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The New Jersey governor jumped out of his chair and held his hands high above his head as if he had scored the winning goal in the World Cup finals. In a way, that’s what he did.
On Sunday, as colleagues, family and friends gathered around a television in the lounge at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that FIFA President Gianni Infantino had announced that MetLife Stadium would be the venue. I watched him announce it. 2026 World Cup Finals.
Murphy and his team have spent years organizing the coveted event and already knew that the stadium in Meadowlands, New Jersey, would host at least seven matches at the next Men’s World Cup. But the championship game of the world’s biggest sporting event is the ultimate prize for aspiring organizers.
“It’s a dream come true,” Murphy said in a phone interview Monday. “The importance of the World Cup final dwarfs anything else in global sport. I couldn’t be more thrilled to have had the honor of being in the final.”
New York, New Jersey, the host city designated by FIFA, and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, considered an architectural gem, despite a very strong bid from the Dallas hosting committee. New Jersey, rather than Dallas, was chosen to host the finals. But the New York region, with its cosmopolitan character, hospitality infrastructure, and tourist destinations, emerged victorious.
The last World Cup final between Argentina and France, held in Qatar in 2022, was watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide. This World Cup will be held in his 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and is the first time that participating countries will be expanded to 48 countries, so expect even more people to watch the next final. will be done. MetLife Stadium has a capacity of approximately 80,000 people, but the world’s attention will be on the New York metropolitan area for the entire month leading up to the grand finale on July 19, 2026.
“New York City has been on the world stage for the wrong reasons and has become ground zero for the pandemic and other challenges,” Mayor Eric Adams said in an interview Wednesday. “This is going to show what a comeback story we are and how well we are doing.”
Now comes the difficult part.
Over the next two-and-a-half years, organizers will ensure that MetLife Stadium is properly renovated and ready, and that, along with FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, the surrounding area will be locked down for safety and turned into a kind of miniature autonomous nation. We must ensure that conversion is possible. He is at the helm of a huge commercial corporation.
The stadium will host five group stage matches, one more knockout round of 32 match, the quarter-finals and the final from June 13, 2026. Both Adams and Murphy cited estimates that the World Cup would bring about $2 billion in economic activity and 14,000 jobs to the region.
Adams attended a World Cup match in Qatar in 2022, where thousands of people will not even be attending the match, soaking up the atmosphere and attending outdoor viewing parties and other events. I realized that I was participating in
Many, if not most, of 2026’s fans will be staying in New York hotels and likely visiting tourist attractions, theaters, bars, and restaurants. Mr Adams envisions a massive public viewing party, complete with city buses and subways wrapped in World Cup designs and giant TV screens, with the city hoping to spread the wealth by allowing visitors to travel to all five boroughs. He said he would encourage the virus to fan out.
“We ensure safety, we make sure the city is clean, and we help people get around by providing practical instructions on how to explore this great city.”
The nonprofit New York-New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee was established to support bidding efforts and coordinate with FIFA and all relevant local, state, and national agencies. Founding members Lauren LaRusso from New Jersey and Bruce Rebman from New York have been working on the project for years.
The biggest logistical challenge facing the committee is how the region can best accommodate the 1 million visitors during the month of the tournament and safely see them travel to and from games. It is to judge. Accessing the Meadowlands can be difficult. There are no direct trains from New York City to the stadium. The closest transportation hub is Secaucus Junction, a few miles from MetLife.
The stadium is home to NFL teams the Giants and Jets, and also hosted the Super Bowl in 2014, when overcrowding and long delays caused a transportation fiasco.
“In New Jersey, sitting in traffic for two hours after an event at MetLife is considered a rite of passage,” said Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspectives and a lifelong New Jersey resident. “There is,” he says. “MetLife car traffic is a disaster yet to come.”
The state Legislature has earmarked $35 million solely for the design and planning of a dedicated transportation system loosely based on Disney World’s bus system, which they believe will alleviate the problem. On game day, buses will be traveling on currently closed back roads and dedicated lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike. If successful, the system could become a lasting legacy of the World Cup.
Governor Murphy pointed to last year’s successful series of concerts at MetLife Stadium as evidence that major events can easily be held in the Meadowlands.
“New Jersey Transit is a dramatically different organization than it was in 2014,” Murphy said, referring to the post-Super Bowl turmoil. “We proved it with three straight Taylor Swift concerts that went perfectly. We met Bruce for three nights. Perfect. We’re even better than before.” Ta.”
Commuters at Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Terminal last week had mixed opinions about how the World Cup would affect transportation.
“It’s going to be tragic,” said a hospital security guard named Muit M., who gave his name as he waited for the number 160 bus to pull up at the stadium.
But Jenna DeNino, editor of the TV show “Inside Edition,” said she has been riding the 190 bus on a similar route for about 20 years and rarely encounters problems.
“If there’s a football game or a concert on Monday night, it’s not that bad,” she said.
Some residents have objected that the name “New York-New Jersey” does not represent the actual location where the games will be played. But New Jersey isn’t the only state hosting the World Cup, which will be held in stadiums across North America. The “San Francisco Bay Area” game will be held in Santa Clara, California. The “Boston” venue is located in Foxboro, 30 miles from the city. “Dallas” actually refers to Arlington, Tex.
“I’m not upset for a second,” Murphy said of the name. “We can’t do this without Jersey, but we can’t do this without New York City either. As great as we are, New York is a world city and that’s a big part of it.”
Tariq Panja and Tracey Tully contributed reporting.
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