Mayor Adams touts ‘big win’ of World Cup final in NY-NJ

What a score!

Mayor Adams teamed up with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy early Monday to tout the huge economic boost expected from netting the next soccer World Cup Final for MetLife Stadium.

“This is a big win for all New Yorkers,” Adams told Fox 5 New York Monday morning of the giant win.

“We knew we had the best product,” the mayor said of Sunday’s surprise announcement after the mammoth event was assumed to be heading to Texas.

“No one puts on a show like New York-New Jersey.”

While the stadium is just across the Hudson in the Garden State, the 2026 tournament is projected to generate over $2 billion for the region.

It is also expected to generate at least 14,000 jobs as about a million people are expected to hit the region for the finals, as well as seven earlier games in the competition which happens once every four years.

“Both sides of the Hudson could not be happier,” said Murphy, who describes himself as “a lifelong soccer fan.”

Costs to prepare the metro area to welcome guests from around the world will be split between the city and New Jersey, but “the good news is most of this will be from private funds,” Murphy insisted.

Adams noted that soccer has grown in popularity across the Big Apple, with the influx of migrants from South America and Africa as well as immigrants from the former Soviet-bloc countries.

“As mayor of the most diverse city in the United States, we cannot wait to welcome the world for the 2026 World Cup,” he said in a video posted to social media after Sunday’s announcement.

“New York-New Jersey is ready for North America to be the center of the soccer world, and the history we’ll be making in 2026 will create lifetime memories for fans, provide new opportunities for our communities, infuse billions into our economy and help shape our region and propel it forward for decades to come,” he also said in a statement.

Murphy called it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our entire region.”

“Hosting the final provides New York-New Jersey [with] an unparalleled platform to brilliantly showcase what we stand for — diversity, equity, access and inclusion,” he said.

MetLife Stadium seats 82,500 fans and since opening in 2010 has hosted numerous large-scale events, including Super Bowl XLVIII. 

Tickets for the World Cup Final have yet to go on sale.