The shovels have yet to go into the ground, but New York City FC can hardly contain its excitement over the construction of its new home that will open in 2027.
The MLS franchise recently invited Sportico to a preview of its Stadium Experience Center, located in the team’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters. The one-hour observation included a scale model of the new venue as well as stages of its premium suites. As previously reported, Legends will manage sales for premium seating while Klutch will coordinate stadium partnerships.
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On April 11, the New York City Council approved the mixed-use project with a 47-1 vote. Construction of the stadium itself, which will be next door to the New York Mets’ Citi Field, will be privately funded to the tune of $780 million.
The unnamed 25,000-seat stadium is the centerpiece of a new mixed-use residential and commercial district in Willets Point, an industrial neighborhood in Queens that has been the target for redevelopment by multiple New York City mayors since the 1960s. Surrounding the U.S.’ first all-electric soccer stadium will be retail spaces, a 250-key hotel and around 2,500 units of affordable housing.
New York City FC, winner of the 2021 MLS Cup and currently fifth in the Eastern Conference standings, ranks fifth in Sportico’s MLS franchise valuations at $840 million. The club took in $68 million in revenue in 2023 while splitting games between its primary home at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.
Though mixed-used districts are all the rage in the sports industry these days, this proposed complex also includes a brand-new 650-seat public elementary school. New York City has the nation’s largest public school system with 1.1 million students, and recently added 24 new school buildings and additions to start the 2024-25 academic year.
“What we heard loud and clear, first and foremost, was housing,” Brad Sims, the team’s CEO, said in an interview. “This is the biggest new affordable housing project in New York City in 40 years, and so that’s something we’re really proud to be a part of. But with all these new residents in a new neighborhood, you need a school.
Sims credited local officials—in particular, local Councilman Francisco Moya and New York City Mayor Eric Adams—for giving their support to the project after over a decade of false starts. “Just having these conversations with community leaders, with politicians from the hyper-local level that came into play that,…