Forest Hills Stadium and neighbors settle their lawsuits, capping concerts at 28 a year through 2040

The long legal fight over concerts at Forest Hills Stadium is over. The Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, which owns the private streets around the century-old Queens venue, has agreed to drop all of its pending lawsuits against the West Side Tennis Club, which owns the stadium, and Tiebreaker Productions, which runs its shows, QNS reported Wednesday.

The agreement sets rules for the stadium through 2040, according to Pollstar.

What the deal says

• Show cap: up to 28 concerts per season during an initial seven-year term, rising to as many as 29 during renewal terms of up to seven more years.
• Sound: every show stays under a curfew for amplified sound, with real-time audio monitoring aligned with city guidelines.
• Fireworks: only with neighborhood approval, a spokesperson for the Gardens' board told QNS.
• Money: Tiebreaker will make per-show payments that support the Gardens corporation and a one-time upfront payment, part of which goes to restoration and beautification in Forest Hills Gardens. The amounts were not disclosed.
• Crowds and traffic: designated routes for concertgoers to limit disruption, continued coordination with the NYPD, the venue's own security and post-show sanitation teams, and a community ombudsman to handle problems in real time.

The Gardens' board said the neighborhood now has "clear, enforceable protections" around stadium events "for the first time in years." The tennis club called the deal a "step forward," and Tiebreaker said it secures the stadium's future while directly supporting the neighborhood.

How the fight ended

Residents had argued for years that concerts brought amplified music, late nights, traffic and big crowds onto the Gardens' private streets. In October 2024 a Queens Supreme Court judge dismissed five of the Gardens' seven claims but left its public and private nuisance claims alive, and in June 2026 an appellate court allowed the nuisance claims to proceed while rejecting a zoning argument, the two outlets reported.

A new Gardens board, elected at the end of 2025, had campaigned on ending the litigation. In March it settled a separate federal suit against the city over the NYPD closing its private streets for concerts, with the city paying $150,000 and agreeing to have the 112th Precinct consult the Gardens on security plans.