Who oversees preparations for NJ to host 2026 World Cup? For now, these 11 men

One might expect the people overseeing preparations to host the FIFA World Cup — the most watched sporting event in the world — would have experience in sports or event planning, rather than being local politicians with backgrounds in the auto parts, carpentry and funeral parlor fields.

But that’s what’s happening in Bergen County as New Jersey prepares to co-host the 2026 World Cup at MetLife Stadium.

The 11 appointees — all men — currently on the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority board are responsible for making vital financial and construction decisions to prepare for the World Cup, from field upgrades to where bike racks should go. Many have played key roles for years in state and local politics and served on various corporate boards. One is the current Essex County sheriff.

It’s common to expect public scrutiny over who is making decisions about projects that use public money, but an event on the scale of the World Cup will have considerable oversight, said Aaron Moore, an expert on event planning and sports business at Rider University.

"My guess is there is going to be enough oversight to alleviate any concerns,” Moore said. “The organizers of the World Cup took a lot of negative publicity after what just happened in Qatar — and they don’t want to have negative publicity," he said, referring to controversy over corruption and human rights abuse allegations leading up to the 2022 games.

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"My hope would be, especially as a New Jersey taxpayer, that there’s enough oversight to alleviate any of those concerns,” Moore said.

FIFA also requires World Cup hosts to follow certain regulations, so organizers will have a template to ensure the presentation is the same for all of the games, whether they are at MetLife Stadium, in Boston or in Los Angeles, he said.

The next Ueberroth or Romney from NJ?

There is also precedent for local officials to use the successful oversight of a global event to catapult to bigger political success, said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider.

Los Angeles businessman Peter Ueberroth, who helped bring the Olympics to Los Angeles in 1984 and successfully managed those games to a $250 million surplus, later became chairman of Major League Baseball.

And Mitt Romney, instrumental to the success of the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, went on to become governor of Massachusetts, and in 2012 was the Republican nominee for president.

That doesn’t mean there’s a potential Ueberroth or Romney ready to emerge at the New Jersey Sports Authority, Rasmussen said. "But I’m not sure I’m ready to count them out, either.”

Being New Jersey's Goldilocks

Instead, Rasmussen said that it is important for the authority to learn from the wins and losses of past host cities and make prudent decisions.

“The key is for the authority to determine the right amount of resources and gravitas to enlist in the effort — while remembering that there are far too many examples of regions that have put too many resources into their bids to host worldwide events,” he said. “Their job is to be New Jersey’s Goldilocks — to not put too much or too little into our bid, but to get it just right.”

MetLife Stadium was chosen for a yet to be determined number of 2026 World Cup games. It is one of 16 venues across the continent hosting games for the month-long tournament.

There have been no official estimates of what the tournament will cost each city, but the authority received $30 million in to plan designs and upgrades at the stadium and surrounding property. They also developed a timeline for that work.

There is no sporting event larger than the World Cup — and a host community can profit significantly, if they’re prepared. That means having the right people in charge.

MetLife has hosted major events in the past, including the Super Bowl in 2014, the Copa América Centenario final in 2016 and Wrestlemania in 2019.

Sports authority's role has shifted

The sports authority board currently has 11 appointed members, and one vacancy. Most are appointed by the governor, but the Senate president and Assembly speaker each appoint a member as well.

Aside from state Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio, who is an ex-officio board member, these men aren’t new to the job. All 11 are holdovers in their posts because their terms expired — some dating back to 2012.

In that time the authority's focus has shifted from operations at the sports and entertainment facilities to municipal zoning and environmental issues in the 30-square-mile Meadowlands district in Bergen and Hudson counties.

Board members, who are not paid, meet once a month to discuss everything from the Hackensack Meadowlands District Floodplain Management Plan to developing affordable housing in Secaucus.

President and CEO will change hands

The authority’s president and CEO, Vincent Prieto, was appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018. Before that, he had the third most powerful job in the state as speaker of the General Assembly. The Secaucus Democrat receives a $280,000 salary for his work.

While in Trenton, Prieto had a hand in the legislation that merged the authority with the former Meadowlands Commission.

But Prieto will be replaced by Bergen County Democratic Chair Paul Juliano.

Juliano called the upcoming World Cup "very exciting," but said that he needs to "transition and learn more about our role with respect to the future."

Ties to the State House

Some of the board members have state house backgrounds as well.

Michael Gluck served as an assistant counsel during former Gov. Thomas Kean’s term before forming his own Trenton-based law firm.

Anthony Scardino is a former Lyndhurst mayor as well as a former Democratic state senator. He also served as executive director of the Meadowlands Commission in the 1980s and '90s and is on the board of trustees for the Hackensack Meridian Health Hospitals Corporation.

Woody Knopf, the former chairman of Knopf Automotive Parts, served as a member of Murphy’s transition team for transportation and mobility issues.

Backgrounds in labor

Other board members have labor-focused backgrounds. Andrew Scala a board member since 2014, has served on the District Council 711 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trade.

Board chairman John Ballantyne has been an official for the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters.

Armando Fontoura is the Essex County sheriff. Robert Dowd is a former North Bergen police chief and now a part-time adjunct, teaching criminal justice at New Jersey City University.

Steven Plofker has a background in real estate development and business and helped his wife, Bobbi Brown, found the cosmetic line that bears her name.

More political connections

Even if the authority isn’t on its surface political, there are politics at play.

Joseph Buckelew served as mayor of Lakewood, and is ex-chairman of the Ocean County Republican Organization and a former freeholder. He founded Ocean Cablevision, and is the former owner of Interstate General Media, which purchased the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com in 2012 and then sold them two years later.  Buckelew is a business partner with George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey Democratic organizer and power broker long considered the most powerful unelected person in New Jersey.

Board member Lou Stellato is the former head of the Bergen County Democrats. When he’s not making decisions on the authority board about how to spend taxpayer money, Stellato runs Stellato Funeral Homes and is the manager of their Lyndhurst location.

Stellato’s counterpart across the party aisle also has a seat on the board. Robert Yudin, the former Bergen County Republican chair, was nominated in 2010 and has served for more than 10 years.

Yudin’s seat is expected to be filled by Gail Gordon of Fair Lawn. Gordon was nominated to fill the post by Murphy on Jan. 30. An attorney and lobbyist, Gordon is married to former state senator and current NJ Transit board member Bob Gordon.

Murphy also nominated Tom Mullahey, a Rutherford council member and the district athletic director for Clifton schools, on Jan. 30. to fill a vacant seat.

Murphy's big swan song

The board is making the decisions now related to World Cup planning, but it will fall to the host committee to organize the event moving forward.

The authority’s vice president of legal and regulatory affairs, Adam Levy, has said that FIFA requires each city to form a host committee responsible for prep work ahead of the event, including fundraising. Initial funding would be drawn from appropriated funds from the state budget, and the committee will receive one “or more” $5-million revolving loans from the authority, Levy has said.

The committee will become primarily responsible for covering additional costs once they begin generating funds and that New York City, the authority’s host partner, will share the overall costs, Levy said.

The board tabled a resolution to create the host committee in October, and has not put it back on the agenda since.

Moore said the agency will have oversight from FIFA and US Soccer, and that Murphy may be especially interested in making sure the event goes smoothly.

“This is going to be Governor Murphy’s big swan song, so to speak, so his office is going to make sure it doesn’t have any road that’s going to go down and create negative publicity,” Moore said. “It’s a no brainer to host this. They just have to make sure it’s up to the level of quality FIFA and U.S. Soccer expect.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Who's overseeing prep for NJ to host 2026 World Cup? These 11 men