Both the New York Giants and Jets are bringing next week’s NFL Draft fan parties to an unusual place by their New Jersey-centric standards: Manhattan, the center of New York City. Instead of the typical party at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Jets Draft Night presented by Verizon will be at the South Street Seaport, and the Giants will be at Hudson Yards for a Draft Night Block Party presented by Moody’s.
Both teams are excited to see what the prime real estate can do, but it was something of a forced move. They had to temporarily abandon MetLife because FIFA is now in the stadium preparing the pitch for the World Cup. This appears to be the first tangible effect on any NFL team operations for the global soccer tournament, which requires 13 NFL teams give up control of their venues for about two months.
“This year, with the stadium and FIFA preparing to host the World Cup, we embraced the opportunity to experiment and see how other venues could handle the scale needed to put on a great event for our fans,” said Giants SVP/Marketing and Brand Strategy Nilay Shah. “Hudson Yards presented that opportunity, and we are excited to bring the Giants Draft party to NYC.”
Jets Chief Brand and Communications Officer Eric Gelfand said their location (near ESPN’s studios) in lower Manhattan allows the team to create an “authentic, high-energy experience.”
“We are excited to bring our draft party back to New York City and celebrate one of the most important moments on the NFL calendar with our fans in the heart of the city,” Gelfand said.
World Cup means an unusual offseason for 13 teams
FIFA won’t fully control MetLife or the 10 other NFL venues until 30 days from the start of the tournament, or the middle of May. But when they do, it will mean big changes for parts of NFL workforce and operations teams until nearly training camp in late July. None of this is a surprise, and a generation ago, might have been scarcely noticed during a sleepy offseason.
But in 2026, there’s barely an offseason for the business side, and NFL teams have become revenue-oriented 12 months a year. Take Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, where the Chiefs have always been enthusiastic supporters of the World Cup but acknowledge there is a cost to losing the stadium for the summer.
“Last year we had a record year with concerts. We won’t have any this year,” said Chiefs President Mark Donovan. “So, you’re giving that up.”
The 13 teams affected are: the Cowboys, Jets, Giants, Falcons, Chiefs, Texans, 49ers, Chargers, Rams, Eagles, Seahawks, Patriots and Dolphins.
Most employees of these teams work at offsite team HQ/practice facilities. But insofar as team employees do primarily work in the stadium, there will be changes. In Kansas City, Chiefs ticketing sales and operations workers will relocate, while stadium/events staff essentially get folded into FIFA operations. In Atlanta, the AMBSE employees at the stadium will continue to report to work there, but they are subject to FIFA credentialing instead of their usual access procedures and have been instructed to work from home on match days. The Texans negotiated terms that mostly allows business as usual. In Santa Clara, 49ers stadium operations employees will remain at Levi’s Stadium, but other employees may relocate to the team’s other offices, work from home or receive a FIFA credential and keep coming in.
Back at MetLife, the Giants will start coach John Harbaugh’s first training camp with the team spending two weeks at the Greenbrier in West Virginia, thanks to the stadium hosting the World Cup final on July 19 and ongoing renovations at the team’s HQ, Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J.
