It’s official! Seattle is all-in as a host city for World Cup Soccer in 2026 following a unanimous vote of the city council on Tuesday.
“I went to the soccer player on my left” Councilmember Alex Pederson brought a soccer ball to the meeting and directed his playful gesture at council member Theresa Mosqueda, a soccer enthusiast “This is so embarrassing, now when people see me play soccer … it’s a lot of hype.”
As many as 750,000 visitors are expected to descend on Seattle for matches in June & July of 2026.
“I’m super reassured” but Councilmember Lisa Herbold knows there will be serious questions about a currently understaffed Seattle police force, fire protection as well as medical response “That there’s clear language including securing funding and reimbursing the city for it’s costs.”
An estimated 4-billion Television viewers worldwide will be following the World Cup. That’s an audience six times larger than the Super Bowl.
“We are also planning how we better support local businesses” Councilmember Tammy Morales wants to make sure Seattle business get a lot of attention “Particularly those in the CID (Chinatown International District) who, as we all know, didn’t really get to benefit from the recent MLB event (Major League Baseball All Start Game).”
The World Cup is expanding to a record 48-nations. Seattle will host as many as six soccer matches at Lumen Field; but there’s no schedule yet and tickets won’t be available until sometime in 2025.
