New Yorkers will have more time to play sports at night in city parks this summer.
The city parks department is extending the hours that lights will stay on at 50 fields across the five boroughs this summer, adding more than 4,000 hours of field time for players who have long clamored for extended playing time for basketball, soccer and other sports.
The new hours will begin on June 11 and continue through Labor Day weekend. The parks department said it was still finalizing where hours will be extended, but that it would include soccer, baseball, basketball and other fields where the lights usually go out at 10 p.m.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the hours will offer more time to play while avoiding the scorching summer sun.
“These 4,000 additional hours of play time will unlock opportunities for neighbors to enjoy the cool night air, for young New Yorkers to imitate the skills they just watched on TV, to both live in our city and play in our city," the mayor wrote in a statement. "Our parks are our backyards, and local sports fields are our stadiums."
Parks department commissioner Tricia Shimamura said that the list of fields where teams will be able to book an extra hour of play was still being finalized, but that it would avoid sites that were the subject of previous complaints about light pollution.
Shimamura said that the lights will only be left on if teams request a permit for the extra time through the parks department website.
Soccer leagues have been pressuring the parks department to extend lighting hours as the popularity of the sport has exploded in the city in recent years. Gothamist previously reported that soccer players saw an opening with Mamdani, an avid soccer fan who grew up playing on local fields.
In recent weeks Mamdani has announced watch parties and other events around the city for the World Cup, which begins next week.
