FOOTBALL: New York-New Jersey host committee claims $1.94 billion direct spend, $3.55 billion impact from 2026 FIFA World Cup

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≡ ECONOMIC IMPACT REPORT ≡

One of the early entries of the series of economic impact reports from U.S. host cities of the 2026 FIFA World Cup came Wednesday from the New York-New Jersey host committee, which claimed a total economic impact of $3.55 billion:

● “The 2026 FIFA World Cup generated economic impacts as the FIFA World Cup 2026 New York New Jersey Host Committee, FIFA, and other stakeholders spent money on match, stadium, and Official Fan Events operations, including spending on payroll, stadium and event operations, policing and security, medical, transport, hospitality, marketing, insurance, and professional services, among others.

“In addition, visitors and media who traveled to New York or New Jersey to attend a match at New York New Jersey Stadium, an Official Fan Event in New York or New Jersey, or other affiliated event spent money at establishments during their trip, including at local restaurants, retailers, hotels, and recreation/entertainment venues.

“Total direct spending associated with the 2026 FIFA World Cup amounted to $1.9 billion in the New York and New Jersey region.”

● “The 2026 FIFA World Cup’s direct spending impact of $1.9 billion generated a total economic impact of $3.5 billion in the New York and New Jersey economies, which supported 27,424 total jobs and $414.2 million in state and local tax revenues.”

The direct spending – which is the key to all event economic impact – included a reported $286 million by FIFA, the host committee, local, regional and national governments and others.

Attendee spending, the most important element in the direct-spend equation was calculated as:

● 645,000 attendees at NY/NJ World Cup matches
● 508,000 of these came from outside the NY/NJ area (79%)
● 626,000 “non-local visitors” came to participate in an allied activity

The $1.938.2 billion direct spending included:

● $1,659.9 billion: match + non-match attendee spending
● $286.0 million: FIFA spending
● $68.5 million: local spending at Official Fan Events
● –$76.5 million: normal spending displaced by the World Cup

This total of “1.3 million match and non-match attendees spent $1.7 billion within the regional economy.” The report noted that while two million attended “Official Fan Events,” only about 200,000 (10%) came from outside the NY/NJ area. 

The sectors which saw the most action were no surprise:

● $652.5 million: accommodations
● $341.4 million: food and beverage
● $263.9 million: souvenirs and local shopping
● $199.6 million: transportation
● $194.7 million: entertainment-theaters

The study did factor in some displacement caused by the World Cup, noting:

“Despite attracting new visitors to the local economy, the 2026 FIFA World Cup also caused some leisure and business visitors to cancel or reschedule their trips due to increased crowds in the region during the 2026 FIFA World Cup or due to higher room rates caused by increased room demand during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”

This was estimated at $357.0 million, but $280.7 million was credited to those higher room rates; this caused the –$76.5 million in displacement.

A weakness of this study is that there is no comparison available yet of occupancy and revenue for accommodations – and allied spending – for the World Cup period and the second and third quarters of 2026 compared with 2024 and 2025 in the NY/NJ market. These figures will only be available later, from the region’s tourism authorities.

Taking the report’s findings as credible, calculations of indirect spending (goods and services purchased by businesses to support World Cup business) and inducted impact (future spending of wages by World Cup-involved workers) are used to estimate the total economic impact:

● $1.938 billion direct spending
● $693.0 million indirect spending
● $916.2 million inducted spending

This is a total of $3,547.3 billion, leading to an estimated $759.2 million in tax revenue with $344.9 in Federal revenue and $414.2 million in state and local taxes, primarily in sales taxes.

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In context, FIFA’s pre-World Cup economic impact predictions were released in April 2025 and projected $11.1 billion in spending on the tournament in the U.S., including $6.4 billion from tourism and $2.9 billion in direct FIFA spending. Direct spending in the U.S. was projected at $4.38 billion.

Total U.S. economic impact from the tournament was forecast at $30.5 billion, with 11 host sites and the full-time equivalent of 184,679 jobs.

Those figures will only be able to be evaluated once all 11 U.S. host community economic studies are in (if all 11 compile them).

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