NEW York will put together a full-time team next year and are drawing up a fixture list of between 20 and 25 games to prepare them for their entry into League One in 2022.

They are set to play their first competitive matches in the 2021 edition of the Challenge Cup, starting out in the first round alongside community clubs like West Bowling next January, and have pulled off a coup by persuading the Rugby Football League to hold the draw for this year’s sixth round in the Big Apple next Monday.

The club also plan to host three NRL clubs next February and play other exhibition matches throughout the year, including several against international opposition, such as the United States

The consortium have been knocked back in their bid to join Ottawa Aces, who are headed up by current Bradford Bulls interim chairman Eric Perez, in the third tier of the English game in 2021, but organiser Ricky Wilby says his investors remain committed for the next five years.

“Once we knew we weren’t going to be in for next year, we started looking at alternatives because we’ve got sponsors we need to service and a stadium that we need to play games in,” Wilby said at the launch in Liverpool.

“Companies have built budgets and included us in them. It was disappointing to miss out. There were logistical things that were out of our control that probably counted against us.

“But we think we’ve got a really exciting fixture list that we can put together for next year that will excite players who would want to take a leap of faith into the brand.”

Wilby says the club plan to use a university stadium for the opening rounds of the Challenge Cup, with the NRL matches to be played at Red Bull Stadium, which will become their permanent home.

“The idea is that we put a minimum of two games a month on,” he said. “They will be in the States but we might go into California because we want to work with the local teams and grow their fan-bases as well.

“We’ve got a few irons in the fire to take us to 20-25 games, depending on how far we get in the Challenge Cup.”

The club unveiled their logo and colours on Tuesday and expect to announce an overseas coach next month.

“We’ve got someone who is pretty much nailed on but we can’t name him yet,” said Wilby, who will offer players at least two-year contracts.

He says the club will have the potential to spend the full salary cap in 2021.