The 2026 FIFA World Cup host committee in the San Francisco Bay Area is considering a significantly reduced approach to official fan festivals in the region after being allocated a group stage draw that is short of leading nations or highly marketable star names.
According to multiple sources familiar with the situation, all of whom spoke anonymously to protect relationships, discussions on the matter will take place between the regional host committee and FIFA after Levi’s Stadium, which is the home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, failed to receive any matches involving Pot 1 nations across its five group stage matches.
Among the options being explored, the Bay Area may no longer hold official FIFA fan fests on matchdays, because the local host committee is obliged to weigh up whether it is still a cost-efficient use of public money and private donations to run the events.
Sources indicated that fan fests in major markets can cost in excess of $1 million per day in security costs alone and, as such, it may be more responsible for the Bay Area to pivot to smaller, grassroots-led watch-parties within communities.
The Bay Area will host six World Cup games in total, with its venue securing one round-of-32 match in addition to its group games. Following the World Cup draw earlier this month, and the subsequent schedule release, it became glaringly apparent that the Bay Area had been granted a less commercially appealing slate of fixtures.
In the group stage, it’ll host five matches across 12 days in June. These games are: Qatar vs. Switzerland, Austria vs. Jordan, one of Kosovo/Romania/Slovakia/Turkey vs. Paraguay, Jordan vs. Algeria and Paraguay vs. Australia.
Multiple sources close to the situation, including within FIFA, have indicated there are concerns within the Bay Area that while they will still have memorable games and occasions, such as Jordan experiencing a first men’s World Cup, there may be a lack of interest and attendance to fan fests from casual fans, which may in turn diminish the economic impact drawn from the event.
However, any pivot to smaller and non-official FIFA events will require FIFA’s approval, because contracts signed between host committees and FIFA, reviewed by The Athletic, say that official fan fests must be the only public viewing events “endorsed and authorized” by the host cities.
The allocation of games granted to Levi’s Stadium is in contrast to what has generally been afforded to cities across North America during the group stage. In every other U.S. host city, each venue has been given at least two games involving teams from Pot 1 of the draw.
The New York-New Jersey host committee, for example, received group games involving Brazil, France, Germany and England. Los Angeles has two group stage matches involving the U.S.; Kansas City has World Cup holders Argentina; Atlanta has two games involving European champion Spain; and Houston has matches involving Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands.
The New York-New Jersey host committee has received group games involving France and England (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the Mexican city of Monterrey, which has just three group games, is the only other city to not receive any Pot 1 teams in the first phase.
FIFA made a tacit recognition that the appeal of Bay Area games has reduced because games at Levi’s Stadium are among the very small number of games for which prices have dropped since the match schedule came to light. Initial ticket pricing for the fixtures in the Bay Area, before the draw was made, set prices at $620 for Category 1, $465 for Category 2 and $215 for Category 3; yet all five group stage games at Levi’s have since reduced by 27 percent for Category 1, 18 percent for Category 2 and 35 percent for Category 3 tickets.
Following the draw, FIFA, to a large degree, organized its Category 1 pricing into four tiers: rising from $450 to $700 for Category 1 tickets, with some games priced at $500 and $600 for the top category (excluding hospitality). Yet all five of the Bay Area’s Category 1 price games are in the lowest tier of $450.
The make-up of the games have a commercial imperative for local host committees because of the business model FIFA has adopted for the tournament. At previous men’s World Cups, FIFA used a more traditional model of a single national organizing committee for the host nations concerned, such as Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy in 2022. However, for 2026, FIFA instead took the vast majority of its operations and logistics in-house. This allows FIFA, which set up offices in Miami and New York City, to maximize the commercial benefits of the tournament. There is very little revenue sharing, with FIFA taking all income from ticketing, broadcast deals, in-stadium sponsorship and even car parking fees.
Yet within that model, FIFA allows for each city staging matches to have its own host committee. These are subsidiaries of the “FWC (FIFA World Cup) 2026 U.S.” entity, which FIFA has established in the United States. The Athletic has seen two of the contracts between FIFA and the host cities (in New York/New Jersey and Seattle) but the contracts are broadly similar across the board, per multiple people familiar with the documents.
The Seattle contract says that a host city’s overall responsibility for costs “comprises the safety, security and protection, including all related safety and security measures, for all individuals and entities attending, or being involved in the organisation of, the competition.” This extends to public areas, FIFA fan fest locations, airports, other transport hubs and vehicles used in competition. That includes providing police escorts for teams, referees and FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his delegation. The host city is also expected to provide medical services and fire protection around matches free of charge.
The cities have been helped by a $625million commitment from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in federal funding, but many have required additional state and city taxpayer dollars, as well as private donations or support.
Levi’s Stadium played host to a Concacaf Gold Cup semifinal between Mexico and Honduras (Robbie Jay Barratt / AMA / Getty Images)
When it comes to FIFA’s official Fan Festivals, the burden placed on host cities is significant. Multiple sources, all of whom wished to remain anonymous when discussing sensitive information, said security costs alone for a fan fest could exceed $1million per day in major markets. FIFA’s initial ask, as per a version of the contract with Seattle, was that every host city would provide a fan fest free of charge to spectators for every day of the competition.
Many cities have since negotiated this down substantially, either reducing the number of days, or imposing cost on fans. In Kansas City, the host committee recently told The Athletic the fan festival will be open on days when the U.S. is competing, as well as on the days when games are taking place in Kansas City, while New York/New Jersey announced this week it will charge $10 entry fees.
The fan fest sites will provide live broadcasts of all World Cup games, offer food, drink and merchandise and will be staged within a fenced and secured area. The contracts said that the host city “agrees and acknowledges to support FIFA, at its own costs, in respect of the planning, organisation and implementation” of the fan fest.
The good news for host cities is this is one of the few areas where they are able to commercially benefit, because they are able to make local sponsorships around fan fest. Yet even in this respect, FIFA is very stringent over what host cities are allowed to do. FIFA has its own slates of sponsors (major global companies in categories including airlines, fast food, cars, banks, beer and tech firms) and host cities are not permitted to grant commercial rights to any entity that is “considered by FIFA a competitor” to one of their own sponsors. FIFA’s own food and drinks partners also have exclusivity for the fan fests.
As such, it was already an uphill task for many host cities to drive the necessary local partnerships to make this World Cup a profit-making enterprise, but many of the dealmaking efforts across the host cities were going to be predicated on the star names, big matchups and leading nations coming into town. For the Bay Area, therefore, the games it received have done little to enhance its chances, although the region is boosted by a mammoth sporting year in which it will also host the Super Bowl, meaning it can bundle mega-events together for sponsorship and support.
Additionally, the Bay Area may yet receive the USMNT in the round of 32, but this depends on Mauricio Pochettino’s team finishing top of its group, and the lack of certainty makes it very challenging to secure top-rate commercial partnerships.
Local media in the Bay Area has not been effusive. A columnist in The Mercury News described the lineup of matches as a “death blow to the local economy,” saying the group games such as Qatar vs. Switzerland “read less like a Clash of the Titans and more like the roll call at a high school model U.N. conference.”
In a statement issued to The Athletic, a spokesperson for the Bay Area host committee confirmed that they are “tailoring activations accordingly” after receiving information about the matches, while insisting they are “incredibly excited to welcome the World Cup to the Bay Area.”
They added: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for local fans to enjoy what will be the largest sporting event in history, and we are excited and ready to welcome the world to the Bay Area.”
FIFA, in a statement on Thursday to The Athletic, acknowledged that “operational realities” are under consideration across the host cities, saying they are working closely “to identify viable, responsible and sustainable solutions that will ensure the event’s success while generating a positive and lasting local impact.”
A spokesperson added: “It is important to recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all model for fan engagement across a tournament of this scale. Fan experiences can take many forms — from large-scale gatherings to more decentralised, community-driven activations — all of which contribute to the unique atmosphere of the World Cup. FIFA will communicate further details on the FIFA Fan Festival format and venues in the first quarter of 2026. Until then, discussions with host cities and local stakeholders continue, with a shared focus on creating meaningful fan experiences that are community-led, fan-oriented, financially responsible and aligned with the spirit of the FIFA World Cup.”
