NEW YORK — While presiding over Tribeca Enterprises in early 2015, Jon Patricof was curious about the new kid in town – the New York City Football Club – but could not envision he would wield authority as the president of the expansion team just a year later.
Patricof will now vacate that position in December, at the conclusion of his three-year contract. He will remain with the club as a member of NYCFC’s Board of Directors, the club announced Thursday.
“I was paying attention to [NYCFC], but it wasn’t high on my radar, I have to admit,” Patricof told Pro Soccer USA three days before he stepped down as president. “All the fans in the club know I wasn’t somebody who grew up in the soccer world, or professional sports world, like a lot of the club presidents are. I come from a little bit of a different background.”
The New York City native previously worked in strategic planning for the Walt Disney Company, helping to develop a growth plan for ABC/ESPN before leaving to serve as president and COO of the parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Patricof was bestowed a large share of the credit for establishing the Film Festival as a global institution from its nascent stages of development shortly after 9/11. And the Tribeca experience served as an adequate precursor to supervising a professional team in Major League Soccer.
“First of all, putting on a large live event in this city, there are a lot of similarities,” Patricof said. “I always said the business model and strategy for Tribeca, I always modeled off of professional sports.”
Under Patricof, New York City FC has earned playoff qualification in three consecutive years. He has overseen the construction of the Etihad City Football Academy Training Facility in Orangeburg, N.Y., while expanding the resources for the NYCFC Academy program, where the MLS team’s first two Homegrown players, James Sands (2017) and Joe Scally (2018), developed.
“One of the only things I am able to say is that we’re closer than we’ve ever been to a stadium.”
Off the field, NYCFC has joined The New York City Soccer Initiative to help construct 50 mini pitches in underserved communities across the five boroughs.
While the growth of the club and the contributions to the community have been evident during his reign, Patricof’s legacy may hinge on a soccer-specific stadium. NYCFC currently plays on the smallest pitch in the league, angled across the outfield of Yankee Stadium.
“I’m the first one to acknowledge the stadium project itself is continually the biggest project this club needs to undertake,” Patricof said. “I think we’ve made really good progress, although there’s no major developments to report now.”
A stadium project and potential locations have been discussed since 2013, three years before Patricof began his tenure.
“I spend some of my time on the stadium, but the reality is there are other people who spend 100 percent of their time on the stadium,” Patricof said. “We have people who have been in the NY real estate world a long time and people who have built major facilities. One of the only things I am able to say is that we’re closer than we’ve ever been to a stadium.”
The now former NYCFC president emphasized that he desired a transparent relationship with City’s fan base, which is passionate in its support for the club.
“We have an incredible fan base, and we’ve seen incredible away travel this season in particular,” Patricof said. “We’ve seen staggering numbers – 500 to Philadelphia, over 300 traveling to D.C. in a couple of weeks. It’s quite frankly at the top of MLS for fan away traveling.”
But it was a home match this season that stood above all others for the supporters who Patricof labels “really smart soccer fans” – the Hudson River Derby at Yankee Stadium that drew more than 30,000 people for a Wednesday night 1-1 draw.
“People will specially reflect back on that derby in August,” Patricof said. “The number of people that wrote to me or called me afterwards and said that was one of the best sporting event environments they’d been to in New York ever – I felt the same way.”
Patricof will look back on his time with City Football Group with fond memories.
“It’s been a terrific three years,” Patricof said. “I think that I’ve been fortunate to grow up in New York and spend most of my life in New York. I love the city and it’s played such a meaningful part in my life. For me to be part of an organization like NYCFC … is an honor.”