Astoria Park, in Queens, has 14 free public tennis courts used by the neighborhood year-round. NYC Parks is proposing to enclose at least 8 of them under a private, for-profit bubble for 20 years — converting them into a paid commercial facility, similar to McCarren Park's bubble in Brooklyn. This site is a community effort to keep our courts public, free, and outdoors. Full background →
See below for key details with citations to the RFP document (also available on the NYC Parks concessions site, login required). If you care about keeping Astoria Park public, please sign and spread the word prior to July 17, 2026 (the RFP due date). Once this is awarded, the Astoria Park community will be locked into this concession, and paying to play tennis on public park land, until nearly 2050.
The RFP requires the operator to cover "a minimum of 8 tennis courts" of the 14 at Astoria Park. NYC Parks and Community Board discussions previously stated the bubble would be capped at 8. In emails from the Concessions division of NYC Parks, Parks representatives claimed that "no more than eight (8) courts will be enclosed during the indoor season."
Today, Astoria Park has one teaching court and the line for a court often wraps around the sidewalk, with players being turned away after waiting for an hour. NYC Parks is proposing to turn over 2 courts to the for-profit operator, and says NYC Parks "may assign more than two… at its sole discretion."
The "Indoor Season" runs from mid-October through the last Friday in April — roughly 6.5 months. It overlaps about three months of NYC's official outdoor permit season, including most of October, all of November, and most of April, when average daily highs are 51–63°F.
"Parks is seeking a concessionaire for one (1) twenty (20) year term." Once this is issued, we are locked into this arrangement, and paying to play tennis on public park land, until nearly 2050.
There are certainly potential benefits to a new building in the park, but for the community's awareness, the RFP describes an intended structure that includes a pro shop, lounge and food service, indoor seating, and locker rooms, among other things. This will change the nature of the tennis courts and the diverse community that uses them, and despite prior statements that the mature trees and other nature near the courts would be unaffected by the bubble, that seems unlikely given the scale of the described structure. As described in the RFP, this is more similar to SPORTIME on Randall's Island than the moveable trailer used at McCarren Park.
Proposals are due July 17, 2026. Two things you can do right now — each takes a couple of minutes.