Next year is going to be really special for two sports: football (soccer) and poker. The FIFA World Cup is coming to the United States in the biggest format ever. The World Cup has been expanded from 64 to 104 matches and from 29 to 39 days. It is expected that 6.5 million fans will come to attend World Cup matches, which will be hosted in 11 US cities, three Mexican cities, and two Canadian cities. With the infrastructure the US has and the historical numbers, we are in for a record-breaking ride.
Usually, for us Europeans, the minimum budget when we visit the US as tourists is from $5,000 to $10,000 for seven to ten days, including plane tickets, accommodation, taxis, food, etc. So if we consider that 6.5 million fans will spend something similar per person, there will be lots of money coming into the US, and a piece of that pie will end up in casinos and poker tables.
Let's say that each of these 6.5 million fans spends $5,000 on average during the World Cup. This is going to be around $32.5 billion, and if only one percent of that ends up on poker tables, this is going to be $325 million, which is almost eight times bigger than the record-breaking 2024 WSOP series, which generated $42 million of rake with $438 million in prize pools.
WSOP 2026, at the Right Place at the Right Time
Another big thing that could happen is that WSOP 2026 can be scheduled when all of these people are in the US or maybe to time the main event after the World Cup is finished. This could lead to new record-breaking numbers in WSOP and overall poker revenue in the US.
Could this also be an additional reason for the World Series of Poker to increase the number of events in 2026 since this year has already been expanded compared to previous years? With the president willing to do anything to reduce the US debt and bring some additional revenue in, live poker and online poker might really hit the new golden era in the next four years, starting with the World Cup catalyst in 2026.
One of today's biggest football stars is Neymar, who is also a big fan of poker. This might also be the start of a trend where we see an increase in the number of famous football players participating in the WSOP Main Event, which would surely be great for brand exposure.
"I want to play my last World Cup (2026), but it will be my last," said the former PSG and Barcelona star (Neymar), adding that he will be "34" and at the right age to compete in the tournament.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxx_yeUgkWk&t=3s
FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar
Messi and Argentina winning FIFA World Cup 2022
If we study previous FIFA World Cups, we can see that numbers are continuously growing, including the countries' live attendance, TV spectators, tourism numbers, and overall revenue. FIFA World Cup 2022 had a total attendance of 3,404,252 (53,191 per match), beating the previous World Cup in Russia by around 400,000, with only two world cups that had higher attendance in history. The most recent one was in 2014 in Brazil, when the attendance was 3,441,450 (36,000 more), and the World Cup in the US in 1994, when the attendance was highest in history with 3,568,567 live spectators.
List of FIFA World Cups and Attendance Numbers
