The New York New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee and the United States Tennis Association will turn the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens into a soccer haven for 11 days next summer.
The iconic New York sports venue will be used as a World Cup fan zone from June 17-28, with Louis Armstrong Stadium being transformed into a venue for fans to gather and watch select group stage matches.
This is the third fan site the host committee has announced in the past year, with Rockefeller Center and Liberty State Park in Jersey City also holding World Cup festivities.
The Queens fan zone and the Liberty State Park site, which is the area’s main FIFA Fan Festival, will require soccer attendees to purchase a $10 ticket. The fan village at Rockefeller Center will be free to enter.
“We plan to deliver an experience that connects fans to the global stage while showcasing the world’s borough as a community that thrives on diversity, culture, and sport,” host committee CEO Alex Lasry said in a statement. “This will be where the world comes together, and we’re excited to make this an unforgettable experience.”
In a release, organizers said the fan zone in Queens will include live match broadcasts, entertainment, interactive games and feature local food vendors.
The release did not say which matches will be shown there during the group stage of the tournament.
Information regarding tickets for the fan site at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be released in early 2026.
While local organizers have been getting ready for the World Cup, which will be hosted jointly by the United States, Canada and Mexico, there has been a growing focus on ticket prices.
Next summer’s tournament is expected to be one of the most expensive World Cups ever, and MetLife Stadium, which will host the final, has some of the most expensive matches.
FIFA announced Tuesday that it was slashing ticket prices for the most loyal fans of teams competing in the World Cup after backlash over prices continued to swell around the globe.
Tickets priced at $60 will be made available for every game and go to the national federations of the squads playing, leaving it up to those organizations to dictate how to distribute the tickets.
During an event back in October, Lasry had said that the World Cup goes beyond just the matches at the stadiums and part of the host committee’s job was to make the tournament accessible to everyone through events around the metropolitan area.
“There’s going to be a lot of people who aren’t going to go into the stadium, we want to make sure they experience and be part of and enjoy the World Cup,” he said at the time. “It’s not just what happens inside the stadium. It’s being able to participate in everything that’s going on outside and trying to make it accessible to everybody.”
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