Opening of New York City FC's Etihad Park pushed back a half-season to summer of 2027

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NEW YORK (AP) — The opening of New York City FC's Etihad Park has been pushed back a half-season to the start of Major League Soccer's 2027-28 schedule.

When the team broke ground in December 2024 for the 25,000-seat venue adjacent to the New York Mets' Citi Field, NYCFC said the stadium would open for the 2027 season. The projected opening will now be in the summer of 2027, when the MLS switches its schedule to a summer-to-spring calendar to match most European leagues.

In the league's truncated transition season of 2027, each MLS team will play a 14-game regular-season schedule followed by playoffs. NYCFC will continue to play most home games that season at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

Since taking the field in 2015, NYCFC has played home games mostly at those venues along with some at the home of the rival New York Red Bulls in Harrison, New Jersey, and Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.

The new stadium will be a site of soccer matches during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Major League Soccer team’s controlling owner is City Football Group, the parent company of England’s Manchester City. The Premier League team’s venue was renamed Etihad Stadium in July 2011.

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