(Getty)
Carmelo Anthony is the proud new owner of Puerto Rico FC, an expansion team in NASL that will begin play in 2016.
This is Anthony speaking about soccer in ESPN FC:
My passion for soccer has always been there. I just always kept it to myself and among my circle. Going to games, sneaking into games and just watching and being around the sport over the years. The more time I spent I started spending in Puerto Rico over the past six, seven years I realized that there was kind of a void down there on my island. The island didn’t really have anything that they could kind of call their own, that they could represent not just on the island but from a global standpoint.
The thought of the 6-foot-8 Anthony sneaking into soccer games is particularly delightful.
Originally, Anthony spoke with the former owners of the Puerto Rico Islanders, an NASL team in 2011 and 2012 that then suspended operations, about bringing their club back. In the end he decided to go the expansion way and start up the new Puerto Rico FC.
Anthony’s team will play in a stadium in Bayamon, and doesn’t have plans to build a new stadium … yet.
In Bayamon, we had to work out the details for that. The mayor was very helpful with that, figuring out the lease. But as far as me building a stadium, I think it’s more about building affordable housing around the stadium, building the town and the city back up, bringing more jobs to the island, whether it’s working with the team, working with the stadium. It’s more about bringing the island together and bringing more awareness to the island.
No word yet on if the team will wear Knicks blue and orange.
