United States World Cup hotel bookings look like a complete disaster
· Yahoo Sports
We're only a little over a month until the start of the 2026 World Cup in North America. For the country that will host most of the matches in the legendary men's soccer tournament, the United States, of course, the buzz surrounding the supposed-to-be prestigious event feels like it's ... at a hush.
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What other conclusion could we draw after learning of an alarming report about the low, decidedly normal level of hotel bookings for the World Cup across the U.S. as the tournament takes place this summer?
According to Forbes, roughly 80 percent of hotels in 11 World Cup host cities in the U.S. are tracking well below their anticipated bookings. Some have even characterized their respective level of bookings as a "non-event," in line with normal June and July bookings at their hotels. Some of the cities mentioned include Kansas City, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. The New York (a.k.a. New Jersey) mention is particularly notable as that is where the 2026 World Cup Final will take place.
Well, even those hotels are tracking with normal summer demands. Yikes and woof, to say the least.
The U.S. metros hosting World Cup games will “generate some GDP growth this summer,” concentrated in leisure and hospitality sectors, but those “will not have a material impact” on overall jobs and economic gains this year, according to a report released last week by Oxford Economics.
As for why we're seeing so few hotel bookings this close to the tournament, it's likely a mix of reasons stacking on top of each other.
You have the exorbitant ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup games, apparent limited tailgate availability for some stadiums, and on top of that, with some cities trying to take advantage of people for daring to use public transit. Then, anyone traveling to a city to watch a match has to also book an expensive flight, arrange expensive lodging, and plan a whole trip of meals and other activities. (Make those flight prices even higher for international fans who could travel to the United States.) For domestic United States fans, shelling out this much money feels much more tenuous than usual, as it sure seems like the country's economy might enter a recession this year.
All of this financial strain likely goes in tandem with stringent anti-immigration efforts led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It would be naive to assume that large swaths of international soccer fans who otherwise might have made the trek to the United States haven't been scared off, given everything that's been ICE-related in the news in recent months. So, I would make an educated guess that many are making the calculation that it's better to just watch at home on their couch without stressing their wallet and/or potentially risking their safety.
And it's hard to blame them!
We haven't even started this World Cup on this side of the pond, and it's already shaping up to be a huge dud of a disaster for FIFA and the United States. Bang-up job, everyone. Don't worry, though. I'm sure we'll hear about how it was a rousing success (with no real detail), anyway.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: U.S. World Cup hotel bookings project disaster for FIFA, America