What You Need To Know
As the closest Level 1 Trauma Center to MetLife Stadium, Hackensack University Medical Center is at the center of HMH's partnership with the FIFA World Cup 2026 — and preparation is a network-wide effort.
When the FIFA World Cup arrives in the New York-New Jersey region this summer, Hackensack Meridian Health will be there — not as a bystander, but as the Official New York New Jersey World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter and official medical anchor for one of the largest sporting events ever held on American soil.
For the physicians and staff, both on the front lines at HUMC and across the network, it's more than a point of pride. It's a call to action.
We sat down with Dr. Gregory Sugalski, Chair of Emergency Medicine at HUMC, to talk through what this partnership means operationally, what his team is doing to prepare for a large-scale event, and why success — believe it or not — might involve a healthy dose of boredom.
"Equal Parts Pride and Immediate Mental Math"
For Dr. Sugalski, the World Cup announcement landed with a familiar sense of urgency.
"My first reaction was equal parts pride and immediate mental math," he said. "You hear 'World Cup' and 'closest Level 1 Trauma Center,' and as an emergency medicine physician, your brain instantly jumps to logistics, capacity, and readiness. But right behind that operational reflex was just pure excitement."
Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Robert Garrett described the FIFA partnership as "a once-in-a-generation opportunity." And from an emergency medicine perspective, the scale is difficult to overstate. MetLife Stadium will host eight matches this summer, including the final on July 19, with more than 1.2 million visitors expected in the region — before factoring in the America 250 festivities that will bring millions more into HMH's backyard.
"Managing 80,000 fans inside MetLife Stadium is something we do every Sunday during the NFL season," Dr. Sugalski noted. "We have that down to an absolute science, and it has zero operational impact on our department. What makes this a completely different animal is the regional footprint. We aren't just covering a stadium; we're covering a network of fan fests, transit hubs, and base camps. A million extra people means a massive, sustained surge in our baseline volume — the everyday emergencies like heart attacks, appendectomies, and accidents."Expecting the Unexpected — and the Everyday
Dr. Sugalski brings a unique frame of reference to this kind of planning. Before joining HMH, he served as an emergency medicine physician in the U.S. Army, completing two deployments in support of combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While those experiences shape his thinking about mass casualty preparedness for the World Cup, Dr. Sugalski’s thinking less about protocols and more about posture.
"In a combat zone, you learn very quickly how to be comfortable operating in chaos and adapting on the fly,” he said. “You learn that calm is contagious. As a leader, you have to be able to step back, avoid tunnel vision, and make high-stakes decisions even when you don't have all the information."
That mindset, he explained, guards against a critical mistake: fixating on the dramatic at the expense of the likely.
"We plan meticulously for the absolute worst-case scenarios to build that muscle memory, so if something catastrophic happens, the team just executes without panic. However, the day-to-day reality of what we'll actually face is a massive, sustained increase in volume combined with a lot of uncommon pathology."
With visitors arriving from across the globe, that means preparing for presentations that rarely walk through an HMH emergency department.
"Our team has to be prepared to see infectious diseases, underlying conditions, and clinical presentations that we typically don't encounter here. The military mindset really applies to building overall system resilience — keeping the department running like a well-oiled machine, whether we're handling a sudden trauma event or diagnosing an unfamiliar illness in a patient who just flew in from another continent."
A Whole-House Effort
In planning to serve as the region's trauma anchor for an event of this scale, Dr. Sugalski is clear: preparation involves the whole house — not just the front door.
"It takes a massive amount of intentional, proactive coordination. You can't just flip a switch on match day and expect the system to hold."
HMH has established dedicated preparation committees across the network, bringing law enforcement, EMS, and regional mutual aid partners to the same table early. "We can't be figuring out communication channels on the fly; we need our interoperability stress-tested well before the first whistle blows."
To ensure all of HMH is ready for the World Cup, Emergency Management will be conducting on-site training at all HMH hospitals to review infection prevention and mass casualty incident procedures.
On the inpatient side, the work is equally intensive. "We have to coordinate closely with our inpatient units, the OR, and critical care to ensure we maintain flow and move patients upstairs efficiently, so the ER doesn't gridlock."
The ED as a Safety Net: Combating Human Trafficking
One of the less visible dimensions of HMH's World Cup partnership is its role in combating human trafficking — a serious concern at major international sporting events. HMH has committed to sharing its experience with large-scale violence screenings, and the ED is at the center of that effort.
"The emergency department is the ultimate 24/7 safety net," Dr. Sugalski said. "In many cases, an ER visit is the only time a victim might be temporarily separated from their trafficker, and it may be the single interaction they have with any kind of support system."
Using a structured, trauma-informed approach, ED staff across the network are trained to identify the subtle red flags that may point to trafficking. When potential victims are identified, the team uses the PEARR (Provide privacy, Educate, Ask, Respect, and Respond) framework to establish trust, assess the situation safely, and involve the appropriate law enforcement and social service agencies.
Ahead of the World Cup, HMH is sharing these learnings with other health systems, host committees, and law enforcement agencies across the region.
The ED as a Safety Net: Combating Human Trafficking
Dr. Sugalski's message to colleagues across the HMH network is one of shared ownership — and shared credit.
"It's easy to look at the World Cup and think it's strictly an emergency medicine or trauma event. But an organization like FIFA doesn't just partner with a good ED; they require a world-class, integrated health system. The prestige of being chosen as the medical anchor for this event truly belongs to all of us."
When Dr. Sugalski stands in the arena before the puck drops at a New Jersey Devils game, he always tells the medical staff the same thing: I hope we're all bored today.
"It might sound funny to an outsider — but that sense of calm is everything," he said. "To me, success at the World Cup looks exactly like that. It means we were bored because our preparedness was so airtight that nothing caught us off guard. If the final whistle blows and nobody is talking about the hospital system, that means we did our jobs perfectly."
True success, Dr. Sugalski said, is providing a world-class safety net for the millions of visitors coming to New Jersey – without compromising the care the community relies on.
“I want our entire HMH team to look back with an immense sense of pride, knowing they operated on a global stage and left this network even more resilient and connected for whatever comes next."
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