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- [00:00]
Indiana University Narrator
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- [00:27]
Interviewer
All right, well, we're just a few months away from one of the biggest sporting events in the world, the FIFA World cup, and that will draw for that. World cup just wrapped up a little bit earlier today at the Kennedy center in Washington, D.C. joining us live from New York is Alex, Alex lasry. He's the CEO of the FIFA World Cup 2026 New York, New Jersey Host Committee. Alex, great to have you here. And of course, for our viewers don't know, most of these games will be played, of course, in the New York, New Jersey area. Talk a little bit about the potential impact that that's going to have for local economy here.
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Alex Lasry
Well, the impact of the, of these games on the local economy is going to be massive. I mean, we're looking at over $3 billion of economic impact, millions of fans from around the world that are going to be coming right here to, to our region. And I think the potential legacy is even bigger. Right. What we want to do is show the world that if you want to have the premier sports and entertainment event, you want to do it in the biggest stage right here in New York, New Jersey.
- [01:24]
Interviewer
I am curious, Alex, about this idea of having all of these international visitors coming to the US Particularly at a time when there I've been a huge crackdown on immigration and a lot of concerns about how welcome some of these people are going to be when they start to arrive. And assuming they do arrive, are they going to be welcomed?
- [01:40]
Alex Lasry
They are, and we're going to make sure they are because we are really excited to welcome the entire world to, to our region. And that's what the benefit of this World cup is and what makes this World cup so unique. The economic impact of this World cup is, has a lot to do with the millions of visitors who are going to come to this region to participate in the World Cup. And 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. They're coming to come to our fan fest, come to our fan village, come to all of our activations and just be part of the World cup experience. And that's what we're really excited about. To welcome the entire world right to our region.
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Interviewer
And you think about that, welcoming the entire world. You think about where this is being held. MetLife. MetLife, of course, can handle a lot. It's hosted a Super bowl before. For example, how will this final compare to that?
- [02:29]
Alex Lasry
For example, this final is going to be the biggest sporting event, maybe even the biggest in human history. We're looking at, if you think about the last super. The last World cup final, it was viewed by the same amount of people as the last 13 Super Bowls combined. So if you think of, you know, American football as our sport, football is the world sport. And we're going to be having the eyes of the world upon us for this final. So this is going to be the biggest event that we've ever hosted out outpacing a Super Bowl, Taylor Swift concert, you name it. This is going to be the biggest event we've ever had. And we're going to show the world that if you want to have a sporting event or anything on the biggest stage, you got to do it right here in New York, New Jersey.
- [03:10]
Interviewer
Well, to your point, I mean, this is the world's game. We're talking about the US Market, and it feels like everyone growing up in the US Plays soccer in some form. Do you think about soccer's popularity, though, in the United States? I mean, what do you think the stakes are here when it comes to raising the profile of the sport domestically?
- [03:29]
Alex Lasry
I think our hope for this World cup and the legacy for this World cup is doing for. For the, for football what, you know, the dream did for basketball around the world, right? It inspired a generation of basketball players. And now you've had like the last six MVPs not being from the United States. And I think our hope for this World cup is that it inspires a next generation of athlete, right? You're going to have a bunch of 6, 7, 8 year olds who are going to be feeling the energy, seeing the best players from around the world competing on the biggest stage, and hopefully it inspires them to go play football and to go join the U.S. men's National Team to make us the strongest team in the world. When you look at the 99 Women's World cup, you know, those images and that energy led to the women's national team being the most impressive and biggest powerhouse in women's soccer. So I think we're hoping for the same thing for this World cup.
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Interviewer
And absolutely, you talk about the formation of MLS back in 96, coming out of the 94 World cup and.
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Alex Lasry
Exactly.
- [04:28]
Interviewer
All the attention that Americans who traditionally ignored soccer certainly gave it. It gets to the question though, Alex, as well as to sort of what is the international cooperation going forward? And I don't mean at the, at the high end World cup level, but do you. We're going to see maybe a little bit more symbiosis between, say, the leagues here in the United States with those, the big powerhouse leagues in Europe and the UK etc.
- [04:51]
Alex Lasry
I think you're already seeing a lot of symbiosis, right? You're having Premier League teams playing and European teams from all over the, you know, from all over Europe playing in, in the United States. You know, we just hosted the Premier League series, MetLife. We just had the club World cup right here in, you know, the, the, the finals in the semifinals right here in MetLife Stadium. So I think you're already starting to see expansion of football from around the world. You know, really partnering with, with us in the United States. I think, you know, kind of the next step and next stage is for the growth of the MLS to continue, the growth of the NWSL to continue. And also maybe, you know, you start to see some of these, these other leagues doing what US Leagues have been doing, right? When you look at the NBA and the NFL playing regular season matches overseas, I think the hope is that, you know, we can start to do that with football and that will really expand the game and continue to grow the.
- [05:46]
Interviewer
I know you're basically just in charge of what's going on here in the New York, New Jersey area. But we should point out, obviously these games are going to be spread out in other cities as well as other countries, including Mexico and Canada. What are the discussions that you're having with your counterparts in those cities and countries with regards to what they're doing and maybe sharing some interest and advice as to what maybe you can do as well.
- [06:07]
Alex Lasry
We're all trying to share best practices because the fan experience in one city is going to directly affect the fan experience in another. And so what we want to do, especially here in the United States, but all across North America, is we really want to put on an incredible show. And we want people from around the world who are coming here for possibly the first time, or CEOs of other companies coming here who are looking to maybe create jobs and invest. We want them to see the United States, especially as, as the place to do that. And so the fan experience in Atlanta or Miami or Dallas is going to directly affect the fan experience that you have in, in New York, New Jersey and so we're trying to make sure that we're all, all in communication, all talking about what we can do to make sure that everyone coming to the United States has an incredible experience. Because I think that the studies that I've seen are saying that the World cup could have an over $30 billion economic impact for the entire United States, expecting over 6 million visitors. So this is, this is a very big deal, not just for our region, but for the entire country.
- [07:11]
Interviewer
And you know, you think about an event like this, I have to imagine a lot of it falls on the state government, governments, the local governments. But talk to us about the relationship with the federal government, how much buy in and participation you need from that level of government in terms of putting on something of this scale.
- [07:30]
Alex Lasry
You can't put on an event like this without coordination and buy in from your state, local and federal government. And when, when I look at the, the planning and all of the conversations that I've been involved in and all the preparations that we've made, the, the, the, the connectivity between federal, state and local has been truly incredible. Right. I think we're actually seeing a putting aside of politics to make sure that these games are successful. And if you look at, you know, kind of the next 10 years here in the United States, this is really the decade of sports and 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, we've got the Women's World cup in 2031, and then the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in, in, in 2034 or 36. So you know, this is the decade of sports. We are the, the first one. And 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.
- [08:29]
Interviewer
Absolutely, Alex, really appreciate your time on this Friday afternoon. That is Alex Lasry. He is the CEO of the FIFA World Cup 26 New York, New Jersey Host Committee.
- [08:39]
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- [09:01]
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