Genova Burns talks World Cup with Jim Kirkos, Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce

Jim Kirkos, Chief Executive Officer of the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce chats with Of Counsel Bill Heller, Esq., of Genova Burns LLC about the upcoming World Cup impact on New Jersey.

Bill Heller:

Genova Burns has been servicing the corporate community in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area for 35 years. John Quincy Adams once said it best, whoever tells the best story wins. So here is our story. My name is Bill Heller. I've been a proud member of the New Jersey Bar since 1978. And I am now affiliated with the Genova Burns law firm. I'm proud to be affiliated with the firm, which covers almost every area of the law that any corporation would need, especially when it comes to the World Cup, which is coming our way in the New York metropolitan area real soon.

With me is my friend Jim Kirkos, who is the chairman of the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce. And during our conversation today, we'll talk about some of the business and legal issues that companies may face. So first, let me start by asking Jim, how did we get the benefit of being awarded the World Cup?

Jim Kirkos:

Well, first of all, thank you for having me, Bill. It's a great conversation. We're immensely excited by the idea of having World Cup be a part of this region coming here to MetLife Stadium in 2026. And the process is a long process. It started back about five and a half years ago when the United States and Canada and Mexico participated in a joint bid to FIFA for us to be the countries that would host the 2026 World Cup. And then we were successful at being awarded the North American bid. It was a joint three-country bid. And then the process then evolves into venues. So now once it comes to North America, Mexico, Canada, or United States, now how do we figure out whether we could become one of the venues here in the New York, New Jersey marketplace with MetLife Stadium? And so the bid process is arduous, but it's one that you just need to be at all the time. Luckily enough, we know how to do big events in this region. We met at Life Stadium, and its team is a pro at doing big events. And so we have a little bit of historic knowledge on how to go about that process.

Bill Heller:

Terrific. Thank you Jim. When that process was ongoing, I was in my previous employment as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the New York Giants and in that role, I was familiar with and participated a little bit in the process that Jim has just described. Jim, what was key in the process in getting the award?

Jim Kirkos:

I think experience was one of the first keys. There's a couple, actually. I think the first one is experience. And as I said in my last comment, the MetLife Stadium has hosted major events, Super Bowl, WrestleMania twice, international soccer, some of the biggest concerts in the world. So the stadium has an inherent experience level of hosting these big events. And any big entity like FIFA wants to know they're going to a place that knows how to do big events. The other piece, I think, is that this New York, New Jersey media market, right? We're in the media market of the world. We're next to the greatest city in the world. We have incredible transportation links and destination related assets, especially now with American Dream being open. And so FIFA wants to make sure that those that travel to this region for these games have a great experience. And we have the necessary, what I call destination assets, to make sure we provide a destination experience.

Bill Heller:

Does all of this bring advantages to local businesses?

Jim Kirkos:

Immense economic impact. Any time you, especially, listen, it would be great economic impact even if we were only hosting the final. But we have eight games including the final. So for five to six weeks at a minimum, we'll have fans and FIFA staff and visitors and broadcasters and media here in the particular region. We're gonna make sure they find their way into all the local communities, and that's where the economic impact really takes place. place.

Bill Heller:

Well, that's good because there are also opportunities to avoid legal landmines as you try to exploit the opportunities that Jim has just described. And there are many, many opportunities, but they almost go through the World Cup host committee. Among the legal issues that could arise in exploiting these economic opportunities are intellectual property law, privacy law, immigration law, labor and employment law, contract law, and just about any other area of the law that you can imagine. There are big stakes here. FIFA is a large international corporation. I'm not sure of this, but I believe the contract with the MetLife Stadium corporate entity reads something like 70 plus pages and I think that's single spaced. So it's very thorough. I encourage you to get in touch with the Genova Burns firm. We are the go-to firm in New Jersey for World Cup issues. We cover everything from governmental compliance and intellectual property and privacy, employment law, labor law, and the like. We know from prior experience at MetLife Stadium that soccer brings the biggest crowds. MetLife Stadium's capacity is about 82,500 and when soccer is played in the stadium, just a normal match, the stadium is packed. That creates traffic issues for the state police and fans. That creates issues about alcohol compliance and the like and it creates issues allowing the opportunity to local business to advertise their name and brand in front of a huge crowd. Jim, what's your comment on what I just said?

Jim Kirkos:

So I think I think first of all our job is to be as an organization the chamber and our visitors bureau. Our job is to make sure that businesses of all sizes and particularly small businesses who don't really have a full understanding of the complexities of all the different legal issues that you mentioned. And I'll give you an example. I know that when we look back to Super Bowl when Super Bowl was in town there was entities corporations that were buying out restaurants and facilities right to host corporate hospitality. And that's great. And that's that should be part of it. We want that to take place. But if an international company is asking you to sign a contract to buy out your restaurant or or facility or what have you for a week a day whatever it may be you need to understand the law. You need to understand how to protect yourself. We certainly want you to have that business. We're encouraging it. We'll help promote it. But at the end of the day we want you to be safe. So making sure we get the expertise that Genova Burns offers into the hands of all types of businesses is critically important because we want them to be smart at winning that business.

Bill Heller:

Thanks Jim. You know what you just said reminds me that insurance issues and alcohol compliance laws also will come into play as these restaurants or venues host private parties or even public events. One of the things I want to touch upon now is the issue of trademark law because it is appropriate due to the fame of the FIFA name and trademarks. You probably have seen over many years that when advertisers do not have permission of the NFL to use the words Super Bowl, a radio station or TV will say come to the big game. The big game has become synonymous with the Super Bowl. Everyone knows what we're talking about but what it says is that the advertiser doesn't have the NFL's permission. The NFL polices its trademark very vigorously and so does FIFA. As you can see we have on the desk a branded FIFA stripe. I am convinced that is genuine. Mr. Kirkos was given it by FIFA themselves. Isn't that right Jim?

Jim Kirkos:

The host committee.

Bill Heller:

So while you have the opportunity to advertise your brand and get eyeballs on your name and brand, be aware of how you do that. Get the advertising copy vetted before you advertise and that includes especially on the internet or other digital media. This is especially important for local and small businesses in our area because many times they will do things in good faith but without seeking the advice of counsel. If a local restaurant decides to advertise that it's available for FIFA events, can it use the FIFA name and trademark? Well, that depends on how it uses the name and this gets into issues of trademark infringement and fair use which is a defense to trademark infringement and it's something that the Genova Burns firm can assist with to keep you out of trouble. In addition, we have a number of transportation companies who are members of the Meadowlands Chamber. The business opportunities for them are immense but likewise in the transportation industry there are a lot of issues legal issues that they have to address.

Jim Kirkos:

Yeah, no, I think, Bill, what you're saying is critically important and what the work that we're doing as an organization is to work with FIFA and especially the host committee on getting those permissions for some branding rights and we've asked the host committee to produce a logo or some branding material that they can broadly use in the community and that we would help disseminate to businesses that says, okay, you may not be able to use the main FIFA logo for the event, but you can use some version of it that they provide to us so that we don't have to go through the machinations of having businesses receive cease and desist letters and having to take down a web page or a social media post because they're anxious and supportive. And so we're working on that right now. I think I feel confident that we will get to a place like that, but we're going to need to continue, Bill, you and I are going to need to continue to make sure we're putting this information in the marketplace and make sure businesses have the awareness and the greater amount of business that you do will require the greater amount of legal sophistication.

Bill Heller:

Of course you'll call us about the questions agreement. What Jim just said calls it to mind another issue. Should you get a cease and desist letter? Don't ignore it. FIFA is the big dog in the room, and they will pursue a cease and desist letter that is ignored. There are ways to resolve those kinds of conflicts without litigation, arbitration, or mediation. And one of the things in which Genova Burns excels is dispute resolution. We try to keep our clients out of litigation, but if they have to litigate a case, we're ready to do so. Jim, what is the economic impact that the World Cup games will have to our area?

Jim Kirkos:

So, while I would love to give you a dollar value, FIFA themselves have indicated that the economic impact to the region and to New Jersey could be in excess of $2 billion. And so, my job and our job is to make sure that New Jersey and for me, especially the Greater Meadowlands area, gets as big of a chunk as possible of that. And so, if you think about where that economic impact comes from, it first starts with accommodations. So, once you put fill hotel rooms in the region, all of those folks need to eat, they need to shop, they need to travel around, they need to entertain themselves. And like I said before, there could be people that are in the region for the games for weeks at a time. You know, this is not an event where, even like Super Bowl, where somebody comes in two days before Super Bowl and leaves the next day. We expect people to be here on extended stays, and we actually expect the hotel community will have three, four, five-day minimums to their hotel stays. And so, people will be here longer. That's a great opportunity for us to make sure we're moving those visitors and we're getting them into all the local eateries, the local attractions, you know, the local entertainment spots. And so, we think the economic impact is going to be huge. We think New Jersey is going to be a big winner, despite the fact that a lot of media attention is always on New York. We are hosting the game right here, and we're better and smarter now than we've been in the past about how to attract visitors to the New Jersey side of the river.

Bill Heller:

You know, Jim's comment raises two issues on which I'd like to comment. The first is the people who will be visiting. In large part, they're going to be foreign individuals traveling into the United States to enjoy the games and probably for these extended stays, just as Jim mentioned. What we need to remember as businesses working with these customers and clients is that their culture and their norms may be different from ours. And the best advice we can give is take the experience you have obtained in your employment law compliance here in the U.S. and treat each visitor, each client, each customer as you would an employee under the employment laws of New Jersey and the federal government. The second thing I want to mention is this. A lot of people are surprised to hear this, but if you're entering into a contract with foreign visitors to our country, you may be dealing with people abroad. In the United States, there's something called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and it applies to almost every business in our area. Basically, what it says is you can't do unlawful things to get business from foreign countries. And if you wish, we can talk to you about compliance with the Corrupt Practices Act. It's inappropriate to go into it in detail in this podcast, but it's something that surprises people with whom we speak about the coming World Cup events.

Jim Kirkos:

I'd like to address a little bit the international protocols because that's a it's a really good point Bill and the things that we need to make sure of and we're we're telling our members and businesses that they need to educate themselves to the potential languages even our own websites being translated is going to be translated in four or five languages our visitor website will be in four or five languages but you said something that was really appropriate and that was and and that was we need to we need to provide a great experience you know if you think about economic impact we always think about the now right so people come in during the during the game but we have an incredible opportunity to showcase our region not only for now but for the future this is our opportunity to really put out a menu of all the things that people can do here not only do we want them staying in in our region when they come for World Cup but we want them to come back so it's it's incumbent upon us to make sure where we're all providing that great experience understanding certain protocols and and customs of your customers that are coming in making sure the hostess at the at the at the at the stand is greeting those customers and is not only tolerant but it's welcoming of all different people coming into the region based on what they're wearing you know based on their language we want to make people feel I call it giving the region giving people a great warm welcome if we if we practice that then the economic impact of the games and subsequent to the games will be immensely successful for us.

Bill Heller:

For sure. You know, when I talked about brand, extension, and advertisements before, it ties directly into what Jim just said because you want to increase the goodwill of your business by dealing with FIFA, by dealing with all of the people who will be visiting for the games. There's one area that I want to mention also, and that is avoiding bad publicity. And the best way to avoid bad publicity is to make sure that whatever you're doing complies with the law. And now I'm talking about New Jersey state and federal laws that may apply to whatever activities you are engaged in for the World Cup. In that connection, the founder of our firm, Angelo Genova, is one of the leading governmental lawyers in New Jersey. And we have the fire power to address those issues with you and to be a bit facetious to keep you out of jail. Jim, do you see any short or low term labor boost for our area?

Jim Kirkos:

Oh yeah, listen, I think because of the volume of business, many businesses, I think particularly in hospitality, and that covers dining and hotels and entertainment, I think there'll be an influx, I think there'll be a lot of part-time positions made available. I think that is a good thing for people that live in the region, but I also think it's an area that businesses need to protect themselves on. for sure.

Bill Heller:

There's two aspects to labor that we need to take into account. The first is the laws governing labor itself, and there are many, mostly federal. I am not a labor lawyer, but we have a ton of labor lawyers at Genova Burns who can help you with that, especially if your business is already unionized or trying to be unionized. The second thing I want to mention is this. As in the Christmas holidays, businesses will hire more people because the business will increase. That is a temporary worker, and there are laws around temporary workers that you should be aware of. One comes to mind. You may hire those people under 1099s as independent contractors, but under recent rules issued by the Federal Department of Justice, they are probably going to be classified as employees. And if they are, you will have to pay taxes just as you do for your regular full-time employees. It's another landmine to avoid. It's easily avoided. As to benefits, well, I'll bet that all of your businesses have a threshold below which you don't have to provide a regular employee with benefits. Be sure to look into that because that can help you in your decision in hiring extra employment for the World Cup.

Jim Kirkos:

Yeah, and I think if I can close on that comment, I believe that the fourth thought and the planning on behalf of businesses is critically important. To know the law, to know the circumstances, and to plan what happens and how you'll staff up to accommodate the influx of potential business is really important. If you're flying by the seat of your pants, that's when you're going to get in trouble.

Bill Heller:

You know, the thing I'm most excited about the World Cup is the fact that unlike the NFL and baseball, the soccer players wear the coolest jerseys and buying some new jerseys is going to be a lot of fun. Jim, how about you?

Jim Kirkos:

So, my experience with international soccer and World Cup soccer dates back to 1994, when we hosted the 94 World Cup here. And as a member of the organization back then with my hospitality business, I was part of the Chamber's efforts back then. And my son was playing soccer, so I became a soccer lover. And then I experienced, for the first time, Italy/Ireland, playing at the original Giants Stadium for the 94 World Cup. And for three hours, I mean, for three hours, the Irish fans were chanting in the stands, you'll never beat the Irish, you'll never beat the Irish. It was amazing. It was an amazing experience for me. So, I'm excited by the passion and the excitement that soccer fans, international soccer fans bring. And quite frankly, Americans have embraced it, right? You know, MLS has got 25 soccer-specific stadiums in the country now, maybe more, I may have lost count. And so, soccerism is embraced here. And I can tell you that it's accelerated, the 1994 World Cup accelerated soccer. MLS started in 1995, playing at Giants Stadium with the MetroStars. Now the Red Bulls have their own stadium. And I'm excited to see what this does for soccer in the United States to really accelerate and empower it. And I want to be part of that passion and excitement. It's a fun time.

Bill Heller:

That's great. I started watching soccer myself and as a lifelong football and baseball fan I've learned what's actually going on on a soccer pitch. Pitch not field. We've talked about a lot of issues today and from my point of view those mostly are legal issues a lot of businesses small medium and large Hesitate to hire outside counsel to address these issues. My best advice is don't We can help you the cost of a lawyer Will be dwarfed by the costs you incur in penalties litigation governmental investigations and the life so this is a business decision to hire counsel and If you do at least you can reduce the risk of legal problems arising from this great economic opportunity Thank you for joining us. I hope you'll tell people about our podcasts so that they too get the benefit of the wisdom we've tried to send your way Jim, thank you very much for your input. We wish you a lot of luck in helping us Get the economic impact that you've described. I Am as I said before I am Bill Heller Partnered with Angelo Genova whom I've known for 50 years and if he ever gives me crap, I know things.