Men's pro soccer team set to represent Westchester, begin play in Mount Vernon in 2025
A new men's professional soccer team representing Westchester plans to begin play next spring under the United Soccer League and to play its home games at Memorial Field in Mount Vernon.
The new team, known as the Westchester Soccer Club, aims to kick off in March 2025 as part of USL League One, a fast-growing Division III league under the United Soccer League organization.
The club is owned by a group led by Mitch Baruchowitz of Rye, co-founder and managing partner of Merida, a private equity firm focused on the cannabis industry.
An official announcement of the team's arrival is expected within weeks, a spokesperson for the club confirmed.
A statement from the club said they also hope to bring a women's team to Westchester in the "coming years."
"Together with our passionate local soccer community, our aim is to become the cornerstone of Westchester's already thriving soccer ecosystem and ascend to the highest tier of the USL's professional soccer pyramid," the statement said. "We are committed to building both world-class boys' and girls' developmental pipeline for Westchester's incredible local player base.”
A score for Memorial Field
The arrival of a professional soccer team would appear to be a significant score for Memorial Field, a once prominent facility that sat vacant for over a decade before reopening in 2022 after $40 million in renovations. Westchester County drove the project and paid for it, with the county and city of Mount Vernon jointly managing the property until full control was returned to the city in 2023.
The facility, officially known as The Stadium at Memorial Field, has a grandstand that seats 3,900, new locker rooms, a public track and skate park, and more.
A professional rugby team briefly called Memorial Field home before folding in December 2023.
Tim Allen, spokesperson for the city of Mount Vernon, said Wednesday the city will withhold comment for now since contract negotiations are not finished. "We will provide a comment and official announcement as soon as the process is complete," he said in an email.
Club wants to focus on player development
Westchester Soccer Club plans to merge with a Westchester-based youth soccer academy and to develop partnerships with Westchester and regional soccer programs and clubs, all to create a pipeline for player development. Officials believe the club could draw interest from players, fans and programs from northern New Jersey and Rockland County to western Connecticut.
USL League One is a Division III league operated by the United Soccer League, which runs three men's leagues, two women's leagues, a player development academy and a national youth academy. USL League One, which launched in 2019, has 12 clubs in markets like Charlotte, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, and Spokane, Washington.
USL League One has announced future club in Santa Barbara, California, Naples, Florida, and Portland, Maine, but has not yet announced the Westchester club.
According to USL League One's website: "League One has focused on launching new clubs in markets that possess strong local ownership groups, populations with broad-based diversity, a vibrant millennial and strong family base, established corporate support, and stadiums to properly showcase the sport for fans, partners and the public."
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester Soccer Club aims to begin play in 2025 in Mount Vernon NY
