Former NYGAA president Monty Maloney said Monday that he had received a letter confirming the good news.
“We have a piece of land in the middle of the city,” he said. “The GAA will be able to play there seven days a week.”
Maloney said the letter meant that the NYGAA could now go ahead with plans to build a “state-of-the-art” stadium complex that will be known as RIGS — Randalls Island Gaelic Stadium.
“Investors are keenly interested in the project,” Maloney said. “People should remember that we have tried to get land [in New York City] for over 50 years. This has been given to us free.”
Maloney and other NYGAA members have been personally involved in the search for a permanent site for more than five years. The NYGAA established the NYGAA Sports Corporation, a legally incorporated body that Maloney continues to head up after he resigned as president in November 2002, and this body submitted a Request for Proposal to the relevant city authorities.
NYGAA had to compete for the land against other anonymous bidders. In the end, the Gaels’ plan won.
Randalls Island, 480 acres in all, is already home to a series of sports complexes and Fire Department of New York training grounds.
A New York Police Department scuba diving school has its home there, as well as a ferry marina, a tennis center, an ice skating rink, little league, soccer, baseball and lacrosse facilities.
“It could be nine months before we dig a hole there,” said Maloney, noting that the project has been bedeviled by delays.
But he’s confident that construction companies will be eager to get involved. Maloney hopes to see a 10,000-person stadium, a bar and restaurant facility with room for 400 people, changing rooms, a fitness center and training grounds.
NYGAA’s current fabled home is Gaelic Park in the Bronx, where the organization has used five acres of playing grounds for several decades now. The city-owned facility is leased to Manhattan College, which in turn allows the GAA to hold its games there. Gaelic Park, however, has no parking facilities and the playing fields are below par. Maloney sees the new complex as a major and permanent home for Gaelic games in the city.
“This will be a beautiful complex, practically in the middle of the city,” he said. “You can walk to it from 103rd Street in Manhattan, just over the bridge, and access from the other boroughs is just as good. We’ll have our own parking and our own security.”
A family day out is what a visit to the new stadium will be like, Maloney said, offering the chance to see some great games, and get food and music afterward. The complex will have a children’s play area also. Maloney said he has high hopes for seeing the new stadium opening in late 2005.