The news comes with an announcement of plans to renovate and upgrade the park in two phases, the first of which will be done before the World Cup.
The games that Philadelphia will host during the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup won’t produce the tournament’s only evocative moments in town.
The fan fest will also be a spectacle, and for many people the best way to access an in-person tournament experience: live games on a big screen, watched by a big crowd. You’ve seen the sights of them from afar on TV in recent times, from last year’s women’s World Cup in Australia to this summer’s European Championship in Germany.
It took a while for Philadelphia’s local organizing committee to settle on the right place for its fan fest site — you need only look at a map to know there aren’t too many big outdoor spaces near Center City that make sense.
» READ MORE: Philly’s 2026 World Cup games are the city’s ‘moment on the global stage,’ local official says
Now they finally have it: Lemon Hill in East Fairmount Park, nestled between the Art Museum and Girard Avenue. Not only that, but the choice will lead to a two-stage renovation of the park that will be done half before the World Cup and half after it.
”The thought that hosting the World Cup would present an incredible opportunity to provide a legacy benefit to the neighborhoods around Lemon Hill, and to the city itself, by looking at that as a venue for the FIFA fan fest, and then investing in that infrastructure to make it work was something that was incredibly appealing to us,” Philadelphia’s host city executive Meg Kane told The Inquirer. “Everyone has come to the same conclusion that this is not just going to be a great space, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity to leave a long-term legacy of hosting the World Cup here in 2026 — and invest in our park system, which we know is one of the most iconic in the country.”
Kane admitted that back when the World Cup bidding process started in 2017, the goal was to have the fan fest be on the forthcoming park over I-95 at Penn’s Landing. But because the pandemic delayed the construction past 2026, the World Cup committee had to look elsewhere.
“We had to step back and work with the city to identify a space that would, one, meet the requirements of FIFA in terms of what it was looking for in a fan festival location — not just in terms of size, and scale, [and] be an unbranded space … but also they were seeking something that was iconic,” she said. “We also wanted to be respectful of the fact that [the] FIFA fan festival will be happening within the context of the 250th anniversary of the country, as well as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. So there were locations around the city that we knew were going to be needed.”
Those other events specifically ruled out Independence National Historical Park — which would have been a jackpot site if available — and anywhere along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Anywhere in the Sports Complex was already off the board because of the size of the security perimeter that will be needed around Lincoln Financial Field, and the need for the Phillies and MLB to do their business on the north side of Pattison Avenue. FDR Park was also out due to a combination of security concerns and the potential for a practice facility to be built there.
“We did a deep dive on opportunities, places, and spaces that maybe had not been considered before,” Kane said. “When Lemon Hill first came up, it was an interesting idea, because it’s a space that the city hasn’t necessarily used for any type of formal gathering space. … Investing in that infrastructure to make it work was something that was incredibly appealing to us from a legacy standpoint.”
That investment will likely come with some public spending, but also a significant amount of money raised privately by the World Cup host committee.
“We’ve done fundraising in the community and among our business community, and so there will be a commitment from Philadelphia Soccer 2026 to support the Lemon Hill project,” Kane said. “We are working closely with the City of Philadelphia, but it is certainly not my place to speak to their budget and to any commitments they would like to make to this project. We are exploring a wide variety of funding opportunities as it relates to Lemon Hill.”
» READ MORE: Philadelphia will host 6 games in the 2026 World Cup, including on July 4
The World Cup host committee hired New York-based architecture firm Marvel to redesign the park, beginning with infrastructure, accessibility, and some landscape improvements that will be done before the World Cup. The second phase will run after the World Cup, and into 2027.
“That is going to be very much focused on working with the community, and the communities around Lemon Hill, around what type of long-term legacy projects they might want to see,” Kane said. “We didn’t want to make those assumptions in terms of saying we want to have fields, playgrounds, water installations. We wanted the community to be able to provide their input and feedback on what would be important from to them in terms of that long-term legacy.”
Kane acknowledged that some people’s routines will be disrupted two summers from now, but she believes it will be worthwhile.
“I think ADA accessibility is going to be such a game changer in terms of what we’re going to be able to provide to the neighborhood, and just even making it more walkable, easier for strollers to be able to access parts of that park I think is going to be enormous,” Kane said. “We have such a deep respect for the families that gather there in the summer for celebrations, graduations, reunions. And certainly while 2026 will be different and will be a change, making sure that those spaces come back and maybe are even improved, enhanced, and added to is something that we think is very important.”
Public transit access to Lemon Hill will be a big piece of all this, especially for the thousands of fans who will come here from other cities and countries. Lemon Hill can be reached on foot from Center City, especially if you’re already going to the Art Museum — as many visitors will, whether for the steps or the paintings. But it’s not exactly a short walk.
Kane said plans are being considered to run shuttle buses from Center City, similar to the PHLASH bus that the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation runs in the summer. SEPTA’s Route 15 trolley also runs nearby on Girard Avenue and the 49 bus runs along Pennsylvania Avenue.
» READ MORE: Don’t expect to see the United States in Philly during the 2026 FIFA World Cup
“We see Lemon Hill as that destination for fans, and part of this will be the education of how to get there and creating as much ease as possible,” she said. “Certainly, ingress, egress, and transportation [are] at the forefront, and the city feels confident that we will be able to create a plan that will make the access easy for anyone who wishes to attend.”
Kane praised SEPTA CEO and general manager Leslie Richards and assistant general manager Scott Sauer for being “terrific partners to us in our planning efforts,” and said “the entire team at SEPTA recognizes that this is a generational opportunity for the city.”
Local fans who want to drive in, especially from the suburbs where there are lots of youth soccer teams, will care most about parking. The Philadelphia Zoo has a big garage a 15-minute walk over the Schuylkill River away on Girard Avenue, but Kane said the World Cup committee hasn’t talked with the zoo yet about using it.
“We want to be respectful of the zoo, and the fact that the summer is their busiest season, as it is for much of the Centennial District — the Please Touch Museum, the Mann Center,” Kane said. “While I appreciate that there is the parking garage there, I think we really want to try to focus on creating the public transportation aspects of this plan to leverage that, more than car traffic.”
We’ll hear more about all this at a news conference Thursday afternoon that will include Kane, organizing committee chair Dan Hilferty, City Council president Kenyatta Johnson, council members Curtis Jones Jr. and Jeffrey Young, and other dignitaries.
» READ MORE: FIFA World Cup 2026 in Philly: Schedule, tickets, and everything you need to know
