One of the biggest sporting events in history is coming to our area in 2026.
FIFA announced on Thursday, June 16 that Philadelphia and the New York/New Jersey metro area would be the host cities for the World Cup in 2026. The game will be held at Lincoln Financial Field as 69,000 fans will await to experience the soccer championship event. MetLife Stadium will also share the honor of hosting a few matches.
Major cities like Los Angeles, Dallas and many other U.S. metros vied for a chance to host matches for the largest FIFA World Cup in history, expanding to 80 matches and 48 teams.
The United States will host 60 matches while Mexico and Canada will each host 10.
Philadelphia is already a passionate sports city with a great history of holding national and international events, including a visit from Pope Francis and the NFL Draft in 2017.
MetLife Stadium also hosted the Super Bowl in 2014, proving capable to house a nationally-recognized sporting event. Holding the World Cup will provide both cities with a lot of much needed economic benefits.
According to a study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, a leading global management consulting firm, the firm estimated that individual host cities could expect to see approximately $160-$620 million in incremental economic activity. Approximately $90-$480 million would go to the city after accounting for potential public costs.
Not only would both cities benefit from such an economic boost, but tourism and the culture the host cities would get a boost as well.
Small businesses can be found up and down the Tri-state area and will be able to capitalize on the increased tourism in 2026. Not only will the increase in tourism benefit the established restaurants, hotels and other accommodations, but also businesses like South Street Art Mart and Dye Hard Philly will benefit from the increased population.
The FIFA World Cup will be the largest in history. The City of Brotherly Love and the NY/NJ metro areas will have a taste of the soccer championship in just three short years.
First & Jenn 
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