wall of silence head on or they're wary of damaging their relationship with the club in the process. Either way no one seems to have got down to the heart of this matter, which leaves it & the New York fans in a state of limbo. And that, unlike New Jersey, is not the place for a pro sports franchise to be.