What’s next for NM United stadium?

Talk of where a possible stadium for the New Mexico United is in the news again. For starters, we are pleased that in the wake of their defeat over a ballot measure for a taxpayer-financed stadium, that the team is (largely)  going the private financing route this time.

However, just because a stadium is constructed using private $$ doesn’t mean no tax dollars or resources are at stake. The team’s owner Peter Trevisani strongly implied recently that the possible location would be Balloon Fiesta Park. As KRQE notes, the undeveloped land around Balloon Fiesta Park, is either owned by the City of Albuquerque, the county, or Sandia Pueblo.

That is prime real estate in a city that doesn’t have much available land for big projects. Pueblo land would need to be purchased or swapped. And it would also seem that a soccer stadium is not a great place to land hot air balloons. In the event a stadium is built “privately” at Balloon Fiesta Park, it still seems like this could be a costly option.

We remain of the opinion that some kind of working relationship with either UNM football at University Stadium (football used 6 or so games a year) or further expansion of UNM’s 6,200 seat soccer-only facility located in the same area would be the most logical and cost-effective places for the United to play.