NYCFC Stadium beside Citi Field to Be Called Etihad Park After

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

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

NYCFC president Brad Sims stated earnings from the deal will go to the MLS team and not the moms and dad company or English club, which is under examination by the Premier League for alleged infractions of financial fair play rules.

Etihad has actually 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 offer,” Sims said. “Etihad Airways has been basically our best, our principal and starting partner given that Day 1 at the club here. … We desired to preferably stick with somebody who is a current partner of New York City FC and or somebody in the City Football Group household but Etihad was quickly sort of the No. 1 focus that we have actually had the whole time.”

Etihad likewise has collaborated with NYCFC on neighborhood efforts.

“They ´ ve been interested for rather some time about this stadium in New york city and actually buying into, I believe, the course of travel of the sport in this country, in the New York market specifically,” Sims stated. “For them the New York market, the New York City market is a really tactical commercial market.”

Since taking the field in 2015, NYCFC has actually played home video games mostly at Yankee Stadium, home of the Major League Baseball team that is a minority financier in NYCFC. But because of schedule disputes, NYC has actually played some home matches at Citi Field, the home of the New york city Red Bulls in Harrison, New Jersey, and Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.

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

NYCFC announced the website in 2022. The New York City City board approved the soccer arena in April as part of a Willets Point redevelopment that consists of 2,500 real estate units, a brand-new public school, hotel and retail shops. Bulldozers and cranes are associated with pre-construction, lease negotiations with New York City are advancing and a groundbreaking is likely before the end of the year, according to Sims.

Mets owner Steve Cohen is amongst the bidders for a license to build a casino in an area adjacent to Citi Field.

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

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

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

Sims said the brand-new arena will benefit NYCFC if MLS changes to an August-to-May schedule, aligning with a lot of European soccer leagues, from its current February-to-December calendar.

“There ´ s a great deal of pros to doing that. The cons mostly reside in cold-weather cities that have outside stadiums,” Sims said. “I think for us with the brand-new stadium we would likely be fairly insulated, a minimum of in the early – at least in the very first 5-, 10-plus years simply with sort of enjoyment around the arena.”

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

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer