On Sunday, FIFA will announce its match schedule for the 2026 World Cup, which the organization says will be its biggest, yet.
North Texas has already been picked as a host, and Sunday's announcement will bring more clarity as to how many matches will be held at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, along with when they will be played, and which matches will be held here -- including the coveted final.
Even without hosting the final match, officials said the event could bring in a historic number of tourists to the Metroplex, and Fort Worth is hoping to catch some of them.
“They’ve estimated four million visitors throughout the duration of the World Cup just to the Metroplex alone," said Jason Sands, executive director of the Fort Worth Sports Commission. "A hundred thousand international visitors, you know, potentially daily. So, that’s a level we’ve never really seen before.”
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FC Dallas President Dan Hunt has said each match has a Super Bowl-sized impact.
“So, if you can imagine if we host seven or eight matches and host a semi or a final, the impact that’ll have. It’s hard to get your head around," Sands said.
NBC 5 got some insight from Juan Carlos Martinez, an economics professor at Dallas College and economist with Crescent Securities Group.
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He said the 2023 Super Bowl in Phoenix had a total economic output of $1.3 billion.
"And a state benefit of $726,000, generated 10,000 jobs, and over 102,000 visitors came in during a four-day period," he said.
Martinez said that means for North Texas, each game hosted here could bring up to $400 million, potentially a total of $1 billion.
"This is going to create a lot of economic impact for not just restaurants, hotels and transportation, but a lot of local businesses are going to benefit with the build-up," said Martinez, who is a soccer fan and FC Dallas season ticket-holder, himself.
Fort Worth wants to attract as many of those fans as possible by becoming a hub.
Sands said they hope to host a team and are discussing holding events like fan fests, concerts, and pop-ups.
He said one thing is for sure: Cowtown will be playing up the cowboy culture for their international guests, maybe even with more rodeos.
“When the folks go down to the Stockyards or they see the cowboy hats and the boots, I mean that’s what they think about in the west, and specifically Texas, so we can show that experience," he said.
TRANSPORTATION PLANS
The Dallas Sports Commission and FC Dallas have been two of the lead organizations pitching North Texas as a host to FIFA.
They've pegged Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, to head the transportation plan for the 2026 World Cup.
Morris has experience coordinating travel for other special events in the region, including the Super Bowl.
He's presented his plan to FIFA twice, already, and said he's already started testing elements of it with recent sporting events in DFW.
He said the plan includes several travel options for fans, including charter buses.
Morris said testing that part of the plan showed some kinks, with drivers not following the route given to them between the parking lot and the stadium.
"We quickly discovered the bus drivers weren't following the route, and we knew because if they followed the route, they'd be coming in this direction, and we got them coming in all sorts of directions. So it was a good lesson for us," he said.
Morris said folks can also expect new cars on the Trinity Railway Express. He said they needed to be updated, but that process is being expedited for the World Cup.
He said they're also taking into account timing: He doesn't want fans waiting for transportation in the Texas summer heat.
"We could have the final event. We need to put in temporary shade at those particular locations," he said.
Morris said they're also taking into consideration that fans will be coming in from all over the world, and plan to have navigators and digital signs that can display messages in multiple languages.
"Humans will go around and be experts in wayfinding at critical places of baton pass," he said.
He said the whole transportation plan will be tested at this year's baseball All-Star game, which will still give officials two years before the World Cup to smooth any wrinkles.
More details from officials will come after Sunday's announcement, which will kick all planning into high gear.
"I'll be happy to get into the details after Sunday, but I don't want to give any last-minute advice to my competitive cities," he said.
Sunday's announcement for the final will be at 2 p.m. CST and will air live on NBC 5’s sister station Telemundo 39.
