Two Caribbean nations made this summer’s World Cup, and the tournament is playing out right here, with eight matches and the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium. That puts it close to home for Caribbean New York, in Flatbush, Crown Heights, and the Caribbean blocks of Queens.
They are Curaçao, a tiny island that just became the smallest country by population and area to ever qualify, and Haiti, which is back on the world stage for the first time since 1974, ending a 52-year drought. Add Panama, in for the second time, and CONCACAF’s little guys crashed the party.
The catch in Brooklyn is that the team most of the neighborhood actually roots for is not in it. Jamaica, whose diaspora defines Flatbush and Crown Heights, finished behind Curaçao in its qualifying group. So the biggest Caribbean fanbases in the city are watching a World Cup their flag is not flying in, while smaller communities, Haitian, Panamanian, Curaçaoan New Yorkers, suddenly have a national team to scream for.
And the people whose teams did make it mostly cannot get in the building. Entry-level tickets at MetLife run $460 to $700, with premium seats up to $2,500, Caribbean Life reported, and the final has been quoted, via NPR and the AP, anywhere from $3,500 into the tens of thousands. “It’s priced through the roof,” veteran Caribbean journalist Tony Best told the outlet. The World Cup is being played 10 miles away and is functionally invisible to the working-class immigrant fans who care about it most.
The money is the other side of it. The New York/New Jersey Host Committee projects those eight matches will generate about $3.3 billion and 26,000 jobs, and more than a million visitors will spill into the city looking to eat, drink, and experience exactly the Caribbean culture these neighborhoods have. “Caribbean businesses in NYC will benefit massively,” said Albert Baldeo, a district leader who represents Little Guyana. So the stadium prices the locals out, while the spillover economy sends the world into their restaurants.
The celebration most people can afford is going to happen where it always does, at the neighborhood bar. In Flatbush, Michelle’s Cocktail Lounge, a Panamanian spot, plans to open on its normally-closed days for Panama’s matches and serve Panamanian street food. “Our doors are open to everyone,” owner Sherwin Johnson told amNewYork. For most of Caribbean New York, that is the World Cup, and it might be the better one.
So skip the sticker shock and find your people. If your flag is in the tournament, look for the watch party in your neighborhood, like Michelle’s in Flatbush for Panama, and if it is not, adopt one of the underdogs the region just sent. A tiny island made history this summer. You do not need a $700 ticket to be part of it. You just need a bar with the game on and a crowd that cares.
