Monumental New 80-Acre Red Bull New York Campus Scores Brazil, Ready Before World Cup

The Brazilian national soccer team had its pick of facilities across the U.S. to train for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, taking place June 11 through July 19 in 16 North American cities. Of the 64 venues that were on the FIFA shortlist, Brazil selected the Red Bull New York training complex in Morristown, New Jersey. 

The 80-acre facility was the most requested facility by the tournament’s competitors, according to a Brazilian Football Confederation statement. 

With so much anticipation ahead of the facility's opening, New Jersey-based construction company March Construction and architect Gensler had a major undertaking on their hands: Construction needed to be completed prior to Brazil’s arrival. 

March Construction, which served as the project's general contractor, ensured that each aspect, from the field systems to recovery areas and training spaces, was designed to meet professional athletes’ standards, March Construction President Lou March said.

“Knowing that international teams would potentially use the facility to prepare for the World Cup added a level of importance and visibility to the project,” March said. “None of this recognition would have happened if construction had run late.”

The development includes eight full-size soccer fields and training areas, a roughly 140K SF main building with locker rooms, a gym, a dining hall, physiotherapy spaces and offices, and a fieldhouse and groundskeeping building. Designed by Gensler, the campus features advanced HVAC systems, an intricate metal panel facade and a two-story angled glass lobby. 

The Red Bulls have called it the “most innovative soccer training facility in North America.”

But this lauded complex couldn’t come to life without proper planning. 

March walked Bisnow through the firm’s preconstruction strategies that helped deliver the facility on time and on budget.

A Relentless Countdown With Zero Room For Error

The team planned, scheduled and budgeted the construction with the World Cup in mind, ensuring the facility would be ready for Brazil to prepare before the event, March said.

To keep things moving, March Construction built a carefully sequenced schedule that allowed different parts of the project to happen at the same time, saving weeks of work, March said.

Before construction began, the team worked hand in hand with the building owner and design crew to review the plans in detail and identified opportunities to streamline certain aspects of the schedule, such as constructing the fields and the building and site infrastructure simultaneously while keeping the quality at the forefront.

Working Toward The End Goal 

In addition to choosing smarter materials, the team identified long lead materials early in the process and procured them ahead of time to avoid supply chain delays.

Thanks to its strong relationships with subcontractors, March Construction could get live pricing feedback early on, helping developers make confident decisions without surprise costs later, March said.

“Having the ability to secure strong pricing and reliable partners helped keep the project within budget and moving forward,” he said. “Months before a shovel touches dirt, March is pulling live pricing from subcontractors they've worked with for decades and sequencing construction so the opening date is protected from Day 1.”

Achieving Building Objectives Through Teamwork

Working in collaboration with Gensler architects and Red Bull New York, March Construction's team met the vision through smarter building methods and making essential decisions early on while still meeting the facility’s rigorous performance standards and strict timeline, March said.

March was able to maintain everything in the original plan, including a variable refrigerant flow, or VRF, HVAC system, he said. This energy-efficient heating and cooling system allows residents to control temperatures individually while reducing overall energy consumption.

March said that having a construction manager that shows up to preconstruction with excellent subcontractor relationships and live pricing data doesn't just build the building — it protects the deal.

“This is the difference a developer feels in the pro forma,” he said. 

A Payoff Developers Dream Of

March Construction’s deep, hands-on collaborative analysis and rigorous preconstruction process is unmatched in the industry, March said. It's the playbook the firm has used across $8.5B in managed projects, from industrial to multifamily to retail. 

The firm protects the pro forma, shields developers from inflation and turns tight timelines into finished, leasable assets. March said these aspects differentiate a construction partner from a contractor and are why March’s clients have kept coming back for 25 years, helping it win business for years to come.

On the Red Bull New York project, this same approach delivered the facility on time for Brazil exactly when it was needed. 

“It was the difference between having an empty training campus and the World Cup's most coveted training base,” he said.

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and March Construction. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.