Shownotes
We don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a little soccer tournament coming to North America this summer. It’s apparently kind of a big deal.
In reality, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is the biggest version of the global event ever attempted. The most host nations. The most teams in competition. The most number of games. A global economic impact estimated at over $80 billion.
As CEO of New York/New Jersey FIFA World Cup Host Committee, Alex Lasry is responsible for helping bring this enormous event to life in North America’s largest market. He’ll be there when the Cup kicks off in the Meadowlands on June 13, and he’ll be there when the final whistle blows for the Championship game on July 19.
With about 50 days to go before the Cup, Alex took time out to talk about what goes into putting on the biggest sporting event in the world. We cover off how his unique blend of political and sports business background prepared him for this moment, how he’s addressing concerns about cost and accessibility, and what’s left to do before the first match kicks off.
Transcripts
00:01
Alex Lasry
Hey, this is Alex Lasry, CEO of the new york, new jersey FIFA world cup host committee. And this is sports business conversations podcast from adc partners.
00:25
Dave Almy
f a big deal. In reality, the:01:20
Dave Almy
With about 50 days to go before the Cup, Alex took time to talk about what goes into putting on the biggest sporting event in the world. We cover off how his unique blend of political and sports business background prepared him for this moment, how he's addressing concerns about cost and accessibility and what's left to do before the first match kicks off. So thanks for listening in on my conversation with Alex Lasry, CEO of the New York, New Jersey FIFA World Cup Host Committee. Hope you enjoy. So, Alex, we're going to spend some time getting into the not insignificant preparations for World cup, right. But before we get there, we got to do a little bit of a debrief on your career trajectory because it's got really two interesting parts to it. Right.
02:09
Dave Almy
There's there's the sports part, which is probably not going to be a surprise given the nature of this podcast, but there's a pretty significant government and political part of this as well. Right. So some stops include, you're in the Obama White House, you were the SVP of the Milwaukee Bucks, you worked in tourism and commerce for the Secretary of State, you did a senate run for the state of Wisconsin, and now you're CEO of the World Cup Committee. So as you look back on these roles and this interesting two part history that you have, I'm wondering what you feel like prepared you the most for this current role.
02:49
Alex Lasry
You know, sports and politics are actually pretty similar.
02:54
Dave Almy
Yeah.
02:54
Alex Lasry
Not on the line to one profession. And also your constituencies.
03:00
Dave Almy
Right.
03:01
Alex Lasry
You're dealing with a very personal thing.
03:04
Dave Almy
Right.
03:05
Alex Lasry
You're a sports team and your Politics are probably. Are some of the most personal things.
03:12
Dave Almy
That you have closely held.
03:14
Alex Lasry
Yeah. And so I would say, you know, and they're very public. Right. You know, when we owned the Bucks, we always said that weren't the owners of the Bucks, were the stewards.
03:24
Dave Almy
Yeah.
03:24
Alex Lasry
Public stewards of the team.
03:26
Dave Almy
Yeah.
03:26
Alex Lasry
And so I think when you're, you know, and when you're obviously in politics, you are a, you know, also a steward of the public, you know, of. Of, you know, kind of your office.
03:36
Dave Almy
Yeah.
03:37
Alex Lasry
So, you know, I would say the White House, you know, at such a young age, you know, if you're working in the White House.
03:45
Dave Almy
How old were you when you were in the White house?
03:46
Alex Lasry
I was 22, 23. And, you know, these are small. Like, you know, it was a big.
03:53
Dave Almy
Party for my entire 22. So clearly someone was more progressed.
03:58
Alex Lasry
You know, there were those, too. But I would say at that young age, you're given a lot of responsibility, and everything that happens in the White House is magnified.
04:08
Dave Almy
Yeah.
04:09
Alex Lasry
And so you really get a sense of, like, even a little mistake, the ripples. Yeah. And you feel it. So I think I got a really good sense of just kind of the, you know, how delicate these things are, how quickly something can spiral. And really, just watching how people at the White House worked, how everything kind of operated, really helped, I think, set my career trajectory. I mean, that was probably one the most, like, probably the coolest job foundational.
04:40
Dave Almy
Yeah.
04:41
Alex Lasry
And also really set my career foundation. The Bucks. And kind of everything that happened in Milwaukee was, you know, maybe, you know, the greatest, you know, 10, 12 years of my life.
04:53
Dave Almy
Right.
04:54
Alex Lasry
Like running the team, kind of starting from, you know, were the worst team in the league. Trying to build that up to a championship contender, then building a new arena in a stadium district, so handling a public private partnership, but then also bidding on the Democratic Convention, kind of merging both and trying to bring a big event to Milwaukee, then winning it, trying to help put on that event, then dealing with COVID and then a political run, then working in travel and tourism at the Commerce Department. So kind of running travel and tourism. All of that, really. I helped think, set up what is going to be. I think one of the biggest things I'll ever get to work on and do. And I don't think there's anything that you can prepare for to put on a World Cup.
05:43
Alex Lasry
These are just the biggest things in scale and scope. But there are things that can help prepare you for putting on an event and hopefully give you the skills to be able to work on something like this.
05:55
Dave Almy
How did the role first get on your radar? Was this a process where you were approached? What was the whole bringing you on board to do this job like?
06:06
Alex Lasry
So the World cup and Olympics were in my portfolio at Commerce and you know, something that I always spoke about at travel and tourism was kind of how were entering the decade of sports and how sports and entertainment has become a real driver for travel and tourism. 10 To 15% of all travelers, and this was a few years ago, were putting sports and entertainment on their itinerary. So you're looking for things in real life and the demand now for these events and the competition has just gotten greater and greater. And so they're massive public private partnerships. So this was part of my portfolio when the vice president didn't win, was obviously looking for something new and got a call from former first lady Tammy Murphy, who was the board chair. And they were just looking to kind of add one CEO. Right.
07:01
Alex Lasry
They had these two coast city managers, Bruce and Lauren, who were. Have been absolutely incredible and continue to be vital to our work. But they were hoping to kind of have one CEO that would kind of merge the regions and kind of take the planning and evolve. So I think, you know, I have kind of. I had known the Murphy's, you know, for a while and called, asked if I'd be interested. And you know, probably the hardest part was convincing my wife to move back to New York for the year. Mostly because we had two kids and one on the way.
07:38
Dave Almy
Oh yeah.
07:39
Alex Lasry
Oh, piece of cake. Yeah, no problem. And then we're just going to go put on a World cup. So easy.
07:44
Dave Almy
Oh that. But actually moving three kids out of Milwaukee back to New York and putting on a World cup event, you might put those on the scales and be like complet.
07:53
Alex Lasry
I was gonna say both about the same and difficulty. So. But for a once in a lifetime opportunity to work on the World cup final, which is going to be the biggest sports and entertainment event the world has ever seen. Yeah, just felt like something I couldn't pass up.
08:11
Dave Almy
So let's talk about the role in particular. Right, so. So you are the CEO of for the New York, New Jersey. And that is obviously going to encompass the final for the World Cup.
08:26
Alex Lasry
What.
08:26
Dave Almy
When you tell people about the role and its responsibilities, what comes to the top of your mind as far as this? This is what I'm doing. What do people need to understand about the role of CEO during a World cup run?
08:38
Alex Lasry
So we look at ourselves as kind of standing on four pillars. So safety and security.
08:43
Dave Almy
Yep.
08:45
Alex Lasry
Right. We work with all the security agencies, federal, state, local, to ensure that all the events that are being planned and that they know what they. I mean, look, they know what they're doing. So we're just kind of telling them what's going on and making sure that everyone is talking to each other and that we're looped in.
09:01
Dave Almy
No jurisdictional issues there at all.
09:03
Alex Lasry
Yeah. Transportation. So we handle, you know, kind of the mobility plan, which, you know, how are we getting, you know, 75,000 people to MetLife Stadium? How do we get people to our fan fests, our fan zones, our fan engagements? So transportation. Big part of it. And then fan engagement. So all of the affordable and accessible places that we want people to participate in World cup activities. So, you know, we just announced the Jersey fan hub, Mad Sports Illustrated. We're going to have a number of fan zones all around New Jersey. We've announced, you know, US Tennis Center, Rock center. And we'll have many more announcements over the next couple weeks on the engagements we're going to have in New York.
09:46
Alex Lasry
The governor of New Jersey and governor of New York have announced kind of grant programs to put on more fan engagement all across the states. So really making sure that people have an affordable and accessible place to be part of the World Cup.
10:00
Dave Almy
Right. Just because you don't have a ticket doesn't mean you can't participate in the cup itself.
10:03
Alex Lasry
Exactly. And then economic impact. So really making sure that the region is going to see the projected over $3 billion of economic impact, the few million people that we're expecting over the course of the 40 days. So those are, I'd say, really like the four pillars that we kind of look at as kind of the local organizing committee and the local arm of FIFA. We aren't FIFA, but we work with FIFA every day.
10:30
Dave Almy
Every day.
10:30
Alex Lasry
We're kind of. I talk to them every day. This is FIFA's show, and we want to just make sure that we help them put on a great show while also ensuring that New York and New Jersey see the economic benefit and give the fans the engagement and the excitement that they deserve and can only get from coming to New York and New Jersey.
10:54
Dave Almy
Now, you've been on the job for about a year and a half. Right. And the planting a cup is something that takes a long time. Right. Just didn't twitch on when you got there, but I'm interested, Like, so you've been in the role for a year and a half and you're More or less on the precipice of the cup because I think as we're recording this, it's about 100 days, right? Around 100 days, maybe less.
11:16
Alex Lasry
Less than, I think 60. I think 60.
11:19
Dave Almy
Okay. So I'm not a math guy, so that's, you know, that is less though. Right. So as you think about what you've accomplished so far, this is a two parter. What stands out to be like, man, good on us. Like, were able to get that done and what are some of the things that still lay out there that you're like, okay, that needs to get done.
11:40
Alex Lasry
There's not going to be any good on us until July 20th. Right. Like, all the stuff now is fun and exciting and I'm proud of a lot of the work that we've done. But the tests are the game days and we have a responsibility to ensure that people who are coming to this region expect a certain level. And not just on game days, but also the non game days.
12:06
Dave Almy
Right.
12:07
Alex Lasry
It's the whole 40 days. We are the only host committee that is open from grand Open to grand open.
12:12
Dave Almy
Yeah, you guys are it.
12:14
Alex Lasry
So how do we make sure that people who are going to the games are getting the experience that they want and deserve, but also the millions of people who are coming to our region to just participate.
12:24
Dave Almy
Yeah. Just to be surrounded by it.
12:26
Alex Lasry
Get an authentic experience that you can only get from being here. We have a responsibility to put on a show that is worthy of this region and reaches the expectations that people all over the world are going to have and quite frankly, the local population has. So I am very proud of the work, the hard work that the team has done and I'm really excited about all of our fan engagements. I think these are going to be some of the unique and most incredible fan engagements that FIFA has seen. We kind of went away from the model of one big event to how do we make sure that we utilize all the assets that, the unique assets that this region has and kind of give people a taste of everything.
13:12
Dave Almy
Right.
13:12
Alex Lasry
We're going to have some really exciting stuff coming down the pipe in the next month.
13:17
Dave Almy
All of which you're going to announce right here on this podcast.
13:19
Alex Lasry
Exactly. This is going to be the place to come. So I, I, I'm very excited about everything. But you know, there are no victory laps and hopefully we're able to take one on July 20th.
13:31
Dave Almy
So the club World cup was last summer and, and that's, you know, I guess more or less a dry run for The World cup, you start to get a sense of how the flow of these things are going to work and MetLife hosted a bunch of matches, including the final. So I'm wonder if you look at that experience and go, okay, that went smoothly, that we probably need to improve on. Was there anything that came out of the Club World cup that you thought something that you really wanted to focus on?
13:59
Alex Lasry
So, I mean, Club World cup is Taylor Swift concert.
14:03
Dave Almy
Yeah.
14:03
Alex Lasry
Right. Like it's, it, it was great for us to be able to get a sense of how to work with FIFA and all the regional partners. Right. Kind of just get into a rhythm of working together. Club World Cup, I think was, I think everyone would pretty much say it was a success.
14:19
Dave Almy
Okay.
14:19
Alex Lasry
Right. And I think kind of exceeded most people's predictions, but scale and scope wise, it's right. Taylor Swift, which is massive and huge and big, not the World Cup.
14:33
Dave Almy
Yeah.
14:34
Alex Lasry
And so I think where we got.
14:36
Dave Almy
The closest and there's some Taylor Swift fans out right now that are like saying, how dare you? How dare you? Like, well, Taylor Swift is put our second to the World Cup.
14:44
Alex Lasry
Honestly, Taylor Swift might be the closest thing to a World cup that you're going to get.
14:48
Dave Almy
You're not, you're not wrong.
14:50
Alex Lasry
And so I think when you look at the, at the Club World cup, great opportunity to get into a working rhythm and working rapport with all the people that we're going to need. Major differences, though. There's going to be no parking. Right? That's our, like, there's no parking at the stadium. And so you're now taking away 20,000 ish parking spots, which was 40, 50,000 people. And now how are you moving them to the stadium? Right. And so we've got, you know, really three major ways. You've got, you know, expanded New Jersey transit. We're going to be running our own bus service and then rideshare.
15:30
Alex Lasry
So making sure those three are all clicking, making sure there's a roadway plan, a transportation plan, and ensuring that people are able to get to the games in a timely manner, in an efficient manner and one that isn't too inconveniencing to also the local population.
15:49
Dave Almy
Right. Who are kind of used to one way of doing things and now they have to readjust their sites a little bit.
15:54
Alex Lasry
Yeah. And so I think for us it's trying to make this as, you know. And then also you got a lot of people coming here who English isn't their first language. Right. People from all over the World. So the, you know, the messaging is important. The communication is important. I would say transportation, you know, is going to be, you know, is probably going to be one of the biggest things that we're going to, you know, that we have to nail and put on. And luckily we've got the best transportation partners in the country and one of the most, I think, intricate and robust public transportation systems to get you to a stadium.
16:28
Alex Lasry
So club, I think, was a big, was a great working rapport relationship, but from scale and scope, a lot of differences from how the World cup gets put on compared to how, yeah, there's any other event in midlife gets put on.
16:41
Dave Almy
Yeah. Let's talk about the relationship between your organization and FIFA, because like you said, you know, your job is primarily facilitation for this is a FIFA event of which your organization is helping put on. But that kind of puts you in the position of being more or less the public face in some regards. And so, you know, we got to talk about some of the things that are going on around the World cup. And the first one is pricing. Right. Because pricing for tickets has obviously been controversial. Right. There has been some challenging press associated with it. You know, the prices have escalated considerably. It's like I said, generated some press. And. But FIFA controls those ticket prices and they control the seat locations.
17:20
Dave Almy
So I'm wondering, as the guy who's running the host committee and it's plays a very public role in this regard, how do you thread that particular needle between FIFA's decisions and that perception that, you know, we want to make this a success as accessible as possible to your, to your words.
17:39
Alex Lasry
I think the way we're looking at this is, look, this is FIFA's tournament.
17:43
Dave Almy
Yeah.
17:43
Alex Lasry
And they get to set the terms of their tournament. I think, you know, if you look at the demand for ticket pricing and there's been, you know, there's been no slowdown. Right. So I think if you look at kind of the market when it comes to ticket pricing, they're within the market. Right. The market is saying, we want these tickets and we will pay these prices.
18:10
Dave Almy
Yeah.
18:11
Alex Lasry
I think for us, what we want to be able to do and with the host committee's job, when, you know, when I talk about, okay, the other two pillars are fan engagement and economic impact, is how are we providing fans an affordable and accessible place to be part of the World Cup. And when you look at it, look inside the stadium is going to be great. Amazing. Once in a lifetime to be Able to go. That's only 80,000 people, right. Millions of people are going to be coming here.
18:36
Dave Almy
Yeah.
18:37
Alex Lasry
With actually some of them no intention of ever going into the stadium, but want to be part of the World cup festivities. Want to, you know, root on with their fellow countrymen and women. And that's what makes the World cup so much more unique than a Super bowl, than anything else. People will fly in to our region just to attend our watch parties, just to attend our official fan engagement centers.
19:07
Dave Almy
Just to be part of the overall experience.
19:08
Alex Lasry
Yeah. Just to be there. Right. To be in New York and New Jersey and to say, wow, this was incredible. And I was part of the World cup, and I was at the World cup when my country won this game or anything like that.
19:18
Dave Almy
Yeah.
19:19
Alex Lasry
So I think that's kind of where we look at our role. Right. You know, FIFA's gonna set the terms inside the stadium. It's our job to make sure that we're providing people with those affordable and accessible experiences that people can engage in and be a part of. And that's also something FIFA's also demanded of us and asked of us. And they've said, hey, we also want to make sure that there's all of everything that happens so that fans can enjoy this. And it's something that the mayor of New York's been very impassioned about. The governor of New York, the governor of New Jersey, everyone wants to make sure that fans from all over the world are going to be able to enjoy the region and the World Cup.
20:01
Dave Almy
There's this interesting part too that we talked about earlier. You know, your history in politics.
20:06
Alex Lasry
Right.
20:06
Dave Almy
Because you, like you pointed out, like you were at the Department of Commerce and you ran travel and tourism and you saw sports as being a major catalyst for a lot of those decisions. And this is the American sports decade. There are almost an arm long list of the different things, global events that are taking place in the US but you have to. You can't look at where we are right now and talk about it a little bit. This is not exactly a period of time where the US Is saying, come on in. Right. I mean, you know, the state of affairs, like we have a travel ban right now that covers almost 40 countries and including four nations that qualified for the World Cup. I think it was Haiti, Senegal, Ivory coast, and of course, Iran.
20:47
Dave Almy
Is there difficulty for you in how you put on this event, in challenging what the sort of larger narrative about the state of affairs in the US Today and welcoming people?
21:02
Alex Lasry
I think anytime you're working on a massive global sporting event and a massive international sporting event. Olympics, World cup, anything like that. The world. You got to understand the world's still happening.
21:14
Dave Almy
Sure.
21:14
Alex Lasry
Right. Like, there are things outside of your control. There are events outside of your control. And these games don't dictate any country's policies or, you know, foreign, anything like that. Our job is, as the host committee, is to ensure that we are welcoming everyone who wants to come to the World cup, to our region, and putting on a environment that is safe and secure for them and one where they feel like they came here and got an authentic New York and New Jersey experience. And that's all we can do.
21:49
Dave Almy
Yeah.
21:50
Alex Lasry
So we are ready to welcome everyone. We are ready to welcome the world and we are encouraging the world to come to New York, New Jersey. We want people here, we want tourists to come here and be a part of this experience. And look, this is for us in two ways. One, to show, you know, it's America 250 as well.
22:12
Dave Almy
Right.
22:12
Alex Lasry
This is the 250th anniversary of our country. It's a busy summer opportunity for us to show how great this country is and an opportunity for us to show how great our region is. And that's why we are at the host committee, ready to welcome everyone that's coming here and are going to put on a show for them that they'll never forget. And when they, you know, when they go back home, hopefully pressure FIFA to say, we're not waiting another 30 plus years for a World cup to come back to America. This was too much fun. This was too awesome. We want this to come back. And then hopefully we're able to kind of really solidify our region as the sports and entertainment capital of the world.
22:50
Alex Lasry
So if you're looking for any event, Olympics, World Cup, Women's World Cup, Cricket, World cup, you name it, you say, I need to be in New York, New Jersey.
23:02
Dave Almy
There is this quality of operating an event in the world in which you live, not the world in which you want to live. And so I guess there's just sort of a practicality. Like, we look, we know that the world continues to spin. There's always going to be challenges, but we just have to kind of create an event that is going to appeal to the most people within the construct of where we are right now in this time. It's sort of the wishing thing doesn't really become part of it.
23:27
Alex Lasry
Are we. Look, we. We are in the sports and entertainment business.
23:32
Dave Almy
Right.
23:33
Alex Lasry
I've worked in politics, and when I Work in politics. I have worked to try to help shape politics to, you know, my beliefs and everything in sports and entertainment. I think especially for a thing like this, you do have to understand the world keeps on going and there are things that are just out of our control. And our job is to ensure that we are able to still show off the region and show New York and New Jersey as these exceptional places that the world wants to be and hopefully as examples for what this country is and examples for, you know, kind of what the future of the US and sports and entertainment can be. And so I think for us, we just always want to tell everyone, like, hey, we're here to welcome you. We're excited to have you.
24:32
Alex Lasry
We want you to be part of the World cup experience and to be part of what's going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity, I think, for everyone to come to a World cup in the U.S. now, the.
24:44
Dave Almy
Final is scheduled for your stadium on July 19th. Right. And I'm assuming that there's kind of a. Like you said, you're going to be at this at the beginning and you're going to be at this the longest for any of the different places where the World cup is being held. Is there like a unique pressure that you feel going and hosting a final? Can you give a sense of what it's like to have that happening in your backyard?
25:05
Alex Lasry
Yeah, I mean, the responsibility and I think expectation of this is. Is huge.
25:12
Dave Almy
Yeah.
25:12
Alex Lasry
Right. When you just put in perspective what the World cup final is, the last World cup final was viewed by the same amount of people as the last 13 Super Bowls combined. So this is big. Right.
25:24
Dave Almy
So, like, you know, it's got some size to it.
25:26
Alex Lasry
I try to say, you know, if. If America's sport is football is the world sport, and that's what we have here. Right. We're bringing kind of the world's game to the biggest stage. Right. There's no bigger media market than the United States and there's no bigger media market than New York, New Jersey. So you're kind of coming to the capital of the world to put on the biggest global sporting event that's ever happened with an expanded field, more ability to watch these things than ever before. Right. So this is going to be the largest event ever.
26:02
Dave Almy
Yeah. So other than that, no pressure.
26:05
Alex Lasry
Yeah. And so I think for us, like, you know, that's why I keep saying there's a responsibility for us to kind of make sure that New York and New Jersey put on an event that is at the expectation that New York and New Jersey have. And, you know, it's not just on the host committee. Right. It's on our local partners, it's on our regional partners, our federal partners, and on FIFA. And we've all got to come together and make it this work. The partnership has so far been incredible, and I'm really excited for the things we have planned for the final. There are going to be some really new things that we'll be announcing that'll be final specific.
26:46
Dave Almy
You just got to break them right here, man.
26:48
Alex Lasry
I know, I know. We're not ready. We're not ready to announce it yet,.
26:52
Dave Almy
But it's just not that much time in 60 days.
26:54
Alex Lasry
I know that, but that's. That's why we gotta get to work. But, like, no, we're. We're very, like, we. We've got some things and to build the excitement and the. And the suspense and kind of, again, to be part of what the World cup final means and is going to be, you know, to be able to take over some really iconic spaces that only a place like New York has, right. And place like New Jersey has is. Is going to make this World Cup, I think, from a, you know, the images from it are going to be lasting. The legacy of this, I think, is going to be lasting. And I do think, you know, we talk about this being once in a generation, I think, because of this World cup, hopefully it won't be once in a generation.
27:36
Dave Almy
Hopefully we're going to talk about legacy for a second, too, because I think sometimes people forget the MLS actually sprang out of the first time the US hosted the World cup in 94. Right. That was kind of the born out of it kind of moment. What's the. What's the thing that you hope comes out of this World Cup? What's going to be the thing that when you look back on it in your mind, that people go, oh, you know, that happened because of the 26 World Cup.
28:03
Alex Lasry
So I think there's a. There's a couple things, I think, like, you know, kind of macroly and globally. I think the hope is that this World cup kind of does for football in the US what the Dream Team did for basketball around the world. So you look at the Dream Team, everyone would say the Dream Team is what led to Dirk, Luka, Giannis, globalization of the sport. Jokic. All the globalization of basketball is because, you know, around the world, finally, Jordan Bird, Magic Ewing, Barkley, et cetera, where people were playing around the world and people got to see them Live and kind of the inspiration that had on young athletes.
28:45
Alex Lasry
I think the hope is now that having Messi, Ronaldo, Pulisic, Mbappe, kind of the world's greatest players, Lamina Mall, like the world's greatest players playing on our shores in meaningful matches, will lead that next six, seven, eight year old to say, I want to do that.
29:05
Dave Almy
Yeah, I want to do that. To be a spectacle of that thing.
29:08
Alex Lasry
And I think you saw that with the Women's World cup in 99. The images, you know, Brandi Chastain and Mia Hay, like all of you know, those images led to a generation of women athletes saying, I want to do that. That looks cool. And it's why the women's national team is one of the most dominant national teams ever. Hopefully the next generation of UF athletes will say, I want to go play soccer and I want to go be on that field and raise that trophy. I think also then we want to make sure that we're positioning New York and New Jersey as the tourist and sports and entertainment capital of the world. There should be an Olympics here. There should be a Winter Olympics here. There should be. The Women's World cup is coming. I think the cricket World cup is coming.
29:56
Alex Lasry
We do have an la, and I think those are the things that we want to position New York, New Jersey on and the United States on. There is more competition for these events than ever before. And I think we want to show the unique capability that not just the country has, but that in particular our region has to put on these successful events. And that, quite frankly, putting it anywhere else, you might get a successful event. But being in New York, New Jersey is going to take it to that next level.
30:28
Dave Almy
It's that certain something.
30:29
Alex Lasry
That's something that we want to leave as a legacy for this.
30:31
Dave Almy
Okay, well, as we get ready to wrap up, I'm wondering if you can provide some inside intelligence for people who are making the trip to New York, New Jersey and who want to experience the World cup in a way, whether they're inside the stadium or whether they're outside, what should people coming to your region not miss?
30:55
Alex Lasry
So I definitely wouldn't. I definitely make sure you hit, you know, our Jersey fan hub and the tennis center and Rock center fan activations. Those are going to be, again, kind of go into some unique spaces to. To be part of the World cup fan experience. I would also just go experience New York and New Jersey. In all honesty, like, some of the best things that are going to happen are going to be the things the host committee is not putting on, but that are just organically happening because that's the kind of community that New York and New Jersey has. So I would just go experience the city, go experience the region, right? Get the authentic feel. And all the bars and restaurants are going to do things right.
31:36
Alex Lasry
All of the great spaces in New York, New Jersey are going to do their own thing. People are going to be.
31:40
Dave Almy
It's going to be so lively wherever you go.
31:42
Alex Lasry
But take in the global nature that these two regions have, right? New York, New Jersey are global whether the World cup is here or not. So go be a part of it. Go, go to our fan activations, but also just go walk around, take the train, take the bus. Just go be a part of the region. And I think you're going to get an experience, a World cup experience that you've never had before, just because of how unique this region is.
32:13
Dave Almy
Jersey for the FIFA World Cup:32:33
Alex Lasry
Yeah.
32:35
Dave Almy
Okay. You seem like you're a little trepidatious.
32:37
Alex Lasry
About this whole thing. I'm good. I'm good.
32:39
Dave Almy
Here we go. Alex Lazari into the landing round. Okay, like we talked about, you helped bring the new Bucks arena fist serve forum online. What was your go to food order while you're with the Bucks?
32:50
Alex Lasry
Oh, spicy chicken sandwich at Chick Fil.
32:52
Dave Almy
A. Spicy Chick Fil A at the stadium. That was it. That was a. That's a no brainer. Okay. You did your undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania whose mascot is the Quakers. Is there a less threatening mascot out there than the Quaker?
33:07
Alex Lasry
I would hope not, no.
33:09
Dave Almy
. senate seat in Wisconsin in:33:23
Alex Lasry
Biggest. Probably a few thousand smallest. Probably a few.
33:28
Dave Almy
Yep. You know those diners. Sometimes you can't fit a lot of people into those diners. Sometimes retail politics is important.
33:33
Alex Lasry
Sometimes you get. You showed up to a meeting. Three, four people showed up and you gave them.
33:39
Dave Almy
But you had to give them the full. The heck out of them.
33:41
Alex Lasry
That's right. Those were my best stump speeches.
33:45
Dave Almy
All right, you have career, like we talked about career in both politics and sports, which your current role is kind of the perfect blend. Which is more competitive, sports or politics?
34:02
Alex Lasry
Probably politics.
34:03
Dave Almy
It's gotta be politics. Yeah.
34:05
Alex Lasry
Alex Rosary it can be a little more politics can be pretty cutthroat.
34:10
Dave Almy
Alex Lasry, thanks for the time today.
34:12
Alex Lasry
Thanks so much for having me.
