Still Never Just a Game: The 2026 World Cup and What It Reveals

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<North American World Cup Series 1> Still Never Just a Game: The 2026 World Cup and What It Reveals

1. Why North America? — The Meaning and Reality of the 2026 World Cup's Three-Nation Co-Hosting

Why the U.S., Canada, and Mexico Were Bundled Together

  The three-nation co-hosting of the 2026 World Cup was the result of FIFA's revenue maximization strategy aligning with American interests — a direction that also fit naturally with the narrative of the North American continent coming together as a single stage.

  For FIFA, expansion meant revenue. With the 2026 tournament expanding from 32 to 48 nations, the number of matches jumped from 64 to 104, and a single country's infrastructure simply couldn't absorb that volume. The three-nation co-hosting structure solved the problem of distributing matches while simultaneously maximizing profits. FIFA estimates total revenue from the 2026 tournament at around $11 billion — nearly double what Qatar generated.

  The calculation worked for the U.S. as well. Having already hosted solo in 1994, there were justification problems with pushing for another solo bid. Bringing Canada and Mexico along created a format that encompassed the entire continent and resolved the venue distribution challenge. The logic isn't all that different from why Korea and Japan chose co-hosting in 2002. For Canada, it was an opportunity to appear on the World Cup stage for the first time, lacking the infrastructure for a solo bid. For Mexico, it meant writing history as a three-time host, following 1970 and 1986. Morocco's solo bid losing the competition ultimately meant FIFA had chosen scale and revenue.

  There's also one interesting layer of context that overlaps here. World Cups typically have a gap of several years between the hosting decision and the actual tournament. This one was pursued by the first Trump administration and decided in 2018, progressed through the Biden years, and is now being welcomed at kickoff by a second Trump term. The administration that pushed for the bid and the administration opening the tournament are one and the same.

  The Trump administration has maintained a consistent direction across both terms: rather than globalization and multilateral institutions, it has formalized the reshaping of supply chains to align with American economic interests and the strategic importance of the Western Hemisphere. The NSS announced in December 2025 set "restoring American primacy in the Western Hemisphere" as its top priority, placing economic security and national security on the same footing.

  This direction was already visible in the first Trump term. Dismantling NAFTA and replacing it with the USMCA was that signal — and Trump personally took to Twitter ahead of the FIFA vote to encourage support for the North American co-hosting bid. The result was decisive: at the June 2018 FIFA Congress in Moscow, the North American bid defeated Morocco 134 votes to 65. A president urging support for an international sports vote was unusual, and it was also a signal that this administration didn't view the World Cup as a mere sporting event.

  This isn't to say the World Cup was a product of that strategy. But the image of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico co-hosting a tournament on a single stage does overlap symbolically — whether intentional or not — with America's push to bind North America into a single economic and security unit. How that symbolism plays out in the opening ceremony speeches and tournament operations will be worth watching.

Record Scale — What's Expected

  The scale itself carries significant expectations. Sixteen cities, 104 matches, 48 nations represent a level of global exposure without precedent. The 1994 U.S. World Cup set what were then all-time records — a total of 3.58 million spectators and an average of 69,000 per match — becoming the most commercially successful World Cup in history, with MLS launching in 1996 as its legacy and continuing to this day. The 2026 edition sits on that continuum. The expanded 48-nation format is expected to surpass even the 1994 attendance record, and FIFA's estimated revenue of approximately $11 billion is nearly double that of Qatar. That said, how much of FIFA's and the organizing committee's profits actually flow back to host cities and local communities is a separate question. Even in 1994, analyses suggested that actual economic effects on host cities fell short of expectations, independent of the official surplus figures.

  With matches spread across 11 American cities in particular, there's now an opportunity for an American public historically indifferent to soccer to experience the World Cup in their everyday surroundings. For Mexican fans, the environment is effectively a home match. Mexico has cultivated the most passionate soccer fan base in the U.S. through the Hispanic community, and the structure allows those fans to cheer on their national team at close range. Canada, beyond the symbolic significance of its first home World Cup, is also anticipating the tangible benefits of tourism revenue and infrastructure investment.



2. The Current Reality — An Uneasy Landscape 100 Days Before Kickoff

  Yet as the tournament approaches, preparations have faced several difficulties. Iran's participation is one of them. Following the death of Supreme Leader Khamenei in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike on February 28, 2026, Iran's Sports Minister declared the country could not participate in the World Cup "under any circumstances." FIFA and the Trump administration stated Iran's delegation would be welcome, but the Iranian Football Federation indicated it was in discussions with FIFA about holding its matches in Mexico rather than on U.S. soil.

Considering events unfolding simultaneously, Iran's participation will not be easily resolved. Around the same time, at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in Australia, members of Iran's women's national team refused to sing the national anthem and were subsequently branded as "wartime traitors" by state broadcasters, with some applying for asylum in Australia. The concern that similar situations could repeat themselves at the World Cup for the men's team may well have influenced the decision to withdraw.

  Security concerns in Mexico are also a realistic worry. Following the Mexican military's killing of a cartel leader in February, violence surged across the state of Jalisco, whose capital Guadalajara is scheduled to host four group stage matches. The Mexican government announced it would deploy 100,000 security personnel during the tournament, but with cartel violence continuing sporadically throughout the region, anxiety has not easily subsided. The official positions of the Mexican government and FIFA are that there's no problem — but players, coaching staff, and tens of thousands of tourists who will need to be in Jalisco face a considerable psychological burden regardless.

  Preparations within the U.S. haven't been entirely smooth either. The Foxborough situation is the most illustrative example. Foxborough, a small Massachusetts town of 19,000, was assigned to host seven World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium, but the local board refused to issue the necessary permits. The reason was financial: without clear guarantees of who would cover the $7.8 million in security costs required for an international tournament, the board was unwilling to spend local taxpayer money. Federal security funding was delayed by a congressional budget freeze, and FIFA and the organizing committee were reluctant to commit to advance payment. A resolution was eventually reached through negotiations with Kraft Group, the stadium's owner, and matches appear set to proceed as scheduled — but the episode vividly exposed the structural imbalance between FIFA capturing the revenue from the world's largest tournament and the local communities left to absorb the real costs.

  Ticket pricing is perhaps the most broadly contested issue surrounding this tournament. Prices are roughly 500% higher than the 2022 Qatar World Cup, with minimum ticket prices for the final exceeding $3,000. More significantly, FIFA has taken advantage of relatively permissive resale regulations in the U.S. and Canada to operate its own official ticket resale platform, capturing up to 15% fees from both buyers and sellers — as much as 30% per transaction. At previous tournaments, resale fees were capped at or below 5%. The result: a single final ticket listed at $143,000 on the official FIFA resale platform, and opening match tickets at Azteca Stadium surpassing $5,000. Football Supporters Europe (FSE) called this "a betrayal of fans," and FIFA President Infantino acknowledged at Davos: "I have been heavily criticized over ticket prices." In response to mounting criticism, FIFA announced it would allocate a small number of $60 low-price tickets to every match — but at just 1.6% of total inventory, the fan response was cold.

Is Jules Rimet's Ideal Achievable?

  Jules Rimet, the founder of the World Cup, believed football could become a space for reconciliation across national borders — a conviction that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 1956. Of course, that ideal was never actually realized. From the 1934 Italian tournament that became a showcase for fascism, to the 1966 England tournament boycotted by the entire African continent protesting unfair allocation of qualifying slots, to the 1978 Argentine tournament in which a dictatorship used a World Cup title to obscure the truth of its massacres — the World Cup has always faithfully reflected the political-economic realities of its era.

  2026 is no different. Players from a nation at war whose participation remains uncertain. Ordinary football fans priced out of an inflated secondary market. A small town that had to fight FIFA over security costs. These scenes reveal the distance between Rimet's ideal and the reality we live in. And yet, knowing all of this, there remains something to hope for. That across 104 matches, in at least one moment, something will emerge that transcends the logic of politics and money. That through it, we might glimpse the possibility of peace and reconciliation across the world. That, in the end, is why large-scale sporting events like the World Cup exist at all.

3. The Impact on MLS — An Opportunity and a Test



  The 1994 U.S. World Cup gave birth to MLS. FIFA demanded the creation of a professional league as a condition of awarding the tournament, and so MLS launched in 1996. Thirty years on, the 2026 World Cup could serve as the platform for MLS's second leap forward — though this time, it's a matter of choice rather than condition.

  The most immediate opportunity is exposure. Five MLS stadiums will serve as official World Cup venues, and seven weeks of North American attention concentrated on soccer creates an environment MLS hasn't experienced before. MLS has paused its season from May 25 to July 16, structuring a resumption with marquee rivalry matches the weekend before the World Cup final — a deliberate strategy to channel the World Cup's momentum directly into the league. The arc is clear: American fans who've experienced world-class football firsthand seek out the MLS stadium nearest them; Hispanic and new American fan bases are targeted simultaneously; and while global media attention is focused on North America, the MLS brand gets organic exposure without spending a dollar on advertising.

  The deeper change comes at the structural level. MLS has decided to transition to a summer-opening, spring-ending calendar in line with European football starting in 2027. Commissioner Don Garber called it "the most important decision in league history." The core of that calendar shift is transfer market synchronization. The existing MLS transfer calendar has been misaligned with Europe's summer window, repeatedly leading to good signings arriving mid-season. Resolving that structural mismatch means MLS can buy and sell players on the same timeline as European clubs, FIFA international windows will create fewer disruptions, and global fans will find it easier to follow a league that shares a seasonal structure with European competition. Looking further out, the arc connecting through the 2028 LA Olympics creates a sustained infrastructure for soccer interest in the North American sports market.

  But optimism should be tempered. As the scene of EPL viewership across nine days of Christmas programming on NBC and Peacock surpassing the entirety of MLS's annual television audience illustrates, Apple TV's exclusive broadcast deal still has real limitations in terms of everyday reach. It's true that Apple TV resells select matches to local broadcasters in various markets, and from 2026 MLS will be accessible via subscription alone without a separate package — an improvement in access. But how much of that improvement fills the gap left by the disappearance of channel-surfing discovery remains genuinely unclear. The calendar transition also requires navigating the disruption of a shortened 2027 season as a transitional period. And if this World Cup's ticket pricing controversy solidifies the perception that "soccer is a high-priced event," MLS will find it difficult to escape the same gaze. The possibility that American fans' attention drifts back to the NFL and NBA once the World Cup ends is always there.

  What the 2026 World Cup can offer MLS, ultimately, is a window of opportunity. If the 1994 World Cup's gift was MLS's very creation, 2026 will be the test that determines whether MLS can make the leap to becoming a genuinely global league. Whether that opportunity is seized depends entirely on the choices MLS makes after the final whistle.