Rose Lavelle is breaking down her outfit of the day, though it’s not the ensemble you’d expect from a professional athlete’s social media feed. She looks down to survey the rest of her mandatory construction-site-chic attire. My vest—cool.” It’s a Tuesday afternoon in September, and Rose is the first of her teammates to tour the unfinished Etihad Park in Queens, New York, the stadium that Gotham will call home in 2028.
Earlier that day, Gotham announced that Rose had signed a contract extension through 2029. In other words, she'll be back when this concrete floor is an actual soccer pitch. We weave past steel beams and through what will eventually become Gotham's tunnel to the pitch.
From there, the grandstands rise around us, a preview of the 25,000-seat venue that will soon welcome Gotham's fans. Rose poses for photos, holding a jersey that says “2029.” A few days later, Gotham’s president of soccer operations, Yael Averbuch West, tells me she smiled when she saw the images of Rose in her hard hat. The look may be a departure from her usual uniform, but Averbuch West sees something fitting about it.
As Gotham prepares to make another postseason run in pursuit of defending their 2025 National Women’s Soccer League title, Rose has become central to the club's plans. It's a significant upgrade from Gotham's current arrangement at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, where the team uses the visitors' locker room and covers up the New York Red Bulls’ logos with its own banners. At Etihad Park, Gotham will have a locker room of its own, merchandise space in the team store, and digital signage and video boards that can be fully branded for Gotham on match days—no covering up another team's logos required.
The move is another sign of just how much women's professional soccer has changed since Rose entered the NWSL nearly a decade ago. And in that time, Rose has changed, too. At 31, the once up-and-coming star has become a veteran helping set the standard for a club that has no plans to slow down.
The NWSL is not the same league it was when Rose was drafted first overall by the now-defunct Boston Breakers in 2017, playing home games at a 2,500-seat facility at Harvard University. When I sit down with Rose after our stadium tour, she tells me it’s difficult to compare the things that mattered to her as a rookie to signing a contract extension now. She won the 2019 World Cup with the U.S.
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