“With a little over a month until the World Cup comes to New Jersey, workers this week began installing the grass field at MetLife Stadium. Workers began the two-day installation process on Wednesday afternoon, when the first of 27 trucks filled with hundreds of rolls of grass arrived at the stadium from a turf farm in North Carolina roughly 12 hours away. The venue, which will be called ‘New York New Jersey’ for the duration of the tournament, will stage eight matches from June 13 until the World Cup final on July 19. …”
NYT/ATH (Video)

“How many times will Elon Musk post on X today? Will Donald Trump do anything this week? Hantavirus pandemic in 2026? Where will Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding occur? Oh, and who will win the 2026 World Cup? Welcome to the world of prediction markets, the increasingly popular betting platform that allows users to stake money, cash or crypto, on a wide range of topics. Just don’t call it gambling in the United States because, well, it technically isn’t… yet. …”
NYT/ATH (Video)

“The World Cup is almost here. Of the 48 teams, 32 will advance from the opening group stage to the knockout stage — a single-elimination bracket of matches to be played in 15 stadiums across North America. But where, exactly, could your team play after surviving the group? If the United States wins its group, for example, it will play its first elimination match in Santa Clara, Calif. If it finishes second, it will head to Arlington, Texas. But if it finishes third, it could play in Boston, New York or Kansas City, Mo. — or not at all, depending on how teams finish in other groups. So where a team plays its knockout games depends on its three matches in the group stage, which begins June 11. To estimate each team’s chances of getting out of its group, we used data from sportsbooks and prediction markets to measure team strength. …”
NYT