$780M Queens Soccer Stadium Scores Goal In NYC

QUEENS, NY — The ball is officially rolling on a pitch to transform a blighted pocket of Queens into a sports mecca that's also a great place to live.

City Council members Thursday approved a plan to build a $780 million stadium for Major League Soccer's New York City Football Club.

The 25,000-seat stadium next to Citi Field not only be the city's first professional soccer-specific venue, but fold into a larger redevelopment of Willets Point that will include 2,500 units of affordable housing, officials said.

"Willets Point represents the future of our city, a future in which all New Yorkers can afford to live in a safe apartment that is close to a good school, good-paying jobs, and outdoor space, and great public transportation," Mayor Eric Adams said during an event celebrating the vote.

"Willets Point shows that we can achieve it if we act boldly together."

Adams victory lap came amid ongoing tensions with the City Council, notably on a policy requiring elected officials to fill out a form to speak with city officials.

But the effort to redevelopment Willets Point goes back long before Adams' mayoralty, albeit with fits and starts.

The project's first phase — 1,100 units of affordable housing — is already under construction, officials said.

By the end, the entire project will yield 2,500 all-affordable housing units, a 250-key hotel and the soccer stadium.

Construction on the stadium is expected to begin this year, with an eye toward being open for the 2027 Major League Soccer season, said Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer on PIX11.

She also noted the World Cup finals will unfold in 2026 in New York and New Jersey.

But some critics such as Council Member Shekar Krishan, who cast the lone vote against the plan Thursday, argued the project is a giveaway to one of the wealthiest people on Earth.

He argued a stadium that won't pay property taxes was given priority over more affordable housing.

The stadium will be privately financed by NYCFC's owners, who include the Yankees and United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the owner of the Manchester City Football Club, the Associated Press reported.

An Independent Budget Office analysis found that taxpayers will lose out on $516 million over the nearly five-decade lease.

Torres-Springer, when asked about the analysis, argued the entire project will generate $6 billion over 30 years.

"We're building a whole new neighborhood that will deliver not just new homes, but 15,000 construction and permanent jobs to clean," she told Fox5.