Another $17 million of the state’s remaining American Rescue Plan dollars will be spent by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and other events at MetLife Stadium.
The authority approved a resolution at its Thursday morning meeting to receive the funding for a handful of projects deemed by the Governor’s Office of Disaster Recovery to be necessary.
The disaster recovery office decided to allocate $5,375,000 million to buy trucks and equipment needed to maintain the property in and around the stadium “in preparation for upcoming large-scale events, including FIFA World Cup 2026,” according to the resolution.
The resolution also provides $10 million for planning and work on the second pedestrian bridge across Route 120 to connect the stadium to American Dream. That’s in addition to the $25 million grant the NJSEA is using through the state’s Department of Transportation for that project.
The disaster recovery office also decided to allocate $2 million to the NJSEA to help the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce with its study related to redevelopment at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
More than $7 million in ARP funding was allocated to the authority for a plan approved in September for security and and administration costs for the 2025 WWE SummerSlam planned at the stadium.
This isn’t the first time the NJSEA has received ARP funding. It sent $3.5 million in pandemic relief funds to Prudential Center in Newark for UFC 288 last year.
The money spent by the NJSEA is just a small part of the larger fund sent to New Jersey from the federal government. The state was given $6.24 billion in federal pandemic relief funding in May 2021.
According to a review of the coronavirus state fiscal recovery fund account activity by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, as of Nov. 1, $242,632,209 is still unallocated.
Earlier:NJ approves $25M for new pedestrian bridge at MetLife for 2026 FIFA World Cup
The funds must be allocated by the end of this year and spent by the end of 2026 — and there is still money to be spent. The minority members of the Senate Budget Committee — Republican members of the state Senate — wrote a letter to state Sen. Paul Sarlo, the committee chair, requesting members of the Murphy administration be invited to the next committee meeting to “share how the full $6.2 billion Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (COVID fund) will be obligated by a December 31st deadline.”
“The committee should hear from the Murphy Administration because they claim to have unilateral authority to allocate and reallocate funds,” the letter said. “Our New Jersey Constitution obligates/authorizes the full Legislature to allocate money on behalf of our constituents.”
The authority also approved contracts to hire professionals for the pedestrian bridge project: $700,000 for Gannet Fleming to provide architecture and engineering design consulting services, $425,000 to Langan Engineering and Environmental Services for engineering services and $850,000 to Epic Management for on-call services.
This new bridge will be built “immediately to the north of the existing pedestrian bridge” crossing Route 120, to connect Meadowlands Parking Lot C and American Dream Parking Garage A, in an effort to increase access to the stadium because of concerns that the existing pedestrian bridge can’t meet the demand of pedestrians expected during the tournament in 2026.
The state partnered with New York City in a joint bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup in East Rutherford. The stadium in the Garden State will host eight matches, including the final, during a monthlong stretch in the summer of 2026.
The host city obligations are the responsibility of both New Jersey and New York City, and officials have previously said costs would be split with New York City. There is still no formal agreement in place and no official estimate of what bringing the tournament to the state will cost.
Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@northjersey.com
