North Texas regional leaders are projecting a $2 billion economic impact to the region when the FIFA World Cup comes in 2026, Dallas Sports Commission Executive Director Monica Paul told the Arlington City Council Tuesday.
From hosting nine matches in Arlington, the most of any city, along with a 39-day fan festival, the possibility of an International Broadcast Center and hosting base camps for teams, all have the potential to bring in tax dollars for Arlington and other cities across Dallas-Fort Worth, Paul said.
That economic impact comes with other issues that need to be addressed, like transportation, sanitation, disruptions to local businesses and public safety. Many of those details are still in the works — like how the city will handle potential increased trash because of the number of people.
Jennifer Wichmann, deputy city manager for Arlington, stressed that hosting nine World Cup games and all the other events and attractions that come with it are unlike anything Arlington has seen.
“We’ve done Super Bowls, we’ve done Final Fours, we’ve done all sorts of things here, but they have been single events,” Wichmann said. “Having these nine events within 31 days is a different event that we haven’t done in the past.”
There are already plans in place to bring in police, bomb dogs, public safety inspectors or other support from nearby cities, if that’s needed.
The FIFA Fan Festival will see celebrations for 34 of the 39 days of the World Cup. There will be five rest days, during which Arlington, other cities and regional organizations will host concerts and other activities.
Those events could include “high-end” concerts and other activities to draw fans to the Arlington Entertainment District and other local cities when there are no matches.
The fan festival is expected to bring in thousands of people and create one of the biggest economic impacts for the region.
Paul said that when the FIFA World Cup was hosted in Qatar in 2022, the busiest day of the fan festival brought 99,000 people. When Russia hosted the tournament in 2018, its busiest fan festival day saw around 160,000 people.
That can make big impacts on local businesses and even draw people to Arlington without tickets to games. Hotels, local businesses and vendors will see lots of money coming in from the festival, and that will translate into more tax income.
A lot of details about the festivals are still in the works, Paul said. In addition to working with hotels, organizers need to pick a location for a ticketing center where fans can pick up physical passes into the matches and a volunteer center.
FIFA also hasn’t picked the temporary homes for teams playing in the World Cup.
Base camps could be another way to bring money to the local area. The camps are where teams will train, eat and live. They won’t be selected until after the FIFA World Cup draw to determine which teams will go to each city hosting games.
Mauricio Galante, District 1 council member, asked about turning UT Arlington’s unused football stadium into a base camp for one team.
“We have plenty of hotels close by, we would just need to change the grass, if I’m right,” Galante said.
Paul said that’s something that could be considered and she could get the requirements to the city. FIFA is still looking for more base camp locations, so Paul said that might be possible.
Galante, who is from Brazil, asked half-jokingly if Arlington would be able to get Brazil to make its base camp in Arlington. Paul responded she would see what could be done but that she couldn’t make any promises.
Base camps can draw more people to the area, which usually translates into more money spent and tax dollars collected.
Hosting an event like the FIFA World Cup isn’t cheap.
Arlington and other cities and regional organizations will have to spend money on things like increased transit options, safety, maintenance and staffing.
Tax money from hotels, restaurants, games and other opportunities for soccer fans to spend cash during their visit can be used to help pay for the costs of being a host city. But Paul said Arlington won’t be expected to spend its entire share of the projected $2 billion economic impact across the region.
Texas has a trust fund to reimburse local governments for the costs of hosting major events like the World Cup. Arlington and local cities and other government agencies expect to receive some funds from that.
Without that program, Paul said it might not be possible to host major events, even those smaller than the World Cup. Still, it won’t pay for everything.
FIFA allows host cities to have up to 10 supporters, with approval of those sponsors from the soccer association. After that, Arlington will be able to bring donors on board to help cover costs.
Federal funding can also help offset the expenses, and some has already been approved.
Got a tip? Email James Hartley at jhartley@kera.org. You can follow James on X @ByJamesHartley.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
