00:00Talk a little bit about the potential impact that that's going to have for the local economy here.
00:05Well, the impact of these games on the local economy is going to be massive.
00:09I mean, we're looking at over $3 billion of economic impact,
00:12millions of fans from around the world that are going to be coming right here to our region.
00:18And I think the potential legacy is even bigger, right?
00:21What we want to do is show the world that if you want to have the premier sports and entertainment event,
00:25you want to do it in the biggest stage right here in New York, New Jersey.
00:28I am curious, Alex, about this idea of having all of these international visitors coming to the U.S.,
00:34particularly at a time where there's been a huge crackdown on immigration
00:37and a lot of concerns about how welcome some of these people are going to be.
00:40When they start to arrive, and assuming they do arrive, are they going to be welcomed?
00:45They are, and we're going to make sure they are,
00:46because we are really excited to welcome the entire world to our region.
00:50And that's what the benefit of this World Cup is and what makes this World Cup so unique.
00:54The economic impact of this World Cup has a lot to do with the millions of visitors
00:59who are going to come to this region to participate in the World Cup.
01:02And I think what's unique about a World Cup is that most people that come aren't going to the stadium to go to a game.
01:08They're coming to come to our fan fest, come to our fan village, come to all of our activations,
01:13and just be part of the World Cup experience.
01:16And that's what we're really excited about, to welcome the entire world right to our region.
01:20And you think about that, welcoming the entire world.
01:23You think about where this is being held.
01:25MetLife, MetLife, of course, can handle a lot.
01:28It's hosted a Super Bowl before, for example.
01:31How will this final compare to that, for example?
01:35This final is going to be the biggest sporting event, maybe even the biggest event in human history.
01:41We're looking at, if you think about the last World Cup final,
01:45it was viewed by the same amount of people as the last 13 Super Bowls combined.
01:48So, if you think of, you know, American football as our sport, football is the world sport.
01:54And we're going to be having the eyes of the world upon us for this final.
01:57So, this is going to be the biggest event that we've ever hosted, outpacing a Super Bowl, Taylor Swift concert, you name it.
02:04This is going to be the biggest event we've ever had.
02:06And we're, you know, going to show the world that if you want to have a sporting event or anything on the biggest stage,
02:13you've got to do it right here in New York, New Jersey.
02:15Well, to your point, I mean, this is the world's game.
02:18We're talking about the U.S. market.
02:21And it feels like everyone growing up in the U.S. plays soccer in some form.
02:25Do you think about soccer's popularity, though, in the United States?
02:28I mean, what do you think the stakes are here when it comes to raising the profile of the sport domestically?
02:34I think our hope for this World Cup and the legacy for this World Cup is doing for football what, you know,
02:42the dream team did for basketball around the world, right?
02:45It inspired a generation of basketball players.
02:48And now you've had, like, the last six MVPs not being from the United States.
02:52And I think our hope for this World Cup is that it inspires a next generation of athlete, right?
02:57You're going to have a bunch of six-, seven-, eight-year-olds who are going to be feeling the energy,
03:01seeing the best players from around the world competing on the biggest stage.
03:05And hopefully it inspires them to go play football and to go join the U.S. men's national team
03:10to make us the strongest team in the world.
03:13When you look at the 99 Women's World Cup, you know, those images and that energy
03:18led to the women's national team being the most impressive and biggest powerhouse in women's soccer.
03:25So I think we're hoping for the same thing for this World Cup.
03:27And absolutely.
03:28And you talk about the formation of MLS back in 96, coming out of the 94 World Cup.
03:33Exactly.
03:33And just all the attention that Americans who traditionally ignored soccer certainly gave it.
03:38It gets to the question, though, Alex, as well, as to sort of what is the international cooperation going forward?
03:43And I don't mean at the high-end World Cup level.
03:46But do you think we're going to see maybe a little bit more symbiosis between, say,
03:50the leagues here in the United States with those of the big powerhouse leagues in Europe and the U.K., etc.?
03:56I think you're already seeing a lot of symbiosis, right?
03:58You're having Premier League teams playing and European teams from all over the, you know,
04:03from all over Europe playing in the United States.
04:06You know, we just hosted the Premier League series at MET Life.
04:10We just had the Club World Cup right here in, you know, the finals and the semifinals right here in MET Life Stadium.
04:16So I think you're already starting to see kind of an expansion of football from around the world,
04:23you know, really partnering with us in the United States.
04:26I think, you know, kind of the next step and next stage is for the growth of the MLS to continue,
04:31the growth of the NWSL to continue.
04:34And also maybe, you know, you start to see some of these other leagues doing what U.S. leagues have been doing, right?
04:40When you look at the NBA and the NFL playing regular season matches overseas, I think the hope is that, you know,
04:46we can start to do that with football and that will really expand the game and continue to grow the sport.
04:50I know you're basically just in charge of what's going on here in the New York, New Jersey area.
04:55But we should point out, obviously, these games are going to be spread out in other cities as well as other countries,
04:59including Mexico and Canada.
05:01What are the discussions that you're having with your counterparts in those cities and countries with regards to what they're doing
05:08and maybe sharing some interests and advice as to what maybe you can do as well?
05:12We're all trying to share best practices because the fan experience in one city is going to directly affect the fan experience in another.
05:19And so what we want to do, especially here in the United States, but all across North America,
05:23is we really want to put on an incredible show.
05:26And we want people from around the world who are coming here for possibly the first time or CEOs of other companies coming here
05:33who are looking to maybe create jobs and invest, we want them to see the United States especially as the place to do that.
05:41And so the fan experience in Atlanta or Miami or Dallas is going to directly affect the fan experience that you have in New York, New Jersey.
05:49And so we're trying to make sure that we're all in communication, all talking about what we can do to make sure that everyone coming to the United States
05:58has an incredible experience, because I think that the studies that I've seen are saying that the World Cup could have
06:04an over $30 billion economic impact for the entire United States, expecting over 6 million visitors.
06:11So this is this is a very big deal, not just for our region, but for the entire country.
06:16And, you know, you think about an event like this.
06:18I have to imagine a lot of it, you know, falls on the state governments, the local governments.
06:22But talk to us about the relationship with the federal government, how much, you know, buy in and participation
06:28you need from that level of government in terms of putting on something of this scale.
06:34You can't put on an event like this without coordination and buy in from your state, local and federal government.
06:41And when I look at the planning and all of the conversations that I've been involved in and all the
06:47preparations that we've made, the the the connectivity between federal, state and local has been truly incredible.
06:54Right. I think we're actually seeing a a putting aside of politics to make sure that these games are successful.
07:00And if you look at, you know, kind of the next 10 years here in the United States, this is really the decade of sports.
07:05And the World Cup is kind of the kickoff of that. Right. We've got the World Cup in 26, the L.A. Olympics in 28.
07:12We've got the Women's World Cup in 2031 and then the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in in 2034 or 36.
07:20So, you know, this is the decade of sports. We are the the first one.
07:24And so we really have to make sure that we put on a great show to, you know, I think really set the tone for what these mega sporting events over the next 10 years are going to look like.
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