in our Spotlight on Business Report the World Cup may still be nearly 2 years away but preparations are well underway to host the high-profile International Event it was a topic of discussion on the third day of the league of municipalities conference New Jersey and New York have hosted big events in the past but even the Super Bowl or a Taylor Swift concert pale in comparison to what's to come in 2026 lawmakers lobbyists and experts from all across the state want to make sure Jersey gets its life place of the World Cup Pie as we share the spotlight with our New York neighbors Ted Goldberg is in Atlantic City where he has more on how different municipalities are getting involved and preparing for the tourism boost that is expected to sweep the tri-state [Music] area Ben Franklin used to say about New Jersey that it's a beer keg tapped at both ends we're about 600 days from the World Cup returning to New Jersey and leaders are ready to drink up the opportunity coming with it we're all hosting and I think that's an important piece that we have to remember it's not just um FIFA we are hosts and we want people to come here and we want our own communities to have a good experience and so by your downtown businesses um and your hotels and the accommodations getting on board with the theme of it all at the league of municipalities conference Representatives spanning New Jersey New York and Philadelphia discussed what's at stake and answered questions from local leaders about how to prepare we have a special relationship um it's a little bit like the United States and Great Britain um and that's how we've tried to explain it to our friends at FIFA MetLife Stadium or New York New Jersey Stadium as it will be known will host eight matches including the final and Philly will host six matches these games mean lots of tourists and an opportunity for people to learn about the great state of New Jersey when International tourists come they stay they typically say 21 to 24 days so the opportunity for the domestic numbers to be really significant and for the international tourism destination to be really significant is there we' have to talk about our Wineries and our breweries and the cultural things that they have to do and the mountains that we have and the Beautiful architecture down in Cape May County um there is so much to do in New Jersey and there's a lot happening among the municipalities hoping to reap the rewards is Kearny AKA Soccer Town USA most people in Kearny we have a big immigrant population and they are all soccer fans and soccer players so it's pretty exciting for us to go forward with the uh World Cup mayor Carol Jean Doyle is a soccer fan and a soccer mom my children started playing soccer when they were 5 years old and continued on through college I think of Tab Ramos I think of Tony Miola I think of John harks all three came out of Kearny and played for the US team in the 1994 World Cup the last cup to feature men's games in the Garden State back then the World Cup had 24 teams and now it features 48 of them possibly leading to more customers in Kearny we have a lot of wonderful restaurants and we have a lot of Brazilian restaurants Mexican restaurants and I think that those that are attending the World Cup would be interested in coming to Kearny to enjoy those eateries but how do they get there the opportunity to invite make sure that there is an opportunity to have a local dance company come in local Cuisine to not have that part of our uh World Cup experience would be a a business mal practice what we want to encourage is people to stay longer and the way we get people to stay longer is to make sure that they know that there are so many other things that they can do outside of watching a match a big issue is how those people will get around Transit problems are nothing new for this region but Doyle is encouraged by one solution she heard from world Cup organizers they just mentioned vaguely that they're going to think about maybe jitneys coming back and forth and I hope that that would be a way for those attendees to come to Kearny and see how wonderful Kearny really is there are other issues to hash out some minor we've already started negotiating with FIFA on what colors we can light those bridges and some that are a little more involved we have to know that you know do you shake someone's hands do you bow right do what's the appropriate greeting what are things that we need to be mindful of that will make them feel more welcome organizers say about half the tourists who come won't buy a ticket for a game making it more important for things like fan fests and watch parties to make soccer fans feel right at home in Atlantic City I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music]