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Miami Beach is warming up to welcome FIFA World Cup 2026, the world’s largest sporting event, next summer. City officials unanimously approved legislation aiming to establish the city as a local hub for the sports event and to give FIFA a cash sponsorship of $1.25 million.
The city is excited to have FIFA, said Mayor Steven Meiner in last month’s commission meeting. “It’s literally kind of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have FIFA be here for our city and the South Florida community.”
Mayor Meiner noted the initial cash sponsorship amount was $1.5 million. However, he expressed concerns, and “had a conference call with the host committee and asked them to come down to $1.25 million, which they have, so I appreciate that. That’s what’s on the table today.”
Lissette Arrogante, the city’s director of tourism and culture, told the commission the administration had been negotiating with the FIFA host committee for the past few months.
The terms for the special events sponsorship request that was presented at the Dec. 20, 2024, Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (FERC) meeting were: “waivers of special event fees, Lummus Park user fees, square footage fees and city services not to exceed $500,000, cash sponsorship amount not to exceed $1.5 million, a stone of exclusivity, similar to Art Basel in North and South Beach, a waiver of the Pepsi pouring rights in exchange for public benefits of an official kickoff concert in Lummis Park, an official watch party location in Miami Beach, a media row similar to Super Bowl in Lummis Park, and a legacy project with fundraising efforts to contribute to a high-quality soccer field in the city.”
At the July 11 FERC budget workshop, she said, the mayor and committee members discussed the cash sponsorship of the special event sponsorship and asked the staff to negotiate and reduce the amount from $1.5 million to $1.25 million.
Ms. Arrogante noted specific events have been excluded from FIFA’s zone of exclusivity. Such events include “the Miami Beach pride celebration in Lummis Park in June, the City of Miami Beach Juneteenth Celebration, the July 4 celebrations in Lummis Park and in Altos del Mar Park.” Additionally, “a FIFA legend” is to attend a Miami Beach public event.
The World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world, and this is the largest World Cup that has ever been held, said Ray Martinez, chief operating officer for the World Cup Miami host committee, at the meeting.
“There are 48 different nations that will be participating,” he said, “104 matches spread out over 16 host cities, with Miami being one of them. We have seven matches that are going to be played here at the Hard Rock Stadium, which will be renamed and rebranded as the Miami stadium for the matches. We have four qualifying matches, a round of 32, a quarter final and a bronze medal final.”
FIFA’s impact on the city was further highlighted by Commissioner Alex Fernandez.
“I was looking back in 2024,” he said, “when the game day for Copa America, and when you look at our occupancy rates … in Miami Beach for game day of Copa America went up almost 10%, our ADRs [average daily rates] went up almost 14%, our gross room revenue went up 27%, and that’s just looking at data as it relates to our hotels, that’s not going and looking into the impact on our restaurants, or the significant media impact that we’re going to get from having media row here.”
Having seven games here, he said, one can only imagine the larger impacts they will have.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Commissioner Joseph Magazine. “This will be the biggest event in the world, and possibly the biggest event in the history of Miami and Miami Beach. For those out there wondering why the city may be giving FIFA such a substantial sum of money, one, to clarify, it is coming out of our resort taxes, which are designed to essentially promote and enhance tourism, and the money that we will essentially be sharing will have a significant ROI, return on investment.”
This isn’t a giveaway, he said, this is because of the substantial benefits the city will receive in return.
“That $1.25 million that FIFA will utilize,” said Mr. Magazine, “will be paid back to the city multiple times over through things like viewing parties, watch parties, the international exposure and the marketing that we’re going to get from worldwide broadcasts, the billions of people that show front and center Ocean Drive, our lovely Art Deco Historic District, our beautiful beaches, those things are incalculable, immeasurable. We’re happy to welcome FIFA, and can’t wait for next summer.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
