New York Mets pain is New York City FC's gain as the club today confirmed that Citi Field in Queens will be the venue for the Decision Day match against Seattle Sounders FC.
The site of this regular-season finale against Seattle on Saturday, October 18 had been listed as "TBD" since way back on December 19, 2024, when the MLS schedule for 2025 officially dropped. The logistics are now nailed down: Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm ET at Citi Field, with the slightly odd start time due to every Eastern Conference match kicking off at the same synchronized time.
The venue for this game always depended on the October activities of New York City's two Major League Baseball teams. NYCFC will tell you their home hosting priorities start with Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and Citi Field in Queens, then shift to Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, when neither baseball stadium is available to them.
Citi Field became fully available for Decision Day and beyond once the New York Mets got eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Miami Marlins on the last day of their season. That means at least one, and possibly more, trips to the World's Borough for NYCFC to play across the street from their eventual permanent home, The Valley of Ashes (or Etihad Park, if you're official about it).
Oliver Strand
Confirmation of Decision Day being played at Citi also provides a make-up of sorts, restoring a match to Queens after the Columbus Crew game planned for Citi Field earlier this summer had to be postponed and moved to Yankee Stadium due to the sad state of the outfield grass following a Kpop concert held atop said grass.
This will be NYCFC's third time playing at Citi Field on Decision Day, after they drew with the aforementioned Columbus Crew 2-2 in Queens in 2017 – the club's first-ever match in Queens – then beat Chicago Fire FC, 1-0, to close out their disappointing playoffs-free 2023 season.
More MLS playoff visits to Queens?
While the October 18 match against the Sounders closes out the regular season, NYCFC also has playoff soccer to plan for, since they clinched a postseason berth with their win over Charlotte FC two weekends ago.
Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs, the best-of-three series portion of the tournament, begins Friday, October 24 and runs through Sunday, November 9. If NYCFC finishes above 5th Place in the final standings, they earn home-field advantage in that best-of-three round, so more October trips to Citi Field could be in the cards.
Yankee Stadium in the Bronx looks less obviously available for playoff soccer, since the New York Yankees qualified for the playoffs and could, in theory and in the dreams of those who purchased one of those NYCFC x Yankees hats on "Yankees Night," make a deeper postseason run that stretches into late October.
The elimination of the Mets at least cuts off the need to travel to New Jersey and set up shop as the "home" team in the stadium synonymous with the rival Red Bulls, be it for Decision Day or for the start of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
