FIFA World Cup could be a tourism boost. Is Fort Worth ready to capitalize?
We’re less than nine months away from the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will see AT&T Stadium (which will temporarily be renamed Dallas Stadium) host nine games across 31 days, beginning with a group stage match on June 14, and concluding with a semifinal match on July 14.
And while Dallas has taken center stage in the official FIFA branding, Fort Worth agencies are positioning the city to be a major player in the world’s biggest sporting event, with plans underway to attract and accommodate fans from across the globe.
How many World Cup fans should we expect? And what should they expect from Fort Worth?
Anette Landeros, the chief strategy officer for Trinity Metro, which manages Fort Worth’s public transportation, said FIFA officials expect 100,000 visitors across Dallas-Fort Worth each day.
Not all of them, of course, will stay in Fort Worth, but enough will that Landeros and her team are preparing for a significant uptick in train and bus ridership next summer. As for what the exact number will be, Landeros said, it largely depends on which countries’ teams play in Arlington. That won’t be decided until Dec. 5 when FIFA holds its final draw, where the 48 nations competing in the World Cup are placed into groups and venues are assigned.
For its part, Visit Fort Worth, the city’s visitors bureau, is marketing Fort Worth as the place to experience the World Cup Texas style, an idea illustrated by Fort Worth artist Matt Cliff, who designed the official poster for our region. One of the first steps was establishing a dedicated website, fortworth.com/soccer2026, to welcome and educate soccer fans.
Mitch Whitten, Visit Fort Worth’s chief operating officer, told the Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday the World Cup will have an estimated $1.5 billion impact on the region’s economy. To carve out a sizable portion of that, Visit Fort Worth is teaming with business partners from the Stockyards, the Near Southside, Sundance Square, TCU and Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., to give fans that quintessentially Texas experience.
Additionally, with more than 4,000 media members expected at the International Broadcast Center in Dallas during the tournament, Whitten said his team is developing a strategy to attract coverage of Fort Worth, ostensibly introducing Cowtown to a worldwide audience that may be unfamiliar.
The first big kickoff event of World Cup season will be at 11 a.m. on Dec. 5, when Billy Bob’s will host a FIFA draw watch party. Three months later, in March, teams will announce the locations of their base camps, and it’s expected that TCU will host one of the national teams playing in Arlington.
“Next summer, the world is coming to North Texas, and we are excited to be able to showcase areas and cities around the region that make Dallas-Fort Worth the incredible destination it is,” said Noelle Leveaux, chief marketing officer for the North Texas Organizing Committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “It’s also an opportunity for our residents, business owners and community partners to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation event. As we deliberately look to include the region as a whole in our planning and preparation, having the Official Draw Party in Fort Worth was a perfect fit.”
How do you move World Cup fans?
Getting fans to come to Fort Worth is one thing. Getting them from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible is a whole other challenge in itself.
“Right now, we’re planning for, at the very least, being able to move 5,800 people via the TRE (Trinity Railway Express) on game days,” Landeros said. “The hope is that the TRE will be the primary focus of getting folks toward Arlington.”
To handle the increased ridership, Trinity Metro has acquired additional passenger cars and locomotives. Still, it likely won’t be enough. To accommodate the overflow, Landeros said there will be supplemental buses from Fort Worth Central Station in downtown to Arlington. Landeros estimates the buses will be able to carry 2,000 to 4,000 passengers on game days.
Finding enough seats for riders was one hurdle, Landeros said. Another was the fact that there’s no train station in Arlington. The closest one is the CentrePort/DFW Airport Station near Trinity Boulevard and Texas 360, but that lies about eight miles north of AT&T Stadium, meaning more buses will be needed to transport people from the station to the venue.
To create enough capacity to do all that, Landeros said Trinity Metro is looking at bringing in charter buses. But it has certainly posed a challenge, she said, figuring out how to establish routes in areas not traditionally served by public transportation.
When asked if this could be the catalyst for a permanent transportation link between downtown Fort Worth and Arlington’s entertainment district, Landeros said she’s always open to having those discussions.
“In terms of desire, I can confidently state that Trinity Metro would love to service Arlington,” she said. “Of course, that’s a decision that’s really in Arlington’s court. But perhaps witnessing how transit is so important to the international sports fan during the World Cup might give a different perspective, perhaps, for Arlington leaders. And we stand by ready to have that conversation whenever it presents itself as an opportunity.”
Besides getting people to the stadium for the games, there will be a need to move people throughout the city. Once it’s decided which teams will be playing in Arlington, Landeros said she and her team will begin creating signs in multiple languages to help with way finding and identifying bus stops and other transportation hubs.
Landeros expects heavy ridership on Trinity Metro’s Orange Line, which connects downtown and the Stockyards, and the Blue Line, which circulates passengers on a loop through downtown.
“In terms of way finding, those are improvements that we’re really excited about because there are things that we’ve wanted to do, but now the World Cup has given us the urgency to get it done. And we’re going to be a better system for it after,” said Landeros.
Will World Cup 2026 cause local disruptions?
Sonny Saxton, Fort Worth’s director of emergency communications and management, said the city has established work groups to address a variety of concerns around the upcoming World Cup, from infrastructure necessities to beautification efforts to safety and security. He told the City Council that the Fort Worth Police Department, the Fort Worth Fire Department and hospitals have all been involved in planning for crowd management and emergency response.
Michael Crum, director of Fort Worth’s public events department, added to that, saying the city will be well prepared by next summer to handle a large number of visitors while ensuring everyday services are not affected.
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM.