In Willets Point, in the shadow of Citi Field, New York City FC's soccer-specific stadium is beginning to take on its final form. The 25,000-seater Etihad Park is set to officially open on July 17 next year, with a series of test events planned for the stadium starting in April.

As NYCFC begins to add the final touches to the almost-completed arena, club officials touted the "real opportunities" to build a stadium unique to New York City in Willets Point. "Our goal is that you know you're in New York," NYCFC Chief Operating Officer Jen O'Sullivan said during a tour of the stadium on Saturday, Oct. 17. " It couldn't just be a random building in the MLS. You will know from the sights, the sounds, the taste, the food, everything that you are in New York City when you're in this building."

Fans will have a view of the distant Manhattan skyline from the stadium concourses, while "City Square" will host a "Five Borough Food Hall" on game days, providing fans with access to around 10 vendors from across the city.

The 40,000-square-foot open space will also hold a variety of community programming and private events on non-game days, including farmers' markets and kids soccer tournaments. "The opportunities are endless," O'Sullivan said. Once completed, up to 70% of supporters will enter the new stadium through "the Cube," a giant seven-story LED screen-lined entrance measuring 11,000 square feet. The Cube will be "unlike anything in professional sports," according to O'Sullivan, who described it as New York City's answer to the Sphere in Las Vegas. The LED screens will display a wide range of images and messaging, including matchday information and local artwork.

The two located video screens inside the stadium, meanwhile, will collectively be the largest in any MLS venue.

NYCFC broke ground on the Willets Point stadium in December 2024, while the City Council approved plans for the massive project in April, which also includes plans for a 2,500-unit affordable housing complex, a 650-seat elementary school, a 250-room hotel, retail space and 40,000 square feet of public open space.

NYCFC is financing the entire project, with the stadium anticipated to cost around $800 million. However, the Independent Budget Office has previously predicted that the stadium could cost the city $538 million in lost tax revenue because NYCFC will not be required to pay property taxes throughout the entirety of the 49-year lease.

Despite the challenges of working through a particularly cold and snowy winter in early 2026, the stadium remains "on track" to open for the 2027/28 MLS season, according to Ian Wilson, NYCFC's senior project manager of construction.

Wilson said building the stadium in the "Valley of Ashes" has been a considerable challenge. The area, which gets its name from bleak industrial wasteland described in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 famous novel "The Great Gatsby," is located on a floodplain, requiring construction crews to pile-support the pitch in order to bypass the unstable surface soil and ensure that the field at the new stadium will resemble a billiard table.

Wilson expects crews to install the field at the stadium in the coming weeks before the cold winter weather sets in.

O'Sullivan said she is staggered by the rapid progress at the stadium since NYCFC broke ground almost two years ago. " It's really starting to look like a real stadium," O'Sullivan said. "I t was a lot of long work… Every time we come, we see something new that's done, and it just gets us even more and more excited for for what's to come."

Reach me at shane.obrien@queenspost.com

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