Houston is on a shortlist of host cities for the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup,
The big picture
At the Aug. 12 city council meeting, officials with the Harris County Houston Sports Authority announced that the city will bid on several upcoming major sporting events, including the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the 2031 Men’s Rugby World Cup and several NCAA championships.
“We’re already working on what’s next: continuing to drive sports tourism and ensuring that Houston keeps that title of having hosted more major sporting events than any other city in North America,” said Ryan Walsh, CEO of the HCHSA.
Walsh said after factoring in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the HCHSA will have delivered more than $4 billion in economic impact in the region.
Breaking it down
Chris Canetti, president of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Houston Host Committee, presented preliminary numbers from the tournament to council, including 1.08 million people participating across all matches, the FIFA Fan Festival, adjacent celebrations and Fan Walks. Canetti noted that 81% of ticket buyers came from outside Houston, and 44% were international.
Houston also led all host cities with the most goals scored in the games at 27, Canetti said.
“When you go to a soccer match, you like to see scoring,” Canetti said. “And if you came to Houston, you saw 27 goals scored.”
Other information shared included:
- Nearly 1 million visitors to East Downtown and 1.47 million to downtown
- Roughly 5.5 million METRO rides recorded from June 12-July 8
- Hobby and Bush airports together welcomed 4.5 million passengers
- Dining options surrounding the fan festival experienced year-over-year traffic growth between 33% and 1,600%
- All 50 states and more than 200 countries were represented
“I don’t think that anybody will ever be able to appreciate and understand the amount of work and collaboration that went into this,” Canetti said during the meeting. “But we delivered successfully, thankfully.”
One more thing
FIFA officials will announce the host cities for the 2031 and 2035 Women’s World Cups at a later date this year.
