The Edge for February 2024
New Jersey's top business and political reporters engaged in a candid and wide-ranging discussion during a Feb. 15 Reporters’ Forum hosted by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. The Forum, moderated by ROI-NJ Owner and Editor Tom Bergeron, tackled pressing issues including World Cup soccer in New Jersey, funding for mass transportation, the state’s disparity study, the future of artificial intelligence, and the prospects of tax increases in the upcoming state budget. See what they said below.
FIFA World Cup Final is Coming to New Jersey
Everybody celebrated the big announcement that MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford was chosen to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final, and seven other games. Now, reality is kicking in. Gov. Murphy announced that the state needs to raise $100 million to $150 million from the business community to cover the hosting responsibilities.
Brent Johnson
Politics Reporter
The Star-Ledger & NJ.com
“It’s a lot of money and it will be a challenge,” said Brent Johnson, politics reporter for The Star-Ledger & nj.com. “Part of the reason (New Jersey/New York) got this bid is because Gov. Murphy is so invested in soccer. So he is going to be invested in getting that money.”
Bergeron suggested that being part of eight warm-weather soccer matches with enormous global appeal will be attractive to companies. For perspective, he noted that New Jersey raised $100 million for the 2014 Super Bowl “which was a one-game-event in the cold.”
The eight soccer matches at MetLife Stadium over 39 days in the summer of 2026 are projected to generate over $2 billion in economic impact for the New York/New Jersey region, and support over 14,000 jobs, according to projections from FIFA, soccer's international governing body.
“It’s a huge win,” said Matt Fazelpoor, staff writer-government/economic development at NJBIZ. “Even if the numbers don’t come to close to projections, the economic impact and cultural impact for the area is huge.”
Stacie Sherman, senior editor-Americas News Desk at Bloomberg News, said it is irritating that FIFA is calling the stadium ‘New York, New Jersey.’
“The stadium is in New Jersey,” Sherman said. “On the other hand, the only way New Jersey got the deal was to partner with New York. You have to wonder how much of the benefit will go to New York and how much to New Jersey. People will stay at hotels and eat at restaurants. You hope that’s going to be on the New Jersey side, but you don’t know.”
John Reitmeyer
Budget/Finance Writer
NJ Spotlight News
There are economic benefits for South Jersey too, said John Reitmeyer, budget & public finance writer at NJ Spotlight News. “There will be six games just over the river in Philadelphia including a July 4th game on the nation’s 250th birthday,” Reitmeyer said. “So there are big opportunities for hotels and for a lot of economic activity in South Jersey.”
A hot topic is whether NJ Transit will have the ability to transport thousands of fans to and from the stadium – as the transportation agency deals with a structural deficit that seems to grow more dire every year. “We’ll see if Gov. Murphy proposes a boost in the subsidy for NJ Transit in the upcoming state budget, and, on top of that, there is talk of creating a dedicated funding source for NJ Transit so it does not have to rely on whatever is in the budget from year to year,” Reitmeyer said. “You’d think he’d want NJ Transit firing on all cylinders” in time for the World Cup.
State Budget and Taxes
With federal pandemic aid ending and state tax revenue currently coming in lower than projected, the state has challenging budget years ahead, the reporters said. The deadline for the next state budget is June 30.
There is chatter about raising revenue through tax increases in next year’s budget – such as increasing the state Corporation Business Tax, the sales tax or the gas tax, Johnson said.
“This is going to be a tough budget,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to say (we are looking at a budget fight) that leads to a state shutdown,” Johnson said. “But we are dealing with those kinds of issues.”
Stacie Sherman
Senior Editor - Americas News Desk
Bloomberg News
Sherman cautioned that the public response was not pretty when Govs. Florio and Corzine proposed sales tax increases. Any sales tax increase “is politically fraught,” Sherman said. “It is a sensitive topic because it affects everybody. It has proven to tick people off.”
“While wealthier people probably pay more in (total) sales tax, lower-income people probably pay bigger share of their income,” Reitmeyer said.
“Politically, these fiscal issues may be more of a concern next year, but it’s already effecting this year’s budget,” he added.
Disparity Study
The recent release of a state Disparity Study by the Murphy administration has confirmed that a substantial majority of state-awarded contracts for goods and services go to businesses owned by white men, leaving insufficient opportunities for minorities and women. This disparity places New Jersey behind other states that seem to be more effectively addressing the issue.
Tom Bergeron
Owner, Editor & Chief Content Officer
ROI-NJ“To me, the big news story is absolutely nothing has happened since the release of the study,” Bergeron said. “They haven’t even announced a blue ribbon committee that’s going to look at things. The silence has been surprising.”
“It will take a while to fix, as more contracts are awarded,” Sherman said.
“There are eye-opening stats in that report for sure, especially for a state like New Jersey. The state Treasury is trying to do a better job with a new data base to keep track of some of this so we can be more aware going forward,” Reitmeyer said. “There have been bills already introduced and attempts to whittle away at this, but probably not as ambitious as the problem demands. We don’t have to re-invent the wheel. They could check on what New York, Philadelphia and other places are doing where they are more successful at (conducting) a fair contracting process.”
“More damning in the report,” Reitmeyer added, “are some of the narratives from individual contractors who were seeking to do business with state, and how disheartened they were with accusations of political favoritism. It’s tough to read. It’s like punching against a wall from their perspective.”
The Future of Artificial Intelligence
Matt Fazelpoor
Staff Writer - Gov./
Economic Development
NJBIZGov. Murphy and Princeton University recently announced plans to create an artificial intelligence innovation hub at Princeton University. It is expected to bring together AI researchers, industry leaders, startup companies and other collaborators to advance R&D in the field.
“At the very least, it is good to be at the ground floor with this,” Fazelpoor said. “Beyond the potential economic impact, it’s good to be a thought leader and it is vital from a societal point of view to have a research hub like this. To have Princeton on board gives instant credibility to the project.”
Added Sherman, “AI has potential. It was a huge business story in 2023 and will be a big business story in 2024. New Jersey has a lot going for it and it is doing the right thing by trying to take advantage of the early research and development of AI.”
