World Cup 2026 gets another $2.5 million in New Jersey taxpayer funding
Another $2.5 million has been dedicated to the host committee for the 2026 World Cup. During a Thursday morning meeting, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority agreed to advance an additional $2.5 million of taxpayer money to cover the cost of host city obligations for the tournament.
The Authority’s board of trustees approved a revolving loan of $5 million for the committee in 2022 using funding provided in the state’s 2023 Fiscal Year budget. The agency was given $30 million at that time for “international events.”
This new action brings that total up to $7.5 million that the committee is using to generate revenue to meet its obligations. It intends to draw in corporate sponsors and “other supporters.”
The authority's vice president of legal and regulatory affairs, Adam Levy, said that the money would be needed to “accelerate them meeting their obligation with respect to the preparation, hosting and staging of matches at MetLife Stadium.”
The stadium, which falls under the agency’s purview in the Meadowlands, will be the site of six round-robin matches, a quarterfinal match and the tournament final on July 19, 2026.
The host city obligations are the responsibility of both New Jersey and the state’s partner, New York City, and officials have previously said costs would be split with New York City. There is still no formal agreement in place.
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The authority has already dipped into that $30 million for work at the stadium. It agreed to a contract worth nearly $16 million — $15,989,722 exactly — for expansion of the stadium and $669,497 that has been paid to the stadium for reimbursement of costs related to design and pre-construction work.
The state has also paid $35 million by NJ Transit on designs for transit systems to serve the venue.
This will be the first time the men's tournament is split among multiple countries, with games in the United States, Canada and Mexico, across 16 venues. It will kick off on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City. The first game in the United States will be at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles.
Gov. Phil Murphy has touted the economic benefits ― which include revenues forecast to be in the billions of dollars ― hosting the final match in East Rutherford will bring to the region.
“I think the $2 billion impact is dramatically understated … There's going to be none of this ‘Hey, I'm just gonna go over to Jersey, watch the game and come back to New York City,’” the governor said. “You're going to have Central and Northern Jersey in particular — you're going to have people out in force at restaurants, bars, street fairs, fan fests — so that the impact on those communities as well as, frankly, I think all communities will be a very positive one."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: World Cup 2026 gets additional $2.5 million from NJ taxpayers
