{"id":214842,"date":"2026-04-30T00:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214842\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T00:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:14:15","slug":"new-yorkers-and-european-world-cup-fans-debate-walking-to-metlife-in-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214842\/","title":{"rendered":"New Yorkers and European World Cup Fans Debate Walking to MetLife in New Jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"

When NJ Transit said<\/a> this month that train tickets to MetLife Stadium for the World Cup would cost $150 \u2014 more than 10 times the normal price \u2014 fans were incensed. The news kicked off a battle between local officials and FIFA, soccer\u2019s governing body, over who should pay for security and transit.<\/p>\n

But as politicians sparred<\/a> with the organizers, an alternative idea was taking shape online: Why, some European soccer fans wondered, couldn\u2019t they simply walk to MetLife Stadium? Surely a stadium near New York City would welcome pedestrians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know walking is an unfamiliar concept for most Americans, but it is a thing in the rest of the world,\u201d read the original post on X on April 17.<\/p>\n

Never mind that FIFA has prohibited pedestrian access, or that the scenic stroll could involve passing over interstates and trudging through the marshlands around the stadium where Jimmy Hoffa was once believed to be buried.<\/p>\n

Even still, Jean P.D. Meijer, a 29-year-old Dutch design engineer who lives in Groningen, the Netherlands, doubled down on X, saying: \u201cDo you really think football fans care? it will be like a zombie herd making their way through, you won\u2019t be able to drive on those roads.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a phone interview, Meijer, who is not planning to attend the World Cup, said: \u201cA lot of people were saying it\u2019s completely impossible to walk there. It isn\u2019t \u2014 not that it\u2019s a good idea \u2014 but it kind of felt like this mentality of just giving up because you think it\u2019s too hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he clarified, \u201cif I were going, I wouldn\u2019t be walking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though it was not clear whether those chiming in online would actually follow through once faced with the swamps, highways and motorists of New Jersey, Americans were quick to warn against walking to MetLife. Yes, it\u2019s technically a walkable distance: several miles between Rutherford, N.J. (a close train station), and MetLife, depending on your route, and, for the athletically inclined, around 10 miles from Manhattan to MetLife. But a pedestrian route is at best daunting and perhaps impossible, people online argued. (A New York Times reporter tried<\/a> in 2013.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a walkable five miles or 10 miles,\u201d Tiesyn Harris, a 22-year-old social media creator from North Carolina who has visited New York, and whose TikTok video<\/a> about the debate has been viewed more than 3.3 million times, said in an interview. \u201cImagine trying to walk on I-95, you know, one of the deadliest highways in America, or trying to walk through the Meadowlands, or walking through swamps or these toxic creeks that have high levels of mercury and all this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the online debate raged \u2014 seemingly stoked primarily by people not even planning to attend the event \u2014 the New York-New Jersey Host Committee was forced to weigh in, issuing a statement last week<\/a> strongly discouraging fans from walking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are active, high-traffic corridors where walking creates serious risks for both pedestrians and motorists,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Tony Vernal, a 48-year-old resident of Brooklyn, said that, despite the fare hike, he planned to take NJ Transit to attend the Norway-Senegal match with his 8-year-old son. \u201cI\u2019m kind of waiting to see if New Jersey backs down on this ridiculous $150 markup,\u201d he said. \u201cBut with a kid, I\u2019m just going to take the easiest option, which is the train.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way to walk to the stadium,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s like a death trap. What, you\u2019re going to walk along the Pulaski Skyway? No, it\u2019s just a bad idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Vernal said, he wouldn\u2019t mind seeing some Europeans take their chances. \u201cThey\u2019re welcome to try,\u201d he said. \u201cI encourage that kind of transgression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s technically possible<\/a> to walk to MetLife is perhaps beside the point. The debate fits within a larger trend<\/a> of Americans and Europeans arguing on social media over cultural differences, real or imagined. They spar over sauna culture<\/a>, hydration<\/a> and how to hold utensils. Americans criticize Europeans for not investing in air conditioning, for smoking so much and for charging for restrooms. Europeans accuse Americans of talking too loudly, of making generalizations<\/a> about Europe as a whole and, of course, of driving everywhere. The two groups even ponder the outcome of hypothetical physical altercations<\/a> (Who would win a fight: 100 Britons or 100 Americans?).<\/p>\n

Jamaal Burkmar, a British choreographer and content creator who posted a video<\/a> on TikTok about the debate, said in an email that arguments pitting Europeans against Americans often sprang from a \u201cgrowing tendency toward cultural defensiveness online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLegitimate critiques \u2014 about cost, infrastructure and accessibility around a global event like the World Cup \u2014 get dismissed through a kind of blanket response to \u2018those Europeans,\u2019\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI\u2019ve traveled to a country in every continent, and I\u2019ve never not struggled with public transport in the first day. Is it really that odd that Europeans didn\u2019t know the route to the MetLife?\u201d<\/p>\n