Tourism Expected to boost 2026 World Cup host cities in United States, Canada and Mexico

Tourism Expected to boost 2026 World Cup host cities in United States, Canada and Mexico
FIFA has announced the 16 North American cities that will host World Cup matches in 2026, including 11 locations and venues in the United States. The cities of United States, where World Cup to be held at MetLife Stadium (New York/New Jersey), SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles), AT &T Stadium (Dallas), Levi’s Stadium (San Francisco Bay Area), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), Lumen Field (Seattle), NRG Stadium (Houston), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia), Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri) and Gillette Stadium, (Boston). The officially selected venues for the World Cup in Mexico and Canada are Estadio Akron (Guadalajara), Estadio BBVA Bancomer (Monterrey), Estadio Azteca (Mexico City), BMO Field (Toronto) and BC Place (Vancouver).
Congratulations to all the candidate cities that will host the Games. They’ll all do a fantastic job showcasing world-class stadiums, unique communities, culture and great fans when the world comes to North America in four years, U.S. Soccer’s president said in a statement. The highly anticipated return of the World Cup to North America is still four years away from the last time it was held in 1994, but lucky cities are already seeing a welcome boost to tourism.
The president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) shared in a statement that FIFA has selected Miami to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The GMCVB team, along with the County and Hard Rock Stadium, as well as hotel partners and community stakeholders, have worked tirelessly since 2017 to bring the World Cup to Greater Miami and Miami Beach through a highly competitive process. We’re thrilled compelling bid, unparalleled travel and tourism experience that have resulted in this day, so we look forward to welcoming the world in 2026.
The mayor of Miami Beach stressed that this is a great event for the community, not only for the economic benefits, but also for its status as one of the best destinations in the world. The 2026 World Cup is expected to trigger $695 million in economic activity in Missouri, as people will stay in hotels as far away as Columbia to revitalize the entire western part of the state. This event will have a major economic impact for both Kansas City and Missouri, according to a news release from Sen. John Rizzo, D-Jackson County. He added that you can’t really put an economic number on it when you put KC on a world stage, it’s the best advertisement for tourism, we don’t schedule World Cups, World Series or Super Bowls, but when they happen, they’re just a huge economic bonus, so we’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that will flow back to Missouri.
According to Philadelphia Soccer 2026, more than 500,000 World Cup fans are expected to visit Philadelphia over the course of the tournament, with visitor spending ranging from $147 million to $262 million. The group also projects that hosting the event could create up to 3,500 new jobs in the city.
A total of 60 matches, including the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, will be played in U.S. cities, while Canada and Mexico will each host 10 matches. After months of anticipation and years of preparation, 16 host cities and venues have finally been determined for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. The key findings are that 11 U.S. cities were selected from the candidate pool, while three cities in Mexico and two Canadian cities are also in the running.
The tournament was awarded four years ago to North American and CONCACAF rivals, beating out a strong bid from Morocco, and will be a remarkable competition for several reasons. It’ll be the first World Cup hosted by more than one nation since 2002, when Japan and South Korea shared the honor, and it’ll be the first World Cup with three host nations. Mexico will go down in history as the first country to host or co-host for the third time (after 1970 and 1986), the United States will host for the second time (after 1994), and Canada will host the men’s tournament for the first time, having already hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2015.
It’ll also be the first World Cup with 48 qualified teams, following FIFA’s 2017 decision to expand the field from 32 teams, which had been standard since France in 1998. The new format will see 16 groups of three teams compete, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the last 32, which will be played in a knockout system until the final.
A total of 80 matches will be played at 20 venues, with the U.S. playing 60 matches, including the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, and Mexico/Canada playing 10 matches each. The venues are divided into three regions: EAST, CENTRAL and WEST and were announced in New York City.
Venues in the United States:
For the 2026 World Cup, there are 11 venues in the United States responsible for hosting 60 matches, including the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals: Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles selected for represent the WEST region. In the CENTRAL region, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Kansas City were selected. At EAST, Boston, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia and Miami completed the U.S. chance of cities for the 2026 World Cup.
1-  Seattle= Lumen Field, 800 Occidental Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134
2-  San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara, California) = Levi’s Stadium, 4900 Marie P. DeBartolo Way, Santa Clara, CA 95054
3-  Los Angeles (Inglewood, California) = SoFi Stadium, 1001 Stadium Dr., Inglewood, CA 90301
4- Dallas (Arlington, Texas) = AT&T Stadium, 1 AT&T Way, Arlington, TX 76011
5- Houston = NRG Stadium, 1 NRG Parkway, Houston, TX 77054

6- Kansas City = Arrowhead Stadium, One Arrowhead Drive, Kansas City, MO 64129

7- Atlanta= Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 1 AMB Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30313
8- Miami (Miami Gardens, Florida) = Hard Rock Stadium, 347 Don Shula Drive, Miami Gardens, FL 33056
9- Philadelphia= Lincoln Financial Field, 1 Lincoln Financial Field Way, Philadelphia, PA 19145
10- New York /New Jersey (East Rutherford, New Jersey) = MetLife Stadium, One MetLife Stadium Dr, East Rutherford, NJ 07073
11- Boston (Foxborough, Massachusetts) = Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxborough, MA 02035

Venues in Mexico:
1- Mexico City= Estadio Azteca, Calz. De Tlalpan 3465, Sta. Ursula Coapa, Coyoacan, 04650 Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
2- Monterrey (Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon) = Estadio BBVA, Av Pablo Livas 2011, Col. La Pastora, 67140 Guadalupe, NL, Mexico
3- Guadalajara (Zapopan, Jalisco) = Estadio Akron, Av Circuito JVC 2800, El Bajio, 45019 Zapopan, JAL, Mexico

Venues in Canada:
1- Vancouver, Canada= BC Place, 777 Pacific Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6B 4Y8
2- Toronto, Canada= BMO Field, 170 Princes Blvd, Toronto, ON M6K 3CS