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Red Bull Arena is a soccer-specific stadium in Harrison, New Jersey that is home to the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer and NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League. Featuring a transparent partial roof, it is located on the waterfront in the Riverbend District of Harrison across the Passaic River from Newark and approximately 7 miles (12 km) west of Lower Manhattan, New York City. With a seating capacity of 25,000, it is the sixth-largest soccer-specific stadium in the United States and in Major League Soccer.
Initial planning
The original plan to build a soccer specific stadium in the New York Metropolitan area was announced during the 2000 MLS season at ESPN Zone in Times Square by the President & GM of the MetroStars Nick Sakiewicz and owner Stuart Subotnick. Nick Sakiewicz led the complex, nearly 5-year effort in search of a site to build. On July 1, 2004, Sakiewicz, New Jersey Governor Richard Codey, Harison Mayor Ray McDonough and Harrison Redevelopment Chair Peter Higgins along with MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced the MetroStars (as the New York Red Bulls were known at the time) would move from their home at Giants Stadium to a site in Harrison New Jersey Negotiations between MLS and the state of New Jersey dragged on until an agreement was announced on August 5, 2005, for the MetroStars to build and complete construction of a new dedicated soccer facility for the 2007 season. Concerns about environmental clean-up at the selected site forced another delay. Groundbreaking took place September 19, 2006, and construction was set for November 2007, that was delayed by one month when Red Bull GmbH bought the MetroStars from Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), changing the club's name in the process. After projections of opening during the 2008, and then the 2009 season, on January 23, 2009, it was announced that the arena opening would be delayed until 2010.
Nick Sakiewicz moved on the create MLS' 16th franchise in Philadelphia and build a soccer specific stadium in that market which launched in 2010. According to Erik Stover, Red Bulls managing director at the time, Harrison Redevelopment Agency chairman Peter B. Higgins was "quite simply the reason that the New York Red Bulls have a new home in Harrison. His vision and leadership guided us through numerous difficulties." The Higgins' contribution is memorialized by the naming of the street at the main gates along the west side of the stadium as Pete Higgins Boulevard.
Tennants
New York Red Bull | Gotham FC |
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