{"id":310240,"date":"2026-07-30T22:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310240\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T22:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:41:08","slug":"mamdanis-nyc-open-play-partnership-scores-big-with-big-apple-soccer-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310240\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani\u2019s NYC Open Play partnership scores big with Big Apple soccer fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

NYC Open Play<\/a>, a citywide partnership with New York City FC, NYC Footy, NYC Parks<\/a>\u00a0and the Hudson River Park Trust gave thousands of New York sports fans a chance to hit the field during late-night hours with participation growing steadily throughout its six-week run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing. It was a success beyond what we could have imagined,\u201d said Maya Handa, the city\u2019s World Cup czar.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

She added it underscored Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s ongoing \u201caffordability and accessibility\u201d priorities.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom day one, the mayor\u2019s priority was affordability and accessibility. \u00a0We know that soccer is the world\u2019s game, and there\u2019s such overwhelming interest, but there is not always opportunity to play or to watch,\u201d Handa said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program opened one soccer field in each borough for overnight pickup games through July 18, providing free playing opportunities during the World Cup for New Yorkers whose work schedules or other commitments make traditional recreational hours difficult.<\/p>\n

Players reserved time at five parks, one in each borough: Hudson River Park\u2019s Chelsea Waterside in Manhattan, Astoria Park in Queens, Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn, Soundview Park in the Bronx and Fairview Park on Staten Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Players made 696 reservations and 2,801 individual players checked in a combined 4,531 times. The number of returning players increased each week.\n<\/p>\n

Brooklyn saw the most participants at 1,448, followed by Staten Island (910), the Bronx (780), Manhattan (744) and Queens (649).\n<\/p>\n

NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura acknowledged how eager people were to participate. One dedicated player showed up 15 times across the six-week span.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response from participants demonstrates that when we invest in creative, community-focused programming, New Yorkers show up,\u201d she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The report found that 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. was the most popular time for check-in.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program allowed the City to meet the moment of World Cup excitement, with our incredible parks as the center of the fun,\u201d Shimamura added.\u00a0\u201cBy expanding access to soccer beyond traditional hours, we created new opportunities for people across the five boroughs to stay active, connect with one another, and make the most of our public spaces during an unforgettable moment for the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program offered an option for New York soccer buffs who might otherwise have limited opportunities to play organized or pickup soccer because of work, family responsibilities or unconventional schedules.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NYC Open Play, a citywide partnership with New York City FC, NYC Footy, NYC Parks\u00a0and the Hudson River…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12541,9,56,63,65,64,117345,22458,117346,87,319,82],"class_list":["post-310240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nyc-open-play","tag-nyc-parks","tag-overnight-soccer-in-nyc","tag-politics","tag-sports","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}