In 1994, the World Cup helped launch a new era of American soccer, including the creation of Major League Soccer. In 2026, the market will no longer be starting from scratch.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup could very well be an economic turning point for the U.S. soccer industry—a catalyst that could solidify the sport’s place in a trillion-dollar ecosystem.
At The Columbia Global Football Forum, hosted by Columbia Business School’s Media and Technology Program and The Hub, leaders from the business, investment, and team sides of the soccer industry examined if conditions are right for such a catalyst, and what the World Cup could mean for the sport’s future in North America.
In one discussion, Short and Long Term Commercial Impact, the leaders explored the tournament as a business opportunity: a platform for sponsors, investors, clubs, leagues, media companies, and host cities. A second panel, Lived Experience and Legacy, pushed the conversation beyond revenue and visibility to ask what the tournament might leave behind for fans, children, communities, and the broader U.S. soccer ecosystem.
More than three decades after the first U.S.-hosted World Cup, soccer has stronger domestic leagues, global stars, rising franchise valuations, new stadium projects, and a generation of fans who can watch nearly any match in the world from their phones. The question is whether the 2026 World Cup can accelerate its next stage of growth.
Kicking it to market
For sponsors, investors, and clubs, the 2026 World Cup represents a rare concentration of global attention in a North American market that is still underdeveloped relative to soccer’s worldwide popularity.
On the investor side, sports assets are increasingly attractive because they combine scarcity, passionate audiences, media value, and global reach, according to Al Tylis, CEO of Apollo Sports Capital. Soccer, in particular, offers a distinctive growth profile: it is already the world’s most global sport, but its U.S. commercial market remains less mature than those of the major American leagues, he noted. That gap is part of what makes the 2026 World Cup so significant.
However that gap has shrunk considerably since the U.S. first hosted the World Cup in 1994. MLS has evolved from a fledgling league into a more mature sports property with stronger ownership groups, rising valuations, improved stadium environments, and greater relevance in the global player market. Gary Stevenson, deputy commissioner of MLS, pointed to the tournament as an opportunity to accelerate a league and soccer ecosystem that are no longer starting from zero.
For Brad Sims, president and CEO of New York City Football Club, the opportunity is especially concrete. NYCFC is preparing to open Etihad Park in Queens, a soccer-specific stadium that can deepen the club’s relationship with New York’s diverse fan base. In that context, the World Cup is a chance for local clubs to convert international soccer attention into year-round engagement, he noted.
Still, the commercial promise depends on what happens after the tournament. A fan who watches the World Cup may not automatically become an MLS or National Women's Soccer League supporter. A company that sponsors the event may not continue investing in the sport. A city that hosts matches may not see long-term gains unless it connects the event to local businesses, tourism, and community programming.
Host cities as platforms for experience
Nowhere is that challenge clearer than in New York and New Jersey, the latter of which will physically host the World Cup final. Tammy Murphy, chair of the New York-New Jersey 2026 FIFA World Cup Host Committee, framed the region’s pitch in both economic and cultural terms.
“We are it,” Murphy said. “New York, New Jersey, the combination is the financial capital of the world. We have 130 different nationalities across the regions, over 600 languages spoken, and we love football.”
Sports business often focuses on the game itself: the match, the broadcast, the ticket, the sponsorship. But soccer’s global power also comes from ritual and belonging, according to Murphy. The World Cup is valuable because people want to be part of it, sometimes regardless of which teams are playing. For host cities, that emotional demand is an opportunity and a logistical challenge.
Murphy described four central areas of responsibility: security, transportation, fan experience, and economic impact. The final may take place inside MetLife Stadium, renamed New York-New Jersey Stadium for the tournament, but the broader economic and cultural opportunity will be outside it. Millions of people will flock to the region because they want to participate in the atmosphere, not necessarily because they have a ticket, Murphy noted. “What are we going to do with the millions of other people who are coming?” she said.
That question has major commercial implications. Fan zones, public viewing sites, small business participation, sponsor activations, and transportation planning will shape how people experience the tournament. They will also determine whether the World Cup feels accessible or exclusive.
The fan conversion challenge
The U.S. soccer market is unusually competitive. The sport must compete with football, basketball, baseball, and hockey, as well as with global soccer itself. A new fan inspired by the World Cup might start watching the Premier League, La Liga, or Champions League rather than MLS. The availability of global soccer is a strength for the sport, but a challenge for domestic leagues trying to build loyalty.
Tim Howard, former U.S. national team goalkeeper and now a broadcaster and investor, argued on a panel that perceptions of American soccer have changed. “We started from a baseline of zero respect,” he said.
But he also noted that the sport has become more credible to international players. MLS, he added, is no longer dismissed as simply a retirement league. Players now understand that it can be lucrative, competitive, and physically demanding.
If domestic clubs can connect global excitement to local experience, they have a chance to retain new fans. Local activations, watch parties, youth clinics, stadium experiences, and community programming can give people a reason to stay engaged once the tournament ends.
The same logic applies to the media. Viral clips and social content can create attention, but they do not automatically build durable fandom. The task for leagues, clubs, broadcasters, and sponsors is to convert World Cup moments into repeated behavior: attending matches, following clubs, enrolling children in programs, buying subscriptions, and identifying with teams.
Legacy and the day after
What happens the day after the World Cup is over?
Panelist Ed Foster-Simeon, president and CEO of the U.S. Soccer Foundation, offered an answer. The foundation itself was created as a legacy of the 1994 World Cup, seeded with proceeds from that tournament. Its mission has since narrowed toward expanding access in under-resourced communities through safe play spaces, free programming, and school-based soccer instruction.
Foster-Simeon emphasized that legacy work cannot wait until after the final. “When you think about the legacy of World Cups, you often think about after the fact,” he said, “but we started working on legacy in November of 2017.”
That work includes building mini pitches in neighborhoods where full-size fields may be unrealistic. The vision is straightforward: children should be able to walk from home and find a safe place to play, Foster-Simeon noted.
Access also means confronting the limits of the U.S. development model. Pay-to-play remains deeply embedded in American youth soccer, creating barriers for families without the money, transportation, or flexibility to participate in elite club systems. The World Cup may inspire children, but inspiration alone does not develop players or build communities.
The panelists did not suggest that one tournament can solve those structural problems. Instead, they framed the World Cup as an accelerator. Success could mean higher MLS and NWSL attendance, stronger sponsorships, more youth participation, greater use of community fields, and deeper investment in under-resourced neighborhoods. Foster-Simeon said the foundation had already surpassed its goal of reaching one million children by 2026 and had set a new goal of engaging 10 million children from under-resourced communities by 2030.
That is the broader market test. The 2026 World Cup will bring the world to North America. The measure of its impact will be whether American soccer can turn that attention into institutions, habits, access, and opportunity that remain after the world goes home.
