TEAMS ’26 Winner Spotlight: 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America

The annual TEAMS Conference & Expo, held October 26—29 in Birmingham, Alabama, included the annual SportsTravel Awards, which honors the events, venues and hosts that define excellence and drive the business of sports forward. Six awards were up for grabs: Best Amateur Sports Event; Best Collegiate Sports Event; Best Professional Sports Event; Best New Sports Event; Best New or Renovated Venue; and Best Sports Host City. In this series, we will highlight the individual winners of each category. 

The FIFA World Cup, the planet’s biggest single-sport event, returned to North America for the first time in 32 years and put on a performance worthy of the Beautiful Game. Before the tournament began it was clear this year’s edition would be unlike any other, as it was the first to be hosted in three different countries (the United States, Canada and Mexico), the first to feature 48 teams and the first to include a Round-of-32 in the knockout stage.

The tournament proved to be a dizzying success, making it the clear choice for Best Professional Sports Event at the SportsTravel Awards. It set records for attendance at 6.8 million, beating the previous record of 3.59 million, which was set by the United States in 1994, when there were only half as many matches (52) as there were in 2026.

A total of 7.7 million visitors attended FanFests across North America.

And the United States, the World Cup obliterated previous television records, with an average of 7.7 million people watching each match on Fox, FS1 or Tubi (more than double the average from Qatar 2022) and an average audience of 39 million on Fox for Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the final. That was the most-watched English-language soccer match in U.S. history and the most-watched non-NFL sports event in the nation in 10 years.

This was also the edition when all-time FIFA World Cup attendance surpassed the 50 million mark. The historic milestone was achieved when a capacity crowd of 70,649 flocked into Dallas Stadium for the Portugal vs. Spain Round-of-16 match.

READ MORE: The Record-Breaking Numbers Behind the 2026 FIFA World Cup

‘Crazy, Amazing, Exciting’

“The World Cup 2026 was a crazy, amazing, exciting event,” said Aubrey Walton, executive director of host cities, commercial and strategic management for the FIFA World Cup 2026. “I think that the impact that the event made across three countries, 16 cities, 48 teams, all in 39 days, was unlike anything we’ve ever seen before and probably will ever see in the future. So just in terms of impact from that economic standpoint, but then from a legacy and community standpoint, the collaboration that we had with all the host cities and how to prep the city, how to create experiences with younger demographics within soccer, all those different experiences make the World Cup so special.”

Beyond the matches themselves, the World Cup made a lasting impact on the cities that served as hosts and the people who attended. Chattanooga, Tennessee, welcomed the eventual champions from Spain and made them feel right at home. The Tartan Army from Scotland charmed Americans, especially those in Boston, with their yellow bus adventure. And visitors from around the globe were awed at what they found in North America.

“This event was what seemed impossible at one stage,” said Walton. “None of it would have been possible without the thousands of people who worked on this event, from the host cities to the tourism boards and the sports commissions. With the hotels, training sites and stadiums, we had over 650 venues across all 16 cities, and the impact of the legacy goes far beyond any of us who worked on the event.”