The New York stadium of the City Football Group

The great growth of soccer in the United States marks an important step forward. New York will in fact host the first stadium dedicated exclusively to soccer, which will become the new home of New York City FC from 2027. The investment of the Emirati sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan aims to build a 25,000-seat structure in Willets Point, in Queens, between Citi Field - home of the New York Mets - and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center where the US Open is held. An operation worth $730 million that confirms the strong interest of the City Football Club in expanding its control beyond Manchester and also landing overseas after the new sports center was inaugurated just last week in Palermo. The formal approval from the city of New York follows an initial announcement of the stadium plan in November 2022, with a completion date set for 2027, one year after the World Cup which will be played in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

The stadium is the center of a redevelopment project on 9 hectares of one of the most degraded lands in Willets Point, which will also include new residential buildings in addition to the 1,100 units already under construction, a new public school, retail stores, and a hotel. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has called it "a historic moment, Willets Point has been an eyesore for so many years. We have scored a great goal for the city of New York." The area is known in NY as the "Iron Triangle" due to the presence of a high number of old car repair shops, and it was the place where Jay Gatsby lived in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel. The stadium will be privately funded by the owners of NYCFC, although the city's Independent Budget Office has concluded that the actual cost to taxpayers for the stadium could be $516 million spread over the 49-year lease contract with NYCFC.