{"id":212878,"date":"2026-06-07T05:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T05:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/212878\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T05:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T05:16:08","slug":"our-opinion-take-advantage-of-world-cup-locally-by-celebrating-sport-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/212878\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Opinion: Take advantage of World Cup locally by celebrating sport, diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s recent signing of Senate Bill 1218 into law<\/a>, the festive atmosphere of inarguably the biggest sporting event in the world won\u2019t be all that is consumed deep into the early morning hours this summer in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

The law allows bars and restaurants in the City of Brotherly Love to stay open until 4 a.m. \u2014 two hours past the state\u2019s traditional mandated closing time \u2014 during the America 250 celebrations and playing of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, between June 11 and July 20.<\/p>\n

Lincoln Financial Field will host six World Cup matches, with the first coming June 14 when Ecuador faces Ivory Coast in group play. But the next two matches it will host in the following days will feature a pair of championship hopefuls, Brazil on June 19 and France on June 22, which is expected to bring some of the world\u2019s most rabid fans of \u201cthe beautiful game\u201d to the commonwealth.<\/p>\n

The courtesy of extended business hours does not extend to bar owners in Northeast Pennsylvania, although Scranton is hosting one of Pennsylvania\u2019s three official World Cup Fan Zones<\/a> on July 4 and 5 during the tournament\u2019s knockout rounds, then again on July 18 and 19 for the championship and third-place games. Perhaps that is welcome news for local law enforcement and skittish citizens worried about public safety and the obvious issues that could come from bars being allowed to stay open later. But it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if pub owners and others in a hospitality industry still struggling through both inflation and a post-COVID malaise feel differently.<\/p>\n

Regardless, we stress that the extension of the bar hours in Philly should serve as a reminder for Northeast Pennsylvania that the World Cup offers a chance to stage a cultural event the likes of which we may never see again.<\/p>\n

Scranton\u2019s Fan Zone will draw thousands of people to Courthouse Square for some of the tournament\u2019s most high-stakes matches, and it will bring an opportunity for area hospitality businesses to get creative and encourage a collaborative, celebratory dynamic even though area bars won\u2019t be able to take advantage of the same closing time Philly gets.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s traditional bars and pubs should work together with the Fan Zone to create the optimal type of experience this event can provide \u2014 a festival environment that is safe for families, vibrant culturally and an attraction for all who want to experience the World Cup in Pennsylvania without having to go through the expense and effort of traveling to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

There is no reason to limit the festivities to Scranton, either; Establishments throughout surrounding counties should expect and prepare for greater interest not just in the soccer being played on the pitch, but in the community being celebrated off of it.<\/p>\n

The area doesn\u2019t have many, if any, pubs that cater to soccer fans; we\u2019ve always been more of an American football or baseball kind of region, anyway. But embracing the feelings of community and diversity inherent in both the spirit of the soccer fan and the World Cup\u2019s inclusive tournament is both good business and a good culture-building experience for communities that may have to wait decades before they get another similar opportunity.<\/p>\n

It is time to be open, to be welcoming, to have some fun with new people and a sport that, to many of us, might still be fairly new. It is an opportunity to encourage togetherness because we have been gifted an event that breeds it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes this as much a call to action for the area resident as it does to the region\u2019s restaurants and bars.<\/p>\n

Participate, even if you typically wouldn\u2019t. Join the crowd, even if that might feel out of character the last few years. Meet and understand someone new, even if they don\u2019t look like you, because they came here hoping to do all of this with you.<\/p>\n

We may still have to go to Philadelphia to party late into the night.<\/p>\n

But in Northeast Pennsylvania, we can party while we can, when we can, with a spirit of togetherness and community befitting of an event begging us to honor, respect and celebrate all of our differences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanks to Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s recent signing of Senate Bill 1218 into law, the festive atmosphere of inarguably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[9079,201,803,1559,28,231,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-212878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-editorials","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-luzerne-county","tag-opinion","tag-pennsylvania","tag-schuylkill-county","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}