New York Red Bulls II (MLS Next Pro) @ MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field (Montclair, NJ)

or "I GOT TO SEE INTER MIAMI LIVE AND IN PERSON"

*This trip occurred on September 21, 2025.

You may be surprised to learn that Montclair State University is the second largest public university in New Jersey behind Rutgers (and I believe that’s just New Brunswick). Located a short distance away from New York City (with direct train service from campus available on weekdays), MSU is probably best known for its unique architecture, having many of its buildings built in the style of old buildings you'd be WAY more likely to find in places like California. While on some level I couldn’t find any “true” notable alumni, the school is connected to someone who famously lived in Montclair (and isn’t Stephen Colbert): Yogi Berra.

Among the sporting facilities here is Yogi Berra Stadium - the baseball team’s home stadium as well as the former home of the New Jersey Jackals. Adjacent to the stadium is the Yogi Berra Museum - a museum dedicated to deja vu, forks in the road, and words (un)spoken. What does any of this have to do with the soccer stadium? Not much, but there is the fact that both Yogi Berra Stadium and MSU Soccer Park were opened in the same year (1998), and the soccer stadium was built on top of the school’s old baseball stadium (Pittser Field).

However, this stadium has hosted a LOT more than Montclair State soccer (though, obviously, that's the "main" team here): it was once the training home of the New York Red Bulls (the older of the NYC area’s two MLS teams and main rival of New York City FC) as well as hosting Gotham FC for a few matches in 2020, and in researching the field for something I’m thinking about for next year, I found out about RBNY II: the New York Red Bulls reserve team.

Before I continue, however, I do want to get one thing out of the way: what the hell is the (parent) team actually called? Officially, the team is “Red Bull New York” - they are named after the energy drink, which has teams in various sports all over the world - most of which are called “Red Bull ___”¹. However, to fit the more common North American style of sports team naming (which most MLS teams were following when the team was purchased by Red Bull), the team is commonly known as the “New York Red Bulls” (and they even refer to THEMSELVES this way), but it seems that the team uses “RBNY” as its shorthand name and not "NYRB", so I will probably use that for the most part (it's not quite the same as their Hudson River rivals trying to get everyone to stop using "NYCFC"). Confusingly, however, the scoreboard at the game used "NYRB II", so (insert shrug emoji here)² I guess...

Getting back to RBNY II: soccer reserve teams are where clubs take younger players and train them to become professionals (kinda like Minor League Baseball, but for soccer). Many countries have these reserve teams, but each country handles them differently; for our purposes, we’ll just focus on the United States via RBNY II.

The side was TECHNICALLY established in 2015 (though the Red Bulls had a reserves side for a while prior) and originally played in the USL Championship (i.e. the de facto second tier today). However, in 2021, MLS announced that it was creating its own reserve division known as MLS Next Pro, which RBNY II now plays in. I won’t get into “why” this division was created (as it delves into a bit of MLS conspiracy theory), but what you should know is that it’s technically at the third tier of U.S Soccer (i.e. on par with USL League One - a league I haven't visited yet but hope to eventually), operates as a “closed” league where teams do not move to other divisions (i.e. no promotion/relegation - which USL is looking to adopt), and currently, 27 of 30 MLS teams have a side in the division (which also has a few teams that are not affiliated with MLS clubs)³.

When I realized that Red Bulls II played here, I ended up looking at their schedule and found this game against Inter Miami II. Immediately, I figured that it was a good way to tell people I got to see THE Inter Miami live and in person (even if it technically isn’t the main team with...that one guy).

As far as soccer fields go, this one's...fairly standard. There are stands around "two and a half" sides of the field; one sideline and one end have "full length" stands, but the other end has its seating cut off about a third of the way by what I think is the locker rooms. The stands are separated from the field by a sidewalk/concourse; while this is something that almost NEVER happens in most stadiums in other sports here in the United States (at least that I've been to), it is somewhat more common in older stadiums in England (based on what I've seen of them).

One IMPORTANT thing to know before coming here (outside of the fact that you can get tickets for ten bucks at the gate and not have to pay fees): there's a parking deck right next to the field, which is more or less intended to be your parking (as information about other options is somewhat sparse). However, once you get past the two hour mark (aka the typical length of a soccer game), your price for parking jumps from four to eight dollars, so if you arrive right before the match starts and then leave right after it ends, you're probably paying four dollars for two hours and then another four dollars for two minutes.

It is because of this that I ended up having to leave at the 90 minute mark (i.e. when the game would normally "end" without stoppage time). As I understand it, the match ended as a 1-1 draw, but then I learned that apparently MLS Next Pro has shootouts and that Miami won this shootout for an extra standings point. If you find this whole idea of "end in a tie but still have a shootout for standings purposes" kinda confusing, I'll say this: MLS Next Pro isn't the only place where this happens. In fact, I've actually seen it happen before - TWICE! (I'll get to those stories soon enough...)

MERCH

You probably weren't expecting me to actually talk about merchandise options available at this game, as you were expecting that they wouldn't be any, right?

Well...you're right: there was no merch sold at the match, but there was a small concession stand at one of the corners; I believe it's run by Montclair State's dining services, and I THINK I saw alcohol being sold. However, I did see some people in the stands with Red Bulls II shirts, so I wonder how those were acquired (though several of them had a USL Championship patch)...

This is also probably where I should mention that as much as I think the Inter Miami shirt is interesting, I'd be much more likely to buy one (read: I would ACTUALLY think about it) if any of the stores I've seen it in sold blanks - something I have yet to see ANYONE do (INCLUDING the Adidas stores I've been to) and guess what I found at a local store literal HOURS after I published this (40% off too)!

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With this trip, I have now seen the New York Red Bulls STADIUM and their RESERVE TEAM - but not the main team itself (or their merch stands as they were closed when I was at the stadium). That, however, will almost certainly have to wait until next year...