Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Let's start today with some good news. Have you heard yet that New York and New Jersey have been selected to host the 2026 Men's World Cup Soccer Tournament, maybe the most-watched sporting event of any kind in the world? Mayor Adams heard it.

Mayor Adams: Last night, we won the hosting of the World Cup here in the city, in New Jersey, New York, in this region. This is just huge for us. $2 billion predicted in economic revenue. We're looking at 14,000 jobs, over 1 million tourists, and the beauty of that, not every tourist or visitor goes to the game. Something that many people don't realize when you talk about the World Cup, it is the fan experience. When I was in Qatar to look and see how they handled that large volume of people, it was about the fans. The fans enjoy, they come out, they spend money. We want them to go to Broadway, to visit some of our beautiful sites, and to interact with our city, so we are really, really excited. Hats off to our good partner across the bridge, to Governor Murphy. He has been an amazing partner throughout this entire venture. We have been speaking with FIFA personnel to make sure that we have the most attractive product.

Brian Lehrer: Mayor Adams there from his weekly news conference which he had on Monday this week, but then the mayor had a pivot from the World Cup to the Tin Cup. Yesterday, he went to Albany for what's known as Tin Cup Day, when the mayor of New York comes begging to the state legislature once a year for money, and sometimes also policy items that he wants during the annual state budget season which runs through next month. What did the mayor ask to be placed in his 2024 Tin Cup?

Mayor Adams: This year, we're clear on what we want. We need housing. We have to build more. If we don't build more, the mayor didn't fail, we failed the people of the city, because the people of the city all agree we need to build more housing. If I go up there speaking on behalf of the people of the city and the determination is not to build more housing when we have an inventory problem, I didn't fail, we failed the people of the city.

Brian Lehrer: That was Mayor Adams just before heading to Albany for Tin Cup Day yesterday. With that, we begin our usual Wednesday breakdown of the Mayor's Weekly News Conference, and this week with a Tin Cup Day addendum with our lead Eric Adams reporter here at WNYC and Gothamist, Elizabeth Kim. Hi, Liz.

Elizabeth Kim: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Can we start with the World Cup? I didn't even know New York and New Jersey were bidding on that for 2026. I guess I missed that. Is it the kind of big deal the mayor was describing there?

Elizabeth Kim: Well, the mayor did visit Qatar last summer I believe, and I think it was in preparation for this bid. New York was one of many locations, I believe, across the globe that was vying for this. This will be in July 2026, and it will be at MetLife. It's the home of the Jets and the Giants, but this is only the final match. Now, the World Cup is a series of matches, and it's going to take place across 16 venues across North America.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Yes, the grand finale, the championship match will be played at MetLife Stadium. You mentioned those two other teams. It's something that's been a long time since we could say about the teams that usually play there, name the Giants and the Jets, that there was a championship game of any kind for them. Is the region ready for this?

Elizabeth Kim: It'll be interesting. I think that the mayor, as he said in his statement, this is going to bring a lot of people. He's estimating a million tourists. One of the things that the city and the mayor have focused on as part of our recovery from the pandemic is getting more people in New York, in the hotels, seeing Broadway shows, going to restaurants, and this is certainly going to be part of that injection. Now, I think that everyday New Yorkers are going to see this as traffic, and everyday commuters are going to see this as more people riding on the subway and the buses that they take every day, but it's hard to see this as ultimately a bad thing. These are people who are coming to spend money in our city.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. I saw that our colleague who covers transportation, Stephen Nessen, wrote an article asking if NJ Transit is ready for this not as maybe a developed a system getting out to MetLife as the MTA is, getting into some places in New York, but that's going to be one of the challenges. But we think the Super Bowl is a big deal with more than 100 million people often watching. I looked up some sports audience websites this morning just out of curiosity, and the Men's World Cup, one site said over 3 billion viewers, another site said 5 billion viewers. That might be all the matches combined, not just the final. I'm not sure, but still, 3 billion, 5 billion viewers. And just for fun, several sites I saw said the only thing that competes with it for global viewership is the Tour de France bicycle race, which gets something like 3 billion viewers too.

All right, from the World Cup to the Tin Cup. We played the clip of the mayor asking for help with our affordable housing shortage. Albany spectacularly failed a World Cup-level epic fail last year on Governor Hochul's ambitious housing construction agenda. The mayor referred to that. How is the mayor hoping they'll revisit the topic with more success this year?

Elizabeth Kim: Well, he's going to continue to ask for changes in the state law that would allow the city to build more housing. There is something called an FAR cap. It's a residential FAR cap that stands for floor area ratio. This has been talked about for years, if not decades, and it basically caps or restricts the amount of housing that can be built on a certain sized lot in New York City. Experts have for years said that the state needs to change the law to let the city build more, so that's one thing that Mayor Adams wants the legislature to help him do. The other thing is he wants a new 421-A program. That's the old tax abatement for developers that spurred a lot of housing, but in the eyes of critics, maybe not enough affordable housing. The governor and the mayor want to resuscitate this program, but possibly retool it too in a way so that it does bring more affordable as opposed to luxury housing.

Brian Lehrer: Your Tin Cup Day article on Gothamist is headlined, Mayor Adams Presses State to Cover Half of Migrant Expenses on Annual Budget Trip to Albany. Liz, as our listeners have heard over and over again, he's been asking for something like that from Albany and Washington repeatedly. Was there anything new about his ask yesterday, or about anyone's response?

Elizabeth Kim: We all knew the mayor was going to go to Albany to ask for more migrant funding. I think what was interesting was he didn't really waste any time into his hearing to ask for it, and his ask was very similar, or it was basically the same as last year. He's asking for the state to pony up half of the money, so basically, covering half of the city's expenses associated with taking care of the migrants. What happened last year was the governor, Governor Kathy Hochul, ultimately proposed this one-third, one-third, one-third arrangement. Meaning that one-third would come from the state, the city would pay for one-third, and then the federal government would pay for the remaining third.

Now, what's happened is that additional one-third from the federal government has really never materialized. The mayor said in his hearing that the federal government has awarded the city roughly, I think around $156 million, the majority of which has yet to be disbursed to the city, but he's basically given up hope that he's ever going to see that funding. We know the kind of gridlock that exists in Congress over immigration, so he's saying the state has to now cover that. He wants the state to cover the federal government's portion and do a half.

Brian Lehrer: I can just hear Speaker Mike Johnson kind of laughing privately, "Ha-ha-ha, New York wants us to cover a third? I'm not even going along with the bipartisan bill in the Senate that that conservative guy from Oklahoma, James Lankford, sponsored that'll close the border to some degree. They think I'm going to give New York money?" That's me channeling Mike Johnson. Maybe he's thinking something like that.

Elizabeth Kim: That was pretty good, Brian. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: I see the issue of the migrants came up a lot, not only yesterday, but also at his Monday news conference in another way with respect to crime. The beating, allegedly, by several recent migrants of two police officers in Times Square, plus some robberies in the Bronx. Here's the mayor in Albany agreeing with Governor Hochul's position that if convicted of crimes like those, those migrants should be deported.

Mayor Adams: I believe if you create repeated felonies in our city, the federal government should do its job and have that individual deported from our city. There is a privilege to be here and participate in the American dream. I don't have the authority to do that, the City Council would have to do that.

Brian Lehrer: That answer was clear. Less clear was the mayor's response at his Monday news conference when asked if he would change New York's sanctuary city status which limits contact with immigration officials for many immigrants who commit relatively minor crimes. He doesn't quite take a position here as he says it was a law passed by City Council. We're going to hear Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy after that, who jumped in to say how the Sanctuary City Law came about. Let's see, do we have the mayor with that second sanctuary city clip, or do we have mayor-- Yes, here we go.

Mayor Adams: As I said last week, our branches of government, we all have a role. This bill was passed by the City Council. This is the City Council's role. I know my role, and I share with New Yorkers what my views are and use my power either to veto on whatever actions or to support bills, but this is a City Council bill that was passed, and so the City Council must review that.

Brian Lehrer: Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy jumped in to say how the Sanctuary City Law came about, not from a mayor.

Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy: On the other piece, Chris, now Intro 486 and 487 in November 2014, they prohibited all city law enforcement officials in New York City, DOCS, and NYPD from honoring federal detainer requests for any alien otherwise eligible for release from custody, and Intro 1568 in 2016 prohibits any city agency from partnering with the US Department of Homeland Security to enforce federal immigration law.

Brian Lehrer: Liz, that's a lot, but what I'd like you to try to explain to our listeners is if it sounded to you like it sounded to me that the mayor did not actually take a position either pro or con the current Sanctuary City Law. He just said, "Well, that was passed by City Council, so they have to look at that." There's pressure from Republican congresswoman from Staten Island, Nicole Malliotakis, who had a news conference with some other people in Times Square the other day, pressing the mayor and the City Council too on sanctuary city. He said, this is City Council's responsibility. He didn't seem to say, "I want them to change the law," or "I want them to keep the law," did he?

Elizabeth Kim: That's right, Brian. That's how I saw it as well. He was very much trying to distance himself from the sanctuary city status, and even responsibility for how much he can do to change it in any way. This was an issue that also came up quite often among Republican state lawmakers who were grilling the mayor yesterday when he was in Albany. I would say that going back for many months now, the mayor has been trying to walk this line between being a mayor that welcomes immigrants, that acknowledges that they are a vital part of our economy, of our cultural identity, but then at the same time, trying to address the urgency of this crisis and saying that New York is-- That the number of new arrivals that are coming in at this pace is something that the city is having trouble accommodating, both through its Right to Shelter Law, that by law we have to provide housing for the migrants.

That's basically this line that he's tried to walk, and it's very interesting that in this moment-- In the past, he has actually spoken positively about the sanctuary city status. He said that he didn't believe there was any problem in the city living up to this law in this moment. But as we're seeing now the mayor talk about migrants and crime, that has been an interesting pivot for the mayor. It's not the first time he's alluded to this, but now he is more directly talking about it, because there have been some instances, as you've mentioned, there was the Times Square attack that involved migrants attacking police officers. That was caught on video, and that was released by the NYPD. Then we had the mayor going on an early morning raid in the Bronx on Monday, that was about a string of robberies that was believed to involve migrants.

Now we have this moment where the mayor is pointing out crime that's committed by migrants. Republicans are immediately seizing on that, and then they're asking him, what are you going to do? They're using that to also attack the sanctuary city policy. The mayor has in many ways walked into this question of, what are you going to do? But his answer is, don't look at me, ask the City Council.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. I don't know if you know this at the level of detail that I'm going to ask it, but I remember having conversations multiple times on this show with Mayor de Blasio when the sanctuary city policy was enacted, first by him as an executive order temporarily, and then City Council did pass it into law, like the deputy mayor was explaining. One of the things that de Blasio kept emphasizing when people would attack sanctuary city is, what do you mean you won't hold migrants responsible for the crimes by allowing immigration services to get at them and consider deportation of criminals?

He said, no, it's only minor crimes up to a certain point. If somebody commits a major crime, then they are eligible for deportation under New York Sanctuary City Law. What I'm not sure of, Liz, and I don't know if you've looked at this yourself yet or seen reporting on it, the attack on the police officers in Times Square, or the robbery string in the Bronx, if there are convictions, are those deportation-eligible crimes contact with immigration enforcement crimes under the City Sanctuary City Law?

Elizabeth Kim: That I'm not sure of either, Brian, and it was something that was raised at the hearing yesterday by Republicans. Their line of questioning seemed to assume that because of the sanctuary city status, that local law enforcement was prohibited from involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. They were pressing the mayor, could you in fact create a carve-out that if they do commit a crime, that they can then facilitate the removal of a person? The mayor also answered that very carefully as well. Again, he sort of put that on the City Council, that the City Council's job is to draft bills, and then I will sign them. That is one of the questions that have come out of the Times Square attack and also the string of robberies in the Bronx.

Brian Lehrer: There's a line somewhere, we'll try to find it, but maybe if it was second-degree assault against those cops, then it's protected still from contact with ICE, but if it's attempted murder or something like that, it's not. Somewhere in there up that chain of what kind of an assault, there is a line passed which sanctuary city does not apply. Here's one more clip of the mayor trying to put all this together. This is from the Monday news conference, and you'll hear him refer to the news conference by Republican congresswoman, Nicole Malliotakis, and his various approaches to the migrant surge in the city.

Mayor Adams: No, my problem is I'm honest. I critique the Republican party for failing and continuing to block immigration reform. The congresswoman was out there today, I didn't hear her talk about immigration reform, I didn't hear her talk about resources to our city. I think once you are elected, it's not about party, it's about our city. I believe in New York, and this has hurt us, where the White House needs to make adjustments, where our congressional and senators need to make adjustments, we all have to make those adjustments. I don't know why there's a belief defending New York City is rhetoric.

Brian Lehrer: Liz, that was kind of his theory of everything on the migrants, right? Like, "Yes, I'm willing to say that the number of migrants who have come and the money that the city has has hurt us. I'm willing to call out crime, but what about the congresswoman who was out today?" Then he took his shot. I was making fun of Mike Johnson before, that was his shot at the Republicans in the house who wouldn't go along with this immigration reform bill which would help.

Elizabeth Kim: Yes. That response came out of a question that I put to the mayor, that given the context of the 2024 election, it appears that we may be headed for another Donald Trump/Joe Biden rematch that Democrats are nervous about. Given the fact that both Trump and Republicans appear to be weaponizing this issue of the migrant crisis, would he dial back his rhetoric? His answer, and he's given that answer in the past before to defend himself from criticisms from others in his own party that say, "You're hurting us, you're hurting the party. You're hurting the president's chances of getting re-elected." [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: When you say defend his own rhetoric, you mean like that moment last year where he said the migrant crisis is going to destroy our city?

Elizabeth Kim: Correct, and I will say that this is not the only issue. He was also criticized in his first year when he was elected and he was calling for bail reform to be scaled back. That drew a lot of criticism, and he was talking a lot about crime in New York City, and that was an election year in which Kathy Hochul was up for election. This has happened before, where the mayor will say things that will be seized by Republicans as a talking point, and will be used against his fellow Democrats. People wonder, is this the best political strategy for the mayor to play?

What he said yesterday was something he said in the past is, "Listen, I'm just an honest guy, and I'm here as the defender of New York's interests, and that is my job as mayor." That's an interesting response, because I think that on the other side, people view his criticisms of Biden in particular as possibly hurting the city, because the two men have not talked to-- This is something that the mayor has himself said, they have not talked to each other in about a year. Take that as you will, but people think that that is now a strained relationship. Does it ultimately help the city to have such a strained relationship between President Biden and the mayor of the largest city in the country? That's one point. Then again, the other larger point, I think, that we're looking at, is if Trump then can win the election, does that help the city's long-term interests as well?

Brian Lehrer: We'll continue in a minute with our lead Eric Adams reporter, Liz Kim, who generally joins us every Wednesday after the Mayor's Weekly News Conference. This week, we're really talking about two events, the mayor's weekly news conference which was on Monday, and his so-called Tin Cup Day trip to Albany yesterday. Tin Cup Day being where the mayor of New York asks the state legislature in their budget season for a number of things. We have a few more Tin Cup Day clips to play from his hearing, particularly a couple of exchanges with State Senator Zohran Mamdani of Queens that were not necessarily Tin Cup related, but we'll hear the state senator holding the mayor's feet to the fire on a couple of things.

Listeners, we can take some phone calls on any of the topics that we've talked about so far. How about to go back to the good news at the top of the show? New York and New Jersey are getting the 2026 Men's World Cup soccer tournament. Anybody excited about that? Who's viewing that through a lens other than, "Oh, the traffic it's going to create." Any soccer fans out there, football fans, as they would say in most of the world, want to talk about being excited about the World Cup or any other reaction to that coming to New York? 16, I think, different venues, you said, Liz. Is that right, for different matches?

Elizabeth Kim: That's correct, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: And the finals at MetLife Stadium. Or anything on the mayor and the migrants, or the mayor trying to get Albany unstuck on housing, or anything else related? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Oh, here's a comment that came in on the World Cup. It says, "Your producer is excited. Definitely want to try to take the kids." That's one person's opinion. 212-433-9692, call or text as we continue after this.

[MUSIC - Marden Hill: Hijack]

Brian Lehrer on WNYC as we continue with our city hall reporter, Elizabeth Kim, our lead reporter on Mayor Adams, and playing more clips from his Monday news conference and his Tuesday hearing in Albany. Let's go back to the Albany hearing for another clip. Queens State Senator Zohran Mamdani gave the mayor as hard a time in a public hearing, certainly as any reporter at his news conferences gives him, I think it's fair to say. Here is Mamdani and the mayor on bus lanes.

Senator Zohran Mamdani: We have the slowest buses in the country, and recognizing the need to speed up our buses, the law required you to build 20 miles of bus lanes in 2022. In that year, you built 12.9 miles. The law then required you to build 30 miles of bus lanes in 2023, you built 7.8 miles. How can you call yourself a law and order mayor when New Yorkers can't trust you to follow the law?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think that first of all, that's an unfair accusation. I spent 22 years of my life following, protecting, and ensuring the law is followed. When you cannot fulfill a requirement of building a number of bus lanes, to all of a sudden say that you don't believe in law and order, I think that's a far stretch.

Brian Lehrer: That was one exchange. Mamdani also asked the mayor to take a position for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Mayor Adams: My record is sound and solid on fighting on behalf of people in this city and across the globe. It's sound and solid. I don't think anyone who's come on this scene recently can look at my 30-year uninterrupted history on fighting on behalf of Palestinians, Jews, African-Americans, LGBTQ, AAPI. I have a solid record, brother, and you cannot come up against it.

Brian Lehrer: Liz, let's take each of those briefly. Does Mamdani want the mayor to have a foreign policy?

Elizabeth Kim: Yes, it looks like it. He wants the mayor to come out and publicly call for a ceasefire. What the mayor has done is he has called for the return of the hostages, and he said that he would like to see an end to the violence in Israel. You could see that the insinuation there, or actually, he outright said it, that he felt the mayor didn't care about Palestinian casualties. That really got under the mayor's skin, because the mayor has faced heat from the Muslim community here in New York City about this issue and whether he's said enough about those casualties, so the mayor is sensitive about this. The mayor pointed to his 30-year record of building relationships in many communities, and I think that most people do give the mayor credit for this. He has cultivated a lot of relationships with Muslims, with Jews, with Asians, with the LGBTQ community, and it really -- You saw, it got under his skin, and he gave it right back to the assembly member.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, and kind of related, at his Monday news conference, he was talking about most major crime categories going down in New York City, but this one that he'll cite, going up.

Mayor Adams: Hate crime numbers are increasing, driven by the increase in antisemitism and other forms of hate crime, including Islamophobia. This is part of a trend we've seen going back since the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, we witnessed this increase in hate crime. The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force remains focused on reversing this trend, and I also want to commend Chancellor Banks for some of the action he's taken in our New York City public school system.

Brian Lehrer: There's the mayor on that, and there's-- with hate crimes going up since October 7th, he's saying both targeted at Jews and targeted at Muslims, the fallout in New York City of what's happening half a world away.

Elizabeth Kim: Right, and I think that that is important for the mayor to say. It's not the first time that he's put some focus on that because, in reality, there are tensions around this, and we've seen this play out in different places, both on the streets in protests, but also in the city's school system. I think the mayor needs to come out and say something, but maybe more than that, continue to do what he's been doing, which is he's been having some roundtable discussions, and I imagine some closed-door discussions with faith leaders as well.

Brian Lehrer: On the bus lanes, comment from State Senator Mamdani that the law requires all these bus lanes to be created, and the mayor hasn't done it. Are bus lanes the mayor's responsibility or the MTA's?

Elizabeth Kim: The city controls the streets, so in fact, that is the city's responsibility. He has been sharply criticized by transit advocates over-- You heard the assembly member give out the statistics, they were pretty bad. I think he said something like 13 out of 20 miles in 2022, and something like 7 or 8 out of 30 in 2023. The mayor also came into office pledging to build out the most bus lanes or some kind of big promise like that, because most transit experts say that this is the cheapest and fastest way for the city to improve, to fight congestion, and to improve transportation, which then in turn helps the city's economy. This is in many ways-- Many people see this as a no-brainer, but this runs up against NIMBYism. In certain communities, they don't want to lose parking, or for whatever reason, they don't want perhaps additional traffic coming through their neighborhood. This has been a perennially tough issue for mayors, not just for Adams, but also for his predecessors. But he's being held accountable for it by transit advocates, as he should be.

Brian Lehrer: Some comments coming in in text messages. A listener writes, "I am a liberal Democrat and think being a sanctuary city is important, but any migrant who breaks the law should be deported." Of course, that's the exact definition of sanctuary city, right? If you break the law to a small enough degree, you get punished like any other citizen domestically, but if it's a minor crime, you don't get deported. That's what sanctuary city is. Next one, "I'm not a fan of the mayor, but those questions, meaning from Mamdani, were ridiculous, and he handled them well." Another one. "Yes, I am so excited about the World Cup, and I hope this encourages greater attention from WNYC to the most-matched sport in the world. I think Nick in Bed-Stuy is excited about the World Cup coming to our area, too. Hi, Nick. You're on WNYC.

Nick: Hi, Brian. Yes, I'm absolutely thrilled, and I swear, I'm no FIFA booster. It's an organization that's full of documented corruption, but the World Cup, I think, will have a tremendous impact on New York City region. To have the best city in the world host the best sporting event on the planet is an incredible honor. I think the questions about traffic, which are certainly valid-- Having attended an Arsenal-Manchester United match there this summer, I think those questions are valid, but will become, I think, a footnote in the history of this event in New York.

Brian Lehrer: Nick, thank you very much. Another listener writes, "I'm excited to see foreign soccer fans navigate the hellscape that is MetLife Stadium in 2026." Gorb in Hillsborough, New Jersey, is calling about this too. Gorb, you're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Gorb: Hi, Brian. Longtime listener, and very excited to get a chance here. The reason FIFA chose North America for 2026 was to change the societal perception of soccer. '94 was Introduction-101. Now, FIFA wants how kids perceive soccer to be different. Gen Z, Millennials, they don't look at soccer the way baby boomers do.

Brian Lehrer: Correct.

Gorb: For baby boomers, it's like paint drying, or grass growing.

Brian Lehrer: Right. Well, the baby boomers raised their kids playing soccer, right? If you talk about the '90s, I think it was in the '90s that political analysts coined the term "soccer moms" for the most mainstream suburban kind of families they could conjure.

Gorb: Yes, but look at the scenario. You have Messi/Ronaldo rivalry, Gen Z was brought up on that. You have English Premier League on weekends, you have World Cup, Euros, you have European Champions League on CBS, so the whole scenario has changed. English Premier League on NBC, you have Spanish League on ESPN, so yverything has changed now. You have the European Championships on ESPN, and now I think Fox will do the next one in 2024-- I'm not sure, but one of the channels. People are watching these live. There wasn't any live World Cup before '94, there was no English Premier League--

Brian Lehrer: On TV, yes. On TV in this country.

Gorb: --so perceptions have changed.

Brian Lehrer: That's great context, Gorb. Thank you. Can you tell me how to get tickets? It's going to be hard, right?

[silence]

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Okay, no ticket context. Just television context. Gorb, great call. Call us again. Jay in Woodhaven is going to try to connect the dots between the World Cup coming and affordable housing, which was topic number one for the mayor in Albany yesterday. Jay, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

Jay: Hi, Brian. How're you doing? I love your show.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Jay: Well, yes, I think we're missing a big opportunity if we don't tie up the kind of revenue that the city and the region could get with affordable housing. My thought is, why can't they build like they do for the Olympics? Like an Olympic Villa over the Hudson River tracks or over in Atlantic Avenue for all the people that are going to come and stay, and then after the tournament, turn that into affordable housing. I could even tie this up to, for instance, fixing Penn Station, a fast rail line between Boston and New York. I think we got to look at it from a higher perspective and see what other opportunities we could get from the tremendous amount of revenue that the city is going to get from the tournament.

Brian Lehrer: I love that, Jay. Thank you. Jay in Woodhaven with his theory of everything. Liz, yes, we're probably getting a little ahead of the story, but there has been a lot of what he called Olympic Village-style housing construction that has been meant to be temporary in some cases, meant to be permanent in some cases in various parts of the world and be used after the influx of athletes and fans. I wonder if some of the money that could flow from this, directly or indirectly, could help feed what is so many people's number one priority in New York right now, but the state legislature can't get it done, and that is the creation of a lot more affordable housing.

Elizabeth Kim: Right. That is a good point. I will say that this is not quite or it's not an Olympics where there is this intense several-week games going on and we have all these athletes who need to stay, we need to provide them housing. This is, I believe, one match, so one match out of many that will be taking place across North America. I just don't know how intense-- I don't know that the city needs to necessarily build up the same kind of infrastructure it would for something like the Olympics.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, pouring cold water--

Elizabeth Kim: Sorry.

Brian Lehrer: The cold water of reality on the caller's beautiful dream. Well, there, we're going to leave it with our usual weekly visit from our lead Eric Adams reporter, Liz Kim. One correction on the number, according to Stephen Nessen's story about the World Cup and the transportation infrastructure, MetLife will host eight World Cup matches altogether, including the finals. So, they may be coming and going from the New York area, but eight opportunities to get tickets, eight opportunities to build infrastructure, et cetera, et cetera, coming in 2026. Liz Kim reports on city hall for WNYC and Gothamist. See her recent story on the mayor in Albany for Tin Cup Day yesterday and other reporting by Liz on Gothamist, and of course, here on the radio. Liz, thanks as always.

Elizabeth Kim: Thanks, Brian.

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