00:00The next few days are all about just making sure that we're, you know, ready for what is kind of
00:03its own animal,
00:04an own singular event. The World Cup final is going to be probably the largest event in human history.
00:10We're going to have billions of people watching, whether it's inside the stadium or expecting a full sellout.
00:17We're going to have, you know, this is basically going to be a mini United Nations mixed with the Oscars.
00:23And so for us, we had a very successful first seven games.
00:27We don't need to recreate the wheel, but we do need to kind of work under the new parameters.
00:31That is all these heads of state, celebrities, VIPs and the final, which is going to be viewed by billions
00:37of people.
00:38And Alex, I have to admit the last time you were here, I gave you a lot of grief about
00:42the traffic situation since I live in Hoboken.
00:45I was really worried about what just that area in New Jersey would look like.
00:50But I have to say it hasn't impacted my life that much.
00:53And I feel like the public transit aspect of it has maybe gone a little bit better than the broader
00:59public expected.
01:00I think the way that this worked and one of the things that we always tried to tell people was
01:04this is what we do.
01:06Right. The United States is experts at putting on massive events.
01:10Right. We sell out MetLife Stadium every weekend.
01:13We've done plenty of events there.
01:14We've done a Taylor Swift concert and they all go fine.
01:17I think for the World Cup, it's bigger in scale and scope.
01:20But at the end of the day, it's it's a sold out event at MetLife Stadium.
01:23And this is, I think, one of the lessons from this World Cup.
01:26And as we head into this decade of sports is the United States are experts at putting on big events.
01:32And we really need to lean into that expertise.
01:34And I think what we've seen for us on our logistics, 97 percent of fans were scanned in before kickoff.
01:40And everyone was off property in two, two and a half hours.
01:43So a real a real win for us.
01:45And I think we've set the standard for what these mega events are supposed to look like.
01:50Let's talk tickets for a second.
01:52Often Super Bowls hold the most expensive tickets.
01:55I think it was the Super Bowl in Las Vegas and then, you know, other ones as well.
02:00I think that the FIFA 2026 Men's World Cup final could come pretty close to topping the average most expensive
02:06ticket ever sold.
02:07What do you think?
02:08I think when you're looking at these, you know, big mega events, whether it's the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Cup,
02:15you're just seeing the demand for these in real life experiences getting higher and higher.
02:21And they're becoming a bigger and bigger event with more and more that's happening,
02:25whether it's outside hospitality or inside the game with the opening and closing ceremonies and halftime show.
02:31So these events are just becoming bigger and bigger.
02:33And the demand for wanting to be there and be a part of it is also becoming greater.
02:38I think for us, what we really wanted to do was, one, make sure that this was accessible as much
02:44as possible.
02:44So, you know, we're giving 40 free tickets to the finals, 20 for New Jersey fans, 20 to New York.
02:51We've also got our watch parties, which, again, are these massive experiences that whether it's at Central Park, Rock Center,
02:57all across New York and New Jersey that are all free.
03:01And so whether you're inside or outside the stadium, we want to make sure that you're able to watch the
03:05World Cup,
03:05be a part of the experience and have have an incredible time.
03:08So let's stay on tickets and talk about the matchup a little bit, because I imagine that once it was
03:12Lionel Messi in Argentina versus Spain in La Minha Mall,
03:15your phone was just buzzing.
03:17You had everybody and anybody calling, being like, I need a suite.
03:20I want to sit fieldside.
03:22I'll sit in the rafters.
03:23When you saw that it was going to be Spain and Argentina, what was the feeling?
03:28What was your phone like?
03:29Give me the whole ordeal.
03:32When I saw the semifinals, knowing it was either going to be France, Spain, Argentina, or England, right,
03:38those four teams, you knew that this was going to be one of the biggest, most anticipated events.
03:44So when it came to the semis, I was really just waiting to see who was going to call,
03:49whether it was going to be, you know, everyone from England or it was going to be all the Lionel
03:55Messi fans and everyone from Spain.
03:57And so the last two, three days, I don't think I've my phone has stopped ringing.
04:03You know, my wife has kind of just sent me out of the house and said, take all your phone
04:07calls there.
04:08And so it's trying to really just, you know, make sure that you're able to accommodate as many people as
04:14possible.
04:15These are all people who, you know, are expecting to be able to come to the game and want to.
04:20And so we want this to be a fun event.
04:22We want the biggest stars to come to the biggest stage.
04:26That's what you get, whether it's a Knicks finals or the World Cup.
04:29And, you know, that's part of the fun of this region is that definitely makes for a busy next few
04:37days.
04:37But, you know, there are worse things in the world.
04:40Yeah, I mean, it's really been an insane couple of weeks and months here for New York.
04:45But I do want to ask, as we were talking about, I mean, the anticipation for this matchup on Sunday
04:51is huge.
04:51This is truly a global game.
04:54What sense do you have about what the breakdown might look like on Sunday when it comes to international fans
05:00versus American fans?
05:01So we've been tracking, I think, for the entire World Cup.
05:04It's been about 50 percent international and 50 percent domestic, with about 20 percent of that being local.
05:10So 30 percent the entire rest of the U.S. and about 20 percent New York, New Jersey, which matches
05:17up with what our expectations would have been.
05:19We're seeing room rates year over year exceeding what they were last year.
05:24And we're seeing occupancy year over year exceeding what it was last year.
05:27So the World Cup has brought a pretty massive economic impact.
05:31We've done an interim economic impact report just covering the group stage.
05:36And we saw over $2 billion of economic impact just from the group stage with over a billion dollars of
05:42direct consumer spending,
05:44hundreds of millions of dollars already in direct tax revenue for the region.
05:47So this has already, just for the three weeks in June, provided a massive economic impact and on pace to
05:53actually break what our projections were,
05:55which was over $3 billion.
05:57So I think what this event has shown is the anticipation and demand was there, that the impact for the
06:05region is there,
06:06and that this is something that, you know, it's been 30 years since we hosted a World Cup before.
06:12There's no way we should wait another 30 years before we're hosting a World Cup and Olympics or anything like
06:17that.
06:17New York, New Jersey has shown itself to be the capital for sports and entertainment,
06:22and I think we've cemented our place in that.
06:24New York, New York, New York.
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