€2m GAA boost for New York board’s stadium plans

NEW YORK GAA board officials are confident the €2m grant received from central council will convince the city it has the financial muscle to proceed with its 25-acre stadium development at Randall’s Island.

The €2m grant for the Randalls Island Gaelic Sports Group project was approved by Croke Park at its central council meeting earlier this month.

The development on a Greenfield site, nestling between Manhattan, Bronx and Queens, will provide the New York GAA with its own headquarters and playing fields after decades of renting the famous but inadequate Gaelic Park in the north Bronx from Manhattan College.

The RIGS project had been struggling to meet the funding criteria laid out by city officials in return for the donation of their land late last year.

There have also been a number of amendments to the original plans with one of the two fields at the site now proposed as an indoor domed arena suitable for year-round use in addition to an outdoors stadium with capacity for 10,000 spectators.

RIGS sought a number of extensions but was finally told it had a final deadline of December 31 to come up with firm proof it could go ahead with the venture.

Kieran O’Sullivan of RIGS said the intervention from headquarters will be crucial. “We had a deadline of the end of the year to convince the city that we had a financially viable project and were in a position to begin construction,” said O’Sullivan. “I would be confident that with this grant from central council we will be able to prove to the city we are just that.”

O’Sullivan said the support shown by GAA president Seán Kelly in the past year and the backing of other senior figures at Croke Park had been fundamental to getting the project off the ground and hopefully to attracting further investment once the green light comes at the end of the year.

“Seán Kelly has made a huge difference to this project. He has visited us twice this year and looked over the site. He has also seen Gaelic Park during the summer and realises how are hands are tied with that venue.

“And when (former GAA president) Peter Quinn and (former Dublin footballer and lawyer) Tony Hanohoe came to New York last month they were also satisfied with what they saw. It was their recommendation to central council that got us the grant.” RIGS president Monty Moloney also praised Kelly for ensuring that the size of the grant was raised from an initial €1m to €2m.

“The two million will create a situation that we feel confident will get us by December 31,” Moloney added.

Both Moloney and O’Sullivan hinted that more major donations and investments were on the horizon for the project.

“This grant looks as if it will open the door to more money coming into the project,” said O’Sullivan. “There is one major party looking to get involved, although I don’t want to say who at this stage.”