New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Football Club (NYCFC) officially broke ground on Etihad Park, New York’s first professional soccer-specific stadium and Major League Soccer’s (MLS) first fully-electric stadium across the nation. In addition to the stadium – which will be operational by the 2027 MLS season and is being entirely privately financed by NYCFC – this project will also deliver retail, food and beverage facilities, office space, and “City Square,” a plaza for community uses and events.
The stadium is one piece of Mayor Adams’ Willets Point Transformation, which will deliver 2,500 affordable homes – the city’s largest 100 percent affordable new housing project in 40 years – over 40,000 square feet of public open space, a 250-key hotel, a 650-seat public school, and neighborhood-serving, ground-floor retail shops that will create good-paying jobs for community residents. In December 2023, Mayor Adams and city officials broke ground on the first 880 units of affordable housing, expected to be completed by the end of 2026. The next round of affordable homes to be built as part of Phase 1 are 220 units designated for low-income seniors.
“Today, we are breaking ground on Etihad Park – our city’s first-ever soccer-specific stadium – for NYCFC to call home and finally deliver New Yorkers the soccer stadium they deserve,” said Mayor Adams. “Along with cohosting the 2026 World Cup with New Jersey, this stadium puts us on the map as a world-class soccer destination, and it makes Willets Point the city’s premier sports hub. This stadium is part of our Willets Point Transformation, building a neighborhood with more housing, public space, and a new school out of the Valley of Ashes. We are scoring the city’s largest all-affordable housing project in the past 40 years, a new 650-seat public school for our students, more than 40,000 square feet of public open space, and good-paying jobs and economic opportunity for local residents.”
“New York City Football Club committed ten years ago to build New York City’s first-ever, soccer-specific stadium in the five boroughs, and today’s groundbreaking of Etihad Park in Willets Point, Queens, brings us one step closer to delivering that promise to our fans and our city.” said Marty Edelman, vice chairman, New York City Football Club.
“We are proud to reach this monumental milestone for Willets Point, Queens, and New York City,” said Jeff T. Blau, CEO, Related Companies. “Following the announcement of delivering the largest 100 percent affordable project to the city in a generation, today is the next step to cement the future of Willets Point with the groundbreaking of the city’s first soccer-specific stadium. Once complete, this $3 billion project will deliver over $6 billion in economic development to the region, and we are proud to continue to transform this neighborhood into a thriving community.”
This historic plan will bring significant long-term economic opportunity to a community that has long been underserved. The entire transformational project is expected to generate $6.1 billion in economic impact over the next 30 years, creating 1,550 permanent jobs and 14,200 construction jobs. Last month, Mayor Adams announced a project labor agreement with the Building & Construction Trades Council (BCTC) for infrastructure work in the Willets Point District. The infrastructure work governed by this PLA will support over 500 jobs. NYCFC will also incorporate community programming and outreach through its City in the Community foundation. City Square, a 35,000 square foot multi-use space located inside the primary entrance of the stadium, will serve as a community programming space operated by NYCFC during non-gamedays.
The new 25,000-seat stadium [photo above] will make New York City a national soccer capital, laying the groundwork for the next chapter in NYCFC and MLS history. This is also the first fully privately-financed major league sporting facility constructed in New York City in generations. J.P. Morgan arranged private financing for the stadium. The investment represents a major opportunity to capitalize on professional soccer as a growing attraction that can bring investment and economic opportunities to New York City, as well as expand New Yorkers’ love of soccer. Willets Point will become the city’s premier sports hub, with the New York Mets’ Citi Field and U.S. Tennis Association’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, both also within walking distance of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Mets-Willets Point subway and Long Island Rail Road stations. No new parking will be created for the stadium. Instead, NYCFC will utilize parking at Citi Field on match and event days based on an agreement with the New York Mets.