NYCFC Stadium Reportedly Heading For Queens, Not The Bronx
The New York City Football Club's long-awaited stadium will likely be built in Queens, not the Bronx as previously expected.
Mayor Eric Adams is putting his support behind the building of a 25,000-seat stadium for NYCFC on land that Related Cos. and Sterling Equities lease within the 61-acre Special Willets Point District near the Mets' home stadium, Citi Field, the New York Post reports.
“A deal is close, but negotiations are ongoing,” a source told the Post.
A spokesperson for Adams said there is no agreement, but the administration continues to “engage in ongoing conversations around the mayor’s goals of building a world-class stadium in New York City.” A representative for the club said it is “enthusiastic about the potential of a few locations for our soccer-specific stadium.”
The project would still be subject to the universal land use review process, even if Adams does give the go-ahead. NYCFC has been playing largely in Yankee Stadium, but it has also had home games at Citi Field and in New Jersey. The team has had ambitions for years of a soccer-specific stadium, without answers on where it would be built.
The Yankees own a 20% stake in the club, and the Abu Dhabi royal family owns the rest. In 2020, The New York Times reported that a group of developers including Maddd Equities had garnered city support for a stadium in the South Bronx in a project that would cost $1B.
Construction was set to begin this year and be complete around 2024. But last December, those plans were said to be on hold because of an ongoing dispute the Yankees were having with a neighboring parking lot owner. Those negotiations happened under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The Post reported the Bronx is no longer in the mix for the stadium. The Queens development, if it goes ahead, could be complete in time for the World Cup in 2026, for which New York/New Jersey is set to be a host city.
Last year, it was announced that the city's first dedicated soccer stadium would be built in Queens, with York College of the City University of New York releasing plans to develop a 7,500-seat stadium on the school's campus in Jamaica for the use of lower-level Queensboro FC.
