When NJ Transit (New Jersey Transit Corporation) announced this month that train tickets to MetLife Stadium for the World Cup would cost US$150 (R$750) — more than ten times the normal price — fans were outraged. The news started a battle between local authorities and FIFA (International Football Federation), football’s highest governing body, over who should bear the costs of security and transport.
But as politicians argued with organizers, an alternative idea gained traction online: Why, some European fans asked, couldn’t they just walk to MetLife Stadium (where Brazil will make its debut, against Morocco)? Surely a stadium near New York City would welcome pedestrians with open arms.
“I know walking is an unfamiliar concept to most Americans, but it is common in the rest of the world,” the original post on social platform X read on April 17.
Never mind that FIFA has banned pedestrian access, or that the scenic tour may involve crossing interstate highways and walking through the swamps surrounding the stadium, where Jimmy Hoffa was once believed to be buried.
Still, Jean PD Meijer, a 29-year-old Dutch design engineer who lives in Groningen, the Netherlands, reinforced his stance on
“A lot of people were saying it’s completely impossible to walk there. It’s not — not that it’s a good idea — but it kind of felt like this mentality of just giving up because you think it’s too difficult,” said Meijer, who doesn’t plan to go to the World Cup.
While it was unclear whether those commenting online would actually follow the advice when faced with New Jersey’s swamps, highways and drivers, Americans quickly warned against walking to MetLife Stadium.
Yes, technically it’s a walkable distance: several miles between Rutherford, New Jersey (where a train station is nearby) and MetLife Stadium, depending on the route, and, for the more athletic, about 10 miles from Manhattan to MetLife.
But a walking route is daunting at best and perhaps impossible, some people argued online — a New York Times reporter tried it in 2013.
“It’s not five or ten miles that you can walk,” said Tiesyn Harris, a 22-year-old social media content creator from North Carolina who has visited New York and whose TikTok video about the debate has had more than 3.3 million views.
“Imagine trying to walk on I-95, one of the most dangerous highways in the United States, or trying to cross the Meadowlands, or swamps or these toxic streams with high levels of mercury and other harmful substances.”
As the online debate raged — apparently fueled mostly by people who weren’t even planning to attend the event — the New York/New Jersey Organizing Committee was forced to speak out, issuing a statement last week strongly advising that fans not walk to the stadium.
“These are busy, high-traffic corridors where walking poses serious risks to both pedestrians and motorists,” the statement read.
Tony Vernal, a 48-year-old Brooklyn resident, said that despite the fare increase, he planned to use NJ Transit to watch the Norway-Senegal match with his eight-year-old son. “I’m waiting to see if New Jersey backs off this absurd $150 increase,” he said. “But with a child, I’ll opt for the easiest option, which is the train.”
“There is no way to walk to the stadium,” he added. “It’s a death trap. Are you going to walk the Pulaski Skyway? No, it’s a bad idea.”
Still, Vernal said he wouldn’t mind seeing some Europeans take a risk. “Feel free to try,” he said. “I encourage this type of transgression.”
Whether it’s technically possible to walk to MetLife is perhaps irrelevant. The debate fits into a larger trend of Americans and Europeans arguing on social media about cultural differences, real or imagined. They discuss sauna culture, hydration and how to hold cutlery.
Americans criticize Europeans for not investing in air conditioning, for smoking so much and for charging to use the bathrooms.
Europeans accuse Americans of talking too loudly, making generalizations about Europe as a whole, and, of course, driving everywhere. The two groups even consider the outcome of hypothetical physical confrontations — who would win in a fight: a hundred Britons or a hundred Americans?
Jamaal Burkmar, a British choreographer and content creator who posted a TikTok video about the debate, said in an email that arguments pitting Europeans against Americans often arise from a “growing tendency toward cultural defensiveness online.”
“Legitimate criticisms — about costs, infrastructure and accessibility around a global event like the World Cup — are dismissed with a widespread response against ‘those Europeans’,” he wrote.
“I’ve traveled to a country on every continent and never stopped having difficulties with public transport on the first day. Is it really so strange that Europeans don’t know the way to MetLife Stadium?”, he asked.
