City of York Council is celebrating a major milestone as more than one million tickets have now been sold to events at the LNER Community Stadium since it opened its doors five years ago.
The significant milestone follows further positive news on the stadium leisure complex after the council recently extended its operational contract with GLL by a further 5 years, to 2035.
Since welcoming its first visitors, the stadium has firmly established itself as the primary destination for sport, entertainment and community activity in York and the surrounding region.
The LNER Community Stadium has played host to an impressive range of high-profile events, attracting visitors from across the UK. As the home ground of York City Football Club and York RLFC for both the Knights and Valkyrie, the venue has seen memorable matches, cup runs, and landmark games that have brought thousands of supporters together.
Beyond regular fixtures, the stadium has welcomed a host of large scale international fixtures including:
- 2021 Women’s Rugby League World Cup
- 2025 Women’s Rugby Union World Cup
- Women’s Rugby Six Nations
- Challenge Cup semi final
- Leeds United v Monaco
- England Rugby Union open training session
These events have helped position York as a place capable of hosting major sporting and cultural occasions.
Leader of City of York Council, Cllr Claire Douglas, said: “Reaching one million ticket sales is a fantastic achievement and a testament to how important the LNER Community Stadium has become to our amazing city.
“Over the last five years, it has brought people together for unforgettable sporting moments, major events, and community activities. Crucially, it has delivered real benefits for our residents of all ages, local clubs, and businesses.
“We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved so far and look forward to even more memorable moments and building on this success in the years ahead.”
Peter Bundey, GLL Chief Executive said:
“As a cooperative social enterprise, sharing many common values with York City Council, we are delighted to have reached this important milestone together. The excellence of our offer is not only demonstrated by the numbers through our doors but by through industry recognised - being awarded Regional Public Centre of the Year - at the most recent UKActive awards.
“Looking ahead we will continue to support the successes of our two resident clubs: York City FC and York Knights RLFC, grow our popular GP referral exercise programme, Healthwise and welcome new and existing customers to the Leisure Complex.”
GLL is a not-for-profit social enterprise who have reinvested over £1m into the LNER York Community stadium to improve the user experience. This includes new large screens, state of the art machinery to help maintain the pitch, infrastructure improvements for broadcasting, the creation of a fourth changing room and a new training room.
In addition to the stadium GLL has also made investments at all the leisure facilities including a £440,000 gym refresh brining state of the art equipment to the leisure centre. And a new soft play area at Energise Leisure Centre recently for the residents of West York. Further improvements are planned across the city in the coming months and years.
As part of a shared programme between the council North Yorkshire Combined Authority and GLL solar panels were installed in early 2026 which are already reducing energy bills and importantly reducing the carbon footprint of the stadium leisure complex.
As it marks this milestone, the LNER Community Stadium continues to fulfil its original vision: to be more than just a venue, but a place where sport, entertainment, and community come together.