Was World Cup a boon or bust for New York, USA? Its complicated

Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Spain or Argentina will win the World Cup final.But who are the financial winners? Will it be a boon or bust for New York?It’s complicated.With only one game left, sports economists say it’s unlikely the U.S.will enjoy the huge economic boom promised.

At least not directly.As a host, New York saw uneven gains.But there were immense corporate profits, with FIFA the biggest beneficiary.The average ticket price for the final is the highest ever in the U.S.

at $11,327 per TickPick.For perspective, Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 (Chiefs-49ers) had been the mark at $9,411, with Knicks-Spurs Game 3 the highest non-Super Bowl at $6,308.Argentina-Spain will dwarf that.But FIFA monetizes the event globally, with host cities and public entities forced to shoulder most of the financial risk.

Local businesses like bars, hotels and restaurants got a short-term boost, but that ends after Sunday.“Yeah, FIFA is a profit-maximizing organization.They’re all over it, no question about it.

And that’s their right; they didn’t force us to host the games.We wanted to,” Dr.

Mark Rosentraub — director of Michigan’s Center for Sports Venues & Real Estate Development — told The Post.“In the absence of the World Cup, [New York] could get a huge number of visitors; and some visitors who were planning to come aren’t going to come during the World Cup because the prices are higher and it’ll be more crowds.So what we’re doing is replacing some oranges with bananas.”New York hotels run over 90 percent occupancy in the summer, and Dr.

Rosentraub opined that might hit 96 or 97 percent for the World Cup.“But there’s a lot of substitution going on because we get a lot of tourists,” Rosentraub said.“This weekend in New York, there’s going to be thousands of Argentines, [but] I don’t know how many from Argentina there’ll be.

We have people partying in Manhattan; it’ll be spectacular.But if they hadn’t played here, it would al...