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By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — New Mexico United cleared a major legal hurdle last week in its yearslong quest for a permanent home. But after nearly a year of court delays, the team has started looking elsewhere, and the win might not matter much anymore.
The New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld Albuquerque’s approval of an outdoor soccer stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park July 14. The 2-1 ruling ends a challenge the Wildflower, Maria Diers and North Edith Corridor neighborhood associations took to the Court of Appeals in August 2025, after a district judge dismissed their lawsuit. The panel found the city’s Environmental Planning Commission had authority to remove a decade-old rule banning stadiums at the park.
Judge J. Miles Hanisee wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Judge Jacqueline Medina, upholding District Judge Erin O’Connell’s July 2025 ruling that the city’s approval process was not “arbitrary and capricious.” Neighbors have fought the project since 2023, through two commission votes and a rejected City Council appeal.
Judge Megan Duffy dissented, saying the city used the wrong standard to approve the master plan amendment. She argued officials should have used a standard weighing the change’s impact on the neighborhood, with the City Council as the final decision-maker, and would send the case back for a new hearing. Opponents, led by attorney Hessel Yntema III, cited noise, traffic, lighting and procedural errors.
The debate has since expanded beyond Balloon Fiesta Park. State planners recommended adding a stadium to the redevelopment plan for the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. In March, United owner Peter Trevisani said the team would consider moving the project there if the lawsuit continued to delay construction. “We’re not going to be spending a penny less,” he said, “whether it’s at the Fairgrounds or at Balloon Fiesta.” In June, Trevisani told The Paper. the team simply wants a stadium built before 2030, saying the club is “eight years into a 100-year vision.”
A separate suit complicates things further: a different judge ruled in August that the city violated the Open Meetings Act in choosing its review process — the opposite conclusion. The city’s appeal of that ruling is due Tuesday, July 21.