FIFA WC USA-Mexico-Canada 2026

[Nacre]

9 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

Suck it, Dallas!!!

Someone tell New Jersey transit to get their act together so they don't have a repeat of the mess they created when the Super Bowl was here

The fundamental problem is that suburban stadiums surrounded by a sea of parking stalls like MetLife are designed for 90-95% of the visitors to arrive by car. When most of the fans are tourists from outside of the metro area and they try to use public transport, then people will inevitably delayed for hours.

15,000 people using a tram line with capacity for 5,000 passengers per hour per direction equals three hours of delays no matter how it is run.

Edited February 5 by Nacre
EDIT: I think that the Meadowlands Rail Service is 10k/hour total, but it might be per direction.

[FYI]

I've been reading recently how many international spectators are not that thrilled in coming here for the WC, due to how subpar public transit is in the U.S. compared to Europe (or Japan). Outside of NYC, Chicago (which isn't hosting any WC matches this time), Boston & maybe San Fran, Philly & DC, public transportation in most other U.S. cities really sucks.

[Sir Rols]

I was pleasantly surprised by LA’s subway system last time I was there a couple of years ago. Being relatively new helped as well - seemed in a much better state than some others you mentioned.

Such a great change from my first visits to LA in the 80s.

[FYI]

Of course, brand-new always trumps old(er) anyway. Just look at how the IOC drooled over new stadia back in the day (& they still would if they could). 

I know L.A. has been working lately to expand their mass-transit, especially in preparations for the 2028 Olympics. But Southern California for decades was mainly car territory. They're just lately playing catch-up to those other cities with the extensiveness of their grids which they've already had in place for decades now (hence their age). Which L.A., for being the 2nd largest city in the U.S., should've had some sort of extensive network already long ago. 

 

[baron-pierreIV]

3 hours ago, FYI said:

Of course, brand-new always trumps old(er) anyway. Just look at how the IOC drooled over new stadia back in the day (& they still would if they could). 

I know L.A. has been working lately to expand their mass-transit, especially in preparations for the 2028 Olympics. But Southern California for decades was mainly car territory. They're just lately playing catch-up to those other cities with the extensiveness of their grids which they've already had in place for decades now (hence their age). Which L.A., for being the 2nd largest city in the U.S., should've had some sort of extensive network already long ago. 

 

Remember the car and tire industries PURPOSELY KILLED LA's streetcar system in the 1930s so the city was forced to resort to a car-dependent culture.  

[Quaker2001]

8 hours ago, Nacre said:

The fundamental problem is that suburban stadiums surrounded by a sea of parking stalls like MetLife are designed for 90-95% of the visitors to arrive by car. When most of the fans are tourists from outside of the metro area and they try to use public transport, then people will inevitably delayed for hours.

15,000 people using a tram line with capacity for 5,000 passengers per hour per direction equals three hours of delays no matter how it is run.

At least there's a train line so the stadium is accessible that way.  They did have the Super Bowl there which was mostly out of towners, although that didn't go so well.  And sadly, I have little hope that New Jersey Transit will be much better this time around, even though train service for events at MetLife has gotten a little better.

Hopefully they're smart enough to have a large fleet of buses, although that's far easier said than done, especially for games on the weekdays when they'll be dealing with rush hour traffic depending on the start times.

5 hours ago, FYI said:

I've been reading recently how many international spectators are not that thrilled in coming here for the WC, due to how subpar public transit is in the U.S. compared to Europe (or Japan). Outside of NYC, Chicago (which isn't hosting any WC matches this time), Boston & maybe San Fran, Philly & DC, public transportation in most other U.S. cities really sucks.

And they're absolutely right.  Car culture in this country has made nearly any and all attempts at investing in public transportation an exercise in futility.  Adding to that problem.. the stadium in Dallas isn't in Dallas, it's not Arlington.  Boston's stadium is in Foxboro.  San Francisco's stadium is in Santa Clara.  At least NY/NJ is somewhat transparent that the stadium is in East Rutherford and there is halfway decent public transportation out there, although as Nacre correctly points out, capacity will be an issue when it's all out of towners attending the games.  And it's not like there are any bars or restaurants or anything near the stadium for people to hang out.

[Quaker2001]

5 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

I was pleasantly surprised by LA’s subway system last time I was there a couple of years ago. Being relatively new helped as well - seemed in a much better state than some others you mentioned.

Such a great change from my first visits to LA in the 80s.

I don't know what the plan will be for getting people to SoFi Stadium, although at least for the Coliseum they have train line that stops right by the stadium.  I used that a few years ago to go to a USC game when I was staying with a friend out near Santa Monica.  Worked out nicely.

It's amazing to see how different the public transportation is in LA compared to what it was 40 years ago.  Hopefully it makes for a better visitor experienced than the last time in a famously car-centric city.

And speaking as someone who doesn't have a car and relies on public transportation, it does make me appreciate what other countries have where my New Zealand/Australia experience was..

Auckland = easy train ride to the stadium, and bars and restaurants nearby

Wellington = stadium is walking distance from the city

Melbourne = their sports precinct puts everyone else to shame

Sydney = not the shortest trip out to Stadium Australia, but there is a massive sports bar nearby

[Nacre]

8 hours ago, FYI said:

I've been reading recently how many international spectators are not that thrilled in coming here for the WC, due to how subpar public transit is in the U.S. compared to Europe (or Japan). Outside of NYC, Chicago (which isn't hosting any WC matches this time), Boston & maybe San Fran, Philly & DC, public transportation in most other U.S. cities really sucks.

It's not just transport, but also the location of the stadium. The Indianapolis Super Bowl did well despite Indy not having a particularly good transit network because the stadium is downtown in walking distance of many of the city's hotels.

Meanwhile AT&T Stadium is an 8 hour walk from Dallas and East Rutherford is a 5 hour walk from Manhattan.

[Quaker2001]

1 hour ago, Nacre said:

It's not just transport, but also the location of the stadium. The Indianapolis Super Bowl did well despite Indy not having a particularly good transit network because the stadium is downtown in walking distance of many of the city's hotels.

Meanwhile AT&T Stadium is an 8 hour walk from Dallas and East Rutherford is a 5 hour walk from Manhattan.

Lucas Oil Stadium has the advantage of being right in the center of the city.  And the charm of a place like Indianapolis is that being on the smaller side means that a much larger percentage of the city compared to a place like New York will be a part of the event.  I remember when the Super Bowl was here that much of the city could ignore it.  And yet, NY/NJ is a World Cup host city.  Indianapolis is not.

Again.. there is public transportation from NYC to East Rutherford.  Not great, but there's something.  As opposed to with AT&T Stadium, Google Maps doesn't even show a public transportation option.

We know here that it was proposed to build a football stadium in Manhattan as an extension of the Javits Center.  That plan didn't survive long enough to be the final bid for the 2012 Olympics and instead the last ditch effort there was to use what would eventually be the new stadium for the Mets. 

We know that foreigners had issues with the setup of the 1994 World Cup.  This time around, they're at least pledging to not have teams criss-cross the country and in looking at the schedule, it seems like multiple countries and not just the 3 hosts, will be able to play multiple games in the same city.  But maybe that all is the price to pay for having the World Cup in a country that can offer up the majority of stadiums at or over 70K in capacity, even if it's going to be a tough sell to move that many people around

[FYI]

6 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

It's amazing to see how different the public transportation is in LA compared to what it was 40 years ago.  Hopefully it makes for a better visitor experienced than the last time in a famously car-centric city.

And speaking as someone who doesn't have a car and relies on public transportation, it does make me appreciate what other countries have where my New Zealand/Australia experience was..

I really would like to get rid of mine if I could, but the public transportation where I'm at (which is a pretty big urban area & still growing) SUCKS so much that you really have to have a car if you want to get around here efficiently. Cause you could literally wait for the bus sometimes for over an hour if you miss a scheduled stop. That's just insane. And a subway? lol, yeah, right.

[Sir Rols]

7 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

At least there's a train line so the stadium is accessible that way.  They did have the Super Bowl there which was mostly out of towners, although that didn't go so well.  And sadly, I have little hope that New Jersey Transit will be much better this time around, even though train service for events at MetLife has gotten a little better.

That at least already sounds a major improvement on my one experience of commuting between NJ and NYC (which admittedly, was a long time ago in an era far, far way). My first experience of New York was me staying at a friend’s place in Paterson New Jersey and commuting into the city each day by bus - not a fun experience.

12 hours ago, FYI said:

Of course, brand-new always trumps old(er) anyway. Just look at how the IOC drooled over new stadia back in the day (& they still would if they could). 

I know L.A. has been working lately to expand their mass-transit, especially in preparations for the 2028 Olympics. But Southern California for decades was mainly car territory. They're just lately playing catch-up to those other cities with the extensiveness of their grids which they've already had in place for decades now (hence their age). Which L.A., for being the 2nd largest city in the U.S., should've had some sort of extensive network already long ago. 

 

Again, indulging in long ago memories, I remember trying to get from Downtown LA to Long Beach back in the day, and finding it one of the longest, most excruciating “local” bus rides I’ve ever taken - sloes to 2 hours if I recall correctly (or it at least felt like it). It may be a belated catch-up, but the new subway, light rail network is chalk and cheese. I’d go as far as saying, in my experience at least, it’s the US’s gold standard for public transportation systems now - extensive, modern, efficient. Others which I’m familiar with - SF’s BART and NYC’s subway - were showing their age last time I used them.

7 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

I don't know what the plan will be for getting people to SoFi Stadium, although at least for the Coliseum they have train line that stops right by the stadium.  I used that a few years ago to go to a USC game when I was staying with a friend out near Santa Monica.  Worked out nicely.

I was wondering about SoFi. Yesterday when I first posted here about transport, I had a quick look at the LA system map to remind myself, and it looked as if it was in the middle of a bunch of lines, but not directly on any of them. How do they handle big matc das now? Or is it just a given that most come by car?

[baron-pierreIV]

Can they build long, moving sidewalks from Highline to the Meadowlands?    

[Nacre]

4 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

Again.. there is public transportation from NYC to East Rutherford.  Not great, but there's something.  As opposed to with AT&T Stadium, Google Maps doesn't even show a public transportation option.

Honestly I think that a tram line and buses should be good enough. People can handle waiting an hour for a rare event like the Super Bowl or World Cup. Especially if they have an app for transit queueing and set a fan zone at the stadium for people to hang out at while waiting.

I will say that one mistake they made in the 2014 Super Bowl was to encourage people to take public transit to the game, apparently not realizing that there simply wasn't enough transit capacity for everyone. Hopefully they do the opposite for the World Cup and ask locals to drive, and leave the transit seats for tourists.

[Quaker2001]

1 hour ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Can they build long, moving sidewalks from Highline to the Meadowlands?    

Sure.  Construction cost will probably be around $147 billion with an expected completion date of 2072.  Still will probably be finished before the 2nd Avenue Subway

[Quaker2001]

51 minutes ago, Nacre said:

Honestly I think that a tram line and buses should be good enough. People can handle waiting an hour for a rare event like the Super Bowl or World Cup. Especially if they have an app for transit queueing and set a fan zone at the stadium for people to hang out at while waiting.

I will say that one mistake they made in the 2014 Super Bowl was to encourage people to take public transit to the game, apparently not realizing that there simply wasn't enough transit capacity for everyone. Hopefully they do the opposite for the World Cup and ask locals to drive, and leave the transit seats for tourists.

The problem with 2014 is that they claimed all the parking lot space would be used for tailgaiting and other ancillary stuff.  So they did everything they could to convince people not to drive.  Spectators for the World Cup will likely be not just out of towners, but foreigners.  I doubt they want to encourage them to drive, especially just to be socked with expensive parking fees.

Get a lot of buses and keep as many people out of cars as they can

[baron-pierreIV]

53 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

Get a lot of buses and keep as many people out of cars as they can

That's really about it.  Stagger the arrivals and departures as smoothly as you can.  And I hope with that being the case for the prelims and early stages, both attendees and organizers can get it down to a science by the Finals!!  After all, 103 tries to get it right for game 104!! 

[Nacre]

Thank God that Vancouver changed its mind about being a World Cup host. It's probably one of the top 5 host cities in North America for an event like this. It might even be #2 behind LA. Hopefully they bid for another winter games soon (although I doubt it).

Meanwhile I am guardedly optimistic about Seattle being a good host city. There should be two tram lines, commuter rail and Amtrak providing service to the Chinatown/stadium district by 2026. You can easily walk to the stadium from about 15,000 hotel rooms downtown. And the city could also add a temporary hotel with an extra cruise ship at the unused Pier 48 by the stadium.

[Rob2012]

A fairly substantial change for what is a brand new stadium...

"SoFi Stadium must undergo renovations, starting in Feb. One change will be replacing the corners of their lower bowl with retractable seating to allow more space. This will create roughly five meters of extra room." 

https://thesportingtribune.com/sofi-stadium-to-renovate-ahead-of-the-2026-world-cup

 

Edited February 25 by Rob2012

[Guilga]

10 hours ago, Rob2012 said:

A fairly substantial change for what is a brand new stadium...

"SoFi Stadium must undergo renovations, starting in Feb. One change will be replacing the corners of their lower bowl with retractable seating to allow more space. This will create roughly five meters of extra room." 

https://thesportingtribune.com/sofi-stadium-to-renovate-ahead-of-the-2026-world-cup

 

Ah yes, i see Sofi got the "Padrão FIFA" treatment.
(Context: this is a buzzword from Brazil 2014 preparations, reffering to their stadia demands for the World Cup.)

[Rob2012]

 

[Durban Sandshark]

Given that Mexico was announced that FMF/El Tri has the first game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium, we could safely presume that Mexico will automatically be drawn in Group A like with the past singular World Cup host nations, both men and women, were since 2005-2006. But once I saw the 2026 FIFA World Cup Wikipedia entry, I did not see any references to group; I thought going by who gets the sequential co-host scheduling with Mexico (in Mexico City), Canada (in Toronto), and USA (in Los Angeles) with the latter two playing on the same day that's how the groups for the co-hosts will be assigned. You know, Mexico going to Group A, Canada to Group B, and the USA to Group C. How the specific groups will be assigned to the stadiums when it comes to that? Will it be conducted via FIFA rankings among the three co-hosts 

I do remember Mexican Football Federation president Decio De Maria saying that, upon winning the 2026 bid, the first game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup should go to Mexico City's Azteca Stadium because, as the stadium hosting the first North American-based World Cups back in 1970 and later in 1986, "you must honor and respect your grandparents".

Very good thing that just about everyone is participating here coming in for, although the UEFA qualification process has yet to be drawn and the suspended Russia and Belarus have yet to be confirmed to participate in it. I don't think they will here. Eritrea, although entered at the beginning with the CAF draw, is the only nation that sadly withdrew. Too bad the Red Sea Boys--even though they very likely would be eliminated early--couldn't get in. Maybe costs played a role? 

Already gone: Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Sri Lanka, East Timor, Taiwan, Macau, Guam, Pakistan, Maldives, Myanmar, US Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bhutan, Nepal

Hope the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup video game will have all the national teams in it from the draw and play every continental qualification stage--can exclude Russia and Belarus if it gets to that.

[baron-pierreIV]

QUESTION for the 3 country-hosted Events like WC 2026 and WC 2030:  if Host A will face off against Host B in, say, a quarter-, semi, or even the FINALS, will be it be staged in Host C?  So, if God forbid, Mexico faces USA in the 2026 finals, will that FINALS then be, in a perfect world, be staged in Toronto?  Shouldn't it be?? 

Similarly, if Spain faces Portugal in the 2030 finals, wouldn't the Finals then be staged in Morocco--ideally?  

[Guilga]

39 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

QUESTION for the 3 country-hosted Events like WC 2026 and WC 2030:  if Host A will face off against Host B in, say, a quarter-, semi, or even the FINALS, will be it be staged in Host C?  So, if God forbid, Mexico faces USA in the 2026 finals, will that FINALS then be, in a perfect world, be staged in Toronto?  Shouldn't it be?? 

Similarly, if Spain faces Portugal in the 2030 finals, wouldn't the Finals then be staged in Morocco--ideally?  

Nope, that match will be in the USA regardless, as since the bid stage it was put in stone that from the quarters, all games will be there. 

[baron-pierreIV]

1 minute ago, Guilga said:

Nope, that match will be in the USA regardless, as since the bid stage it was put in stone that from the quarters, all games will be there. 

I KNOW that.  But if ALL is fair -- then it should be NEUTRAL ground.  A little imagination, Guliga!! 

[Guilga]

1 minute ago, baron-pierreIV said:

I KNOW that.  But if ALL is fair -- then it should be NEUTRAL ground.  A little imagination, Guliga!! 

Aaah, yes. However, i find unlikely that they will do it. They really like their set tables conviently set in stone years ahead to make planning easy...
And to be fair, why not having the hosts ducking it out at home? Let them have it! One half in each host country! Or even better, a Home-and-Away tie! Now you get two at the price of one.