2024-02-14 08:46:55
The governor of New Jersey jumped out of his chair and raised his hands high above his head as if he had just scored the winning goal in a World Cup final. In some ways, that’s how it was.
On Sunday, February 4, gathered around a television in a room at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with a group of colleagues, family and friends, Governor Phil Murphy watched as Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, announced that MetLife Stadium would host the World Cup final in 2026.
Murphy and his team have spent years working to achieve the long-awaited event and already knew that the stadium in the New Jersey prairies would host at least seven games in the next men’s World Cup. However, the championship game of the world’s biggest sporting event is the ultimate prize for any potential venue.
In a telephone interview on Monday, February 5, Murphy stated: “It’s a dream come true. The importance of a World Cup final makes everything else in global sports pale in comparison. “I am beyond excited that they honored us with the final match.”
New York New Jersey (as FIFA designated the host city) was selected over Dallas to host the final, although AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is considered an architectural gem and the Dallas organizing committee made a very strong proposal. solid. However, the New York area, with its cosmopolitan profile, hospitality infrastructure and tourist sites, took the honor.
The most recent World Cup final, in which Argentina and France faced off in Qatar in 2022, was watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people around the world. This World Cup will take place in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico and is the first to expand to 48 participating nations, so it can reasonably be expected that even more people will watch the next final. Metlife Stadium has a capacity of around 80,000 people, but in the month leading up to the final on July 19, 2026, the eyes of the entire planet will be focused on the New York metropolitan region.
In an interview Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams said, “New York City has been on the world stage for the wrong reasons, as it was ground zero for the pandemic and other challenges. “This is going to show that we are back on our feet and how well we are doing.”
Now comes the hard part.
Over the next two and a half years, organizers must ensure that MetLife Stadium is appropriately modified and prepared and that the surrounding area can be closed for security reasons and converted into a type of self-contained miniature state (with FIFA , the governing body of world football, at the helm of a vast commercial enterprise).
The stadium will host five group stage matches starting on June 13, 2026, another game in the 32-team knockout round, a quarterfinal match and then the final. Both Adams and Murphy cited estimates that economic activity spurred by the World Cup will generate about $2 billion for the region, as well as 14,000 jobs.
Adams, who attended the World Cup games in Qatar in 2022, noticed back then how thousands of people didn’t even attend the games, but still came to soak up the atmosphere and participate in events to watch the games at the same time. outdoors and other activities.
Many, if not most, fans in 2026 will stay in New York hotels and perhaps visit tourist attractions, theaters, bars and restaurants. Adams has envisioned buses and subway cars decorated with World Cup designs, large public parties to watch the games on giant television screens and said the city will encourage visitors to tour the five neighborhoods to spread the wealth.
Added Adams: “We’re going to make sure it’s safe, we’re going to make sure the city is clean, and we’re going to make sure people can get around with real instructions on how to explore this great city.”
The non-profit New York New Jersey Organizing Committee for the 2026 World Cup was established to help create the proposal and coordinate with FIFA and all relevant local, state and federal agencies. Its founding members, Lauren LaRusso of New Jersey and Bruce Revman of New York, have been working on the project for years.
The biggest logistical problem facing the committee is determining how the region can best accommodate up to one million visitors during the month-long tournament and get them safely to and from the game sites. Access to the meadows can be difficult. There are no direct trains from New York City to the stadium. The closest transit center is Secaucus Junction, miles from MetLife.
The stadium is home to the NFL’s Giants and Jets and also hosted the Super Bowl in 2014, when overcrowding and long delays created serious transportation problems.
Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective and a lifelong New Jersey resident, said: “In New Jersey, spending two hours in traffic after an event at MetLife is considered something you have to live with.” at least once in your life. “Auto traffic on MetLife is a disaster waiting to happen.”
State lawmakers allocated $35 million just to design and plan a dedicated transit system, loosely based on Disney World’s bus system, that they believe will alleviate the problems. On game days, buses would travel along a frontage road that is currently closed and in dedicated lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike, a toll road. If it proves successful, the system could become a lasting legacy of the World Cup.
Last week at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, commuters had different opinions about how transportation would be affected by the World Cup.
While waiting for bus number 160, which arrives at the stadium, a hospital security guard, who said his name was Muit M., remarked: “It’s going to be chaos.”
However, Jenna DeNinno, an editor on the television show “Inside Edition,” said she has been taking the 190 bus along a similar route for about twenty years and has rarely encountered problems.
DeNinno said, “Even when there’s a Monday night football game or a concert, it’s not that bad.”
Some residents have been upset by the name “New York New Jersey,” saying it does not represent where the games will actually be played. However, among the hosts of a World Cup that will be played in stadiums across North America, the city of New Jersey is not alone. The “San Francisco Bay Area” games will take place in Santa Clara, California; “Boston” is based in Foxborough, just over 30 miles outside of the city, and “Dallas” is actually Arlington, Texas.
Murphy commented on the name: “It doesn’t bother me in the least. We don’t get headquarters without Jersey, but we also don’t get headquarters without New York City. We are very good, but New York is an international city and it is a big part of this.”(D)
Source: Yahoo! Sports