With the first match of the FIFA World Cup taking place in New Jersey in less than two months, the turf war between the Garden State and New York is heating up. The games are scheduled to take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford – temporarily renamed New York/New Jersey Stadium due to FIFA branding rules. But as if the name change itself didn’t have New Jerseyans riled up, Gov. Kathy Hochul made comments implying that New York is the real host state. Hochul’s comments came during a news conference Monday with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to announce a series of free World Cup fan events planned for all five boroughs of New York City. “So, I want to say, New York isn’t just hosting the World Cup; New York is the World Cup. That’s a broad statement, but I’m going to stand behind that,” Hochul said. “I’m sure the mayor agrees as well. This is the place. So, this [MetLife] Stadium may hold 80,000 people, but this moment belongs to millions of New Yorkers and how we take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Adding fuel to the fire, during a recent exchange on social media platform X, a person defending New Jersey commented saying “not one second of World Cup soccer is being played in new York. In response, Hochul’s press office said “Ask the Jets and Giants what state they rep.”
A context note posted in response to the New York press office’s comment on X plainly states “New York is not hosting the World Cup. New Jersey is.”…