The $40 Billion Kickoff: Why FIFA 2026 Is a Global Payments Stress Test

If the Super Bowl is America’s annual excuse to overinvest in snacks and LED televisions, the FIFA World Cup is the planet’s far more glamorous version of the same impulse.

It is football, yes. But it is also a travel surge, a luxury hospitality showcase, brand activation machine, and retail stress test wrapped into one monthlong global festival. For merchants, banks, payments players, and anyone who sells to traveling fans, the 2026 tournament is less a sports event than a roaming economic weather system.

The basics alone are enough to get retailers’ attention. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will run from June 11 to July 19, spanning 16 host cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico. It will be the first men’s World Cup with 48 teams and 104 matches, making it the largest edition in the tournament’s history.

FIFA says the event is expected to welcome about 6.5 million fans into stadiums. The audience beyond the turnstiles will be vastly larger. FIFA says the 2022 World Cup in Qatar generated 5 billion engagements, while the final alone drew close to 1.5 billion viewers worldwide. For perspective, FIFA’s official audit of the 2018 World Cup found that 3.572 billion people watched at least some part of that tournament. In other words, there are media events, and then there is the World Cup.

Luxury Travel Packages and Simpler Fare

At the high end, the tournament is already selling itself as a luxury travel product with a scoreboard attached. FIFA’s official hospitality provider, On Location, is offering a range of premium packages, from Pitchside Lounge and Champions Club access to private suites and team-following bundles.

One of the splashier options is the New York/New Jersey Venue Series, which includes eight matches, including the final, and starts at $25,800 per person. This is not your standard “grab a hot dog and find your seat” sporting experience. It is global football with a concierge service.

But some of the most memorable World Cup experiences may be the less polished ones. In New York, the Rockefeller Center rink will be transformed into a soccer pitch as part of the official NYNJ Fan Village, and the Channel Gardens will honor the eight countries that have won the tournament.

In Kansas City, the official FIFA Fan Festival will be free to attend and will open through a 65-foot-tall heart-shaped gateway at the National WWI Museum and Memorial. That is the lighter side of the World Cup in a sentence: one part prestige package, one part civic carnival.

All That Spending

For retailers, that carnival atmosphere matters. Big international tournaments create spending far beyond the stadium walls. FIFA and the World Trade Organization said in a 2025 study that the 2026 World Cup could add $40.9 billion to global GDP, with 6.5 million attendees expected across the three host countries.

In Los Angeles alone, the local host committee said the tournament is projected to generate $515 million in direct visitor spending across lodging, dining, retail, transportation and entertainment, plus $377 million in follow-on economic activity. That is the commercial angle in plain English: Fans do not just buy tickets. They buy meals, transit, apparel, convenience items, experiences, and plenty of things they did not plan to buy until they got there.

There is also a payments story running straight through the event. Visa remains a major FIFA partner and, for ticketing, is promoted as FIFA’s Official Payment Technology Partner and preferred presale option for early ticket access.

Bank of America is also deeply in the mix as FIFA’s first-ever global sponsor in the banking category for the 2026 World Cup. That makes the tournament particularly relevant for PYMNTS readers, as the commercial choreography will not just take place in stores and fan zones. It will happen at the checkout layer too.

Local Economic Benefits

Then there is the offbeat hospitality economy orbiting the whole thing. Airbnb, now an official FIFA tournament supporter, has leaned hard into the World Cup opportunity, saying it will launch a $5 million Host City Impact Program tied to the event. Airbnb also cited Deloitte estimates suggesting its guests could generate roughly $3.6 billion in economic activity across the three host countries during the tournament.

That means the World Cup is not just a boon for giant sponsors and stadium operators. It is also likely to benefit neighborhood restaurants, short-term rentals, coffee shops, transit providers, and local merchants well outside the official perimeter.

That may be the most useful way to think about the 2026 World Cup. It is not only the biggest tournament in soccer history. It is also a huge temporary marketplace. Some fans will experience it from suites with curated menus and preferred entrances. Others will watch from public plazas, pop-up fan villages, airport bars, and overbooked restaurant patios. Everyone, though, will be part of the same commercial event. The World Cup sells drama on the field. Off the field, it sells just about everything else.