The 2011 New York Red Bulls season was the club's seventeenth year of existence, as well as its sixteenth season in Major League Soccer, the top-flight of American soccer.

After a successful turnaround season in 2010, in which Red Bulls finished in third place overall before losing in the quarterfinals of the post-season tournament, the club started 2011 hoping to find consistency, make a deeper run in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and vie for the Supporters Shield. By season's end it was clear the club failed on all three fronts. Red Bulls were labeled the biggest underachievers in MLS after performing with a maddening inconsistency, struggling even to earn the 10th and final spot in an expanded playoff field, and falling again in the playoff quarterfinals.

Prior to the 2011 MLS season, New York Red Bulls manager Hans Backe declared that the club's goal for the season was to win the Shield, claiming that it was more of a test for the league title rather than the MLS Cup, which he called a crapshoot. As this goal drifted out of reach, Backe backtracked from his Supporters' Shield emphasis and remarkably blamed international call-ups due to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup as the reason the Shield was unobtainable. New York ended the season 21 points shy of the Shield. At the conclusion of the season, Backe acknowledged that he didn't know the biennial CONCACAF tournament was being held in 2011. That lack of awareness seemed to haunt the club throughout the season, both on field and off. The average MLS regular season and playoff home attendance of the New York Red Bulls in 2011 was 20,000.

On 4 November, due to the 2010 season ending with a disappointing home playoff loss to San Jose Earthquakes, the roster changes began immediately. The playoff loss marked the end of the careers for defender Mike Petke and midfielder Seth Stammler, each of whom had announced his retirement upon completion of the season. Petke joined the Red Bulls front office in January; Stammler pursued an MBA degree at the University of Chicago.

On 22 November, the Red Bulls traded midfielder/defender Jeremy Hall to the expansion Portland Timbers in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft. Two days later the 2010 MLS Expansion Draft was held but neither Portland nor fellow expansion side Vancouver Whitecaps selected an available Red Bulls player.

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