How Gotham FC Pulled Off a Sudden Semifinal Stadium Relocation

Gotham FC’s 1-0 quarterfinal win over Seattle Reign was brutal.

Players came off the field on Nov. 8 calling the pitch at Sports Illustrated Stadium, which is owned by MLS’s New York Red Bulls, “atrocious” and “so bad.” Head coach Juan Carlos Amorós apologized for the conditions after the game.

“I think at this level, in this kind of game, as a league we should be having a better surface,” Amorós said.

The next day, Gotham announced it would move its semifinal match to Icahn Stadium, a 5,000-seat venue on Randall’s Island in New York City’s East River known more for hosting track events than soccer games.

Icahn isn’t perfect. Randall’s Island is not accessible by subway, meaning spectators typically get to the stadium by city bus or the footbridge from Manhattan. And the smaller stadium—which sits on city-owned parkland and is operated by the Randall’s Island Park Alliance—means a large portion of Gotham’s fanbase will get shut out from the game.

Gotham has played twice at Icahn before, but the stakes of the semifinal added extra pressure to their return. After all, the NWSL champions in two of the past three seasons have never hosted a semifinal before.

“Once we had learned that we were not going to be able to fix the Sports Illustrated field, we just went into full Plan B mode,” Kari Fleischauer, Gotham’s chief operating officer who oversees gameday operations, tells Front Office Sports.

Gotham plays the Kansas City Current at 3 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, hoping for a repeat appearance in the NWSL Championship on Nov. 21 in Washington, D.C. The winner will face whichever team advances from Saturday’s semifinal between the Washington Spirit and Utah Royals, which had stadium issues of its own.

At Icahn Stadium, Gotham is adding premium seating, hosting a fan festival, and bringing in food trucks. On the way to the stadium, the team organized free ferry service, free charter buses from New Jersey, and a few more NYC public buses. For the fans who can’t make the match, Gotham organized official and unofficial watch parties, dropping $8,000 on bar tabs.

Fleischauer says another member of the gameday operations team bought one Costco’s entire inventory of 2,000 hand warmers in anticipation of an afternoon in the 40s.

“Everything we can physically do,” Fleischauer says, “we are doing.”

The Road to Randall’s Island

Gotham had been considering relocating its semifinal match for months, but not because of the pitch.

The NWSL has two national broadcast windows for its semifinals: Saturday on CBS, and Sunday on ESPN. Gotham knew it might have to move its semifinal because the Red Bulls have a friendly against Mexican side Club América on Saturday night.

Starting this summer, Gotham called “every venue in the tri-state area” in case of a broadcast window issue, Fleischauer says, including the Mets’ Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Columbia University, Rutgers University, and even the Philadelphia Union’s Subaru Park. (“They were helpful,” she says of the Chester, Penn. stadium, but we were like, ‘That’s just not a home game.’”)

Fleischauer says Gotham had been talking to Icahn for about a month for the same reason, thinking they might wind up on Randall’s Island for a Saturday semifinal.

Then, over the past few weeks, conditions at Sports Illustrated Stadium continued to deteriorate.

Fleischauer says the pitch at Sports Illustrated Stadium wasn’t in great shape before the venue hosted a rugby doubleheader on Oct. 30, but those matches just “pushed it over the edge.”

Gotham called Red Bulls and flagged the pitch issues to the NWSL, Fleischauer says, and offered to pay to re-sod or re-stitch the grass, put in extra grow lights, or even lay down artificial turf.

“There wasn’t enough time for it to rest and there wasn’t enough time to do a lot of fixing,” Fleischauer says. “I do have faith in [Red Bulls’] ground crew, I think it’s just been overscheduled.”

The NWSL fined Gotham $10,000 for pitch conditions at Sports Illustrated Stadium for the final match of the year on Nov. 1, when the club won the NWSL Shield, ESPN first reported. During that match, Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell sustained a non-contact ankle injury, which Fleischauer attributes to the pitch.

Fast forward to the quarterfinal last Sunday, when Gotham had no shots on goal, and the pitch became the story of the match.

After Gotham announced their move the following day, New York Red Bulls initially distributed a curt statement wishing Gotham good luck and saying the club looks forward to its own upcoming friendly. The team followed up with a longer statement that night, saying Red Bulls understands “how frustrating the move is” for Gotham and its fans, and that the MLS team “had hoped” Gotham would’ve continued in New Jersey.

“We invest in the pitch year-round, with a dedicated grounds team and specialist field partners, and it was cleared for every match played there this season,” a Red Bulls spokesperson said. “We worked closely with Gotham and the NWSL to address their concerns, but unfortunately the experts and the league couldn’t guarantee the additional work they wanted to be completed could be done in time.”

Fleischauer says Gotham had already put the deposit down for a semifinal at Icahn before the quarterfinal match, still not knowing about the broadcast window. While Fleischauer declined to share how much it cost Gotham to rent Icahn for several days, FOS previously reported women’s track event Athlos would still pay its $75,000 deposit to the Randall’s Island Park Alliance after canceling its October event at the stadium. Athlos’ contract obligations totaled $175,000 in deposits and fees.

“The revenue hit we will take is not small,” says Fleischauer, largely because of additional costs that wouldn’t be incurred at Sports Illustrated such as additional lighting, WiFi, broadcast trucks, generators, premium pitchside seating, and, of course, transportation.

NYCFC donated $3 million to install new grass at the stadium in 2024—which Fleischauer called a “beautiful pitch”—and Icahn now serves as the home of the club’s MLS Next Pro affiliate, NYCFC II. (NYCFC will be Gotham’s landlord starting in the 2028 season after the NWSL side moves into Etihad Park, NYCFC’s new stadium in Queens slated to open next year.)

The far side of Icahn Stadium doesn’t have seating; Fleischauer says the team wasn’t able to secure or transport bleachers in time for the match. Fire safety rules also prevent the team from exceeding the stadium’s 5,000-person capacity, she says.

Instead, Gotham is building about 200 pitchside premium seats that will mostly serve league leaders and both clubs. The team also added another VIP area on the same side as the grandstand.

“While hosting this match on short notice was unexpected, our grounds and stadium operations teams are professionals who are always prepared to deliver,” Chris Hunter, chief operating officer of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance, said in a statement to FOS. “This past week has been a testament to their skill and dedication. Our top priority has been ensuring that Icahn Stadium’s pitch is in excellent playing condition for this important Gotham FC home playoff match, and we are confident both clubs will be very pleased with the field this Sunday.”

‘What Do You Need?’

Sports Illustrated Stadium has a capacity of 25,000 seats. The attendance at Gotham’s quarterfinal was 11,328 fans. Icahn only fits 5,000.

After season-ticket holders got first dibs, the public ticket sales window sold out in minutes. Gotham refunded the difference for anyone who had already paid for a pricier seat at Sports Illustrated.

Randall’s Island is typically not accessible by ferry, but Gotham worked with a private company, NY Waterway, to charter two boats that (with several trips) can carry around 3,000 fans total from Manhattan to Randall’s Island.

Gotham also arranged buses to bring up to about 350 fans to Icahn from New Jersey, and organized additional service with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to increase normal bus service from East Harlem to Randall’s Island. Once they arrive, supporters will be greeted by a fan festival, typical of any Gotham game in New Jersey.

For fans who aren’t making the trek, Gotham put down a $2,000 bar tab at three spots in New York and one in New Jersey—Socceria in Greenpoint, Berry Park in Williamsburg, Pig Beach in Astoria, and Varitage Brew Works in Bloomfield, New Jersey—that will be outfitted with Gotham giveaways. The team also called four additional bars for unofficial watch parties: no open bar, but they will air the semi.

On Friday, the club put out T-shirts featuring captain Tierna Davidson’s message to supporters when the club announced the move to Icahn: “Bring everything you have on Sunday, and we will leave it all on the field.”

Laura Petro, Gotham’s VP of fan experience, tells FOS the front office has been “in lockstep with ownership all week,” and that ownership was especially passionate about the free buses and ferries. Gotham is primarily owned by New York Giants co-owner Carolyn Tisch Blodgett.

“This is not a conventional situation, so we don’t need to take a conventional approach,” Petro says. “And they were huge champions of that, and said, ‘Yes, go, what do you need?’

“I think it’s really a testament to the vision and the prioritization of the fans, and making sure we meet this moment.”