Silk City aims to become 'Soccer City'
Pro team coming to Hinchliffe in 2026
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - They don't have a coach yet, or any players or even a name.
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But Paterson's new, third-tier professional soccer team essentially held its first pep rally on May 15, [2025] with Mayor Andre Sayegh leading the cheers a at press conference for a squad expected to make its debut at Hinchliff Stadium in March 2026.
..... Sayegh proclaimed that Paterson would become "Soccer City, USA," with a franchise he said would united the city's Peruvian, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Dominican, Jamaican, Bengali and Palestinian communities in support of the home team.
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The Paterson Restoration Corporation, a quasi-private entity designed to spur economic development in the city, has invested $2.5 million in the soccer franchise, part of a North Jersey Pro Soccer partnership with Baye Adofo-Wilson, the developer who spearheaded the renovation of Hinchliffe.
..... Participants have put the total cost of launching the team at about $15 million.
..... The team with no name will compete in the United States League's "League One" group, which includes squads from Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Nebraska.
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At present, the average attendance for teams in the league is about 3,000 people per game, said Justin Papadakis, the league's deputy chief executive officer.
..... Sayegh and Adofo-Wilson are hoping the soccer team will generate larger crowds than the New Jersey Jackals minor league baseball team has.
..... The Jackals have played two season at Hinchliffe.
..... During its first full year of operation, Hinchliffe had a $1.2 million shortfall, according to an audit. Sayegh at the press conference noted that the two sold-out events events at Hinchliffe since it reopened in 2023 were soccer games featuring he Barcelona club from Ecuador.
Games would be affordable for families
..... Panadakis said the soccer league calls its stadiums "community living rooms," gathering places for families to enjoy affordable entertainment.
..... "Every match here will be a two-hour commercial for the city of Paterson," he said.
..... Officials repeatedly emphasized the "affoordability" for families attending the soccer team's roughly 20 home games. Papadakis said the average ticket price for the third tier soccer league is just about $20. Adofo-Wilson said his partnership has not yet determined how much tickets will cost.
..... Paterson's economic development director, Tiffany Harris-Delaney, and North Jersey Pro Soccer chief executive officer Eric Stover emphasized the youth soccer development programs that the new franchise will bring to the city.
..... In 2027, the soccer partnership said a women's professional team with begin playing at Hinchliffe.