Players of NJ/NY Gotham FC form a huddle prior to the NWSL match between NJ/NY Gotham FC and Seattle Reign at Icahn Stadium on July 18, 2026 in New York. (Photo by Caean Couto/NWSL via Getty Images)

NWSL via Getty Images

After the complaints rained down during a NWSL Gotham FC 1-0 playoff quarterfinal win against the Seattle Reign FC on Sunday regarding the poor field conditions at Sports Illustrated Stadium, the New York-based Gotham FC announced a move Monday to the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in Manhattan for the NWSL semifinal on Sunday.

“For the first time in club history, our players have earned the right to host a semifinal match at home, and our fans have earned the opportunity to be part of that historic moment,” said Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, Gotham FC governor. “Unfortunately, given the field conditions, we have made the extremely difficult decision to relocate our semifinal game to Icahn Stadium.”

Blodgett says the team “exhausted every possible avenue before making this decision” and are disappointed to limit the number of fans who can watch the Sunday afternoon game live versus the Kansas City Current.

“Our players deserve a playing surface that meets the standards of a professional semifinal, and our fans deserve the opportunity to support them,” Blodgett says. “We have worked tirelessly to deliver on both and are disappointed that we cannot. We are grateful to Icahn Stadium for working with us on such short notice to ensure our team has a place to compete for a championship spot on Sunday.”

Gotham FC’s home stadium is the 25,000-seat Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. Owned by the Hudson County Improvement Authority, Red Bull operates the facility and owns the venue’s main tenant, the New York Red Bulls of the MLS. Gotham FC did play one game at Icahn this season due to a scheduling conflict at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

For the quarterfinal, the reported attendance was just over 11,000 fans, well below a sell-out, but still more than double the capacity available at Icahn. Players and coaches from both teams complained about the quality of the turf, which was bare and sandy in spots.

“We as a team worked extremely hard to earn a home playoff berth,” says Tierna Davidson, club captain. “What we got was a field that is not the standard this club, this league or our fans deserve. The quality of the game is not up for debate, so we’ve made the difficult decision to move to Icahn Stadium on Sunday.”

The club made it clear that the field conditions were the driving factor in the decision to locate the game on Randall’s Island.

“We felt it was important to prioritize a playing surface that appropriately allows our athletes to perform at their best,” says Yael Averbuch West, president of soccer operations for Gotham FC. “Providing our players with a high-quality surface to complete is a responsibility we take very seriously, and we appreciate Icahn Stadium stepping up to ensure this happens.”

West added that while disappointed the team can’t play in front of more supporters, the club’s first responsibility was to “provide our players with the best possible conditions to compete, and ultimately, we felt we had to prioritize the playing surface.”

According to ESPN, the team explored the possibility of resurfacing Sports Illustrated Stadium ahead of Sunday’s matchup but ultimately decided to move the game.

The NWSL didn’t have much room to work with, as the league’s national broadcast timeslots weren’t movable. The first semifinal—between the Washington Spirit and the Utah Royals—is scheduled for Saturday at noon local time at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. It’s the home of D.C. United and the Spirit. A Division III football game will get pushed into the evening to accommodate soccer. That left just Sunday afternoon available for Gotham FC.