For those in the NY-NJ-CT metropolitan region, it’s clear that there is no more appropriate place to host the final of the World Cup than right here. Our region reflects the diversity of the globe more than any other in the country, has a history of welcoming people from around the world for short stays or permanent ones, and is more than used to handling visitors and crowds. Add to this our three major airports, mass transit system, and businesses open all day and night. Because of these advantages, it’s tempting to think that we don’t need to do much to prepare, that the summer of 2026 will be just another summer, that the World Cup will be just one of the many big events that have happened in the region over the years.
But it will be significantly more than that. Signature events are coming to our area, including the on-going International Cricket Council World Cup 2024 in Nassau County and Copa America 2024 at MetLife Stadium this summer. However, not since the 1964-65 World’s Fair has the City of New York hosted a truly global event of this magnitude, and never have we done so as a region. In addition to the World Cup final, there will be seven other games held at Metlife Stadium. On top of that, there will be 13 other games at stadiums that are potential day trips from the region, spread over five weeks.
The effects and legacy of the World Cup can be lasting for the residents of the region. While this will be a world event for five weeks, it will also be a major happening for the people who live here. This can be a nuisance for the people of the region, or it can be an opportunity. We can suffer the crowds, enjoy the excitement, sweep up after the event is over, and go back to business as usual, or we can use the events to make the region a better, greener place to live, work, relax, and have fun. Unlike many of the more recent host countries, we don’t need to build or significantly renovate any of the stadiums themselves. That leaves a lot of opportunity for other infrastructure or community investments. What type of transportation, resilience, or placemaking improvements can we put in place that can create a lasting legacy for the region?
And there are several other questions we need to answer as well about how we are going to prepare for the event itself, in terms of hospitality, climate, placemaking, and especially transportation:
The World Cup final is on a Sunday - a day when Bergen County’s so-called “blue laws” mandate that many businesses close their doors. Will these still be in effect on game day?
New York City recently passed laws greatly restricting the construction of new hostels and the use of AirBnB, and in New Jersey, the immediate area around the arena has limited hotel capacity. Will we have enough space in the region to host all of our visitors?
The event takes place in the Meadowlands, one of the most low-lying areas of the region. Flooding - long a problem here - is getting worse. What will happen if an event coincides with heavy rains or other significant flooding? Recognizing this is in an environmentally-sensitive area, how can we make the event, and the region, more sustainable?
Unlike, say, a Super Bowl, Beyonce concert, or other high-profile events at MetLife Stadium, the World Cup Final will attract people well beyond just those going to the event. Both ticketed and unticketed visitors want to be part of the larger experience. Where and how in the New York metropolitan region can we provide space and events that will provide this, and how can regional centers like Queens, Jersey City, Newark, and Paterson, both take advantage of this opportunity, and contribute to its success? The Cricket World Cup, which recently brought 34,000 fans to Long Island, and the three Copa America matches that Metlife will be hosting this summer could provide helpful lessons.
On the transportation front, it’s clear we will need to think creatively and think big. As anyone who has been to an event at MetLife Stadium knows, the hardest part is leaving. We don’t want the signature memory of visitors from around the world - many of whom will be here for the first time - to be how they waited for hours at night in a parking lot to leave.
Out of comparable stadiums in Europe, meaning stadiums that have a capacity over 75,000 and the European Football Association’s highest stadium designation, every single one has at least one high-capacity mass transit stop within a 15-minute walk integrated into its local network that provide a direct ride to the city center. All but a few are within walking distance of a significant number of hotels as well. The same is true of other signature stadiums around the world like Rio’s Maracana, host of the 2014 World Cup Final, or Japan’s International Stadium, host of the 2002 World Cup Final.
Look at one of the most analogous stadiums to MetLife Stadium, Wembley Stadium in London, host of this year’s Champions League final. Like MetLife, it’s a modern stadium seating over 80,000 people and capable of hosting the largest sporting, musical and other events in the county. And like MetLife, it’s about 5 miles away from the Central Business District, with significant hotel clusters located between 5 and 10 miles away.
Hotels in Wembley
Hotels near MetLife Stadium
But the similarity ends there. To start with, Wembley has three mass transit stations within walking distance, providing a one-seat ride not only to Central London but to several other places in the region as well. And Wembley is integrated into the surrounding neighborhood with multiple points of pedestrian access. As a result, between 80% and 90% of visitors to Wembley arrive by public transportation, and with 40 hotels within an hour walk (and over 500 within a 2 hour walk!) several thousand visitors don’t even need transit at all.
Contrast this with MetLife stadium, surrounded by a parking lot the size of Greenwich Village, with its single-track shuttle train from Secaucus and where you can’t even walk to the nearest hotel. We need to be thinking about things like creating true bus rapid transit, possibilities for ferry service, how to walk to the stadium for game day, and what we might be able to create near the stadium that could capture visitors’ interest - and potentially spread out the transportation window - instead of just making game day a “one-and-done” event. And we need to be thinking about how we do this in an environmentally sustainable way - and if we can carry that sustainability over to long-term benefits.
RPA will be working on answering these and other questions over the next two years. We will be hosting a panel on Tuesday, June 25th at 11am EST with experts from around the world on how to ensure positive legacy investments - both in the built environment and in communities - in the wake of World Cups and other large sporting events. Please register here.
We’re excited to work together with everyone who has made this exciting event happen to ensure our region welcomes the world as it always has.
