August 20 – Yankee Stadium’s temporary football pitch has drawn ridicule once more, with Philadelphia Union midfielder Alejandro Bedoya branding it “absolutely the worst field ever” before Sunday’s win over New York City FC. 

The surface, at a stadium built for baseball, has long been a problem for Major League Soccer. Grass is laid over the infield dirt of the diamond, often still visible beneath. On Sunday it looked especially grim, with significant chunks of turf near second base and the halfway line appearing dead. 

Bedoya didn’t hold back in a video later posted to Instagram. “Look how patchy it is,” he said, before stomping on a solid, uncovered strip near a corner flag, apparently the first base coach’s box. “Look at this, rock hard. This is terrible.”  

He then panned to a dark line, seemingly part of the first base line, cutting through the six-yard box. “I cannot wait for the new stadium,” Bedoya said, “because, yeah, Yankee Stadium, it’s cool for baseball. For soccer? Never.” 

That new home, Etihad Park, opens in July 2027, the soccer-specific stadium NYCFC has chased since launching in 2015. The Bronx ground has drawn derision throughout, for both its narrow pitch and its surface. Back in 2019, Montreal coach Rémi Garde called it “a shame that good players cannot play good football.” 

To be fair, the pitch didn’t decide Sunday’s game, all five goals coming at the better outfield end, where the Union came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 through a Bruno Damiani double. 

Still, for a league desperate to be taken seriously, it’s a bad look. Roll on 2027.