We know how special the city feels for Mets and Yankees home openers. We love the weeks-long excitement that comes with the US Open, and the energy on the streets is palpable as the Knicks advance in the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n
This summer will be on another level. In less than a month, for the first time in more than 30 years, the World Cup will kick off in the United States.<\/p>\n
New York is a city known for its ambition, but all too often, bureaucracy and poor planning obstruct grand opportunity. We are a city of the world and so must be prepared to welcome it, and prove \u2014 again and again \u2014 that this region can do big things, and do them well.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been a lot of talk about the eight games that the New York-New Jersey region will host, but there hasn\u2019t been enough buzz about what these months will look like for the vast majority of New Yorkers and visitors who won\u2019t get to a game.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s think about that first weekend. Mexico, Haiti, and Korea, just three of the teams playing, will be celebrated by more than half a million New Yorkers with roots in those countries. Fans will flood bars in the South Bronx and restaurants in Jackson Heights, while Kompa music echoes throughout Flatbush. When a goal is scored, entire neighborhoods will light up.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be a blast and a big moment for our small businesses. During matches, neighborhood restaurants and bars will become hubs for fans, serving national dishes and drinks for those visiting who miss the tastes of home. All while retail stores across the city move national team jerseys, flags, and watch-party gear.<\/p>\n
Neighborhood businesses across the five boroughs will all feel the same thing: when New Yorkers care about a match, they don\u2019t just watch it, they spend around it. At a difficult moment in our city where we\u2019re seeing more small businesses close than open, this is a jolt of energy to help keep neighborhood business districts alive in every corner of the city.<\/p>\n
The buzz will be city-wide, vibrant, truly electric.<\/p>\n
From the noise of the crowd watching together at the Fan Fest in Rockefeller Center, to the spirit of children re-enacting the game-winning goal in the Flushing Meadows Corona Park or on one of the mayor\u2019s newly announced \u201cSoccer Streets<\/a>\u201d, to the deep level of belonging that comes with a quiet nod on the subway to someone wearing your team\u2019s jersey: you feel it.<\/p>\n The World Cup encapsulates what New York is all about. And we have only weeks to get people pumped and prepared.<\/p>\n Our city\u2019s leaders cannot be messaging about how concerned they are about traffic or bathroom access. Instead of broad warnings about congestion, officials could offer precise guidance: when to travel, which routes to use, how service will be adjusted in real time. It\u2019s World Cup 2026, not 1994.<\/p>\n Instead of signaling constraints, they can emphasize coordination. The message should not be \u201cstay home.\u201d But instead, as the mayor has started leaning into<\/a>, celebrating the hundreds of events happening across the five boroughs. Encouraging all to find the ones that speak to them and enjoy. The city is ready, here\u2019s how to navigate the subway, and we\u2019re most certainly open for business. And by all means, please open up your wallet.<\/p>\n And when our city unites around special moments, there\u2019s truly no more electric place in the world to be.<\/p>\n LeFrancois is executive director of the Meatpacking District Management Association<\/a>. Piscopink is the executive director of the Soho Broadway Initiative<\/a>. They are the co-chairs of the New York City BID Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We know how special the city feels for Mets and Yankees home openers. We love the weeks-long excitement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64,299],"class_list":["post-233605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}