The New York City parks department on Monday announced the lights will stay on until 2 a.m. at one soccer field in each of the five boroughs this fall, then again next spring, in an extension of a program designed to make it easier for groups to secure playing time.
It’s a continuation of a pilot program that began over the summer when Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered parks officials to let soccer games run overnight until 8 a.m. at five parks. More than 4,500 people participated in the late-night sessions, according to city officials.
The parks department typically only issues permits for lighted fields until 10 p.m.
Soundview Park in the Bronx, Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn, Harlem River Park in Manhattan, Astoria Park in Queens and Fairview Park on Staten Island will be staffed with parks enforcement officers and be lit until 2 a.m. through the end of November. The extra hours will resume in April 2027 and continue through September.
“This summer, we proved that the people’s game will always belong to the people. Long after the sun had set, our late-night soccer fields came alive with energy and enthusiasm as nurses, students and delivery workers passed, saved and scored,” Mamdani wrote in a statement.
Soccer players have long clamored for more fields and extended hours to help meet the growing demand for playing time across the city’s parks.
The recreational soccer league NYC Footy is responsible for running the on-field programming during the overnight games, providing field hosts and equipment. Tarek Pertew, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said he was surprised by how many people wanted to play into the early morning over the summer.
“We had the biggest season we’d ever had in the summer in terms of number of players, which we were expecting, but what I wasn’t fully expecting was just how much traction the overnight would get,” he said.
City Hall officials said continuing to run the program will cost roughly $2 million, and will be funded by the New York/New Jersey FIFA Host Committee that organized the World Cup games at MetLife Stadium over the summer.
Mamdani last week said the World Cup brought a $2 billion economic boost to the city over the summer.
People 18 and up can reserve playtime for their teams online.