How Hall of Famer CC Sabathia and NYC Teamed Up to Create an $11M Sports Complex for Harlem Youth

A major win for high-school-aged teens, the new Harlem Sports Complex will offer youth a safe, high-quality place to play and grow

Jul 27, 2025; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Hall of Fame inductee CC Sabathia makes his acceptance speech during the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Clark Sports Center. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

On a crisp Harlem morning, when the subway rumbles under Lenox Avenue and the neighborhood is still shaking off its early shadows, a new kind of promise rises over the skyline. It’s not a tower or a new development. It’s a field—the kind of field that makes young people stop, stare, and imagine themselves running across it under bright lights.

For Harlem’s high-school students, that promise is now real

The soon to be built Harlem Youth Sports Complex, supported by the newly-inducted MLB Hall of Fame member CC Sabathia’s PitCCh In Foundation and a network of city partners, stands as more than another athletic ground. It is a deliberate, purposeful investment in older youth at a stage of life where structure, belonging, and opportunity can change trajectories. For high-schoolers navigating the tightrope of adolescence—school pressures, social expectations, limited safe spaces—this complex offers something rare: a place built with them in mind.

When completed in time for this coming spring, teens will find not just turf and lines painted on a field, but a refuge where athletic dreams meet mentorship, where the hum of competition mixes with the hum of community, and where their potential is treated not as a hope but a certainty.

A Facility Built for Teen-Level Sports

Spread across 150,000 square feet of pristine synthetic turf, the complex will immediately announce its big-league aspirations. Regulation-sized fields for baseball, softball, football, soccer, and lacrosse reflect a simple belief: if you expect teens to dream big, you must give them space worthy of those dreams.

In urban settings, high-school athletes often outgrow the small, uneven lots tucked between buildings or the aging fields patched together with makeshift repairs. This new facility removes those limitations. The lighting is professional-grade, the lines crisp, the surfaces forgiving. A player can dive for a catch, cut hard on a soccer break, or sprint down a sideline knowing the field beneath their feet won’t fail them.

For Harlem teens who previously had to commute to outer boroughs or wait for crowded park space, the complex brings the game home—literally.

Free, Structured Programs Designed for Teens

If the field is the stage, the programming is the heartbeat. Through partnerships with city initiatives like Saturday Night Lights, the complex will buzz with evening and weekend activity. These are the hours when high-school students need safe, structured space most—after the last school bell rings, when the cafeteria closes, when the streets get louder.

Saturday Night Lights, which typically serves youth ages 13–19, offers exactly what older teens crave: real competition, real coaching, and real belonging. And it’s free. That means no registration fees, no equipment barriers, no “pay to play.” In neighborhoods where cost often sidelines talented kids, free programming is not just helpful—it is transformational.

The result is a facility where teens can walk in after school or on a Saturday night and feel immediately welcomed, supported, and part of something.

Mentorship, Leadership, and Skill Development

The PitCCh In Foundation’s fingerprint is unmistakable here. Sabathia has long understood that sports are just the doorway; the real magic happens in the locker rooms, on the sidelines, in the moments between drills when a coach offers a life lesson disguised as encouragement.

For high-schoolers, this means a steady stream of mentors—coaches who not only teach form and footwork but also instill discipline, confidence, and accountability. Leadership opportunities emerge naturally: a team captain organizing practice, a defensive anchor calling out coverages, a baseball player guiding a younger teammate through a new drill.

These interactions add up. They nudge teens toward healthier routines, stronger academics, better decision-making, and the kind of self-belief that carries into adulthood.

In a neighborhood where positive community anchors are invaluable, the complex becomes a place where teens can show up every day and know they matter.

Opening Pathways to Future Opportunities

A high-quality facility opens high-quality doors. The new complex offers Harlem’s high-school athletes access to resources that traditionally existed miles away:

• Fields suitable for school team practices and interleague play
• A venue that positions athletes for potential college scouting
• Fitness and conditioning opportunities that support overall health
• Structured peer networks that create lasting friendships
• Evening and weekend activities that keep teens safely engaged
• The partnership ensures that natural ability, hard work, and dedication—not family income—shape a young athlete’s future. For many teens, this is the difference between a dream deferred and a dream realized.

A Transformative Partnership for Harlem Teens

At its core, the Harlem Youth Sports Complex represents collaboration at its best. Sabathia’s foundation, local leaders, city partnerships, and neighborhood advocates came together around a shared belief: Harlem’s teens deserve the same quality facilities and support systems found in wealthier communities.

The result is more than a sports complex. It’s a beacon. A statement that Harlem’s youth are not only seen but celebrated; not only supported but invested in.

For high-school students standing on the brink of adulthood, this field becomes a launching pad—one that sends them into the world with confidence, community, and the knowledge that their dreams have a place to take root.