Sky Blue FC to Play Home Games at Red Bull Arena Next Season

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HARRISON, N.J. — Sky Blue FC of the National Women’s Soccer League will play their home games next season at Red Bull Arena, home of Major League Soccer’s New Jersey Red Bulls.

The teams announced the agreement on Monday.

Sky Blue FC, led by USWNT star Carli Lloyd, had played home matches at Yurcak Field, a 5,000-seat stadium on the Rutgers campus in Piscataway, N.J., since its inaugural season in 2009. 

Following the attention generated by the Women’s World Cup, the team moved two home matches to Red Bull Arena last season. The first match set a single-game home attendance record for Sky Blue FC, drawing 9,415 for a 1-1 draw against Tacoma’s Reign on Aug. 18, and the second drew 8,314 for a 1-1 tie against the Orlando Pride on Sept. 29. That raised Sky Blue’s overall average home attendance to 3,338 from 2,531 in 2018.

The NWSL averaged 7,373 overall in attendance, up 22% from 6,024 in 2018.

Red Bull Arena is a soccer-specific stadium that seats 25,000 and has a grass surface.