'New York New Jersey' got the World Cup final. Now comes the hard part.

The governor of New Jersey jumped from his chair and raised his hands high above his head as if he had just scored the winning goal in a World Cup final. In a way he did too.

Governor Phil Murphy and a group of colleagues, family and friends huddled around a TV in a lounge at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday as FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that MetLife Stadium would be the site of the 2026 World Cup final.

Mr. Murphy and his team had worked for years to land the coveted event, and they already knew the New Jersey Meadowlands stadium would host at least seven matches during the next Men's World Cup. But the championship match of the world's biggest sporting event is the ultimate prize for any potential host.

“It's a dream come true,” Mr. Murphy said in a telephone interview Monday. “The significance of a World Cup final dwarfs everything else in global sport. I am more than happy that we were honored with the last match.”

New York New Jersey – as the host city designated by FIFA – was chosen over Dallas to host the final, even though AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is considered an architectural gem and the Dallas host committee has a very strong bid done. But the New York region, with its cosmopolitan profile, hospitality infrastructure and tourist attractions, won out.

The last World Cup final, between Argentina and France in Qatar in 2022, was watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide. Held in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico, this World Cup is the first to be expanded to 48 participating countries, so it's reasonable to expect even more people to watch the next final. MetLife Stadium seats approximately 80,000 people, but for a month leading up to the grand finale on July 19, 2026, the eyes of the world will be on the New York metropolitan region.

“New York City is on the world stage for the wrong reasons, because it is ground zero for the pandemic and other challenges,” Eric Adams, the city's mayor, said in an interview Wednesday. “This will show how we are the comeback story and how well we are doing.”

Now comes the hardest part.

Over the next two and a half years, organizers must ensure that the MetLife Stadium is properly adapted and prepared, and that the surrounding area can be closed off for security reasons and transformed into a kind of autonomous miniature state – with FIFA, the governing organization of world football. body, at the helm of a huge commercial enterprise.

The stadium will host five group stage matches from June 13, 2026, another match in the knockout round of 32, a quarter-final and then the final. Both Mr. Adams and Mr. Murphy cited estimates that the World Cup will bring about $2 billion in economic activity to the region, and 14,000 jobs.

Mr Adams, who attended the 2022 World Cup matches in Qatar, then noticed how thousands of people did not even attend the games but still went to soak up the atmosphere and take part in outdoor viewing parties and other events.

Many, if not most, fans will be staying in New York hotels in 2026 and may be visiting tourist attractions, theaters, bars and restaurants. Mr Adams envisions city buses and subways decked out in World Cup designs, huge public viewing parties with giant television screens and he said the city will encourage visitors to fan out across all five boroughs to spread the wealth.

“We will make sure it is safe, make sure the city is clean and we will make sure people can get around with real instructions on how to explore this great city.”

The non-profit New York New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee was established to assist in preparing the bid and subsequently coordinating with FIFA and all relevant local, state and national agencies. The founders, Lauren LaRusso from New Jersey and Bruce Revman from New York, have been working on the project for years.

The biggest logistical problem facing the committee is determining how the region can best accommodate a million visitors during the month of the tournament and get them safely to and from the games. Access to the Meadowlands can be difficult. There are no direct trains from New York City to the stadium. The nearest transportation hub is Secaucus Junction, miles away from MetLife.

The stadium is home to the Giants and Jets NFL teams, and it also hosted the Super Bowl in 2014, when overcrowding and long delays caused a transportation fiasco.

“It is considered a rite of passage in New Jersey to spend two hours in traffic after an event at MetLife,” said Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective and a lifelong New Jersey resident. “MetLife's car traffic is a disaster waiting to happen.”

State lawmakers have allocated $35 million just to design and plan a dedicated transportation system, loosely based on Disney World's bus system, that they say will alleviate the problems. On game days, buses operated on a side road that is currently closed and in dedicated lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike. If the system is successful, it could become a lasting legacy of the World Cup.

Governor Murphy pointed to a successful series of concerts at MetLife Stadium last year as proof that major events in the Meadowlands can run smoothly.

“NJ Transit is a dramatically different organization than it was in 2014,” Mr. Murphy said, referring to the post-Super Bowl chaos. “We proved that with three Taylor Swift concerts in a row that went smoothly. We saw Bruce for three nights. Spotless. We're just better than we used to be.”

At the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan last week, commuters had differing views on the transportation impact of the World Cup.

“It's going to be miserable,” said a hospital security guard, who gave his name as Muit M., as he waited for bus No. 160, which stops at the stadium.

But Jenna DeNinno, an editor at the television program “Inside Edition,” said she has been taking the No. 190 bus along a similar route for about 20 years and rarely experiences any problems.

“Even if there's a football game or a concert on Monday night, it's not too bad,” she said.

Some residents do shocked by the name “New York New Jersey,” says it does not represent where the games will actually be played. But New Jersey isn't the only host of a World Cup that will be played in stadiums across North America. The “San Francisco Bay Area” Games are held in Santa Clara, California; the “Boston” location is in Foxborough, 30 miles outside the city; 'Dallas' is actually Arlington, Texas.

“I'm not angry for a second,” Mr. Murphy said of the name. “We can't get this without Jersey, but we can't get this without New York City either. As good as we are, New York is a global city, and it's a big part of that.”

Tariq Panja and Tracey Tully contributed reporting.