NYCFC stadium next to Citi Field will be named Etihad Park, after the United Arab Emirates airline

NEW YORK (AP) — The $780 million, 25,000-seat venue that New York City FC plans to open next to the Mets’ Citi Field in 2027 will be named Etihad Park as part of a 20-year deal announced Thursday with national carrier Etihad Airways. The airline of the United Arab Emirates.

The controlling owner of the Major League Soccer team is City Football Group, the parent company of Manchester City in England. The Premier League team’s stadium was renamed Etihad Stadium in July 2011.

NYCFC chairman Brad Sims said the proceeds from the deal would go to the MLS team, not the parent company or the English club. Investigation continues in the Premier League Due to alleged violations of financial fair play rules.

Etihad has been the shirt sponsor of NYC since 2014 and of Manchester City since 2009-10, a season after Abu Dhabi United Group took control.

“This is 100% a New York City FC deal,” Sims said. “Etihad Airways has essentially been our premiere, core and founding partner since day one here at the club. … Ideally we wanted to stay with a current partner of New York City FC and/or someone from the City Football Group family, but Etihad was our No. 1 focus from the beginning.”

Etihad has also collaborated with NYCFC on community initiatives.

“They’ve been interested in this stadium in New York for a long time, and I think they’ve really embraced the way the sport travels in this country, especially in the New York market,” Sims said. “For them, the New York market, the New York City market, is a very strategic commercial market.”

Since taking the field in 2015, NYCFC has primarily played home games at Yankee Stadium, home of the Major League Baseball team that is a minority investor in NYCFC. However, due to scheduling conflicts, NYC played some home games at Citi Field, home of the rival New York Red Bulls in Harrison, New Jersey, and at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Saturday’s Eastern Conference semifinal against the rival New York Red Bulls will be at Citi Field as Notre Dame plays Army in a college football game at Yankee Stadium.

NYCFC announces site in 2022. New York City Council approved football stadium in April As part of the Willets Point redevelopment project, which includes 2,500 housing units, a new public school, hotel and retail stores. Pre-construction bulldozers and cranes are being used, lease negotiations with New York City are progressing, and groundbreaking is likely by the end of the year, according to Sims.

Mets owner Steve Cohen is among those bidding for a license to build a casino on a site adjacent to Citi Field.

“The more activity that happens in development in Willets Point and makes it a live and work neighborhood, the better,” Sims said.

Sims said if NYCFC came home for the first time during the day, there would need to be a six-hour break before the Mets game could start. When the Mets first come home, a seven-hour break is required before football can start.

Similar parameters exist in the US Tennis Association for the US Open.

Sims said the new stadium would benefit NYCFC if MLS moves from its current February-December schedule to an August-May schedule that is in line with most European soccer leagues.

“There are a lot of pros to doing this. The cons live mostly in cold-weather cities with open-air stadiums,” Sims said. “I think with the new stadium, at least in the early going, at least over the first five, 10 years, we’ll be relatively insulated because of the excitement around the stadium.”

2026 World Cup

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

“All MLS season members, season ticket holders, corporate partners and the like will have some form of presale access; These will have ahead-of-market opportunities to purchase suites, club seats, hospitality-type products at all matches in all markets through 2026. World Cup,” Sims said. “I think this will be a huge benefit to our season ticket members, sponsors and corporate partners. … We are actively marketing 2025 City membership in the market and this will be another benefit of this.”

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