The story behind New York City FC's stunning new $780m 'Cube' stadium

From Yankee Stadium and Citi Field to Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden, New York City is home to some of the most iconic arenas on the planet.

Yet while it's certainly not short of sporting landmarks, one thing has eluded the Big Apple over the past 400 years: a soccer stadium.

Despite the sport's rapid rise in America over the past two decades, the world-famous city has never boasted a soccer-specific venue on its shores, with one of the state's two designated clubs playing games over in New Jersey and the other sharing a home with both their MLS rival and two baseball teams.

In 2027, however, this will finally change.

Two years ago MLS franchise New York City FC received the green light from government officials to build its own 25,000-seater stadium in Willets Point, Queens, just across the street from Citi Field - the home of MLB team the Mets.

The $780m project, which will be privately funded and go down as the most expensive MLS stadium by some distance (surpassing Inter Miami's $350m home), is expected to be completed in time for the 2027 season with construction to begin later this year.

It has been a long and arduous road to this point for persistent NYCFC and City Football Group executives who outlined plans to build a soccer arena in the city of New York over 10 years ago. Despite the vast setbacks they were dealt along the way, and their fears it would never come off, they never wavered from that bold promise.

'I think a lot of other organizations would have left a long time ago,' Chief Operating Officer Jennifer O'Sullivan told DailyMail.com at a media day to unveil NYCFC's stadium plans Tuesday. 

'There's a reason why the Jets, Giants and Red Bulls are in New Jersey. We were told by so many people it would never happen. "This is a folly, you guys are gonna waste so much time and money."

'But here we are 10 years later doing what people told us could never happen.'

Flushing Meadows, Belmont Park, South Bronx (twice), Inwood. Over the past decade NYCFC sounded out every possible location before eventually arriving back at Queens, the site they initially pinpointed when launching its first proposal back in 2011.

In 2022 the team finally came to an agreement with the New York City government to build their desired 25,000-seater stadium in Willets Point, marking the end of a grueling journey to gain that approval.

'This should have died five or six times' Jon Stemp, Chief of Infrastructure for NYCFC's City Football Group owners, admitted. 'We've designed five or six stadiums in different locations, but we couldn't get the political leadership that we needed in the city. Now we've ended up with this place and project with an amazing group of partners, friends and political leaders who have made it happen.'

Even when the dream of bringing a soccer stadium to New York City appeared dead on its feet, the franchise never considered following the Red Bulls down to New Jersey. That was strictly off the table.

'You're not just building a new stadium, you're building a new neighborhood for the first time in decades in New York,' O'Sullivan added. 'To be part of that, a project that is so important and so critical for the city, you can't ask for anything better than that.'

A naming-rights deal for the proposed new stadium is not yet finalized, with an agreement expected to be sealed in 2026.

Nevertheless, NYCFC execs are convinced their arena will be like no other in the sporting stratosphere.

As well as a stunning 'Cube' entrance which boasts 'an immersive, seven story front door', the team's new home will also include a host of luxury and premium hospitality suites, gourmet dining options and an enclosed stadium structure that will help create more noise in the 25,000-capacity arena.

CEO Brad Sims said about the new stadium plans at Tuesday's media event: 'This makes you feel like it's really real. I's almost like a pinch-me moment, because it's been such a long time coming for this organization, 10 plus years and I couldn't be more proud of this club. 

'We made a promise to the fanbase, to the city, that we were gonna build the first ever soccer-specific stadium in the city, inside the five boroughs, and never wavered from that promise. Obviously through a lot of tough situations, tough times, moving venues... all the things that have come over the last 10 years, it would have been very easy to at some point say it's not worth it and it can't be done.

'So from that standpoint you feel proud. We made this promise and we're gonna be able to fulfil this promise.'

Having not been able to call somewhere 'home' since the club's inception in 2013, Sims expects their fanbase to grow significantly when that changes in three years' time. Supporters will no longer be forced to traipse between Yankee Stadium, Citi Field and Red Bull Arena all season long. Now they can create memories at their own stadium.

The project will also see 2,500 affordable housing units, 250 key hotels and commercial real estates, a 650-seat elementary school and 115,000 square feet of public open space created in the area as part of a wider pledge to build a community.

Since launching deposit schemes for season tickets in August, NYCFC has had huge interest from potential suitors, an estimated 40 percent of which were never on their databases before the new stadium was approved.

'There are soccer fans out there who want a true authentic soccer experience,' Sims added.

Ticket prices will also be segmented, allowing both high-rollers and working class New Yorkers to grab a piece of the action at the team's new home. 

Players, too, will reap the rewards of competing under the same roof for 50 percent of the season. In 2023, NYCFC ranked 17th out of 29 for home form while moving from stadium to stadium.

'We have guys who have made their homes close to Yankee Stadium. But when you go to Citi Field that's a good amount of a commute,' Sims admitted. 

'We even had situations where we had to get players a hotel for a game at Citi Field. They almost treat it like an away game just to make sure they don't get stuck in traffic or they aren't sitting in their car for three hours all cramped up.'

While they will need to collaborate with the Mets to ensure their respective schedules do not conflict - the two teams can never host fixtures within a few hours of each other given their close proximity - and to ensure both of them are able to host other events at their venues, the coast is finally clear for the birth of a first-ever authentic soccer community in New York City.

With the arrival of Lionel Messi in MLS, former Premier League manager Mauricio Pochettino as USMNT head coach and the small matter of the World Cup heading this way in 2026, NYCFC's new stadium is coming at the perfect time with soccer booming in the States.

The club is looking to create a dynasty after landing its first MLS Cup in 2021, and O'Sullivan is adamant that they are destined for an 'astronomical' growth as a franchise.

'This is no longer just a retirement league, it's a league that's actually developing its own talent in its own right - and it has taken time for that to happen,' she said. 'But if you come back in five, 10, 15 years... it's almost gonna be astronomical the growth. 

'If you look where we are in our first 10 years of existence as a club and what we've accomplished and what we've done, that growth of the game in the USA is fueling that.'

Passion for soccer in the States is growing at an unprecedented rate, and NYCFC expect it to have risen even further by the time their new stadium opens in 2027.

Stemp, who previously worked for Premier League champions Manchester City, is convinced the only way is up as they prepare to start work on the new stadium.

'We haven't even scratched the surface of that passion,' he added. 

'When you jump forward 15, 20, 30, 40 years... people will be scattering the ashes of their parents here because they were season-ticket holders.

'We have a fighting chance of it being something that they feel is theirs.'