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The 2026 FIFA World cup will bring an economic impact to Houston equivalent to seven Super Bowls, officials say
2026 FIFA World Cup preparations are already underway, according to officials at a press conference on Friday.
Houston was first announced as one of 11 cities to host 2026 World Cup matches in 2022. Earlier this month, FIFA aired an announcement on FOX that Houston will be hosting seven of the matches.
Bishop James Dixon is the chairman of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation. He said the World Cup will bring an economic impact the equivalent of seven Super Bowls.
“(The FIFA World Cup) will bring an untold economic impact to the Harris County, Houston region,” he said. “To put it into perspective, the Super Bowl in 2017 was one game. One week. And an economic impact of $347 million.”
Houston last hosted the Super Bowl in 2017. Dixon said the World Cup is the most popular and prestigious sporting event in the world.
Leah Mastaglio is the Assistant General Manager at NRG Park. She said the stadium needs fewer renovations in preparation for the World Cup than others.
“We’ve been having meetings and technical site visits with FIFA,” she said. “Last month was our latest one, and from all the technical departments that spent the entire day with our team here at NRG park, the overwhelming comment back was, ‘There’s not much more that we need to do.’”
Mastaglio said some renovations will need to be done later on along the line. This would include adding a grass field to the stadium and removing some seats to make the field larger.
Chris Canetti is the President of the Houston 2026 World Cup Bid Committee. He said all stadiums with matches will need to do some work to meet FIFA requirements.
“One of the reasons why I think Houston was awarded a FIFA World Cup (match) was because this stadium is already in such good shape as it pertains to those standards,” he said.
Canetti added that the NRG stadium was originally built around NFL standards. He said the NFL plays on a 55-yard-wide field, and the World Cup will be closer to 73.
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