New York City Football Club (NYCFC) announced on Thursday that their new stadium set to open in 2027 will be named Etihad Park — an agreement for the venue at Willets Point that will run through the next 20 years.
“This is a historic announcement for New York City FC, Etihad Airways, and New York City. Etihad Airways has been a fantastic partner to the Club for over a decade, and we are proud to call Etihad Park the home of our great Club,” Brad Sims, NYCFC CEO, said. “For over a decade, we’ve been investing in New York with a vision of building the city into one of the soccer capitals of the world. Etihad Airways has been alongside us every step of the way, and we’re thrilled to be making this announcement with them. Etihad Park will be the physical evidence of our deep and longstanding investment in New York City and will become a cathedral of soccer in the United States.”
Etihad Airways was a principal and founding partner of New York City FC in 2014 and has been the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor in each of its first 10 seasons in Major League Soccer.
Etihad Park is finally providing the franchise with a new, soccer-specific home after the club spent its first decade of existence searching for a permanent home. The club has called Yankee Stadium home since its inception but has often been forced to play matches elsewhere, like at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ, or at Citi Field, which will host the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal against the rival Red Bulls on Saturday.
The stadium, which is projected to seat 25,000 fans, is the centerpiece of a project at the Willets Point site across from Citi Field that will also feature a 2,500-unit affordable housing complex, a 650-seat elementary school, a 250-room hotel, retail space, and roughly 40,000 square feet of public open space.
