Groups that run youth soccer programs in New York City say a new state initiative to rehabilitate and build more soccer fields for kids has been a long time coming.

Earlier this week Gov. Kathy Hochul announced “NY Kicks,” a $6 million initiative that awards grants between $75,000 to $200,000 to help soccer clubs with the creation, expansion and renovation of soccer fields.

Any municipality, nonprofit or public authority from New York state has until the end of July to apply, with priority going to projects in disadvantaged communities.

“It seems like an incredible initiative,” said Luke Fairbairn, community engagement lead for Common Goal, a network of nonprofit soccer organizations. “Historically, in the U.S. and in soccer, the big issues that communities face are access to pitches and affordable programming, and this initiative covers those two things.”

Hochul rolled out the grants as the region prepares to host the World Cup finals and as soccer fever grips New York, but many New York City communities don’t need much encouragement. The Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization, published a report in April highlighting that the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens have the worst soccer field shortages — meaning there aren’t enough pitches to meet demand from children who want to play.

“We certainly in the Bronx keenly feel the gap between available space and those of us who want to play the game,” said Joshua Guerra, communications manager for South Bronx United.

Not only is soccer land rare, but the quality of the turf also leaves something to be desired.

The soccer field at Macombs Dam Park near Yankee Stadium is “roughed up” with holes that could cause major injuries, said Ali Sillah, executive director of Bamba Sports, which played there with South Bronx United.

Hochul's grants emphasize creating new soccer fields or repairing old ones, but soccer organizations say field scarcity isn’t the biggest challenge facing communities in need.

“In addition to needing more spaces there needs to be better processes for getting permits to fields,” said Guerra.

Fairbairn said getting permits to play soccer in New York City can be competitive.

“There's just a lot of organizations and clubs competing for permits and permits cost money, right?” he said. “Permits often carry over from season to season and where there can seem like they're public spaces, they're often rented by the same groups.”

The Aspen report even mentioned “a black market of permit scalping, leaving some under-resourced neighborhoods without local places to play.”

Soccer nonprofits throughout New York City are aware of the permit issue and have found creative workarounds, like using school fields for instance.

In May, several soccer community organizations partnered to create a community field at P.S./M.S. 31 in the South Bronx.

From 2016 to 2021, the mayor’s office helped to create and maintain 50 mini-pitches throughout the city, many of which were in primary schools.

Another issue highlighted by soccer organizations and the Aspen Report is the pay-to-play complex. The study mentioned that 41% of children from low-income households cite costs as a major hurdle when it comes to playing soccer. The cost barrier is exacerbated when kids get into more competitive leagues that require travel.

For the U.S. Soccer Parent association, typical recreational soccer can cost $100 to $600 per year, while competitive travel soccer is about $1,500 to $6,000 per year.

In addition to the costs, there are also transportation-related challenges. South Bronx United teams have to play in New Jersey and Long Island, and players need a way to get to their games.

“Many of the families in the South Bronx United Academy simply don't have cars,” Guerra said.

To fix this issue, South Bronx United invested in vans to drive players to games. It now owns one van and rents two or three vans every weekend.

Groups operating in low-income areas want grants to fund more programming and pay for transportation.

“There's no point building new pitches if the programming is not going to be accessible to the communities around it,” said Fairbairn. “These pitch creations need to be coupled with programming and need to involve the community.”