But measuring economic benefit is a difficult calculation – how do you separate the boost from an event as large as the World Cup from the rest of an economy as large as that of the United States? The evidence at that point becomes subjective. There’s no objective measure for that question – because whether a massive soccer tournament is “worth it” is inherently subjective.
FIFA went out of its way to show how the 2026 World Cup would benefit the United States: In a March 2025 report, the global soccer association estimated the games would cost $13.9 billion to put on ($11.1 billon footed by the United States) and create $80.1 billon of global economic benefit, including $30.5 billion for the United States. FIFA claimed the World Cup would create the equivalent of 185,000 full-time jobs in the United States.
If that boost was real, it was hard to see in the data.We know for sure that one organization benefited: FIFA. The organization could make $9 billion on ticket sales from the event, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That’s on top of the $1.1 billion it reportedly earned in US TV rights from Fox and Telemundo.
Note: Toronto spent 340 million for its games.