In our spotlight on Business Report tonight.

This week, New Jersey is hosting the Copa America, but we'll be playing host to the World Cup in 2026.

And while that seems far off, it'll take a Herculean effort to get New Jersey's infrastructure up to the task.

Like our train system that's already struggling under normal conditions lately, delays have derailed commuters over the last several weeks caused by Amtrak overhead wire problems.

And just yesterday, engineers ended a year long mediation period with NJ Transit without coming to a resolution that clears the path for a possible strike, which the engineers have all voted for.

So they now enter a 30 day cooling off period before the engineers could walk off the job as early as July 25th.

Couple that with an NJ transit funding shortfall just around the bend.

And we could be staring down a speeding disaster.

But the state has a chance to test it all out this week with the Copa America Games playing in East Rutherford.

The first one was last night, and some fans who came out for Lionel Messi got a messy commute instead.

Experience.

The train was amazing.

It was hot.

AC didn't work.

I felt like I was in Argentina on the way to watch Boca Juniors play.

It was great, but I'm was Argentina.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Lionel Messi.

Let's go, team.

Let's go Copa America.

I mean, it was a pretty bad experience.

The train before us got canceled, and yeah, it was.

It was pretty packed.

Like the doors are open between the trains.

People were not even getting a on the trains or something I'd never seen before.

And but yeah, honestly, the fact that I made it, I'm super happy.

And so, yeah, super excited to be here.

But these Copa Games are just a warm up for the World Cup, which is expected to bring more than a million tourists into the region.

It'll have a global impact unlike anything the state's experienced yet generating up to $2 billion.

And that's why the Regional Plan Association is already holding sessions to hear from other countries that have played host.

I'm joined now by Zoe Baldwin to tell us what came from yesterday's virtual planning session.

Zoe, great to have you here with us tonight.

Let me ask you this.

When it comes to New Jersey hosting the World Cup in 2026, what changes does NJ Transit or improvement does NJ Transit need to make now so that it's ready?

Well, two years is a relatively short time, and as we've seen by the actions of the past week, our infrastructure needs some upgrades.

There is critical infrastructure that is shared with Amtrak that helps our rail keep going.

And so we need to work with the federal government, with NJ Transit and with Amtrak to make sure that we are doing as much as we can to shore up our aging infrastructure so that this event doesn't happen during the World Cup and we're on the world stage.

You mentioned the timing issue.

Two years is not a long time.

If you're making major changes, who needs to be on board?

Who are the players that have to be involved in these discussions so that it is ready?

And so that's where it gets a little complicated, because there is a lot of moving pieces.

So NJ Transit is kind of the tenant on the Northeast corridor, which is where we've seen the failures in the past week.

So we need to have them at the table.

We need to have Amtrak, but then we also need the administration is in the Biden administration as well as Congress on board, because this is going to require a multipronged solution because, again, it's a short time frame and these are volatile structures that really make our make or break an event like this.

Tell us about the planning session that you held yesterday.

Who were some of the players who offered the greatest insight?

Folks who have hosted other World Cups?

Yeah.

So we had experienced people from basically every angle of industry that deals with world events like the Olympics and the World Cup.

And so they brought to the table design expertise, community engagement, expertise and tourism expertise to really be able to draw out the essential elements that our region needs to really keep an eye on to make this a successful event.

So we are the players who need to be involved from New Jersey or from the federal level already a part of this conversation.

Were there any who were part of the planning session yesterday in attendance?

We had people from Port Authority.

We had NJ Transit employees, we had government employees as well as city employees.

The host committee did also watch the session.

And so hopefully there was a lot of fodder there for really thinking through every angle of this event that we need to be paying attention to, because it is a very complicated operation to put on an event of this scale.

And so we do feel that there were the right players at the table and listening to the experts that we brought in.

And hopefully we can continue to work together to make sure that this event goes as smoothly as possible.

Okay.

Joey Baldwin, VP of state programs for the Regional Planning Association, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Support for the business report is provided by experience, The vibrancy of Newark's Arts and Education District and Halsey Street Palsy, a neighborhood built on heart and hustle to visit Hosey and Dash W dashcam for the 2024 Halsey fest scheduled and by NJ MEP, a partner to New Jersey's manufacturing industry, focused on productivity, performance and strategic development.

More on NJ MEP North.