NYC to close streets, MTA to run more subway trains during World Cup 2026 NYC matches

Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News on Jun 4, 2026

Published in Soccer

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NEW YORK — NYC will be closing midtown streets to regular traffic and the MTA will be taking steps to ensure more subway service on World Cup 2026 NYC match days, part of a regional effort to keep mass transit functioning amid an expected crush of soccer fans.

The agency’s chairman, Janno Lieber, announced Thursday that the MTA would be increasing subway service on key lines and suspending any planned maintenance work that could slow travel during the expected rush around soccer matches. Eight of the global sporting event’s matches, including the final, are scheduled to be held at MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands in the coming weeks.

“We’re going to run extra C trains, we’re going to run extra No. 1 trains — trains that go directly to Penn Station,” Lieber told reporters Thursday. That’s where 40,000 World Cup fans are expected to catch special NJ Transit trains bound for the stadium.

The city will also be sharply limiting traffic around Penn Station and Port Authority on match days.

West 33rd St. will be closed on match days between Sixth and Eighth Avenues, as will West 32nd St. between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, in order to facilitate the mass of people expected to board NJ Transit trains to the Meadowlands.

A large portion of 42nd Street and some blocks around the Lincoln Tunnel will be converted to bus-only zones during match days. Portions of Fifth and Sixth Avenues will also get additional bus lanes.

“If you can avoid driving into Midtown Manhattan on a match day, I am encouraging you to do so,” Mayor Mamdani said.

Lieber said the MTA would also be running additional service on the No. 7 train in anticipation of busy fan festivals and watch parties in Queens.

Additionally, any maintenance work in midtown that had been planned for match days will be rescheduled.

“Moving millions is what we do,” Lieber said.

The MTA honcho made the comments at the agency’s Rail Control nerve center alongside Gov. Hochul and Mamdani.

“We know a surge of fans will be using mass transit to get to and from the stadium or to their favorite soccer bar, or to fan fest events,” Hochul said. “We can handle this, we’ve got this — this is what we do best.”

Mamdani, meanwhile, addressed the city’s plans in a more futbol-friendly vernacular.

“New York City will not be ‘parking the bus,' ” he said — a reference to the soccer-specific tactic of arraying one’s players in a defensive crouch. “Over this month to come, excellence will not only be pursued on the pitch, excellence will be pursued in the work that government will do and has done.”

World Cup matches are scheduled to be held at MetLife Stadium on Saturday, June 13, Tuesday, June 16, Monday, June 22, Thursday, June 25, Saturday, June 27, Tuesday, June 30, Sunday, July 5, and Sunday, July 19.