Schools, Hinchliffe developer in dispute over fees
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - The developers of Hinchliffe Stadium say the city school district has no legal basis to collect $271,000 in fees for New York Cosmos and New Jersey Jackals games held at the historic sports venue.
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The 2021 lease between the school district, which owns the stadium, and the developers didn't include any provisions for event fees, the builders' lawyer Frank Casciano, said in a May 14 [2026] letter to Paterson Schools superintendent Laurie Newell.
..... Moreover, Cascino asserted, the Broad of Education's December 2025 resolution creating fees that go up to $7,500 per day was "an impermissible attempt" to change the lease. The letter said the Hinchliffe developers learned of the school district's $271,000 invoice through a news story published May 12 [2026] on NorthJersey.com .
..... School board member Hector Nieves, who has publicly pushed for the developers to pay the fees, said he will schedule "an emergency meeting" of the district's facilities committee this week. [05/25-29/2026]
..... Nieves has argued hat Cosmos and Jackals games held on dates the school board included in hits Hinchliffe schedule should result in payments to the district.
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"It seems to me we're going to have to settle this in court," Nieves said.
..... Silent amid the festering dispute has been Mayor Andre Sayegh, who partnered with the developers in the $110 million multifaceted project that reopens Hinchliffe. At the same time, five people Sayegh appointed to city jobs serve on the city school board.
..... Paterson Press asked Sayegh in an email which side he thinks has the stronger argument in the fee disagreement and whether he plans to intervene. The mayor did not provide a response.
..... School board member Kenneth Simmons said he thinks Nieves has a conflict of interest participating in any district discussions about Hinchliffe because Nieves is one of the five people on the City Hall payroll. Simmons said the city also is involved in some of the Hinchliffe leases.
..... "They shouldn't even have a facilities committee meeting, because all the members are conflicted out," Simmons said.
..... Casciano's letter to Newell said the district's "primary source of compensation" under the lease with the developers should come from a provision saying school officials would get 50% of the net revenue form the stadium's use.
Hinchliffe still in the red in 2025
..... But there's little indication the stadium's profit margin will shift form the red to the black anytime soon. The audit for the stadium had a $783,085 deficit. The audit for 2024 was even worse, with the net operating loss at $1,225,242.
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Hinchliffe's major new attraction in 2026 has been the Cosmos, with the team drawing an announced crowd of about 4,000 people for the opening game in March. But after the opener, the attendance numbers dropped substantially. The league in which the Cosmos play out the crowds for home games at Hinchliffe at about 1,000.
..... The 2025 audit says the Cosmos will pay $200,000 in annual rent for Hinchliffe, and a tentative dale with the Jackals minor league baseball team puts its payment at $150,000.
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During the Hinchliffe reopening planing, no one publicly talked about the jackals or Cosmos making their homes in Paterson. Much of the discussion focused on the city's youth programs using the field.
...... But districts officials said Paterson's Eastside and Kennedy high school teams aren't juiced about having their games in a stadium built almost a century ago. Hinchliffe shut down in the late 1990s and didn't reopen until 2023."You're talking about thee generations that have no connection to the stadium at all," said Simmons. "Our students don't want to play there."
..... The Hinchliffe project was a partnership between two developers. Montclair-base RPM and BAW Hinchliffe, the entity run by Baye Adofo-Wilson - who also is a part-owner of the Cosmos and owns the Jackals.
..... Besides repairs on the crumbling stadium, the $110 million project covered construction of a 75-unit senior citizen apartment building, a 315-space parking garage, and a building that contains a museum. The plans for a new restaurant at Hinchliffe never happened.