Announcer: Funding for "NJ Biz Beat with Raven Santana" provided by NJMEP, a partner to New Jersey's manufacturing industry focus on productivity, performance, and strategic development.

More on NJMEP.org.

And by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, announcing its re-New Jersey business Summit and Expo March 26 and 27 at Harrah's in Atlantic City.

Event details online at njchamber.com.

♪ This is "NJ Biz Beat with Raven Santana."

Raven: Hello, I'm Raven Santana with for joining me on "NJ Biz Beat."

New Jersey has hosted countless sports events but none of those will compared to the magnitude and scale of the 2026 World Cup, especially the World Cup final, which was awarded to MetLife Stadium.

According to the governor's office, the World Cup will generate $2 billion in economic activity for the region and will create 14,000 new jobs.

When the World Cup was in qatar in 2022, more than 3 million fans attended games.

The FIFA World Cup will be held across North America but visit it NJ expects one million tourists to visit our region during the tournament.

So how is the state preparing to host this huge event and how will it benefit the business community?

I chatted with Lauren the Russo and Bruce Redman from the .26 host committee to find out.

Loren, how does the World Cup compared to other big events held at MetLife like the Super Bowl and concerts?

Lauren: Raven, thanks for the time today.

The Super Bowl was an amazing event in 2014 that New York and New Jersey got to host.

It really allowed the city and state to come together for a mega sporting event.

What is different with the World Cup in 2026 is really the scale of it all.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest sporting event ever to happen in the world.

The footprint, the magnitude, the number of eyeballs on it, is predicted to be the biggest sporting event in the world.

Raven: Bruce, tell us about the host committee and what you are working on right now to get ready for 2026.

Bruce: how much time do you have?

Raven: [LAUGHTER] Right.

Bruce: The host committee has actually been working on a lot of different matters really for the last, certainly the last year, Lauren and I have been working on this for the past three or four years.

Everything from security to marketing to commercial rights.

While we were so blessed to have been awarded the finals five or six weeks ago, the hard work had already been in place for a long, long time.

Now that we know we have the match schedule, a lot of our focus is on operational matters.

Raven: Is that the biggest challenge do you feel?

Bruce: It is one of the most important matters, for sure.

But I don't think we look at anything as less significant in terms of putting on, as Lauren said, the world's biggest event on the world's biggest stage.

Everything we do matters.

That has been the approach we have taken the last two or three years on putting on this great event.

Raven: Lauren, we know the tournament is expected to bring billions, not millions, of dollars to the region.

Any estimates on how much it will cost to pull this off, and how is this all being funded?

Lauren: sSure.

The cost really stem from the operations as well as the commercial program we have to put in place.

The way we are going about that is leading in very heavily to corporate partnerships and supporters, as well as through donors.

There is a piece of the pie also supported by public services.

We are very appreciative of the city and state that typically comes in for mega sporting events to help in those ways.

The costs are somewhat always evolving for plea because we are getting more information from FIFA.

We now just know the match schedule and the types of fan engagement we would like to put on, have to put on, are evolving a little bit.

The costs are great but we are leaning in heavily to the public sector as this is a community event that we are all a part of and hosting together.

Raven: Lauren, how many jobs you think the World Cup will create for New Jersey?

Lauren: Sure.

We have done an analysis and looked at it broadly between the entire state of New Jersey, because we will be activating throughout.

We are excited about Philadelphia hosting because that puts South Jersey in a way that we have never been before.

Between New York, the state of New Jersey, we will support 14,000 jobs.

A lot of that is in the hospitality sector, tourism that will be needed to support the hosting of over one million spectators that are expected to come into the region.

Raven: Bruce, soccer fans from around the world are expected to come to the New York/New Jersey area for the World Cup.

His size the games, what can fans expect, and what can they see in New Jersey?

Bruce: Great question.

For every ticketholder there will be probably one just about ticketholder.

We know that people will want to be really coming into our region to experience all the different fan engagements that we will be doing in New Jersey.

We are looking at liberty State Park as a major footprint for fan experiences, on the other side of the river, Corona Park in Queens.

What we are really looking at doing is making sure this region can really feel the impact of what it is like to host this great event.

We are looking at, as Lauren said, everywhere from southern New Jersey to on the New York side, impacting the five boroughs.

We are trying to make sure that if you do not have a ticket, and candidly, it is likely most people will not have a ticket.

Hard to get, only eight matches.

They can experience anything from a full fan experience to watch parties.

We know that neighborhoods and communities around the region will be doing things on their own to feel the spirit of their nation, their country participating, not just in the matches happening at Life, but there are over 104 matches.

Almost every night, certainly for 40 nights, there will be a match that we hope to be able to share with the region.

Raven: Lauren, just to stay on Bruce's point, when we think about marketing and advertising, will that be in other languages, will we start to see signage?

When can we start to see those things?

Lauren: I think closer to 2026 we will be employing.

We are working with FIFA on a fan app that will be in multiple languages.

We are also working with our transportation partners.

We had a call last week specifically about putting their sites in different languages, to help travelers that need to know how to get around.

We are going to mainly work on the app that will be the centerpiece, but will connect them to other agencies that offer travel experiences, our tourism boards, CVB's.

We'll be working with them in ways to communicate in other linkages.

As Bruce said, World Cup is a celebration of our neighborhoods.

We want to get international visitors into those great places to experience.

They just need to know how to get there.

Raven: No pressure.

[LAUGHTER] Lori and Bruce, thank you for joining me on "NJ Biz Beat."

Lauren: Wonderful to speak with you.

Raven: As I mentioned earlier, MetLife Stadium is no stranger to hosting marquee events, but the stadium will have to go through some renovations to meet the demand of such a high-profile international event like the World Cup.

And the area around the stadium has evolved since hosting the Super Bowl and wrestlemania.

I shut down -- sat down with the president and CEO of the Meadowlands Chamber of Congress to see how they are preparing for the crowds and what metlife and the Meadowlands offer the visitors.

We know the World Cup is expected to have a big impact on the Garden State.

How is the Meadowlands Chamber changing so that fans spend money here and not just in New York City?

Jim: You have actually defined my job.

That is what our organization is intended to do.

Our job is to make sure that those who are visiting this region for all of those games know every place to stay, play, eat and shop, experience the greater Meadowlands.

I tell people that we are a better destination today than we have ever been in the past, even when we hosted big events like wrestlemania, Super Bowl.

The eight games of the World Cup is very dramatic for us.

Let me define that a little bit.

Why are we a better destination?

During Super Bowl, American dream wasn't open.

Today, we have American dream open.

All of these amazing entertainment amenities, more and more opened up in that facility.

The region in general has added great restaurants, great shops, downtown districts are fun, reshaping themselves.

We are by far a better destination than we were in the past.

Raven: As he touched on, MetLife hosted the Super Bowl 10 years ago and New York City seemed to benefit the most from the event.

What are some lessons learned from that experience?

Jim: It's a great question.

The lesson is we need to continue to build out destination-related assets, to advocate for them.

That is part of what I do at the chamber, our convention, visitors Bureau.

Back at Super Bowl, when the region did not have a sizable enough ability -- they needed a 200,000 plus square foot facility to host the NFL experience.

When we could not provide that to the NFL or the teams, they wound up creating NFL Boulevard down Times Square and Broadway to be the fan experience.

So, people want to be around that fan experience.

Ultimately, people let more to New York City around that fan experience.

That is why being a better destination with more things to do now helps us dramatically.

Raven: You spoke a lot about marketing.

What is going to be done differently around that time?

Jim: Marketing is a big element of what we do, big element.

We are doing our best to convince the state of New Jersey, Governor's office, travel and tourism, we have to collectively team up to make sure we are branding New Jersey as an awesome place to have some great experiences while you are hearing during the eight games of World Cup.

Raven: We know that marketing goes hand-in-hand with tourism and getting people to stay.

New Jersey has plenty of hotels for fans but transportation to and from MetLife is a major concern.

Are you starting to have conversations about providing buses, shuttle buses for fans?

Jim: The answer to that is yes.

This refers back to my broader statement that we are a better destination.

There are more transportation assets.

Unfortunately, people tend to look at the problems that were had during Super Bowl with too many people trying to take the train at the end of the game, Secaucus transfer.

There is no one transportation element that can help 180,000 people are coming out of the stadium at the end of the game.

So there has to be multiple modes of transportation.

The train going into the train station, bus lines, shuttle lines, improved infrastructure around the complex, all of those things have been happening since Super Bowl.

They are working on a project called transit way, a bus rapid transit system that will go from Secaucus transfer directly into the sports complex.

Raven: People are also going to start looking for places to stay.

What are some challenges we can see, especially when it comes to hotels, and that influx of people making reservations?

Jim: We have in excess of over 10,000 rooms in the greater Meadowlands region.

When we partner up with all of Hudson County, Passaic, Essex County, when we stretch out that far, probably 18,000 hotel rooms.

With New York City, 120,000 hotel rooms.

There are plenty of places to stay.

The challenge is, our first obligation is to live up to the bid process.

FIFA, in awarding us both as a host city, and the final game, we have to help them define and secure room locks or all the people -- blocks for all the people, fans, officials, teams that would be a part of World Cup.

That is already done.

Now the remaining hotel rooms will be made available to the general public as visitors come into the region.

We feel like this is a different time.

It is different specifically because there is such a strong commitment coming out of Governor Murphy's office to make sure that New Jersey is not left as the stepchild to New York City.

They are a great partner.

Governor Murphy has been in lockstep with Mayor Adams in the city, great partnership.

I think we will all win this time around.

Raven: How do you plan to work with local communities to help them prepare for the event?

And when does that planning start?

Jim: That planning started a couple weeks ago.

Already starting to model out how we can activate our communities.

How we can get the communities to embrace the World Cup, to think about it.

Two years seems like a long time away but it is really not.

What we are going to say to our local communities is, it's a great way to showcase your beautiful community.

That is to activate it.

I will give you an example.

During Super Bowl, we did a few local activations in the region.

The town of Secaucus, the mayor did a great job, three-day festival in Secaucus allowing folks to have some sense of a Super Bowl experience in their community.

East Rutherford held a tailgate party on Super Bowl Sunday.

8000 people attended the downtown square right off of the train station in East Rutherford.

People were getting off the train and hanging out, a whole street fair, live music.

Again, showcasing the community.

That is what we need to do.

If we can do that in all the local communities, activate them, people will spend their discretionary dollars in our region.

Raven: Jim, thank you for joining me.

Jim: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about it.

Raven: The World Cup will put New Jersey on the international spotlight especially when it plays host to the final.

We reported in the past on "NJ Biz Beat" how the state forges international connection to prepare for moments like this.

I sat down with Wesley Matthews, President and CEO of -- to learn how the states global partnerships will help hosting the World Cup and how New Jersey will benefit from being on the international stage.

Wesley, a lot of people may not realize this.

This is years in the making.

Wesley: That's right.

Raven: Talk about how instrumental you have been to getting the World Cup off the ground and preparing New Jersey for it.

Wesley: Thanks again for having me on, Raven.

This is a project at least three years in the making.

The first large event we did, forget the planning process that came before that, September 2021, where choose, along with our partners in New York City, along with stakeholders in state , really put together a pitch to FIFA to be a host city.

That was done in cinematic fashion.

I was not here at choose at the time, it was my predecessor and the team that put that together in close coordination with the governor, his office and team.

It really wowed FIFA.

Part of it was just speaking to where we are as a joint host city bid, New York City and New Jersey.

We consider ourselves the center of the universe in many ways, the diversity that is here, media market, and our assets, including MetLife Stadium, infrastructure, the diversity, which are all huge pluses for FIFA.

We have an in-built soccer base.

Soccer is not new to Jersey, not new to the city either.

FIFA understood that over this process that we started three years ago.

Raven: There's a lot of competition, so it's a big deal.

Tell me a little bit about your role specifically.

Wesley: I would say choose at the beginning was more of a convene her.

We brought stakeholders together.

Our friends that we knew in the SEA, other partners to figure out how we would market New Jersey and New York in a joint bid for the World Cup.

We often say New York City has the panache, but we in New Jersey have all the assets.

That really aligned with what people was trying to do.

So we were the convene her, helped with the marketing in the early days, creation of our material, either written or what our fans and our team war on the day was all branded through Choose NJ.

Over the last year, we have set up a host committee, I'm also on the board for that host committee, so we will continue to stay involved in the major decision points as that host committee starts to plan for 2026.

Raven: Do you think that hosting the World Cup will result in more international relationships ?

Have you seen evidence already?

Wesley: 1000% yes.

Choose New Jersey prides ourselves and our global reach.

That played a very positive role for the World Cup, for the host committee when we were presenting our bid.

Because we have this reach in-built in our organization, we were able to go out to our regional offices, five across the world now, to help us with the messaging and marketing of our bid as a host committee.

But we're also seeing the impact of it now.

Dozens of consulates and embassies reaching out to us.

The governor meets with several ambassadors every month.

They are all talking, number one or number two on their agenda, is discussing the World Cup and how their country can play a role.

Raven: You brought up marketing a lot, and that is so critical for our state.

You mentioned that competition with New York.

Marketing will be key when it comes to really keeping that revenue in the state.

Wesley: It is huge.

Like I said, New York City has the glamour, the glitz.

We think New Jersey has a fair amount of glamour and glitz ourselves, but the other piece of it is we have the infrastructure.

Making sure fans who visit our stadium also stay in New Jersey.

We expect many of them will stay in New Jersey.

That is fine.

We expect that, what that.

But we also want fans to take a few moments, a few days to experience New Jersey and the richness our state has to offer.

One other point, with Philadelphia being another host city, having seven games of their own, this allows the whole state of New Jersey to be in play for us.

Fans can follow their teams along the East Coast would also spend the weekend maybe on the Jersey shore in between Philadelphia and MetLife.

Raven: What does landing the World Cup say about New Jersey?

You kind of alluded to some points, but really, we are now on the center stage.

Wesley: We are center stage.

In 1994, we hosted a few World Cup games at the old Giants Stadium.

We didn't land the final.

This go around we felt like we were in a strong position to land the final.

Leading up to the announcement in February, we heard there were other stadiums, locations probably in the driver's seat for that conversation.

I didn't understand why honestly, if you look at the value proposition of New Jersey and New York's joint bid, nothing comes close.

For whatever reason, we felt going in, there were other stadiums and cities that may have been considered over us.

So I would say we were just as surprised when the final announcement was made on that Sunday in February.

I think for us, though, this is validation of the lot of the work that we've been doing over years in touting our state's strengths.

You know this, I was born and raised in Texas.

My parents still live there.

When I go down frequently to visit them, people still don't know the full story of New Jersey.

We are a small state, I always say that we punch way above our weight.

This is a prime chance in the summer of 2020 six to show the world what New Jersey has to offer.

I would say that also because it is the world watching.

The last FIFA final in 2022 when Messi won the Cup, they had 1.5 billion viewers around the world.

If you think about our Super Bowl, probably 150 million people who watched last February's Super Bowl.

So, the scale of what the World Cup will bring to New Jersey is not something our state has seen in history.

Raven: And I don't think it will be the last big event that we host.

Wesley, thanks for joining me on "NJ Biz Beat."

Before we leave you, here's a look at the top business headlines of the week.

Governor Murphy signs up on a package of bills to improve affordable housing offerings in the state.

The package, among other changes, abolishes the defunct Council on housing and requires the Department of community affairs to publish a list of affordable housing needs in each community getting next year.

The Biden Administration announces new regulations around auto emissions and car sales, calling it the most ambitious plan to fight climate change and speed up the transition to electric vehicles.

But the new rules relax on previous deadlines for automakers.

Under the new rules, cars built during model years 2027 to 2032 will be affected, giving automakers more time to develop and sell EV's and hybrids in order to meet emissions limits.

The EPA expects 57% of cars to be EV by 2032 as a result of these regulations.

A majority of New Jerseyans say they want to move out of the state, blaming the high cost of living.

That was the finding from the Monmouth University quality of life index.

48% said they wanted to move out in the future.

43% said cost-of-living is the most important factor.

The top issue may not surprise you.

39% said it is high property taxes.

24% blame the economy overall.

7% say they want to move out because of housing costs.

That does it for us this week.

Remember to subscribe to our NJ news spotlight channel to see new episodes and clips.

We are off next week for the holiday.

Enjoy your week.

We will see you back here in April.

Thank you for watching.

Announcer: Funding for "NJ Biz Beat with Raven Santana" provided by NJMEP, a partner to New Jersey's manufacturing industry focus on productivity, performance, and strategic development.

More on NJMEP.org.

And by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, announcing its New Jersey business Summit and Expo, March 26 and 27 at Harrah's in Atlantic City.

Event details online at njchamber.com .

♪