As soccer fans from across the globe stream into New York City and New Jersey for the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday, another sort of visitor has also been blowing into the area this weekend: toxic plumes of wildfire smoke that have wafted over from Canada.<\/p>\n
The smoke, which stems from hundreds of uncontrolled blazes burning in Ontario and northern Minnesota, is threatening to complicate perhaps the most-watched sporting event in the world this weekend: the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
The air quality in New York is on track to improve by Sunday<\/a>, after days of unhealthy conditions. After a reprieve from the haze on Friday, severe thunderstorms on Saturday are expected to scrub the air of some of the lingering smoke.<\/p>\n FIFA has so far not said if it planned to cancel or postpone the final, which will draw tens of thousands of fans to East Rutherford, N. J., along with a slate of global and domestic leaders, including President Trump and New York\u2019s mayor, Zohran Mamdani<\/a>.<\/p>\n A representative for FIFA did not immediately respond to questions about a potential cancellation or other smoke-related protocols for players.<\/p>\n Near the stadium on Saturday<\/a>, the Air Quality Index<\/a>, which measures pollutants in the air, was at 157, or at \u201cunhealthy\u201d levels<\/a>. That number is expected to drop to 100 on Sunday, a \u201cmoderate\u201d level that is considered safe but may carry a risk for sensitive groups, including older adults, children and those with heart or lung disease.<\/p>\n Those conditions, according to physicians, scientists and public health experts, could also strain players\u2019 performances and sicken spectators or stadium employees with underlying conditions, though the risk is relatively low.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sort of in this gray area where, you know, it\u2019s up to individuals to do the cost-benefit analysis,\u201d said Dan Westervelt, an atmospheric scientist and associate professor at Columbia University. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s a big enough issue that FIFA and everybody needs to be monitoring it closely and be nimbly ready to to act.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Westervelt said that while the forecast was unlikely to change significantly, smoke movement can be hard to predict. A period of hot temperatures, for example, like the ones in New York this week, can pull smoke lower to the Earth, worsening air quality.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that the smoke will be in the area,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t know if it\u2019s going to be 5,000 meters up or five meters up \u2014 and obviously that makes all the difference when it comes to people\u2019s health and air quality.\u201d<\/p>\n In general, experts said, unhealthy air can be particularly serious for athletes. A person vigorously exerting themselves can take in five to seven times more air than someone sedentary, vastly increasing their intake of pollutants, Michael Jerrett, a professor of environmental health sciences at U.C.L.A., said.<\/p>\n World Cup athletes are in such strong physical condition that they are unlikely to suffer long-term damage from playing one game in poor conditions, Dr. Jerrett said. But smoke can still impact a player\u2019s performance by making it harder to breathe and underlying lung conditions, like asthma, he said.<\/p>\n In addition to the danger to vulnerable groups, wildfire smoke in any volume can be especially toxic because it can carry other chemicals and gases, released from wildlife materials, burning buildings and vegetation, some of which can cause cancer.<\/p>\n In New York, where wildfire smoke has not been a public health concern until relatively recently, sporting events are not frequently canceled because of air pollution. In 2023, when an especially intense plume of wildfire smoke from Canada turned the sky orange and sent the AQI into the 400s<\/a>, the Yankees postponed<\/a> a game against the White Sox by just one day.<\/p>\n On the West Coast, where wildfires are more common, many regions have protocols for canceling or relocating youth and college sporting events<\/a> when air pollution is high. But even then, practices and matches sometimes proceed, counter to health advisories<\/a>.<\/p>\n