Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul, Mayor Mamdani and FIFA World Cup 2026™ NYNJ Host Committee Announce Free Fan Events in All Five Boroughs of New York City

Governor Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the FIFA World Cup 2026™ New York New Jersey Host Committee today announced free Official NYNJ Fan Events across all five boroughs of New York City - ensuring even more New Yorkers can enjoy World Cup matches and programming at no cost.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Good afternoon, everyone, and I want to recognize all the great leaders that have joined us here today - and I'll get to our Mayor in a moment. I've got a couple comments about him and they're all good. But also Deputy Mayor Julie Su, Maya Handa, the World Cup Czar from the Office of the Mayor, Alex Lasry - thank you for stepping up and saying yes to be the Chair of our Host Committee and the entire host committee.

And Justin Brannan, who's my Senior Director of Major Event Operations - I realized I didn't call him my own World Cup Czar because I think he wanted to make sure he had a job when the World Cup was done. So he convinced me to change it to "Major Event Operations." So well played, well played. And our Borough President, Vito Fossella, and John Catsimatidis, and so many others who are here today.

This is a spectacular day. As I came to the city after some meetings this morning I'm heading back up to in Albany, it's just a reminder of how extraordinary this place is and the members from the rest of the world who may not know that are going to soon find out. But I want to say, I stand here not just as the first "Soccer Mom Governor" in the entire State of New York, but also as a diehard Ted Lasso fan - and who doesn't remember the hapless Richmond greyhounds who got a lot of us through the pandemic. It was a great escape, and I learned more about the sport than I ever did as a mom watching my kids play on the sidelines as my husband coached them.

But, our thought today is this: If you can't get to the World Cup, the World Cup is coming to you. And that's the commitment that the Mayor and I are making as well as this Host Committee. And I want to give a special shout out again to the Mayor who wears his passion on his sleeve. A diehard Arsenal football fan who's - someone who, like I do, we've talked about this during a Buffalo Bills game, understands the highs and the lows, the great highs, the exhilaration of sports, but also the lows that go along. And it prepares you for our jobs, we agreed.

So we're in a good place. But your passion for this sport and for the city is exactly what we need right now as we showcase New York City and this region to the entire world. So I'm proud to work alongside you with what has been a 10-year effort. As we know, it's the largest single sporting event on the planet - that's not an overstatement. And in just a matter of days, it's going to take place and billions of fans and every corner of the globe will be united in captivating experiences watching one intense physical, exhilarating sport. And it's coming to us.

We're expecting more than 1.1 million visitors to come to the region, generating about $3.3 billion of economic activity. That's all good, and that's great for the visitors coming here. But today is all about the fans, the people who live in this region - to make sure that they don't feel overlooked by this process. And so the diehard fans who have been waiting a long time, and the real soccer aficionados who've been little kids, grew up playing soccer, probably never imagined that this event would be coming to their hometown.

So this is something we want to celebrate and remind them that there is no greater sports community in the world than this region. We have championship teams across the board. So we are intense about our teams and our sports - that's not an understatement here as well. But also, I come from a world of sports. Not that I played, it wasn't what women of my generation did very much, but we certainly were very good spectators. My own father was on a national Gaelic football team, and so he knows the rough and tumble. I spent my childhood watching Dad play as a little girl sitting on Sunday afternoons at the Irish Center in Buffalo.

But he was on a team of people from Chicago, Boston, New York and abroad, and he was supposed to play in a championship game over in Ireland. He was selected to be on that team and something happened where he couldn't go. I was born that year so Dad missed his big opportunity, but I think he's forgiven me since then.

But there's no better place on this planet than to be watching the World Cup than here in New York City because we have every, every, every community around the globe represented. Think about the Ecuadorian community in Jackson Heights, what this means to them. The Senegalese community in Harlem, the Haitian community in Flatbush. This is everything to them. It's going to lift them out of their day-to-day experiences and transport them to a place of unity and excitement shared by billions across the globe. 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 - I'm sure the Mayor agrees as well. This is the place.

So [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. So I'm proud that, as you announced here today, that there's communities, five boroughs, will all be experiencing free Fan Fest opportunities - five boroughs, five events, one New York, and other days to participate. But also, New York State, we want to make sure that we're offering this as well. Beginning June 12 and beyond at Stony Brook University, free large scale viewing events, and June 19th at Kensico Dam Plaza in Westchester County.

That's just getting started. We also wanted - we created a World Cup one day permit, cutting the red tape so bars and restaurants across the state can host outdoor watch parties and fan activations throughout the tournament. And we're extending the hours - this is important. It is one of the most popular things I ever do is when I extend bar areas or hours for our fans. So businesses can stay open until 4:00 a.m. Imagine that? 4:00 a.m. Is that a big deal to everybody? In Buffalo, it's always open until 4:00 a.m. so it's not a big deal for me. But this is so you can be open whenever a match is live because we're not telling New Yorkers to go home when the stoppage time is still ticking. So beyond the five boroughs, we're supporting community watch parties and culture events from the North Country to the east end of Long Island, making sure it's affordable for all.

And also that's why through our NY Kicks program, something we're negotiating in the Budget right now, $5 million to invest in more youth soccer, youth facilities and underserved communities across the state. Seizing this opportunity to get more young people excited and getting them outdoors and offline, which we're always focused on as well. Because the next member of Team USA might be a kid from the Bronx or Rochester who just needs a place to play. And that's not all, we have $500,000 of Community World Cup Grant Program to support locally led viewings as well as the large events we're hosting as well.

So FIFA's bringing the World Cup to New York. New York is ready - ready for the fans, ready for the neighborhood, restaurants and bars that will be packed wall to wall every day, and ready for the electric indescribable feeling that when your team scores, the whole city erupts at once. So as I said, there's no place on Earth better to do this than right here right now in New York. So this summer the world is coming to us and we are ready. Thank you very much.

Let me introduce the World Cup Czar from City Hall, Maya Handa.

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