The venue will be New York City’s first professional soccer stadium.
New York City is set to have its first professional soccer stadium, reaching an agreement for a $780 million venue for MLS club New York City FC in Queens.
As reported by The New York Times on Tuesday and confirmed by Mayor Eric Adams and the club, the stadium will serve as the centerpiece for a new development in the Willet’s Point neighborhood, near Citi Field, home of the Mets.
The proposal calls for a 25,000-seat stadium, set to open by 2027. It will anchor a 250-room hotel in the area, along with 2,500 units of housing, compromising what is reportedly the city’s largest affordable housing development since the 1970s.
NYCFC will reportedly foot the entire bill for the stadium, breaking with recent trends of public investment in sports stadiums. Just this year, New York State earmarked over $800 million for a new $1.4 billion facility for the Bills. The stadium owners will receive significant tax breaks for the new Queens facility, per the report.
According to The Times, the team will receive a 49-year lease for the New York City-owned land that is being used for the stadium, and will pay up to $4 million per year to rent the land. The team will also have an option to extend the agreement for $25 million.
NYCFC has played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx since the club began play in 2015, but it has been forced to relocate on multiple occasions due to scheduling conflicts, playing “home” matches at Red Bull Arena, Citi Field and Rentschler Field, among other locations. The team won its first MLS Cup in 2021 and was eliminated in the Eastern Conference final in 2022.
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