FIFA World Cup In NJ Should Have Deaf American Sign Language Performers: Op-Ed

NEW JERSEY — The following op-ed comes courtesy of Gary Noll, a deaf advocate for accessibility in New Jersey/New York sports. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will host several men’s soccer matches, including the championship event at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford this coming summer.

I already reached out to the FIFA World Cup 2026 NY/NJ Host Committee to offer my experience. I hope they consider having deaf American Sign Language (ASL) anthem performers, as well as showing it on TV.

They need to reach out to deaf ASL anthem performers as soon as they can, so they have time to get ready to do an awesome job at the 2026 World Cup soccer events in East Rutherford.

U.S. Open tennis was able to do that with ASL during the opening night men’s and women’s tennis championship matches for the second-consecutive year (2024 and 2025), through advocacy and feedback and suggestions. The FIFA World Cup 2026 NYNJ Host Committee can follow suit.

How about ASL interpreter broadcasting on Jumbotron and TV during the World Cup soccer matches in East Rutherford? Why not? ASL showed well during the U.S. open tennis events in 2024 and 2025. Diversity, equity and inclusion should include ASL, as well as ASL communications technology.

Gary Noll is a deaf advocate for accessibility in NJ/NY sports, championing live captioning (CC) and ASL at NJ/NY pro and college sports venues to improve the experience for deaf fans, earning him recognition with a NJ Governor’s Jefferson Award (2019) for sports accessibility, a NJ State Governor’s Volunteerism Award (2024) for being recognized as a "Community Pillar" for his advocacy, and the Russ Berrie Award (2024) for being recognized as an "unsung hero" in the community.

• See Related: Deaf NJ Sports Fan Continues To Push For Better Disability Access

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