The thick smoke that has engulfed New York and much of the eastern seaboard over the past few days has drawn wry smiles in Dallas and Los Angeles, where locals will watch on with a sense of schadenfreude when the World Cup final takes place in the New York New Jersey Stadium (usually known as the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey) on Sunday.
The Dallas and Los Angeles stadiums, which were passed over when Fifa awarded the final in February 2024, are more impressive venues without the same climatic risks as New York, which was chosen because of its global appeal and favourable timezone for European television audiences.
Initial concerns over staging the final at MetLife focused on the extreme heat that often grips New York in the summer, leading to playing conditions that Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández described as “very dangerous” after last year’s Club World Cup semi-final, with the poor air quality this week presenting Fifa with an unexpected curveball.
Wildfires in Canada’s wildlands have led to thick smoke spreading south across many of the USnited States’s eastern cities, with an air quality advisory altered from “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” late on Thursday.
New York city hall’s emergency management officials issued a citywide code red for Tuesday to Thursday, telling residents to stay inside unless absolutely necessary and to avoid strenuous exercise, hardly conditions for the biggest match in global sport, which is expected to attract a worldwide television audience of 1.6 billion.
The smoke was clearly visible in downtown Manhattan, unlike the Statue of Liberty across the Hudson River that was temporarily hidden from view, with conditions so bad that many flights from New Jersey’s Newark airport were cancelled.
Conditions began to improve on Friday and Fifa officials are confident the situation will improve for Sunday, particularly as rain is forecast for Saturday that it is hoped will clear the worst of the smoke, but sport has been affected.
A National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) match between Gotham and Washington Spirit in Queens on Wednesday took place in an orange-brown haze, and the players were ordered to take two additional breaks during each half in accordance with the NWSL’s poor air policy.
Given the furore surrounding Fifa’s introduction of hydration breaks at the World Cup, the prospect of two more stoppages would cause further outrage.
The weather problems are particularly unfortunate for New York, because although the final venue was chosen with a global audience in mind, the city has really embraced the World Cup.
Although the New York Knicks’ historic NBA championship win over San Antonio Spurs overshadowed the start of the marathon tournament last month, it has developed genuine momentum since.
All seven previous games at MetLife have been sold out, and restaurant and bar bookings to watch England’s semi-final defeat by Argentina this week were hard to come by.
The biggest remaining issue affecting the final beyond the weather is likely to involve getting to the stadium, which is regarded by NFL fans as famously inaccessible, given limited public transport and the perils of negotiating the Lincoln Tunnel, which links Manhattan with New Jersey.
To compound matters, parking is available only for guests and VIPs on Sunday, and the cost of bus and rail travel has been increased significantly for the tournament. A joint intervention from the governments of New York and New Jersey, which have provided a subsidy, has led to an initial matchday return price of $150 (£112) to use the New Jersey transit trains being reduced to $98, but it remains very high for a 20-minute journey. For those balking at such prices, shuttle buses from Manhattan will be available for $20.
Donald Trump is likely to make a rather showier entrance, with his helicopter Marine One due to fly over the stadium before landing at nearby Teterboro airport, and although Fifa will not say so publicly, managing the president is its other remaining concern. After the controversy caused by Trump appearing to gatecrash Chelsea’s celebrations after winning the Club World Cup last year, which left the captain, Reece James, particularly bemused, Fifa has attempted to get ahead by confirming that he will present the trophy with Infantino.
A precedent was set four years ago when the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, placed a traditional Arab cloak on Lionel Messi’s shoulders before Argentina’s captain collected the trophy from Infantino. With Trump, there is no knowing what he may have planned. Fifa attempted to find out by holding talks with the president at Trump Tower on Friday afternoon, a meeting that required road closures for several blocks in all directions which caused chaos on Fifth Avenue. Fifa will hope it is not a portent of what is to come.
