NYCFC Stadium next to Citi Field to Be Called Etihad Park After

NEW YORK CITY (AP) – New York City FC ´ s $ 780 million, 25,000-seat venue that it means to open beside the Mets ´ Citi Field in 2027 will be called Etihad Park under a 20-year arrangement announced Thursday with Etihad Airways, the nationwide airline of the United Arab Emirates.

The Big league Soccer team ´ s controlling owner is City Football Group, the parent business of England ´ s Manchester City. The Premier League group ´ s venue was relabelled Etihad Stadium in July 2011.

NYCFC president Brad Sims stated profits from the offer will go to the MLS group and not the parent company or English club, which is under examination by the Premier League for alleged violations of monetary reasonable play guidelines.

Etihad has been NYC’s t-shirt sponsor given that 2014 and Manchester City’s given that 2009-10, a season after the Abu Dhabi United Group took control.

“It ´ s a 100% New York City City FC deal,” Sims said. “Etihad Airways has actually been basically our premiere, our principal and starting partner since Day 1 at the club here. … We wished to preferably stick with someone who is an existing partner of New York City FC and or somebody in the City Football Group family however Etihad was quickly type of the No. 1 focus that we have actually had all along.”

Etihad also has actually teamed up with NYCFC on neighborhood initiatives.

“They ´ ve been interested for quite some time about this arena in New York and really purchasing into, I think, the course of travel of the sport in this country, in the New york city market particularly,” Sims said. “For them the New york city market, the New york city City market is an extremely tactical industrial market.”

Since taking the field in 2015, NYCFC has played home games primarily at Yankee Stadium, home of the Big league Baseball team that is a minority financier in NYCFC. But due to the fact that of schedule conflicts, NYC has played some home matches at Citi Field, the home of the rival New York Red Bulls in Harrison, New Jersey, and Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Saturday’s Eastern Conference semifinal against the competing New York Red Bulls will be at Citi Field since Notre Dame is in a college football video game at Yankee Stadium.

NYCFC revealed the site in 2022. The New York City City board approved the soccer stadium in April as part of a Willets Point redevelopment that includes 2,500 real estate units, a brand-new public school, hotel and retail stores. Bulldozers and cranes are associated with pre-construction, lease negotiations with New york city City are progressing and a groundbreaking is likely before completion of the year, according to Sims.

Mets owner Steve Cohen is among the bidders for a license to develop a casino in a location surrounding to Citi Field.

“The more activity that can occur in advancement in Willets Point and make it a live-work-and-play area the better,” Sims said.

Sims said when NYCFC is home first in a day, there needs to be a six-hour buffer before a Mets game can start. When the Mets are home first, there needs to be a seven-hour buffer before soccer can begin.

Similar parameters exist with the U.S. Tennis Association for the U.S. Open.

Sims said the brand-new stadium will benefit NYCFC if MLS switches to an August-to-May schedule, aligning with many European soccer leagues, from its current February-to-December calendar.

“There ´ s a lot of pros to doing that. The cons mainly reside in cold-weather cities that have outdoor arenas,” Sims said. “I believe for us with the new stadium we would likely be relatively insulated, at least in the early – at least in the very first 5-, 10-plus years simply with type of enjoyment around the arena.”

MLS season ticket holders will have priority access to hospitality tickets for the 2026 World Cup.

“All MLS season members, season ticket holders, business partners and such will have will have a sort of presale access, these opportunities ahead of the market to purchase suites, club seats, hospitality-type items at all games in all markets throughout the 2026 World Cup,” Sims stated. “That ´ s something that I believe is a fantastic benefit to our season ticket members and to our sponsors and corporate partners. … We’re in the marketplace actively marketing 2025 City subscriptions and that’s going to be another benefit of that.”

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