Pioneer Square is booming during World Cup. Seattle’s CID, not so much. Advocates demand city help
Advocates, business owners, and community organizers from the Chinatown-International District say FIFA World Cup 2026 has been devastating for their neighborhood.
“The rest of downtown is benefitting and we are not. So, enough is enough. This is bigger than one tournament. It’s about equity. It’s about economic justice and whether Seattle values one of its oldest and most diverse neighborhoods,” said Tanya Woo, a long-time community organizer and former Seattle City Council member who was born and raised in south Seattle. Her family owns businesses in the CID.
KUOW spoke with owners and workers at 20 businesses in the CID. Many of them agreed that World Cup benefits have not made it to their neighborhood.
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The owner of International Lobster Rolls, a seafood restaurant off S. Jackson Street, says his sales are down between 20% and 25% since the World Cup started.
The owner of Anh Ơi Bake Shop, a Vietnamese American bakery in Seattle’s Japantown, said he believes the World Cup has caused his business to “have the worst sales day” it’s ever had. He compared hosting part of the world’s largest sporting event to operating as a pop-up. He posted on TikTok about the experience.
Business owners in south Seattle say the lack of World Cup impact, or the negative impact, is part of an ongoing trend — a major event comes to Seattle, but the CID doesn’t reap any benefits, oftentimes being worse off.
It’s a hard pill to swallow for those who live and work in a neighborhood that is bearing the brunt of problems not of its own making: historically harmed by a highway cutting through it and more recently, becoming a hot spot where people dealing with addiction openly use drugs and the crime that often arises as part of drug addiction and use.
Those were the chief complaints by Woo, and others, at a press conference held before the Belgium vs. Senegal game Wednesday at Seattle Stadium, aka Lumen Field. Speakers at the event said they feel like the city isn’t doing enough to address any of their issues.
“We just want the city to engage in conversation on how we can improve in the future. We would have liked more signage directing people to the CID,” Woo said. “We would have hoped that there would be some relief at 12th and Jackson. Some of the issues that have been overlooked this last year could have been addressed, getting people into more housing, more social workers out to help, but we haven’t seen any of that.”
RELATED: World Cup crowds bring some boom, some bust for Seattle businesses
To bring attention to their cause and invite soccer fans to their neighborhood, Woo, and others, plan to hold a rally and march at 4 p.m. Monday, July 6. The event kicks off at Hing Hay Park before a march to Seattle Stadium.
Mayor Katie Wilson said the city has taken steps to try to incorporate the CID into the World Cup events.
“We have our Unity Loop that Seattle and our local organizing committee has worked on which is trying to get people to move through other neighborhoods,” Wilson said. “I know that our local organizing committee has been doing a lot of work with small businesses to give them the tools that they need to advertise to the folks that are staying all over Seattle and our region.”
To address the ongoing safety concerns, Wilson released a plan that includes an increased police presence at 12th & Jackson and North Beacon Hill, along with a one-time $1.1 million fund to support additional services in the neighborhood. That money will pay for outreach staff to support service navigation, mobile overdose treatment and prevention teams, community activations to support neighbors and businesses. Community activations include events such as night markets, pop ups — anything that could be used to activate the community.
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“We will no longer tolerate open-air drug sale and use and vending stolen goods. We are expanding police personnel in the area to engage directly with individuals participating in these activities, explain that the behavior is no longer tolerated, and help ensure that the sidewalk and transit stops are safe and accessible,” Wilson said in a statement. “If individuals persist in these behaviors, they will either be booked into jail or enrolled in the LEAD diversion program.”
