Starting in mid-June, both Arlington and Houston will each host a series of FIFA World Cup games. Thousands of international soccer fans will flock to these cities in what some have described as hosting multiple Super Bowls in one month.
It鈥檚 a major logistical undertaking and local planning organizations are helping make it happen.
Monica Paul, the president of the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, said the World Cup is a great chance to show Dallas off on a global stage. Planning has been underway for quite a while: the bidding process to be a host city started almost a decade ago.
鈥淲e went through that process and it is all about ensuring that you have the infrastructure and that you experience hosting major events,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e definitely have a world-class stadium, AT&T Stadium. Something that was very key for us, during this bid process, was the opportunity to host the International Broadcast Centre once again. Dallas hosted it in 1994.鈥�
The Organizing Committee is also involved in public safety and transportation planning for the cup.
鈥淲e have working groups assessing all our safety and security needs,鈥� Paul said. 鈥�(There are) 18 different expert planning teams and subcommittees along with it and we鈥檙e working at the federal state and local levels and here regionally because our footprint is Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Frisco and many places in between based on where some of our venues are located.鈥�
On the transportation side, they are coordinating with the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Paul said.
鈥�(We鈥檙e) working with our transit agencies and Trinity Metro, Trinity Railway Express, and DART on utilization of the rail system to get spectators to and from games, as well as those broadcasters,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of work with rideshare companies and our airports, wanting to ensure that we鈥檙e able to operate efficiently but have that Texas hospitality that we are known for as well.鈥�
North Texas is hosting nine games over the summer 鈥� Houston will host seven.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got Argentina who won the 2022 World Cup, so the defending champions. Our first match is Netherlands versus Japan, and Netherlands comes with their fan march and the Orange Army that accompanies them, so excited about that,鈥� Paul said. 鈥淥ur second match is England and Croatia鈥� That鈥檚 going to be a fantastic match as well. So I couldn鈥檛 imagine a better draw for Dallas.鈥�
Dallas will also host a number of team base camps, though FIFA hasn鈥檛 announced which teams will be housed at these locations.
鈥淔IFA controls the process and the teams have been on site visits,鈥� Paul said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e anticipating getting some additional information on that by the end of January so that we can start planning.鈥�
Paul said that fans who still want tickets .
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e on the third or fourth phase of that already,鈥� Paul said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e encouraging people to go on and sign up so that they have an opportunity to purchase tickets. There are other hospitality and suite options, both for all matches at AT&T Stadium or even single (match) packages.鈥�
There will also be a number of events as part of an ongoing fan festival at Fair Park where the state fair is located, Paul said.
鈥淚t is free and open to the public. There are going to be a lot of commercial activations. There will be a big FIFA store there. There鈥檒l be concerts and other entertainment acts that鈥檒l be taking place,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e are anticipating being open every match day, including those days where we鈥檙e not hosting a match here. So that鈥檚 basically 34 straight days of fan-festival action. Usually the fan festival becomes the heartbeat of the World Cup. So many people attend and travel to go to a World Cup even without a ticket to the match. But this is with a fan gathering spot.
