MLS’ New York City FC, Etihad Airways agree to stadium naming rights deal

When New York City FC’s new stadium opens up just before the 2027 Major League Soccer season, it will have a familiar partner’s name tied to it. 

The club is partnering with Etihad Airways for the exclusive naming rights to the new venue in Queens, New York, which will officially be called Etihad Park, according to a joint press release. The agreement is for 20 years and furthers a partnership between the two parties that have worked together since 2014. 

“It’s the most important commercial agreement that we’ll enter into, probably in the history of the club,” said New York City FC Chief Executive Officer Brad Sims in an interview with CNBC. 

The new stadium marks a major step for the club, which currently plays home games at baseball stadiums Yankee Stadium and Citi Field. Sims said the new venue opens up lucrative partnership opportunities, and the naming rights agreement is a prominent one. 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Etihad Park is being built with private funds.

Etihad Park isn’t the only new addition to Queens. The venue will be part of a larger public-private development that includes 2,500 new affordable housing units and a public school. 

And the new stadium will see traffic for much more than just MLS games, with non-soccer events like concerts and festivals hosted in the stadium and surrounding space. 

“It has very multi-purpose potential in this space, and it’s really important to us, from a business standpoint, commercially, to have those events,” Sims said. 

“I think it’s also important for the local community that this is a vibrant building that is not just open 17 times a year and dark the rest of the year,” he said.

More than 300 sports stadiums around the world will begin to be built or renovated in 2025, according to projections from Deloitte, with a growing emphasis on the importance of multi-use.

“Having an anchor like a stadium is a way to create flow through people, to create a bit of buzz, to actually build up local connections with businesses and things like that, in a way that really propels these things,” said Deloitte Principal Pete Giorgio in an interview with CNBC. 

As for why the new stadium name is Etihad Park and not “stadium” or “arena,” it’s an homage to New York City’s iconic green spaces, according to Sims.