World Cup expected to generate nearly $1 billion windfall for Seattle area

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is still over a year away, but Seattle is already anticipating its economic impact.

On Tuesday, marketing organization Visit Seattle released a report indicating the World Cup will generate at least $929 million for King County over the six matches Lumen Field will host in the summer of 2026.

April Putney, chief strategy officer for SeattleFWC26, the organizing committee for Seattle's World Cup bid, said at a Tuesday event downtown that the expectation right now is about 750,000 people will visit Seattle for the World Cup.

"Only half of these people will have tickets. The rest are here for vibes," she said. "We want to make sure they know where they can go and what they can see, and why they're going to want to come back again."

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2024/12/10/world-cup-visit-impact-economic-soccer-fifa.html