Carmelo Anthony expressed interest in buying a soccer team and he followed through. The New York Knicks forward announced at a Thursday news conference that his new club, Puerto Rico FC, will join the North American Soccer League and begin play in 2016.
“My passion for soccer has always been there,” Anthony told ESPN FC in an exclusive interview.
“I just always kept it to myself and among my circle. Going to games, sneaking into games and just watching and being around the sport over the years. The more time I started spending in Puerto Rico over the past six, seven years I realized that there was kind of a void down there on my island. The island didn’t really have anything that they could kind of call their own, that they could represent not just on the island but from a global standpoint.”
Puerto Rico FC will be the NASL’s 13th club after the league recently added Miami FC on May 20.
The club, which will begin play in the 2016 NASL fall season, will play its home matches at the recently renovated Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium. Located in Bayamon, about 10 miles from the capital city of San Juan, the 12,500-seat stadium serves as the home base for the Puerto Rico national team.
Anthony insisted that this new venture will not distract him from his day job, playing for the Knicks.
“Basketball is my No. 1 thing,” he said. “I’m very hands-on but it’s more about taking the time now during the offseason. I spend a lot of time in Puerto Rico training. I’ll do like a mini-training camp down there. Right now it’s about putting the right people in place so that when I’m back to my regular job, basketball is my main focus. I’ll have a solid group of people running [Puerto Rico FC] on a day-to-day basis.”
