New York City FC has hired Klutch Sports Group to coordinate stadium partnerships for the soccer-specific stadium set to open in 2027. Through its Global Partnerships division, the agency will take the lead in selling NYCFC’s “Founding Partnerships,” the club’s premier sponsorship program, to interested brands.
The deal is another win for Klutch’s sponsorship division; the Rich Paul-led agency expanded beyond player representation in 2020 to handle sponsorship opportunities and now has clients in MLB, NHL, PFL and MLS.
“We are excited to work with Klutch on our ‘Excelsior Partner Program’ and are confident they will connect us with like-minded brands,” Brad Sims, the team’s CEO, said in a statement. “With our new home, our goal is to make New York City FC the flagship franchise in Major League Soccer and the hottest ticket in New York sports.”
The 25,000-seat soccer-specific arena is the centerpiece of a redevelopment project in the Willets Point neighborhood of Queens, the city’s largest borough by land. On April 11, the New York City Council approved the mixed-use project with a 47-1 vote. Construction of the stadium itself, which will be next door to the New York Mets’ Citi Field, will be privately funded to the tune of $780 million.
At the time of the vote, Sims said that by not being a tenant in a stadium, the MLS side can monetize its own building through naming rights, sponsorships and premium seating. “Right now, 80% of our matchday revenue is coming from general seating,” Sims said in April. “In the new stadium, I think 80% or more of our revenue will be coming from premium seating or hospitality areas. It’s just a massive switch there, and then also the sponsorship opportunities are tremendous.”
Klutch has previously worked with NYCFC in selecting Capital Rx, a health technology company, as the club’s sleeve partner. The Klutch sponsorships hire comes just over four months after NYCFC enlisted Legends to manage the new venue’s premium seating and suites.
Founded in 2013 with its first MLS season coming two years later, NYCFC is co-owned by City Football Group (80%) and Yankees Global Enterprises (20%), which are better known for owning Manchester City and the New York Yankees, respectively.
The club has been billed as “the city’s team,” even though its neighbor, the MetroStars/Red Bulls, have played in the MLS since its inaugural season in 1996. NYCFC has had a nomadic journey in its first 11 seasons of play—most home games are played in Yankee Stadium, which has made for awkward pitch design in a facility built for baseball. However, NYCFC has also played “home” games in Connecticut, New Jersey and even Los Angeles.
NYCFC will be the last major pro team in the NYC metropolitan area to move in a new or fully renovated stadium of its own since the area’s sports stadium boom began with the New Jersey Devils’ Prudential Center in 2007. Both the new Yankee Stadium, where NYCFC plays most of its home games, and the Mets’ Citi Field, where the soccer team has played on several occasions, opened in 2009.
(This story has been updated in the second paragraph regarding Klutch’s sponsorship partners and corrected in the seventh paragraph to note that City Football Group are the owners of Manchester City and not Manchester United.)
