it's being billed as the biggest event our region has ever hosted and this morning Governor Phil Murphy joined New York city mayor Eric Adams to celebrate being tapped as the host for the 2026 FIFA World Cup they unveiled the new logo and brand for the event the two states are slated to hold at least eight World Cup games and as Ted Goldberg tells us MetLife Stadium in North Jersey that's in the running to host the championship three two one whatever New Jersey's World Cup games now have a logo and a look unveiled at Times Square With a Little Help From New York city mayor Eric Adams and Super Bowl champion Michael Strahan New York New Jersey has so much to offer we all know about the diversity we all know about the energy that is unmasked anywhere our world-renowned culture and of course the story Sports history so I can't think of a better place for an event as prominent and as globally recognized and cherished as the World Cup it's not just about the games it's about the Legacy it's about the excitement that we'll build especially among young people not just going into 2026 but from 26 on for decades to come we saw we hosted games in the men's World Cup in 94. we hosted them in the Women's World Cup in 99. the biggest stage on the globe there's no place like New York New Jersey while New Jersey gets second billing in the New York New Jersey branding of the event the Garden State will host all of the Region's World Cup qualifier games in 2026. for New Jersey natives living in the city it's a big opportunity to watch world-class soccer across the Hudson River I was a year old when the last World Cup came around in uh you know the area at Giant Stadium at the time and you know as a child I couldn't enjoy that I was you know way too young so now to have it come back when I'm able to you know afford to go to games and to like maybe see oh I could go to this game or to see this team play it's an incredible feeling to have everything in your backyard I like having the spotlight on the state and just having people come and like see all the diversity that Jersey has to offer um despite their their misconceptions that they might have about the state Lindsey panko's Jersey Roots made her a soccer fan eight years ago I remember being on Twitter during the final and I was like oh this girl Carly Lloyd from South Jersey is like scoring all these goal I want to watch this game and turned it on and that was really why I originally got me into soccer in general and then ever since then it's just been like more and more of an obsession the Murphy Administration estimates that these games will bring 500 million dollars into New Jersey the mayor just set up we think we're going to get at least eight games that's eight Super Bowls in six weeks right just extraordinary at every single tick it'll be sold out I guarantee you no matter who's playing that's a lot of Super Bowls but what's one more the site for the 2026 World Cup finals hasn't been announced yet MetLife Stadium could be a strong Contender there is no better place to host the final than at MetLife Stadium in the New York New Jersey area I've seen Jets games and Giants games you know shut down Route three essentially uh and to just see that amount of people in MetLife tailgating and like doing all those crazy parties that you just see from other World Cups around the world to know that that's going to be in the MetLife parking lot or potentially that's crazy to me there's such incredible soccer happening here all the time and so to have this energy around soccer coming to this area and everyone's just like thrilled about the World Cup final and it's like hopefully that partly is into an increase in interest into the proteins here East Rutherford is one of 16 North American cities to host World Cup games in 20 2026 FIFA is not expected to choose a site for the finals until the fall in Times Square I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music]