MetLife Stadium in 2014 ahead of the Super Bowl. Feb 2, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; A general view of the stadium exterior before Super Bowl XLVIII between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
SoccerTwitterBy Andrew Bucholtz on

There has long been discussion about the “New York” names of teams that actually play in New Jersey. That even led to a $6 billion lawsuit from a couple of fans in 2022 insisting that the New York Giants and Jets conducted “false advertising and deceptive practices” by having New York in their team names while playing in New Jersey, although that suit was dropped in 2023. Well, the latest to come under fire over New York/New Jersey discussion is world soccer governing body FIFA, which used “New York New Jersey” in their official announcement of the 2026 World Cup Final location (and, as it turns out, East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium is set to get that awkward sobriquet for the whole tournament):

There’s a long and notable history of “New York” teams playing in New Jersey, especially at this Meadowlands site. And that’s part of what led to the 2023 drop of that lawsuit (which somehow claimed that the plaintiffs did not realize the Giants and Jets had played in East Rutherford for decades, on a full-time basis since 1976 and 1984 respectively, because they apparently were both unaware of Google and sports history).

And there have been New York/New Jersey branding attempts before. One of those happened with a MLS team, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars: called the New York Red Bulls since 2006, they still play in New Jersey, as they mostly have over their existence. And there’s some actual logic to this, with New York and New Jersey governments reportedly sharing hosting costs here. But this particular “New York New Jersey” description still prompted a lot of mockery:

As many noted, the actual FIFA.com article on this announcement has plenty of funny elements, too:

Yes, Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn, but almost no one associates him with New York considering that his family moved to North Carolina when he was five years old. So he’s an interesting choice as one of “New York’s most famous natives.” Scarlett Johansson was actually born and raised in New York City, so, fair enough, but that’s still a choice. And yes, the Monopoly board is indeed based off Atlantic City, but that itself is a controversial choice considering the history of how that game and its Atlantic City location is taken from Lizzie Magie’s The Landlord’s Game (which did not include New Jersey locations). And that’s saying nothing about “withing” instead of “within.”

There are many actual things to celebrate about both New York and New Jersey. And perhaps even Wikipedia could have been helpful here. (It’s amusing that this article discussed how Springsteen has featured at that stadium without discussing how he was born and raised in New Jersey and has constantly referenced that state in his music.) But FIFA did a rough job of announcing and promoting this final site.

[FIFA.com]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz