Former Milwaukee Bucks exec Alex Lasry lead host group for 2026 FIFA World Cup in New York area
Former Milwaukee Bucks exec Alex Lasry lead host group for 2026 FIFA World Cup in New York area
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USMNT opens 2026 World Cup at SoFi Stadium
FIFA announced the schedule for the 2026 World Cup. The U.S. Men's National Team will open at SoFi Stadium, while MetLife Stadium will host the World Cup final.
Fox - LA
WASHINGTON – Former Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry is turning his attention to the largest sporting event on Earth.
Lasry is the new CEO of the New York New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee, a nonprofit tasked with preparing the New York area for the wildly popular soccer tournament when it comes to North America next year.
'This is the biggest sporting event in the world, and to be able to have a role in helping put it on in the biggest region in the world, being able to work on the finals, is an honor,' Lasry told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week.
The work, Lasry said, will be similar to putting on a major political convention — 'just on a much bigger scale.' The committee is tasked in part with handling security and transportation logistics and putting on FIFA Fan Fests and other hospitality events during World Cup games played in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The World Cup runs from July 11-19, 2026, and will be played across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In addition to New York/New Jersey, 10 other U.S. cities will host matches, and each city has its own host committee.
MetLife Stadium, the home of the NFL's New York Giants and Jets in East Rutherford, however, will see eight games, including the coveted World Cup final. About 1.5 billion people watched the last World Cup final in Qatar in 2022, according to FIFA, soccer's global governing body.
'We're going to have to raise a few hundred million bucks to put this on,' Lasry said.
Lasry, 37, was previously senior vice president for the Bucks, the team his father, Marc Lasry, once co-owned. He led the host committee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, though the events turned virtual amid the coronavirus pandemic, and he came up short in his 2022 bid for a Wisconsin Senate seat.
More recently, Lasry served as deputy assistant secretary for travel and tourism in the U.S. Department of Commerce until President Donald Trump took office in January. The World Cup, he said, was part of his portfolio.
Soccer won't be an entirely foreign transition for the former NBA executive. Lasry said he has become a bigger fan of the sport over the last 10-plus years. His best friends are English Premier League fans, and his father's sports fund recently bought into Ipswich Town Football Club.
Now, Lasry will oversee day-to-day operations for the New York New Jersey host committee 'as it transitions from planning mode to execution mode,' the committee said in a release. 'His experience in business, sports, government, fundraising, travel, tourism and community-building will be essential to the next phase of the Host Committee's work,' the committee said.
Lasry will work alongside Tammy Murphy, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's wife, who was named chairwoman of the committee. He told the Journal Sentinel that he and his family will temporarily relocate to New York in the fall but will keep their home in Milwaukee.
'Just being able to work on this and help put it on is the opportunity of a lifetime,' Lasry said. 'Who knows when we'll get a World Cup again in the United States?'
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