HOUSTON – Houston is gearing up for one of the largest sporting events ever hosted in the city and the economic impact is expected to be massive.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup just months away, local officials project the event will generate $1.5 billion for the Houston region. That’s the equivalent of hosting seven Super Bowls in just 39 days, according to Ryan Walsh with the Harris County–Houston Sports Authority.
“One Super Bowl has about a $350 million impact. This is seven Super Bowls over 39 days. An estimated $1.5 billion in economic impact for Houston,” Walsh said.
Houston is preparing to welcome a projected 490,000 match attendees and more than 500,000 visitors for the FIFA Fan Festival numbers far beyond what the city has seen before, according to the Harris County Houston Sports Authority.
For comparison:
- Super Bowl LI brought in about 140,000 visitors
- The 2023 NCAA Men’s Final Four drew 70,000–75,000
This time, Houston expects ten times the traffic of a Super Bowl, according to Shad Miller of Little Woodrow’s.
“When Super Bowl was here it was pretty massive. I can’t imagine the amount of crowds coming, you’re going to get massive crowds all the way from Sugar Land to Rosenberg,” Miller said.
Officials say the economic boost won’t be limited to downtown or EaDo. Virtually every corner of Greater Houston is expected to feel the surge.
“It’s the parking rides, it’s Metro, it’s the rental cars, hotel, you name it, it’s everything,” Walsh said. “You’ve got EaDo, you’ve got NRG Park, you’ve got the Galleria, the airports and surrounding communities like Sugar Land that are going to be impacted in a good way.”
Hotels, bars, restaurants, retailers, ride shares, and transportation services are all preparing for the month-long flood of fans.
At Little Woodrow’s, management says the key question is simple: will there be enough beer and food to keep up?
“I hope we’re ready to go, but that’s a good question for all the beer purveyors and food purveyors in town,” Miller joked.
From the moment visitors land at Bush or Hobby Airport, local leaders want fans to walk away with one lasting impression: Houston delivers.
“They’ll say, ‘man, Houston knocked it out of the park.’ We do big events really well, and our track record speaks for itself,” Walsh said.
That track record is strong, Houston has hosted more major sporting events since 2004 than any other U.S. city.
Now, the World Cup is set to be the biggest of them all.
Soccer fans across Houston are already imagining the atmosphere, including lifelong fan Vance Lawrence, who plans to make EaDo his World Cup home base.
“Right now, it’s once in a lifetime. We don’t know if the U.S. is ever going to host again. It’s the first time Houston’s hosting, so we might never see another fan zone like this again,” Lawrence said.
With fans fired up and businesses preparing, Houston is just 188 days away from welcoming the world.