By Aida Lynn Eloumri
All aboard, as the biggest football tournament departs for kickoff in less than two years. As we are counting down the days until we put on our favorite jerseys and wave our nations’ flag with pride, we find ourselves at the mercy of the inefficient and run-down public transportation system we have in this country.
The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup is set to be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada with 48 countries (including the host nations) competing in various qualification rounds to secure their spot in the tournament. With less than two years before the first whistle is blown, the United States is scrambling to come up with a plan to address this issue. However, there was an opportunity for the United States to do a test run of a summer soccer tournament, while combating the current issues of their public transportation system in a professional manner.
This past summer, the United States hosted the CONMEBOL Copa América tournament on home soil as “part of a strategic partnership between CONMEBOL and CONCACAF to strengthen and develop the sport in both regions.” In Kansas City, a World Cup and COPA América host city, for fans, “[a] near-complete lack of public transportation links to Arrowhead Stadium meant that the highways surrounding the Truman Sports Complex where it resides were gridlocked before kickoff of the United States’ game against Uruguay.” Imagine spending thousands of dollars to see your country play at the most prestigious soccer tournament in the world, just for you to be sitting in traffic because the bus was running late.
Across the Hudson River in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey, fans who had an expectation that New Jersey would deliver on its public transportation system ended up being more disappointed when they arrived to games late due to lack of buses and being stuck on trains. This comes just a few months after FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that MetLife Stadium will host the 2026 World Cup final. It is disappointing to see that a nation that was carefully vetted through FIFA to host the biggest international tournament in the world failed to deliver the basic necessity of providing transportation for the fans in a continental tournament. Considering that the Copa América was the one golden opportunity the U.S. had to prove itself, we can safely conclude that this tournament was a disaster for all public transportation users nationwide.
Nevertheless, it is not new for the United States to have such a poor track record of providing sufficient public transportation. In a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, an organization that represents thousands of civil engineers, they cited how due to “lack of federal support… our nation’s busiest passenger rail corridor, the Northeast Corridor, infrastructure-related issues caused 328,000 train-delay minutes, or the equivalent of roughly 700 Northeast Regional train trips from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C.” It is a cause for concern that the most concentrated public transportation network that has three major cities––Boston, Philadelphia & New York/New Jersey––that are hosting 21 matches, have this many issues with their public transportation system. The issue of providing sufficient public transportation should be a priority for the local and state governments who are hosting the matches and for Congress who issues the funding to these states to get their public transit projects off the ground.
In anticipation for the World Cup, Kansas City plans on using their highways to their advantage by expanding their bus network for fans attending the match. Meanwhile, across the Hudson River, Governor Phill Murphy and New Jersey Transit announced a plan that involves a new line connection between Secaucus and MetLife Stadium. Despite these efforts, the United States is still far behind on this matter, with the American Society of Civil Engineers giving the United States a D- in the public transportation category. Nonetheless, there is still a lot more we can do at the federal level to bring this issue to the forefront before it’s too late.
The United States introduced a bill back in 2021 that addressed the issue of public transportation infrastructure. Senate Bill 2726 (Public Transportation Expansion Act), sponsored by Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, authorizes the Department of Transportation to increase its funding on projects on public transportation systems, projects such as zero emission rapid bus lanes. With the passage of this bill in the Senate, cities like East Rutherford and Kansas City can get even more funding for their transportation projects, even going as far as providing an extra bus/shuttle line or extra service on their existing train network.
With the countdown to the opening match just 621 days away, public transportation infrastructure has to be our main focus for a successful and memorable tournament. If not, FIFA will depart from the United States after the final match on July 19th, 2026 knowing they have hosted their last tournament on U.S. soil.
