Since its inaugural season in 2015, New York City FC (NYCFC) has played its home games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. It has also occasionally played games at Citi Field in Queens and Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. These accommodations were made as the club awaited the construction of its new 25,000-seat stadium, which will open in 2027.
Today, it has been revealed that the new stadium will be called Etihad Park.
The club and Etihad Airways have released an official joint press release saying that the two organizations have agreed to a partnership for naming rights for the new stadium in Queens, New York. According to the statement, the agreement is for 20 years and further solidifies the partnership between City Football Group (CFG) and Etihad Airways, which have been partnered since 2013. CFG also owns Premier League titan Manchester City, whose stadium is called The Etihad Stadium. They also own Girona in the Spanish La Liga and Melbourne FC in Australia.
NYCFC President Brad Sims had this to say regarding the new partnership:
“Etihad Airways has been our principal and founding partner since day one at the club here… We wanted to ideally stay with someone who is a current partner of New York City FC and or someone in the City Football Group family but Etihad was easily kind of the number one focus we had all along.”
According to Sims, calling the stadium “Etihad Park” instead of “stadium” is a homage to the green spaces in New York City.
Similar to Manchester City’s stadium, the area surrounding the new NYCFC stadium is also set to receive major development, with new housing units and a public school. Events like concerts and festivals are also set to be hosted in the area, making it a multi-purpose public space.
