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THE JOURNEY TO MATCHDAY: WORLD CUP MOBILITY INSIGHTS

How Fans Move:
World Cup 2026 at MetLife Stadium

How do tens of thousands of fans move through the Meadowlands before and after a World Cup match? This dashboard, developed through research by the NYU C2SMART Center, combines unique Edge-AI observations inside the sports complex with third-party roadway data. Findings cover multiple World Cup matchdays at MetLife Stadium, including the July 19 final.

Edge-AI pedestrian detections near MetLife Stadium

FINAL INCLUDEDWorld Cup Final | July 19

What this dashboard reveals

Inside the sports complex

Edge-AI cameras reveal when and where fans arrive and depart across the NJ TRANSIT Rail Area, Pedestrian Bridge, and NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus terminal.

Around the stadium

Traffic analysis is being prepared for a future public release.

Across different matchdays

Cross-match views compare weekend afternoons, weekday afternoons, and weekday evenings before users explore an individual match.

Did infrastructure and operations improve crowd flow?

Explore changes in pedestrian flow and peak bottleneck intensity following construction of the new pedestrian bridge and coordinated World Cup crowd-management operations.

Key Mobility Insights

Spectators generally arrived well before kickoff, particularly by rail. Across the non-final comparison matches, median NJ TRANSIT Rail Area ingress and shuttle-bus passenger alightings occurred approximately 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours 25 minutes before kickoff. The Final showed an earlier arrival profile.
Weekday arrivals were later and more concentrated among the non-final comparison matches. Median NJ TRANSIT arrivals occurred approximately 2 hours before kickoff on weekdays, compared with 2 hours 20 minutes on weekends.
Pedestrian Bridge users generally arrived later than rail passengers. Across the five matchdays observed at both locations, median bridge ingress occurred approximately 25 minutes later, and an average of 19% of bridge users arrived during the final hour, compared with 11% at the Rail Area.
Match outcomes appeared to influence when spectators departed. Approximately 12% of observed egress occurred 30 minutes before the final whistle during matches with earlier decisive leads, compared with 4% when the outcome remained unsettled until later.
The July 19 final produced a delayed, two-wave pedestrian departure pattern. A smaller wave followed the final whistle, while the main pedestrian-plaza congestion index peaked at 80.2 approximately 1 hour 15 minutes later, following the presentation ceremony and trophy lift. Contra-flow and stationary gatherings also contributed.
The new pedestrian bridge and coordinated World Cup crowd-management operations marked a clear improvement in peak bottleneck conditions. Across three monitored non-final matches, peak pedestrian-plaza congestion indexes were 16–28% lower than the high-congestion 2025 pre-new-bridge reference event. Despite its distinct post-match crowd pattern, the Final peaked 5% below the same reference and 20% below the highest level observed across all monitored events in 2025–2026.

Explore the evidence

RESEARCH CONTEXT

About the Data and Methodology

Pedestrian insights are preliminary and are derived from an enhanced computer-vision crowd detection method developed by the NYU C2SMART team using two Edge AI camera views. The estimates reflect pedestrian activity visible within the monitored fields of view and counting lines and do not represent total attendance or all pedestrian movements in and around the venue.

Privacy and Data Protection Note: Video data are used solely to analyze aggregate pedestrian and transportation patterns. Any imagery used in the research is anonymized so that individuals' faces are not recognizable, and the analysis does not identify or track specific people. The dashboard presents only de-identified, aggregated counts and movement patterns.

Although the detection method has been enhanced for high-density crowd conditions, accuracy may be affected by crowding and occlusion, camera angle and distance, weather, lighting conditions, staff activity, and people who remain stationary or stop to take photos. As a result, the estimates may differ from officially reported counts and should be interpreted as indicators of pedestrian activity and movement patterns rather than exact or comprehensive pedestrian counts.

Traffic insights are based in part on third-party data and are subject to the provider's coverage, methodology, classifications, and data availability. They may not correspond directly with official agency-reported traffic conditions. All findings are provided for research and informational purposes and may be refined as additional data and validation become available. For more information about the methodology, please see here.

Acknowledgement: This research project was developed by the New York University C2SMART Center in partnership with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) and AIWaysion, with support from MetLife Stadium. It builds on research initially funded by the SEMPACT Center through the U.S. Department of Transportation's University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program.

Disclaimer: The findings are those of the research team and do not necessarily represent the views of NJSEA, MetLife Stadium, or the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Have Questions or Feedback?

For any inquiries or feedback, please contact Dr. Jingqin (Jannie) Gao jingqin.gao@nyu.edu.

PEDESTRIAN DYNAMICS

Choose an analysis view

Select either cross-match pedestrian movements or the before-and-after pedestrian plaza comparison.

Pedestrian Dynamics Across Matchdays

Edge-AI observations show how spectators move through three connected mobility zones. Start with the cross-match picture, compare matchday timing, then select an individual match for detailed ingress, egress, and estimated-count charts.

SUMMARY VIEW

Methodology Note: Pedestrian insights are preliminary and are derived from an enhanced computer-vision crowd detection method developed by the NYU C2SMART team using two Edge AI camera views. Counts represent activity visible within the monitored views and counting lines and may not capture pedestrian movements outside those fields of view. Detection accuracy may vary depending on lighting conditions, crowd density, occlusion, camera angle, and the distance between the monitored area and the camera. For more information, please see here. Only de-identified, aggregated outputs are presented; individuals are not identified or tracked.

Observation Areas

Three fixed camera observation areas capture complementary parts of the matchday mobility system.

NJ TRANSIT Rail Area: Estimated directional pedestrian counts near the NJ TRANSIT rail connection
Pedestrian Bridge: Ingress and egress across the pedestrian bridge linking to the parking area on the American Dream side
NJ TRANSIT Shuttle Bus Terminal: Estimated NJ TRANSIT passenger alightings, boardings, and shuttle-bus movements

Map showing the NJ TRANSIT Rail Area, Pedestrian Bridge, and NJ TRANSIT Shuttle Bus Terminal observation areas around MetLife Stadium — **Source:** Background map image from the FIFA World Cup website. Observation-area boundaries, labels, and annotations added by NYU C2SMART.

INTERACTIVE DISTRIBUTION

Ingress and Egress Distribution by Matchday and Focus Area

Compare how arrivals build before kickoff and how departures unfold after the match.

Matchday Focus area

Ingress distribution

Egress distribution

INTERACTIVE CROSS-MATCH COMPARISON

Estimated Pedestrian Counts

Note: Estimated pedestrian counts are derived from computer-vision detections within fixed limited camera fields of view. Accuracy may vary with crowd density, occlusion, lighting, and weather. These estimates should be interpreted as indicators of pedestrian movement volume and patterns, rather than exact or comprehensive pedestrian counts.

Display

Event group

Showing all matchdays with available pedestrian observations.

Individual matches

Jun 13SatJun 16TueJun 27SatJun 30TueJul 5SunPartialJul 19Sun

NJ TRANSIT RAIL AREA

NJ TRANSIT Rail Area Pedestrian Estimated Counts Across Matchdays

Each line represents one matchday. Estimated ingress and egress are aggregated into 15-minute intervals for a direct comparison of timing and volume.

Ingress Across Matchdays

Estimated pedestrian ingress in 15-minute intervals, aligned to kickoff (0 minutes).

Egress Across Matchdays

Estimated pedestrian egress in 15-minute intervals, aligned to the match-end reference (0 minutes).

July 5 partial data: NJ TRANSIT Rail Area counts for July 5 represent partial data. Observations from 12:00–1:00 PM and the final 30 minutes of egress (8:30–9:00 PM) were unavailable, so counts could not be extracted for those periods.

PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

Pedestrian Bridge Estimated Counts Across Matchdays

Each line represents one matchday. Estimated ingress and egress are aggregated into 15-minute intervals for a direct comparison of timing and volume.

Ingress Across Matchdays

Estimated pedestrian ingress in 15-minute intervals, aligned to kickoff (0 minutes).

Egress Across Matchdays

Estimated pedestrian egress in 15-minute intervals, aligned to the match-end reference (0 minutes).

Note: The June 27 pedestrian bridge count may be affected by reduced detection accuracy due to shadows and reflections from the wet roadway. The figure should therefore be interpreted with some caution.

NJ TRANSIT SHUTTLE BUS TERMINAL

NJ TRANSIT Shuttle Bus Terminal Rider Estimated Counts Across Matchdays

Each line represents one matchday. Passenger alightings are aligned to kickoff and passenger boardings are aligned to the match-end reference so timing and rider volumes can be compared directly.

NJ TRANSIT Shuttle-Bus Passenger Alightings Across Matchdays

Estimated NJ TRANSIT passenger alightings in 15-minute intervals, aligned to kickoff (0 minutes).

NJ TRANSIT Shuttle-Bus Passenger Boardings Across Matchdays

Estimated NJ TRANSIT passenger boardings in 15-minute intervals, aligned to the match-end reference (0 minutes).

Note: Passenger counts are estimates derived from edge-AI cameras via automatic technology at the NJ Transit shuttle bus terminal entrance. Count accuracy may vary due to weather conditions, staff movement, and individuals entering the terminal solely to seek shelter. The data reflects NJ Transit terminal activity only and does not capture or represent the separate FIFA shuttle bus operations or passengers.

Estimated total Counts Across Available Matchdays

Combined NJ TRANSIT passenger movements and Pedestrian Bridge activity

Comparison note: Combined NJ TRANSIT totals use all-day Rail Area counts for June 13, June 16, June 27, and June 30; the July 19 final uses phase-aligned Rail Area totals. Pedestrian Bridge totals for June 13, June 16, and June 30 are phase-aligned, June 27 retains its current rain-affected estimate and caution note, and the final retains its corrected all-movement total because its ceremony and multidirectional crowd activity differed from the non-final matches.

Combined NJ TRANSIT Estimated Passenger Counts

NJ TRANSIT Rail Area + NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus terminal

NJ TRANSIT Rail Area NJ TRANSIT shuttle bus Total at bar end

IngressRail inbound + passenger alightings

6/13

20,269

6/16

27,556

6/27

27,271

6/30

23,599

7/19

19,440

EgressRail outbound + passenger boardings

6/13

20,850

6/16

24,983

6/27

25,247

6/30

23,898

7/19

20,184

Combined total: NJ TRANSIT Rail Area estimated count + NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus passenger estimated count.

Note: Computer vision-based estimates may differ from official NJ TRANSIT ridership figures due to staff activity, pedestrian movements near counting lines, limited camera coverage, and detection accuracy. They indicate movement patterns rather than complete passenger totals. For official ridership information, see the NJ TRANSIT Interagency Transportation After-Action Report.

Pedestrian Bridge Estimated Counts

IngressEgress

50,736

6/13

41,244

6/16

40,892

6/27

47,304

6/30

66,011

7/19

Focused comparison callouts

Weekend afternoonBrazil-Morocco (6:00 PM), Panama-England (5:00 PM), Brazil-Norway (4:00 PM)

Weekday afternoonFrance-Senegal (3:00 PM), Ecuador-Germany (4:00 PM), France-Sweden (5:00 PM)

Weekday eveningNorway-Senegal (8:00 PM)

Overall Observations

Most ingress occurred well before kickoff. Across the non-final matches, median pre-kickoff ingress at the NJ TRANSIT Rail Area and median passenger alightings at the NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus terminal occurred approximately 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours 25 minutes before kickoff. The Final showed an earlier arrival profile, with median Rail Area ingress about 2 hours 50 minutes and median shuttle-bus passenger alightings about 3 hours 25 minutes before kickoff.
The final hour was not the primary NJ TRANSIT rail-arrival period. Only about 5–19% of displayed NJ TRANSIT Rail Area ingress occurred during the final hour across the available matchdays.
Weekday arrivals were more compressed. The NJ TRANSIT Rail Area final-hour share averaged 17% for weekday matches, versus 8% for weekend matches. At the NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus terminal, 51% of passenger alightings occurred during the final two hours on weekdays, versus 27% on weekends when the Final is included.
Pedestrian Bridge users generally arrived later than people observed at the NJ TRANSIT Rail Area. Across five matchdays, the final-hour share averaged 19% at the bridge versus 11% at the NJ TRANSIT Rail Area. Median bridge ingress occurred about 25 minutes later. On June 13, the respective final-hour shares were 27% at the bridge, 7% at the NJ TRANSIT Rail Area, and 9% of passenger alightings at the NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus terminal.
France–Senegal (Tue, June 16) had a concentrated NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus arrival period. Approximately 47% of NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus passenger alightings occurred between two and one hours before the 3:00 PM kickoff.
Post-match movement was concentrated during the first hour for non-final matches. First-hour shares were approximately 77–80% for NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus passenger boardings, 63–76% at the NJ TRANSIT Rail Area, and 61–76% at the Pedestrian Bridge. For the Final, the respective shares were 29%, 36%, and 37% as ceremony activity delayed the principal departure wave.
The NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus terminal experienced an immediate boarding surge during the non-final matches. Peak intervals occurred at the match-end reference on June 27 and June 30, approximately a quarter hour afterward on June 16, and a half hour afterward on June 13. For the Final, the peak boarding interval occurred about one hour after match end.
Early departures were distinctly higher on June 27 and June 30 among the four non-final comparison matches. NJ TRANSIT shuttle-bus passenger boardings during the final half hour were 12% and 16%, compared with 4% and 2% on June 13 and June 16. NJ TRANSIT Rail Area figures were 14%, 11%, 4%, and 5%, respectively. These patterns coincide with matches in which decisive leads developed before the final whistle.

Select a match to replace this summary

Source: NYU C2SMART

Pedestrian Plaza Congestion Before and After the New Pedestrian Bridge

This analysis compares a standardized occupancy-based congestion index that serves as a proxy for how crowded the pedestrian plaza became during selected events before and after construction of the new pedestrian bridge. The August 2, 2025, WWE event was selected as the pre-new-bridge reference because its high pedestrian-plaza congestion provides a meaningful benchmark for comparison. Three non-final FIFA World Cup matches serve as the primary comparison cases, while the Final is analyzed separately because it exhibited a distinct post-match pedestrian-flow pattern.

COMPARISON VIEW

BACKGROUND

The New Pedestrian Bridge

Completed in mid-2026 just ahead of the FIFA World Cup, a new pedestrian bridge was built adjacent to the existing structure over Route 120, connecting MetLife Stadium directly to the American Dream complex and its parking garages. This additional crossing was designed to increase pedestrian capacity and improve the flow of spectators before and after events.

Pedestrian plaza after construction of the new pedestrian bridge beside the existing bridge

Methodology Note: Global congestion scores are normalized and smoothed on a standardized congestion index (a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 represents the highest congestion level recorded at the venue in 2025-2026). The pre-new-bridge reference and three non-final matches are compared over their shared observation window, from -10 to approximately +110 minutes. The Final is presented separately using its full available observation window. This observational comparison does not establish causation; attendance, event operations, crowd composition, weather, and other conditions may also affect congestion.

Reference peak before new bridge84.2Standardized index · WWE · August 2, 2025

Non-final match peaks after new bridge60.4–71.1Standardized index · three monitored non-final matches

Observed non-final peak reduction16–28% lowerRelative to the reference peak

Final match peak80.2Standardized index · approximately +75 minutes5% lower than the reference peak

OBSERVED PATTERNS

Mobility Insights

Late-Game Action (France vs. Senegal):

Stoppage-time goals kept spectators engaged until the final whistle, resulting in a delayed post-match pedestrian surge.

Matches with Early Decisive Leads (France vs. Sweden, Panama vs. England):

Comfortable leads well before the end of the match coincided with earlier departures. Across the three observation areas, approximately 10% of observed egress movements occurred during the final 30 minutes before match end, shifting a portion of demand ahead of the main post-match surge.

Peak-Intensity Comparison Across the Three Non-Final Matches:

Pedestrian Plaza congestion scores use a standardized index based on a common observed area across camera views. The index ranges from 0 to 100, where 100 represents the highest congestion level recorded at the venue in 2025-2026. The pre-new bridge reference peak was 84.2 during WWE SummerSlam Night 1.

Following construction of the new pedestrian bridge, peak index values were 66.3 for Panama vs. England, 71.1 for France vs. Sweden, and 60.4 for France vs. Senegal.

Despite attracting 80,000+ spectators, these peaks were approximately 16–28% lower than the reference event. Queues also remained continuously moving during the three matches.

Final Match:

The July 19 Final's peak index of 80.2 occurred approximately 75 minutes after match end and reflected a distinct combination of delayed departures, ceremony timing, pedestrian contra-flow, and stationary crowd gatherings. Its peak was higher than the other three World Cup matches but remained 5% lower than the pre-new-bridge reference event and 20% below the highest level observed across all monitored events in 2025–2026.

PROFILE COMPARISON

Pedestrian Plaza Congestion: Before vs. After the New Pedestrian Bridge

The shaded reference area shows the WWE congestion profile. Select legend items to show or hide the three non-final match curves, then move across the chart to compare standardized index values at the same minute.

The August 2, 2025 WWE event is retained as the selected pre-new-bridge reference for this comparison. The standardized index is calibrated across the broader 2025-2026 venue dataset, where 100 denotes the highest recorded congestion level.

FINAL MATCH

Pedestrian Plaza Congestion: Final Match

The final is presented separately because the presentation ceremony, trophy lift, and atypical multidirectional crowd activity produced a different post-match pattern.

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

Congestion Intensity and Persistence

Hover or focus on any bar for its exact value and comparison with the reference before the new bridge.

Interpretation: Lower values indicate less intense or shorter-lasting congestion within the shared comparison window.

Source: NYU C2SMART

Our Team

Meet the researchers and technology partners behind the World Cup mobility analysis.

OUR TEAM

This research project was developed by the New York University C2SMART Center in partnership with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) and AIWaysion, with support from MetLife Stadium. It builds on research initially funded by the SEMPACT Center through the U.S. Department of Transportation's University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program.