Transcript: Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul Brief New Yorkers on Citywide Preparations for 2026 FIFA World Cup™
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Thank you very much, governor. Good morning, everyone. Let's go, Knicks! What an incredible game last night. I appreciate everyone still being here this morning. So, I want to say thank you to the MTA and MTA Chair Janno Lieber for hosting us today. Thank you for being here alongside so many partners in government, including Governor Kathy Hochul, who I'm proud to work with as we ensure that this event proceeds not only safely, but seamlessly. And as the governor said, we have a number of leaders from our city government that I just want to take a moment to acknowledge. We have our DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn. We have NYCEM Commissioner Christina Farrell, our Deputy Mayor for Operations Julia Kerson, our Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Helen Arteaga, our DSNY Commissioner Greg Anderson [and] our FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore. We have citywide event coordination and management representative Dawn Tolson here, as well as a number of state partners. I say all of these names because, as the governor has said, this is truly a collaborative effort across not just agencies but also every level of government. Now, one week from today, the World Cup will kick off in Mexico City. Two days after that, the whistle will blow at New York-New Jersey Stadium as Brazil and Morocco play the first of eight games just across the Hudson. Over the month that follows, there will be drama, there will be last-minute goals. Belgium will inevitably be called a dark horse. Some teams will seek to adopt the defensive tactics of the special one, José Mourinho. To put it bluntly, many a nation will park the bus. I'm not here to slander those who park the bus; it is a legitimate strategic approach on the field. But I am here today surrounded by city, state and leaders at every single level to make one thing clear to everyone who is watching: New York City will not be parking the bus. The World Cup will be an enormously exciting moment for our city. But over this month to come, excellence will not only be pursued on the pitch; excellence will be pursued in the work that government will do and has done to ensure that our infrastructure, transportation networks and emergency preparedness plans are fully operational. For the past month, countless agencies, city leaders and city workers have been meeting, planning and preparing for the World Cup. We are ready for this moment, because we are New York. We know, as the governor said, how to put on big events, from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to the NBA Finals — let's go Knicks — to the UN General Assembly. We have done it before, and we will do it again. As we look forward to a summer of activity and celebration, I want to share with New Yorkers what to expect and to ask New Yorkers to take a few straightforward steps to help keep our city moving. First and foremost, New York should plan for increased congestion and traffic delays, especially in Manhattan, where there will be some altered street and bus routes in Midtown specifically. On match days, there will be dedicated bus and shuttle lanes, two on both 5th and 6th Avenue from 42nd Street to 59th Street. 42nd Street from 1st Avenue to 12th Avenue as well as West 40th Street between 8th and 11th Avenues and West 41st Street between 8th to 10th Avenues, will be bus and shuttle blocks. Access on these blocks and lanes will be limited to New York-New Jersey Stadium shuttle buses [and] MTA buses, as well as official World Cup vehicles and emergency vehicles. I told you that we wouldn't be parking the bus, but I do want to encourage New Yorkers traveling into Midtown to park their cars at home, take a bike, ride the subway or walk. Public transit will be running and able to get you where you need to go. For New Yorkers lining up to take New Jersey Transit, we will close 33rd Street between 6th and 8th Avenue as well as 32nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues on match days. These blocks will be closed to traffic, and they will be closed at least six hours before each match. Once again, if you can avoid driving into Midtown Manhattan on a match day, I'm encouraging you to do so. There will also be restrictions placed on truck deliveries on match days. From six hours before matches kick off until three hours after each match concludes, truck deliveries will be restricted between 30th and 60th Streets. Smaller vehicles will be exempt, as will Jalen Brunson. As with any event of this scale, New York City is scaling up our coordination structure and expanding our emergency response. We will have an emergency operations center, and we are working with partners to ensure an integrated security effort. We are prepared for everything, from high heat to flash floods to increased traffic. I also want to encourage New Yorkers to sign up for Notify NYC's new summer emergency alert program, which will share real-time notifications in English, French and Spanish, including about traffic disruptions. If New Yorkers would like to do so, they should text SUMMER26 to 692-692. Again, that's SUMMER26 to 692-692. Throughout the World Cup, I will be sure to provide New Yorkers with constant communication. Before every match, we will share updates with New Yorkers on the news, on social media and wherever else they get their information. I will close with this. Mario Balotelli, one of the greatest strikers in recent memory, once said about his muted goal celebrations, “When I score, I don't celebrate because I'm only doing my job. When a postman delivers letters, does he celebrate?” When New York City puts on a World Cup that is organized, that is safe, that runs smoothly and easily, will we celebrate? No, because we are only doing our job. New York City has the people, the preparedness and the excellence to achieve a truly great World Cup, and working together, we will. Thank you. Now, please welcome MTA Chair Janno Lieber.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceIf I could also just invite Dawn from our team to just add something.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI was just going to add one thing to that specifically, to echo the governor's words about the full preparedness that we have at every level of government for any potential set of overlaps, including that of the Knicks and World Cup matches. The first World Cup match on the 13th would coincide with a potential Game 5. And that is an away game, that is also a concert at Madison Square Garden that evening. The city is working with partners to ensure that match goers, concert goers [and] Knicks fans can all move safely and securely around to celebrate that event. Now, you're also asking about a potential Game 6. This is a home game. This would take place after the 3 p.m. kickoff of the World Cup match. Luckily, that means that there's some time between Penn Station closures ending and tip off of that potential game. As always, as the governor said, this is a moment that we've been preparing for, we've hoping for, and we feel fully prepared for. Thank you.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'm just going to pass it over to Dawn from our administration to share additional details.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceFirst, I would just say that the offer that we've made to Wemby still stands for the Charter Commission meeting. We'd love to hear his thoughts and engagement on that. Second, we are fully confident that the actions we've already taken have rendered any pre-existing commission's legal standing to be one that cannot continue. When it comes to tonight and our Commission on Government Efficiency or COGE, they will be meeting for the first time as we take on the tall order of looking through how our city government functions and how we can find efficiencies within that functioning. Next week, we will be holding three public hearings where New Yorkers can deliver their testimony, and the focuses that we're looking at are: streamlining government for infrastructure projects and public realm improvements; streamlining government for small businesses and community organizations; and modernizing government and utilizing government technology.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'll leave it to the borough president to explain why he would prefer a New Yorker continue to be unjustly detained by ICE than I meet with the president in the Oval Office to secure their release. [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think we live for this moment. If you would have told a New Yorker a year ago — 10 years ago, 20 years ago — that we could be hosting the World Cup right here as we also see the Knicks have the first chance to win a championship since our last chance in 1999 against the same team and to run it back with a very different result — this is the opportunity that we're all here for. And we're incredibly excited for it. And I think to your question: I want to make very clear that we are hoping for a sweep and we're preparing for anything, because that's our job as New York City government, to ensure that any eventuality is one that we are ready for. I think it is to our benefit that there are different times of kickoff and tip-off, that a lot of the time-specific responses that we're making, they then shift over the course of the day. I don't know if there's anything anyone else would like to add to that end. You know, I think it's the biggest opportunity. Truly, I do, because the chance to win the championship here in New York City — look, when it comes to the logistics of it, I feel that we're fully prepared. I think we're showing ourselves capable of ensuring that this is a summer where New Yorkers can celebrate and where safety is never in question.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI can tell you that I'm planning to go to a Knicks game. I will be at game three. I will be in a very different section of the stadium. And I think we look forward to welcoming any New Yorker who is excited for the Knicks to have that chance to win that championship.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, I think that I share the passion of the advocates in increasing public transit access across our city. And for too long, we've seen that that access is dependent upon which borough you live in or what ZIP code you call home. And when it comes to QueensLink and QueensWay, the investment in creating a park over the next few years is one that we are very clear will not preclude the potential of any rail investment in the future. When it comes to rail investment, it requires the partnership of the MTA as that being a priority area of investment in that specific stretch. When the MTA has done its own assessments and analyses, what they have found is that there are other areas of priority for them. We hope that that door continues to remain open, but in the interim, we believe that it is better to build a park than simply wait for that calculus to change. And when we think about the cost of building that park, it is de minimis compared to what the cost will be of extending public transit in their area.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think a few ways. First is that we are going to be very explicit both in the language that we put forward as well as in our commitment to other partners. The second is that we know that the cost of rail expansion is one that is quite significant here in our city. and the amount of investment that we're going to put towards this park over these next few years, it is not one that would then stop us from considering what would be a much larger scale transformation of the same area.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThank you. So those reports are inaccurate. We are hosting a reception at Gracie Mansion. I'm incredibly excited about that. It's an opportunity for us to celebrate Puerto Rican New Yorkers across the city who have been such a key part of writing the story of this city. And it's also part of a weekend where so many New Yorkers, including myself, look forward to the parade as a moment of joy, a momentous celebration. And we're very excited to be one part of that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, they're going to be notified by the city this week. That notification will likely come in the form of an email, but we're just ironing that out right now. And we're incredibly excited about this, because as you know, it will mean 500 New Yorkers getting the chance to buy a ticket for themselves and one person of their choosing — they choose it, for anyone who gets mad about who they choose, it's them — and also having a free round-trip bus ticket. And I just want to mention that alongside that, we've been incredibly excited to work with partners in New Jersey, with the New York-New Jersey Host Committee, to also be able to provide affordable tickets to friendlies. And we found that we've been able to secure these $25 tickets for Norway, Morocco, for Scotland, Bolivia. We've sold out of thousands of tickets just within hours of putting them on sale, which I think shows the point that others have referred to, which is that there is such excitement in this city, and we can't wait to be a part of it. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul Brief New Yorkers on Citywide Preparations for 2026 FIFA World Cup™.