5 cities missing out on hosting FIFA World Cup matches in 2026

(The Hill) — Some major U.S. cities are getting an economic boost from the World Cup, with places like Los Angeles, Miami and Dallas flooded with thousands of overseas tourists attending matches to cheer on their home countries and packing bars to take in the action on the pitch.

Economists and tourism experts have said the impact of the event on local economies might not be felt for weeks and is best measured on a city-by-city or match-by-match basis.

Some hardcore soccer fans in North America, meanwhile, have expressed frustration that local governments where they live were unable or unwilling to host the tournament.

A number of municipalities chose to pull themselves out of the running, citing costs to taxpayers and strict logistical requirements from FIFA. Others lacked appropriate venues that can hold a tournament of such size and scale.

Here are five cities that are missing out on World Cup action this year.

Washington, D.C.

The nation’s capital has been bustling with activity all summer ahead of the Trump administration’s planned America 250 celebrations around July 4.

Construction crews have been busy erecting extra fencing, setting up stages for musical performances and executing the Department of Interior’s widespread beautification efforts at President Trump’s behest.

Against this backdrop, it seemed natural to some observers that D.C. would host World Cup matches in 2026.

But unlike many other cities of its size, D.C.’s problem is the lack of a suitable venue.

Northwest Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Washington Commanders in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., has a well-documented history of giving fans and commuters headaches on NFL game days and poses a number of significant logistical obstacles related to public transportation and convenient lodging.

Audi Field, home to D.C. United of MLS, has a maximum capacity of 20,000 despite its prime location in the Navy Yard.

With plans in place to erect a new Commanders home on the site of the old RFK Stadium in D.C. in the coming years, soccer fans in the DMV are hopeful a future World Cup in North America could bring the tournament back to the nation’s capital after missing out on the action this year.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas has emerged in recent years as one of the fastest-growing and most-profitable markets for the business of pro sports and sports-related tourism in the nation.

The NFL and NHL have launched franchises in Sin City in recent seasons, with MLB announcing plans for the Athletics franchise to come to town in 2028.

Vegas’s brand is increasingly centered on large sporting events, with indoor T-Mobile Arena, home to the Vegas Golden Knights, often hosting primetime UFC fights and boxing matches nearly every weekend.

An explosion in legal sports gambling in recent years has also contributed to Vegas’s growth as a sports destination city, and this year’s World Cup is expected to be the most wagered-on in history, both in terms of bets placed and total amount of dollars wagered, estimated around $60 billion.

Allegiant Stadium, where the Las Vegas Raiders play home games, was the most likely candidate to host World Cup matches in 2026 in the city, but its retractable grass field tray is too narrow to meet strict FIFA pitch and runoff regulations, the Review-Journal reported.

Vegas-based soccer fans will instead have to travel to Los Angeles or San Francisco to watch games in person or post up at one of the city’s dozens of sportsbooks or casinos to take in all the action.

Chicago

The Windy City was seemingly at the center of the U.S. soccer universe during the tournament in 2002, which was held in Qatar, and sparked massive watch parties drawing thousands until the Americans’ early exit.

Chicago being left off the list of host cities in 2026 was its own doing, however.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said FIFA’s proposal for Chicago to host in 2026 would have allowed the federation to reap “all the benefits” of the tournament and put too much of a burden on taxpayers.

Chicago is also one of the cities where MLS has enjoyed the most commercial success, and it ranks as a top-five media market in the country for national advertisers.

Fans from across the Midwest have traveled to Chicago in big numbers this summer to attend some of the largest watch parties for the U.S. men’s team seen during the tournament.

As the NFL’s Chicago Bears eye a controversial exit from Soldier Field and potentially the entire city as they look for a new home, a future World Cup might be one of the only major sports events that could draw tens of thousands to Lake Shore Drive in the years to come.

Phoenix

While Arizona’s largest city does not have an MLS club, Phoenix is also one of the fastest-growing cities for sports in the country.

With its retractable roof, State Farm Stadium can hold more than 70,000 people during an event and is just about 150 miles north of the border with Mexico.

Despite its prime location, leaders in Phoenix declined to place a bid for 2026 World Cup matches, saying it would have been too much for the city to handle.

Arizona leaders determined the financial burden of hosting the World Cup would have exceeded that of the Super Bowl, which it last played host to in 2023.

“As a community, we had no doubt that we could execute the logistics, but we must be fiscally responsible when pursuing mega sporting events,” Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority President and CEO Tom Sadler said in a statement at the time, according to AZCentral.

Montreal

While not a U.S. city, Montreal is a major Canadian tourism and travel destination conveniently located near the northern end of North America’s East Coast, where dozens of other matches are taking place in nearby Boston this summer.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported city leaders pulled their bid in 2021 given what they said were rules by FIFA that were too restrictive, dictating it host virtually no other large event this summer.

The city’s largest sports venue, Olympic Stadium, seats more than 60,000 and has hosted a number of major Canadian sporting events in the late 20th century, most notably the 1976 Olympics.

Olympic Stadium is also considered outdated by modern standards and has not had a permanent tenant since MLB’s Montreal Expos left for D.C. in the early 2000s.

Caroline Proulx, the city’s housing minister who was in charge of tourism when Montreal was in the running for the event, called FIFA “greedy,” according to the CBC, saying “there was no way that I was calling F1 to tell them that FIFA was demanding a [sporting event] blackout.”

Montreal hosts an annual Formula One race.

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