Daniel Lynch joined the committee to become its chief commercial officer, leaving a nearly 20-year career with the New York Giants, where he most recently served as vice president of corporate partnerships. The committee’s co-host city managers — who have worked on World Cup planning since before the host committee was formed — are Lauren LaRusso and Bruce Revman.

LaRusso was general counsel in Phil Murphy’s government authorities unit that works with such agencies as NJ Transit and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. Revman was a managing director of New York City Tourism & Conventions.

Traditionally, a host committee provides most of the guidance for the major organization it represents because its members understand the infrastructure of the location, especially such details as hotel access and traffic patterns, said Aaron Moore, a professor of public relations and event planning at Rider University in Lawrenceville.

When it comes to soliciting donations, there will always be a political element, and major corporations make such donations out of their marketing budgets, he said.

“Rather than buy television advertisements or digital advertisements, they’re going to be what is called ‘the proud sponsor’ of this event. So that means that company is going to get a lot of positive publicity having their names attached by being called a sponsor,” he said.

Earlier: Here’s how Sherrill tried to cut cost of World Cup for NJ residents

Tensions with host committees not unique

Nearly all the host committees around the country have struggled to raise money for the World Cup — and it’s not surprising given the restrictions imposed by FIFA, the Zurich-based soccer organization that runs the tournament and stands to receive at least $11 billion in profit from this year’s World Cup.

FIFA has a number of global sponsors from some of the world’s most profitable companies — such as Coca-Cola, Adidas, Qatar Airways and Visa — and prevents competing brands from appearing at its tournaments. Host committees must therefore spend money and go to great lengths to eliminate all other ad branding at host stadiums.

For example, any reference to “MetLife” will be scrubbed from the East Rutherford stadium, and it will be rebranded “New York New Jersey Stadium” for the duration of the tournament.

FIFA also wasn’t provided tickets or suites to matches to dangle in front of potential sponsor companies. Taken together, this severely limits their ability to attract local sponsors.

Most host cities are allowed to secure no more than 10 sponsorships. The New York-New Jersey host committee is allowed a maximum of 20, but few have reached 10.

How does money get prioritized?

Other U.S. host cities are feeling financial pressures similar to those of the New York-New Jersey region, with fan fests getting downsized and public confrontations sprouting over funding spats. Last year in California, FIFA threatened to deny public viewing licenses to the host committee after disagreements over money.

The question that arises is: How does the money raised by host committees get prioritized?

In Philadelphia, the host committee partnered with Airbnb to provide free rides home on the SEPTA Broad Street Line after all six matches in that city, a corporate sponsorship model the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles have used on various game days in past years. Match-goers will pay a one-way, standard subsidized fare of $2.90 to attend World Cup matches.

Meg Kane, CEO of Philadelphia’s host committee, told The Athletic that the committee focused on minimizing transportation costs from the beginning of the bid process to become a host city.

But it’s hard to compare Philadelphia’s experience to New Jersey’s:

• New Jersey is hosting eight matches, including the final, while Philadelphia is hosting six.
• Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field holds about 65,000 fans, while MetLife will seat about 78,000 for the World Cup.
• Philadelphia’s subway system is designed to transport around 15,000 people an hour, while NJ Transit’s Meadowlands shuttle can move about 10,000. The Garden State has approved spending up to $135 million to design, engineer and construct a bus route to complement the train shuttle between Secaucus Junction station and MetLife to move another 10,000 people per hour.
• FIFA eliminated 23,000 parking spots normally available at MetLife to increase its security and media perimeter, which shifted the burden of transporting 56,000 fans to NJ Transit, the host committee’s bus shuttle and ride-sharing. Philadelphia’s stadium will have parking, which will reduce strain on the city’s mass transit system.

‘The wonders of American democracy’

New Jersey, without assistance from host partner New York, has approved more than $307 million in taxpayer spending to provide the host committee with a loan and make FIFA-required changes to the stadium and infrastructure upgrades, according to documents obtained by NorthJersey.com.

Sherrill says she won’t keep shifting the tournament’s financial burdens to taxpayers.

Those tensions — and the use of host committees — are in stark contrast to the last two World Cup tournaments, which were held in Qatar and Russia, where most of the coordinating went through a central government and money wasn’t an issue, said Robert Sroka, an assistant professor of sports management at Towson University in Maryland.

“Here, you have the wonders of American democracy at work and all sorts of political tensions that aren’t present in other places,” Sroka said.

While the host committees are meant to lessen the financial burdens on taxpayers, the final bill will end up falling to local and state governments that agree to host these expensive mega events.

“Current politicians, whether they like it or not, they have to deal with whatever was left on their plate by their predecessors,” Sroka said. “You’re stuck with the bill — so enjoy the party while it lasts.”