By Tracy Zwick
A mini soccer field will be installed in Central Park’s Tavern on the Green parking lot in the weeks leading up to this summer’s U.S.-hosted World Cup, as detailed at a recent Community Board 7 Parks & Environment Committee meeting.
Ellyn Canfield, executive director of NYC World Cup Operations, described the 20-by-40-meter pitch, sized for 5-on-5 pickup-style soccer matches, during the meeting on May 18.
Canfield characterized the little-used parking lot in Central Park near West 67th Street as the perfect size for a mini pitch, noting that it won’t displace any current use of the area or impede access to the park or Tavern on the Green restaurant.
The parking lot, now mostly unused except during the week of the annual NYC Marathon, is “a remnant of when there were a lot more cars in the park,” the Central Park Conservancy’s David Saltonstall told the committee.
There will be no bleachers or concessions – just soccer, pure and simple. The plan is for the mini pitch to be open from June 11th through July 19th, the 39 days of the World Cup competition. The mini pitch’s hours will mirror the park’s: essentially from dawn to dusk. FIFA, the international soccer governing body, will pay for security and waste management for the site.
The space will be co-managed by Soccer Streets, a community organization involved in soccer all across NYC. “This is a community activation,” Canfield explained, so local soccer clubs as well as neighborhood youth and adults will all be invited to play. There will be structured blocks throughout the day, including skills clinics, demonstrations, and open play, with “some fully open hours” every day.
“There might be some fun surprises,” she added. “As teams go out of the World Cup,” local NYC communities “might see some activity from players from [eliminated] teams coming out for a clinic, for example,” she said.
Canfield did not provide a firm installation date for the mini pitch. She indicated it could be as late as June 4th or 6th, noting that the mini pitch is essentially pre-fabricated. “It comes together quickly,” she explained; “it’s not weeks of construction.”
A website with more information about the newest soccer space will be launched soon, Canfield said.
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Love this!
The lot should have been reclaimed as parkland a long time ago. Keep a driveway and drop off area, turn the rest GREEN.
Make it permanent!