November 14 – FIFA has changed its traditional model of delivering the greatest show on earth, the FIFA World Cup. Rather than working through a national Local Organising Committee, FIFA has mandated an increased level of management and delivery of the first 48-team, 104-match tournament to host cities.
As John Kristick, one of the bid leaders who delivered the tournament to the region, said at the opening of a panel at the Soccerex Convention in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, yesterday, the “management is fundamentally different” than anything that has gone before. It is a “monumental exercise”.
Having dramatically parked its bus in Miami, FIFA has pretty much circumvented the national federations of the bid winning US, Mexico and Canada FAs, instead choosing to work directly with the cities.
Depending on who you talk to, the overriding feeling is that with 570 days to go to kick-off, FIFA has been slow out the blocks in terms of organisation and leadership. Kristick’s panel in Fort Lauderdale would beg differ, though no-one is underestimating the scale of the task.
For FIFA the comforting factor is that they are working with cities that are very used to delivering development of this scale, though Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, head of the Miami 2026 host committee pointed out: “It is not just like producing one Super Bowl. We have seven matches so it is like producing seven Super Bowls in 30 days.”
As well as Lutoff-Perlo, Kristick was joined on his panel by host committee leaders from Boston, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Together the four cities will account for about a third of the games to be played at the 2026 finals.
The cities are in a very American way are both competitive with each other and collegiate.
Asked what a successful delivery of 2026 would look like for them, the answers differed by city though the challenges were broadly the same.
Lutoff-Perlo said that the “new FIFA model created an environment where we have to work together” but at the same time said her three core objectives included making the “events in Miami the envy of other host cities”.
The other two objectives were “a good financial outcome. Make no mistake, this is a business”, and a robust legacy. “The World Cup will come and the World Cup will go but we want the legacy to live on in our cities.”
Jon Persch, leader of the Boston 26 host committee, said the task was to “find our own identity”. For Boston the focus is on being where it all started. “The US started in our backyard. We had the first post office and the first organised soccer match in the 1600s. For us it all began here.”
The issue for all the cities is how to monetise and they are all out selling their local advertising and sponsorship packages.
For Atlanta and Los Angeles the focus of activity is very much focussed around the geography and location of their stadium.
Dietmar Exler, head of AMB Sports and Entertainment Mercedes Benz Stadium, a stadium that has 50,000 hotel rooms within 15 minutes walk of the stadium, said their focus was ensuring that people has a good time and that they identified the stadium with the sport and the World Cup.
Adolfo Romero, in charge of Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, said the challenge for them was to make most effective use of 300 acres of their facility in what is the entertainment capital of the world.
Romero made an important point when it comes to looking at football in his city.
“In LA soccer is part of the eco-system. We have two MLS teams, an NWSL team, multiple USL teams, a passionate soccer community and youth soccer infrastructure The culture is already there and we have 103 countries represented within it.”
For Romero it is not just about FIFA but a “focus on the long tail of soccer”. For him it is the importance of the relationship with Concacaf that provide the on-going engagement and legacy.
“We want Concacaf (and its events) going forward. FIFA will come and go, Concacaf is our partner in the region going forward.”
While the feeling is that FIFA is coming a little late and a lot disorganised to its own party, there is the comfort that in the cities there is experience and confidence that will deliver what is the biggest and most ambitious World Cup ever.
“We do this day in day out,” said Romero. “What makes 2026 different is how we adapt for an international audience.”
How FIFA adapts to an American way of doing things will also be important. There is doubtless plenty of creative tension to come as this giant production is pieced together, bit the excitement is building and it is infectious.
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