Photo: AFP
New York is no stranger to hosting big events that take up a lot of space and grab attention, and the summer of 2026 should be no exception to the rule, as the World Cup’s arrival in America coincides with the nation’s 250th birthday. Soccer’s premier event will feature eight matches in Met Life Stadium in the Meadowlands, meaning the dollars should be flowing into New York’s hotels, restaurants and tourist venues. However, the Parks Department says it will not issue permits for new events that take place in the city while the World Cup is going on, meaning that it’s too late to plan any birthday bashes for the country that are designed to draw a crowd. Organizers at One Times Square have even said they’ll have a “private event” ball drop on the 4th- imagine New Year’s Eve, but without the crowd looking up at 11:59pm.
WOR Beat on the Street reporter Natalie Migliore hit the streets on the Upper East Side to find out for 710 WOR’s Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte in the Morning program how New Yorkers feel about the Big Apple celebrating the world’s premier sporting tournament, but not the nation’s quarter-millennium milestone.
Surprisingly, several people didn’t seem phased by the city’s unwillingness to stage any large events for the 4th. One man said, “I could not care less. Really, anything that happens in this city seems like a nuisance that I have to deal with, and avoid this road or this avenue and so, yeah, I don’t think it affects me.”
The fact that the games will happen in New Jersey left another man to feel indifferent about any potential economic windfall the World Cup would bring to the Big Apple: “[It’s] debatable. FIFA is a very weird and, in my opinion, corrupt organization so, yeah, I’m not sure how the economics pan out.”
But some people feel that New York should have America’s birthday cake and eat it, too, like this woman: “I mean, this is New York, right? It’s not New Jersey; we should be able to do what we want to do in New York, so if we want to do another ball drop, which is usually in New York, we should have that space, especially since FIFA’s in New Jersey.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images