Gotham FC’s potential New York City move could be a win for everyone

Last week’s derby against the new expansion team Boston Legacy FC drew 11,308 fans, the fourth-largest regular-season attendance in club history, aided by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s initiative that provided $5 tickets for 1,000 fans, along with additional discounted ticket offers. In contrast, Boston’s home opener at Gillette Stadium against Gotham drew a record 30,200 fans in attendance in March.

The difference between those attendance figures reflects a broader reality for Gotham: crowd size often depends as much on location and accessibility as the matchup itself.

A move to NYCFC’s new Etihad Park could help address some of the club’s attendance struggles by bringing the team closer to the city.

Expected to open for the 2027-28 MLS season, Etihad Park is designed to feel less like a traditional arena and more like an entertainment district built for the social media era. Team executives have described the stadium’s immersive entrance experience, featuring thousands of LED screens and fully digital exterior elements, as their version of “the Las Vegas Sphere.”

Unlike older stadiums built around static branding, Etihad Park’s digital-first design could help Gotham bring their visual identity to the building seamlessly on match days.

Gotham has played in New Jersey since its inception. The club’s dual-state identity has long been central to its DNA, and the Harrison venue played a critical role in helping Gotham survive the earlier years before the recent surge in women’s soccer attendance and franchise valuations. Still, the club has already been moving toward a simpler identity, officially rebranding as Gotham FC last January and dropping the NY/NJ prefix.

While Sports Illustrated Stadium is technically only about 25 minutes from the World Trade Center in Manhattan, many casual fans still view the trip as an excursion rather than a spontaneous night out, particularly on weekends, when NJ Transit service to and from Harrison can be inconsistent and infrequent.

Last season, Gotham tried to ease that burden by launching the GFC Express, a dedicated round-trip bus service from Brooklyn and Manhattan to home matches that was often bundled with tickets. But even with the added transportation option, the journey to New Jersey remains longer and less convenient for many Manhattan and Brooklyn residents than a trip to a stadium next to Citi Field with direct access to the 7 train.

However, relocating to Queens would not entirely solve Gotham’s stadium challenges, as the club would remain a secondary tenant when scheduling conflicts arise.

Last month, the NWSL Board of Governors was expected to vote on shifting the league calendar to align with MLS’ future calendar and most top European leagues, but ultimately postponed any decision until 2030. The idea of flipping the calendar has been debated within the NWSL for years, largely because 13 of its 18 clubs, including Gotham, share stadiums with MLS teams and are often forced to work around those teams’ scheduling priorities.

Going forward, one of the biggest drawbacks of not aligning the NWSL calendar with MLS could be losing priority during the summer months, when MLS teams are off but stadium owners choose to reserve coveted weekend dates for more lucrative events. Sports Illustrated Stadium’s decision to host World Cup watch parties this summer instead of Gotham FC matches offered a glimpse of that potential conflict.

Primary tenants typically control scheduling, sponsorship inventory, branding opportunities and stadium presentation. Secondary tenants inherit compromises. And while Gotham has done an admirable job creating atmosphere in Harrison, the club still exists within another organization’s ecosystem, which would be the case at Etihad Park.

Still, the potential move could also help the NWSL, especially with optics.

For a league that is no longer operating like a startup trying to survive, where expansion fees have exploded from $2 million a decade ago to above $200 million, optics are important: serious clubs need serious infrastructure. Currently, only one franchise, Kansas City Current, controls its schedule. However, the Denver Summit is building its own soccer-specific stadium and Boston is renovating White Stadium as part of its long-term infrastructure strategy.

The league has spent the last several years trying to position itself alongside major global sports properties rather than niche alternatives. Gotham moving into a sparkling new soccer-specific stadium next to Citi Field ahead of the 2027 Women’s World Cup cycle would fit neatly into that ambition, especially inside the city limits of New York City.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

New York City FC, Gotham FC, MLS, NWSL, Women's Soccer

2026 The Athletic Media Company