Red Bull New York (Major League Soccer) @ Sports Illustrated Stadium (Harrison, NJ)

*This trip occurred on February 28, 2026, and also marks the debut of the "NEW TEAM" badge: I'm not counting this as a 26 in 26 stop since I've been here before (and even got to stand pitchside), but since I haven't seen the Red Bulls yet, I figured I'd commemorate them (and other teams in this situation, as there are more to come) with this badge.

First, I visited their stadium for another team’s match.

Then, I went and saw their reserves team in another stadium entirely.

Now, it’s finally time to put the pieces together and talk about Red Bull New York THE METROSTARS.

The (New York/New Jersey) MetroStars were one of Major League Soccer's original ten franchises - they debuted alongside the league itself in 1996, but were actually founded two years earlier as Empire Soccer Club (and ownership apparently contemplated naming the team the Cosmos). While they only missed the playoffs three times in their first decade or so, they weren’t really all that successful - never making it past the semifinals in that time (which they only reached once).

Like most of the rest of "MLS 1.0" (as it's sometimes referred to), the team started life in an American football stadium - in this case, the old Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands (i.e. NOT the current stadium)¹. While the large stadium helped draw larger crowds (they were second in attendance in 1996 at over 23,000 a game), like most other MLS in NFL situations, the atmosphere was severely lacking. To address this, in 2000 the team put forth plans to build a stadium just for them in Harrison, NJ - a town in a (then) relatively uninspiring industrial area just east of Newark (though with a significant soccer history). Delays in funding pushed groundbreaking back to 2006, then a redesign of the stadium ended up delaying construction even further - eventually, the stadium opened in 2010 as part of a plan to redevelop Harrison (which has, for what it's worth, been somewhat successful; I have friends who looked at moving there after they got married, but eventually chose another town).

What caused that redesign?

The MetroStars were sold to Red Bull GmbH (an Austrian conglomerate that, yes, is best known for the energy drink) in 2006 and rebranded to "Red Bull New York". Not only was this rebranding controversial (and also one of the first Red Bull soccer teams in the world²), but looking back, the launch video they released with Alexi Lalas (one of the most hated voices in American soccer today) was pretty cringeworthy (especially as it ends with him cracking open a Red Bull). However, one thing I WILL give Red Bull credit for: their redesign for the stadium probably was for the best, as it eliminated plans for one end to have a stage instead of seats in favor of a full seating bowl. The stage was intended for concerts to allow for extra revenue (as MLS matches weren’t exactly big draws back then), but I do think it makes the stadium look a bit "cheap", as it kinda feels like they’re treating soccer as a "secondary citizen" (in fact, the last surviving stadium with a stage is being renovated, and they’re taking the stage out).

Since becoming Red Bull New York, they've been...more or less the same. They have won the MLS Supporters' Shield (the award for having the best regular season record - which in most countries means you win the league) three times, and have featured superstars such as Thierry Henry, but still have yet to win MLS Cup (finishing runner up twice). In fact, they're one of three MLS founding franchises who are still around and have yet to win the MLS Cup (i.e. the ACTUAL league championship), though they do have the most Supporters' Shields of the three. On the other hand, however, the other two have won the U.S. Open Cup (a knockout tournament that runs alongside the league season which MLS doesn't seem to like as of late), so the Red Bulls remain the only original MLS team to never win a knockout tournament.

There is one other thing to discuss regarding the team: word order. When the team was rebranded after Red Bull, they were commonly known as the "New York Red Bulls" based on how teams in North America are commonly named (including much of the rest of MLS at the time of the rebrand). However, my understanding is that, as I said earlier, the team has always officially been "Red Bull New York", and I bring this up because I've heard that the team is pushing for the reduction/elimination of the "New York Red Bulls" moniker in favor of "Red Bull New York" (similar to how New York City FC is pushing the full "New York City" over "NYC"). As an example of this, the aforementioned development team was almost exclusively called "New York Red Bulls II" on their website when I was reading up on them prior to seeing them, but recently, they've been called "Red Bull New York II". Notably, however, their away shirt from last season - which they're still using this season - said "New York Red Bulls" (but has yet to be seen on the pitch).

Anyhoo, with all of that out of the way, let’s talk about THIS game. I found out the team’s schedule in early December 2025, and this game - the home opener mind you - jumped out at me for two reasons:

1. This game is on a Saturday at 2:30 in the afternoon. While this isn't the most important factor, only one other game before October was an afternoon game (a Sunday game at 4:30), and I kinda prefer afternoon games (partially so that these posts can be done "on time"). More importantly, however...
2. It’s against the New England Revolution! Sure, I don’t actually know if I like them or not since they’re the Buffalo Bills of MLS (with slightly less obnoxious fans on 𝕏Twitter), but they are (technically) the Boston MLS team³!

With that set, I decided to try something new for this blog: company! Several of the friends I've made in the past year are really into soccer, and I figured that trying to get a group together for this match might be fun - and it was! I ended up going to this game with four friends, and thanks to SeatGeek, I was able to get us tickets for just under 40 dollars each (and I got them the day before the game too!). For those forty bucks, we got surprisingly good weather for February (plus being in the sun made it rather warm) and seats in the upper deck along one of the "touchlines" (i.e. the side lines) - and THIS was our view:

In case you forgot from the Gotham FC game: the stadium was originally Red Bull Arena (because Red Bull), renamed to Sports Illustrated Stadium in 2024 after the magazine...’s ticketing platform (which, from what I can tell, the stadium adopted this year), has entrances at field level, its main concourse a level above (at the top of the seating bowl), and a secondary concourse for the upper deck. What I did NOT get to talk about last time, however, was the upper concourse (as the upper deck was closed for that match); ultimately...there's not much to say. It only exists on the "long" side of the upper deck; I'm not sure if there's any upper concourses on the ends.

I also forgot to mention parking last time: the stadium is a short distance from the town's PATH station (a subway system that connects parts of New Jersey to New York City), so parking is pretty abundant (and, by pro stadium standards, not that bad costwise). However, getting out of the lot ended up being quite a hassle - it took us nearly an hour just to get out of Harrison (more on this in a sec).

The match itself was actually pretty interesting, but it did, sadly, remind me of why I likely can't bring myself to be a full-on Revs supporter: they were outplayed for a significant portion of the game (a lot of that being due to a relative lack of talent), yet were scrappy enough to somehow "only" lose 1-0 (though it probably should have been more). One thing my friends and I noticed was that despite the stadium being only about half full (possibly due to train issues, as the PATH wasn't running), the supporters' section was much fuller/better than I think we expected (i.e. they were much louder than you'd expect watching a match on TV); while "sitting" with them in the future is a question mark⁴, we agreed coming back was definitely something we'd like to do (though hopefully my 15-mile journey home doesn't take over an hour next time - though again, that may have been due to PATH not running).

MERCH

There were a surprising amount of merchandise areas on the main concourse - the biggest of which is the "main" store in the "south building". This match was the first time I got to see any of the merchandise areas, as none of them were open the two prior times I was here - though I did see that the main store appeared to have a door to/from a premium lounge during the Gotham FC Open House.

As RBNY is a pro-level team, however, I’ve bought most things I have from them at various other places: a jersey from an Adidas store, a scarf from a Dick’s Sporting Goods, and a hat from...I honestly don’t remember (I THINK it was DSG though). However, since this game featured them taking on the Revs (again, the team I THINK I'm supposed to like), I didn't want to show any partiality (I typically wear the home team's jersey during games FWIW), so I went in a bit of a different direction: Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio (i.e. the team that knocked Dortmund out of the Champions League a few days prior).

The merch area in the upper concourse had something I somehow didn't see on the main concourse: a black soccer ball featuring the Red Bulls' logo. I did have thoughts about getting one, but since I'm trying to pull back on this due to space constraints (and the fact that it was a full size soccer ball), I ended up opting against it.

I also had thoughts about getting a jersey, but ultimately decided not to (as it's a bit less expensive at other places outside of the stadium⁵ - though the replica jerseys in the stadium are labeled as having a different "fit" than replica jerseys sold elsewhere). I did get a scarf that I liked, however, as those are MUCH harder to find outside of the stadium.

ON DECK

I don't know!

I have no less than THREE games I'm looking into going to next weekend, but I haven't made any decisions yet (not to mention the fact that two of the games are at the same time). During this game, however, something came up that may shape my schedule for the next few weeks...