Metropolitan Park is fourth and final New York casino bid to advance
The Mets’ season is over, but Metropolitan Park is firmly in contention for a New York casino licence.
After several years of work, millions spent on lobbying and many hours of public hearings, the downstate New York casino race has been whittled to four applicants ahead of its final phase.
Metropolitan Park, the $8 billion mixed-use casino complex adjacent to Citi Field in Queens, was approved 6-0 by its appointed community advisory committee (CAC) on Tuesday morning. The bid is a joint venture between New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock Entertainment.
This concludes the CAC phase of the process, with Metropolitan Park the fourth bid to be approved locally, joining Resorts World NYC, MGM Empire City and Ballyâs Bronx. They are competing for three available downstate licences, which the New York State Gaming Commission is to award by yearâs end.
The four bids will now be considered by the stateâs Gaming Facility Location Board (GFLB), which will make its recommendations to the commission. Board members will consult with applicants on a range of topics, including revenue projections and custom tax rates. Bidders are free to pitch their own rates, as long as they start at 25% for slot revenue and 10% for all other gaming.
Four other weighted categories will be considered:
Economic activity (70%)
Local impact siting (10%)
Workforce enhancement (10%)
Diversity (10%)
Licensure recommendations will be forwarded to the Gaming Commission by 1 December. The commission will then make the final decisions on the three available licences by 31 December. If all three are awarded, the state would reap $1.5 billion in licence fees immediately. But New York regulators can throw curveballs, as evidenced by the upstate licensing process a decade ago.
A lobbying force to be reckoned with
In some ways, the strong approval for Metropolitan Park was unsurprising. The bid was considered a frontrunner from the start, largely due to Cohenâs massive political clout and spending power.
Forbes lists the hedge fund guru with a net worth of $23 billion, which the outlet ranks as the 101st largest sum in the world. He and his fund, Point72 Asset Management, have been significant donors to Governor Kathy Hochul and the Democratic Party.
The project previously faced stiff opposition from Senator Jessica Ramos, whose district includes much of the site. Ramos refused to sponsor necessary rezoning legislation, stalling progress. But Cohen and company sidestepped Ramos in favour of Senator John Liu, who did carry the legislation.
Prior to Liu coming on board, Assemblymember Larinda Hooks also helped facilitate legislation in her chamber. Hooks appointed herself to the CAC for Metropolitan Park and was its chair. She represented the sixth and final aye vote on Tuesday.
Hooks oversaw the public hearings held for the bid and was airtight in doing so. She was quick to dispel commotion and she abruptly ended the second hearing after presenters started shouting at the committee.
âWe have a process, itâs always the person on the losing end is going to say we werenât heard, but itâs the same process for everyone,â she told the Queens Eagle afterward. âIt was fair on both parts. Itâs a process and the process was fine.â
Metropolitan Park up, Mets team down
Metropolitan Park is modelled after the âwalkable villagesâ now commonly seen at ballparks around the US, like the Battery neighbourhood in Atlanta and the Arlington Entertainment District in Texas. Cohen, who has spent big on players since acquiring the Mets in 2020, has said the mixed-use development represents his path to elevating the Citi Field experience.
Plans call for a Hard Rock hotel, casino and entertainment venue, in addition to 25 acres of park space and other amenities. Currently, the 50 acres of land surrounding the stadium are asphalt parking lots.
But while the project is moving forward, the Metsâ season will not. The team started the season fifth in World Series odds and at one point in June held the best record in baseball. Things spiralled from there, however, and the team ultimately missed the playoffs entirely. This result, Cohen posted on X, was âunacceptableâ.
Assessing licence outcomes and impacts
The four bids to advance are made up of two existing facilities and two greenfield projects. Resorts World and MGM, formerly Aqueduct and Yonkers Raceway, have operated as video lottery terminal facilities for decades and have long been considered the strongest candidates.
Both projects offer significant speed-to-market advantages, with Resorts World pitching a July 2026 casino launch and MGM targeting July 2027. By comparison, Metropolitan Park is eyeing a June 2030 opening. All of the information in Ballyâs construction timeline is redacted.
The VLTs also face existing tax rates of about 55% and therefore already contribute hundreds of millions to state coffers each year. Their longstanding presence in their communities has given them a substantial leg up on local relations. As such, the process could boil down to a race for the third licence between Cohen and Ballyâs.
For Cohen, perhaps the last remaining hurdle relates purely to location. Resorts World is also in Queens, just 10 miles from Citi Field. Given that Manhattan and Brooklyn were eliminated, placing two of three licences so close together could have negative impacts for the performance of both.
Ballyâs, meanwhile, faces serious financial questions as the company continues to extend itself. It has had trouble staying on track with its $1.7 billion Chicago casino, which it needs to complete by next September. That is less than half the cost of Ballyâs Bronx, which is projected at $4 billion. Meanwhile, the company also just released renderings for a splashy Las Vegas casino-resort, with no costs or timelines provided.
