Few people have seen the FIFA World Cup from the perspective of a venue operator twice. Having worked as the General Manager at Giants Stadium on the 1994 World Cup tournament and most recently serving as the Chief Venues Officer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup New York New Jersey Host Committee, Bill Squires offers a unique perspective on how the world’s biggest sporting event has evolved.
Squires has been a lecturer in Columbia’s M.S. in Sports Management program since 2007, teaching the Sports Facilities and Events Management and the Sustainability in Sports: Theory and Practice courses, and has spent 39 years managing operations at some of the biggest venues and events in sports, including Yankee Stadium, Giants Stadium, ESPN Wide World of Sports and Huntington Bank Field, home to the Cleveland Browns.
Despite having met Pope John Paul II on two occasions and five presidents of the United States and worked some of the biggest sporting events in the world, Squires remains humble: “I played a role, but I’m not sure my role was any more significant than the ticket takers at the gates and the safety and security staff checking people to make sure they weren’t bringing in any prohibited items or any of the other event staff. Every single person involved has an important role in making an event successful.”
And when asked how he judges the success of an event, Squires says: “I’m not satisfied until I wake up in the morning, read all the news clips, and find out that everyone got home safely.”
In this interview, Squires discusses what it took to prepare MetLife Stadium for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, how stakeholders planned for everything from heat mitigation to transportation logistics, and how this summer’s experience will shape his teaching this fall.
Please briefly describe your role with the 2026 FIFA World Cup New York New Jersey Host Committee.
FIFA has an agreement with the MetLife Stadium leadership team to host matches, and a separate agreement with the New York New Jersey Host Committee to supplement expertise and funding for the events. My expertise is venue management and events. I kind of joke that I’m the “closer.” I’ve been around for so long, and a lot of these people have never done events like this. When they have a question, I tell them to come to me, because if I don’t know the answer, I’ll find the answer.
How did this tournament compare to the 1994 World Cup at Giants Stadium, which you also worked?
Back in ’94, the World Cup had 24 teams. This year, it had 48. Giants Stadium then hosted seven matches, including the semifinal between Italy and Bulgaria. For this year’s tournament, MetLife Stadium hosted eight matches, including the final—and that’s a big deal. Ron Van De Veen, who’s now the president and CEO of MetLife Stadium, worked alongside me on that 1994 staff. We both learned from that experience. He has an excellent team, and they planned and executed the 2026 matches brilliantly.
What did it take to convert MetLife Stadium, built for football, into a World Cup venue?
The MetLife Stadium team began preparing for the World Cup after the Jets and Giants’s 2025 season ended. MetLife Stadium was designed as a multipurpose stadium, and it could already accommodate international friendly matches. But a World Cup match has to be played on a pitch (field) that’s exactly 105 by 68 meters, so modifications had to be made. Modifications were made (seats removed and infrastructure modified) to the four corners of the field to accommodate corner kicks. The seats that were removed will be installed for concerts and Jets and Giants games. The seats will probably not be removed again until a future women’s or men’s World Cup is awarded to MetLife Stadium. It took five and a half months to prepare the stadium for the first World Cup match on June 13, and 12 days to convert the stadium back to its original design for a BTS concert on August 1.
What surprised you most about coordinating an event at this scale?
There were more than 400 stakeholders involved in planning and executing the matches at MetLife Stadium. Sitting in meetings with seasoned, professional stakeholders was a great learning experience for me. I believe one of the legacies from hosting the World Cup matches is the level of communication and collaboration among the stakeholders. A template has been developed for future mega-events.
How did the weather factor into your planning?
Heat mitigation was a big concern. Hundreds of thousands of bottles of water were distributed to ticket holders and staff who were outside the gates. The water was an expense paid for by the Host Committee, but it was important that the staff and ticket holders were hydrated—their welfare and safety was critical to the operation. We wanted to make sure fans enjoyed the experience. We learned lessons from the 2025 Club World Cup, although the Host Committee did not play an active role in the event. Lightning was an issue as well. The MetLife Stadium team had a meteorologist work each of the eight matches to monitor the weather, and the primary concerns were heat and lightning. New York New Jersey Stadium did not have any weather delays. Still, a separate World Cup qualifying match in Philadelphia was delayed due to weather (lightning) for more than two hours.
What about getting fans safely to and from the stadium?
That was the one thing I was most concerned about heading into the first match. Kaitlin Coari, Director of Transportation for the Host Committee, and her team developed the region-wide mobility plan, i.e., personal vehicles, bus and train transportation, etc., with the numerous representatives from the regional transportation agencies. The first match went well, and I was confident that the subsequent matches would be successful. Adjustments were made after each match, which was expected. The feedback was positive.
Were there any unexpected scheduling conflicts?
The final match on July 19 fell on the same night as one of Jon Bon Jovi’s concert dates at Madison Square Garden. The match started at 3 p.m. and was planned to end around 6 p.m., and the concert was at 7:30 p.m. The Host Committee and the other stakeholders worked with the Madison Square Garden leadership team, the City of New York, and the various transportation agencies to identify potential conflicts and determine how to make it work for residents of New York and New Jersey, as well as those visiting the region. There were zero transportation issues due to the planning and execution.
The stakeholders worked to develop contingency plans for almost every scenario. The one scenario that developed that was not anticipated was the celebration of the Knicks’s championship on the night of June 13 when MetLife Stadium was hosting the first match, Brazil vs. Morocco, which began at 5:00 p.m. and ended around 7:00 p.m. Several locations in New York City provided shuttle services for ticket holders. Empty buses returning to the City during the celebration were stopped due to the congestion on the roadways. Some celebrants boarded the buses and began jumping on the top of them. Fortunately, there were no passengers on the buses, but the drivers had to abandon the buses. The drivers were offered tickets to a future World Cup match to thank them for their professionalism.
FIFA’s takeover of the host venues extended well beyond MetLife Stadium. What did you see across the broader tournament?
FIFA essentially takes over the venues, and the leadership teams of each of the 16 stadiums had to work very closely with the FIFA staff to ensure the delivery of a safe and secure venue that provided the ultimate fan experience to the ticket holders.
The 2026 World Cup was the first time that the World Cup was hosted in three countries, and FIFA wanted consistency among the venues since ticket holders may have visited multiple venues during the tournament. Each venue will develop after-action and lessons-learned reports which will benefit the venue when hosting future events, and the reports will be shared with FIFA so they can make adjustments and improvements for future men’s and women’s tournaments.
How will this experience shape your teaching this fall?
The fall of 2026 will be my 20th year teaching Sports Facilities and Events Management and my third year co-teaching Sustainability in Sports: Theory and Practice. I am sure all the students in both classes will want to hear, in great detail, about the World Cup, so lesson planning will be adjusted to accommodate their interest. And I am sure that this will continue in future classes since I have found that many of the students who take the courses are fans of the “beautiful game.” At last count, students from 48 countries have taken the courses I teach and co-teach.
There are so many topics that will be discussed that apply to all events, but the planning and execution of a World Cup is monumental. There isn’t a book that could describe the experience —you had to be there.
Bill Squires and Sports Management student Lisi Fuchs, an intern in the Guest Services Department at MetLife Stadium. “Columbia was well represented,” Squires said. “Lisi did a great job. She did everything she was asked to do and more by volunteering for things no one expected her to do. She achieved recognition from the Guest Services Department for the work she did, and she’s not done yet. She’ll also be working some upcoming concerts and NFL football games as well.”
What advice do you give students who want a career in facilities and events management?
I tell them that individuals who work in sports facilities and event management must work long hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays. The memories I have from the events that I have worked on can never be taken from me. Students will have to work hard to find the right job in the sports management industry, but you have to pay the bills while searching for a job in sports. But always chase your passion; no regrets.
What do you hope this World Cup leaves behind?
I think the legacy of this World Cup will be the level of collaboration and communication among the more than 400 stakeholders who made World Cup matches successful, particularly in law enforcement and transportation. I always felt like I lived in a safe environment in New Jersey, and I felt the same about New York City, but I feel that even more now, just from observing how much these people care about the citizens, the events, and the fan experience. That’s something I’ll never forget.
What will you personally take away from this experience?
There are many things that I remember from the past two years getting ready for this event, but over time I’m going to forget the specifics. What I won’t forget is the people I met who became friends. Years from now I may be asked the same question, “What do you remember from the World Cup in 2026?” I’ll say I remember that the people I worked with were the ultimate professionals, and they made it the success that it was.
What keeps you doing this work?
Six years ago, I contracted COVID and spent 48 days in the hospital, 32 of them on a ventilator, followed by 23 days of rehabilitation and 148 days on a feeding tube. I lived. When I was in rehabilitation, I kept asking why I made it when so many others didn’t. It was a long recovery, but I realized that given a second chance at life, I had to make a difference personally and professionally with the time I have left on this earth. The faculty and the students who took my class supported me throughout my recovery, and that meant a great deal to me and still does. Teaching at Columbia University is a blessing. I love the faculty and the students, and it allows me to continue learning, teaching, and making a difference.
About the Sports Facilities and Events Management Course
Bill Squires’s Sports Facilities and Events Management course provides students with an understanding of the complexity involved in sports and entertainment facilities and event management. Sports facility management includes a variety of activities such as planning and designing a sports facility, staff management, facility marketing, developing revenue streams, and facility scheduling and operating. Sports event management consists of identifying an event’s goals and coordinating the people and organizations involved to achieve them with the available resources.
About the Program
The Columbia University M.S. in Sports Management provides students with a comprehensive curriculum and access to sports industry practitioners and influencers. Students acquire skills in areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation, global sports management, facility and event management, and sports law and ethics.
