‘WHAT ORLANDO IS ALL ABOUT’
FIFA officials vet Orlando this weekend in bid to host World Cup matches in 2026
Top officials from FIFA and U.S. Soccer will be in Orlando this weekend to tour facilities and review the region’s World Cup pitch, a crucial step toward hosting some of the 2026 games.
The global soccer tournament is one of the world’s most-watched sporting events on television. FIFA, the world governing body, reported 3.57 billion people watched the 2018 games that were held in Russia, including viewers in hundreds of countries.
The delegation of about two dozen representatives from FIFA, U.S. Soccer and CONCACAF, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America as well as the Caribbean, will tour venues in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, including those pitched as sites for practices, fan fests and other events associated with the bid. Games would be played at Camping World Stadium.
“I would say it’s extremely important because it’s the one time we’re going to have the entire delegation here to show what Orlando is all about,” Mayor Buddy Dyer said.
North America is hosting the 2026 World Cup, the largest ever with the pool of teams expanding to 48 teams from 32. It also marks the first World Cup that will be hosted by multiple countries with Canada and Mexico also hosting games.
In all, 80 games will be played in the tournament with the U.S. due to host 60 of them. Orlando is among 17 U.S. cities in the mix to host games.
The full list of U.S. cities in contention are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York/New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
FIFA is expected to announce host cities in the first half of 2022.
Dyer said Orlando has advantages of having an airport with easy flights for arriving and departing visitors and teams, as well as a planned Brightline highspeed rail route from Orlando to Miami, another potential host city. For example, numerous flights from Orlando International Airport are available to other host cities.
The city is also among the
most-visited in the world, welcoming 75 million people in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic brought travel to a crawl last year.
“We don’t do something big on an annual basis or even monthly or weekly; it’s almost every day we have something big going on,” Dyer said.
Jason Siegel, the president and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, said besides the worldwide eyeballs host cities draw, hosting games brings thousands of fans from around the world who flood hotels, restaurants, theme parks and other businesses.
“The upside for the community … is by our calculations and our estimations — and we’re seeing this confirmed and shared in other markets — we truly believe it’s probably an $800 million economic impact for our community,” Siegel said.
If chosen, it would mark the second time Orlando has hosted world soccer’s signature event.
In 1994, Orlando hosted five World Cup games at the Citrus Bowl, since renovated and renamed Camping World Stadium. Since then, the city has hosted landmark sporting events such as NBA All-Star Weekend, the NFL Pro Bowl and Wrestlemania. It’s also bidding to host WorldPride in 2026, which officials say could bring about a million people to the opening and closing ceremony.
The FIFA delegation, led by Victor Montagliani, the president of CONCACAF and vice president of FIFA, as well as Colin Smith, FIFA’s chief tournament and events officer, will see locations throughout Central Florida proposed as possible training sites.
Those include the Seminole Soccer Complex and Sylvan Lake Park in Seminole, the University of Central Florida and Exploria Stadium in Orange, as well as Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, which could host practices and team headquarters, Siegel said.
Siegel and Dyer said they suspect Orlando would be in line to host group play games if selected, and possibly early-round playoff games. They said they haven’t been told in virtual meetings with FIFA how it would choose host cities.
Officials will also visit locations such as Wall St. Plaza and Dr. Phillips Center, where fan fests could be held, Siegel said.
The bid likely will include between $40 million and $50 million in costs split between public and private sources for necessary renovations, infrastructure and security to host such an event, Siegel said. But specific costs and upgrades haven’t been determined.
Dyer said one needed change for the games would be to widen the playing surface in the stadium and removing a few rows of seats to accommodate them.