Queens Local News: Casino Fight Heads to Court as Tennis Assoc Sues NYC
US Tennis Association Sues NYC Over Queens Casino Plan
The USTA claims the Adams administration aims to break the terms of its long-term lease in order to help aid the casino project backed by Mets owner Steve Cohen.
This article originally appeared in The City.
NYC LOCAL NEWS - The United States Tennis Association (USTA) sued New York City on Wednesday, accusing the Eric Adams administration of violating the terms of its long-term lease on the National Tennis Center in order to aid Mets owner Steve Cohen in his plans for a nearby Queens casino.
The USTA, which runs the US Open at its facilities in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, says the city’s arrangement with Cohen’s Metropolitan Park casino and resort would contravene the “superiority clause” in the USTA’s long-standing lease agreement with the city.
That agreement stipulates that all third parties “are subject and subordinate in all respects to the rights of the USTA National Tennis Center” on the city-owned land around the National Tennis Center facilities.
The USTA suit asked a judge to intervene before the Adams administration causes "irreparable injuries.”
“The threat of serious damage to the US Open and the NTC is now both real and potentially disastrous,” the lawsuit reads, noting the lease prevents competing events, other than Mets games, during the two-week Grand Slam tournament. The lease gives the group the right to control concessions and hospitality offerings in the park during the Grand Slam tennis tournament, the suit claims.
The USTA is seeking no monetary damages, which it says would be an "inadequate remedy” since “Queens Future [the Cohen-backed venture] may not be contractually obligated to comply with the NTC’s Lease rights, and the City may not be able to enforce the NTC’s Lease rights.”
The USTA has privately raised concerns with City Hall for months, according to its suit, while the Adams administration has refused to share any draft agreements or give any assurance that the superiority clause will be honored. And the Adams administration was racing to lock in a deal before the mayor leaves office at the end of the year, the suit alleges.
“The City’s stated intention to ignore the NTC’s concerns until the next mayoral administration — which will not take office until January 1, 2026, after the City and Queens Future’s lease agreement has already been finalized and executed — confirms that that the City has threatened to — and intends to — default on its obligation.”
The lawsuit highlights a pattern of the Adams administration failing to enforce its lease obligations, including at a Billy Joel concert at Citi Field in August 2025, during the US Open. The USTA said it immediately alerted the city over the lease violation, but the city took no action, only cancelling the concert after Billy Joel fell ill.
In a statement, the mayor’s office said they are reviewing the lawsuit.
Asked about the suit, USTA spokesperson Brendan McIntyre emailed that “The City has failed to enforce these rights [to operate the U.S. Open safely and successfully] with other park tenants and has refused to assure the NTC that it will include these protections in an upcoming lease with Queens Future.”
He added that the USTA is not opposed to the proposed casino project.
“We support development that benefits Queens, New York City, and New York State. Our goal is simply to ensure the City keeps its longstanding commitments to offer the best possible experience for fans, park-goers and Queens residents alike.”
Metropolitan Park is one of three casino proposals vying for up to three downstate casino licenses. The casino, slated for a Citi Field parking lot, is the biggest proposal and the one projected to be the most lucrative.
“Metropolitan Park was designed to embrace the existing sports attractions at Citi Field, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and the forthcoming NYCFC soccer stadium, to create a premier sports and entertainment district in the heart of Queens,” wrote Karl Rickett, a Metropolitan Park spokesperson, in an email to THE CITY.
Rickett also emphasized the importance of the $1.75 billion investment by Metropolitan Park to improve infrastructure and transportation.
The USTA’s 99-year lease of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will expire in 2092.
The terms of that lease have the center paying New York City $400,000 a year plus one percent of its revenues above $20,000.
An audit by then Comptroller Scott Stringer in 2019 found that the USTA had underreported it gross revenue by at least $14 million over several years and made it difficult for the Parks Department, which is supposed to oversee the lease, to access its records.
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