New York Red Bulls Unveil $100M Training Facility Blending Pros and Youth Development

The New York Red Bulls’ new $100 million training facility in Morris Township, New Jersey, is redefining how professional and youth soccer development coexist in the U.S. When the club’s Major League Soccer (MLS) players step onto the pitches for practice, they share the space with 9-year-olds from the academy and soccer camp programs. The facility, officially opened in April, was purpose-built to serve both the pros and the roughly 6,000 children who participate in the club’s youth programs annually.

“The objective was always to have a space that we could grow into—not just good for the moment, but to think about the future,” says Marc de Grandpré, president and general manager of Red Bull New York. “Our success on the first team is going to be predicated on our success in the academy, ultimately.”

The RWJBarnabas Health Red Bulls Performance Center spans 80 acres and features eight full-size soccer pitches, including a 350-seat match field. The facility also includes gyms, physiotherapy spaces, classrooms, and a team-building dining hall. While it serves as the primary practice area for the Red Bulls and Red Bull New York II (the club’s second-division team), it doubles as the training ground for the youth development academy, which fields teams from under-10 to under-18 levels.

Rather than segregate younger athletes from professionals, the Red Bulls designed the facility to foster mentorship and aspiration. “When you’re in an academy meeting room, you’re looking out the window and you can see the first team train,” says Julian de Guzman, Red Bull New York’s head of sport. “That’s where you want to be one day. And that’s something to be reminded of every day.”

This integrated approach mirrors practices in European soccer, where academy systems are critical pipelines for talent. Red Bull, which owns professional teams globally—including in Leipzig, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria—is now applying this model in the U.S. To achieve this vision, the club collaborated with Gensler, a global architecture and design firm with extensive experience in sports training facilities. Gensler has previously designed facilities for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and NBA teams in Phoenix.

Kristin Byrd, the lead designer on the Red Bulls facility, notes the club’s high expectations for functionality and quality. “One primary demand was that players be as connected to the field as possible,” she says. The design prioritizes transparency, with a 4,600-square-foot gym featuring a two-story wall of windows overlooking the main training pitch. Sight lines from the dining hall, hydrotherapy pool, and other spaces ensure constant visual access to the field.