A real kick: World Cup expected to boost economy throughout state

view original post

As the world descends upon Philadelphia and the New York/New Jersey metro area next summer to celebrate soccer, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region should be well situated to cash in.

Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field will host six World Cup matches from June 14 to July 4 and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, will host eight matches — starting June 13 and culminating with the World Cup Final July 19.

Meg Kane, CEO/host city executive for Philadelphia Soccer 2026, believes Northeast Pennsylvania stands to benefit from the droves of passionate fans traveling to the larger metro areas from locations both internationally and throughout the country.

United States players celebrate after winning a penalty kick shootout of a CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals soccer match against Costa Rica, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

1 of 13

Expand

An economic impact study conducted about a year ago projects the 2026 FIFA World Cup will have a $770 million economic impact across Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, Kane said.

Kane expects more than 100,000 hotel rooms to be booked throughout the tournament and more than $300 million in direct tourist spending.

“We’re working with the commonwealth and Visit PA on how we can make the World Cup part of a family’s journey to experience tourist attractions from Pittsburgh to Hershey down to Scranton and Philadelphia,” she said. “We think there is an opportunity for a significant amount of travel — sometimes you don’t need to leave the state to have a great vacation.”

Philadelphia has been getting a sneak peak of the frenzy to come next year by hosting FIFA Club World Cup matches — featuring top club teams from soccer-crazed countries — this summer.

“We’ve seen international travelers coming for these matches and we’ve also seen an incredible diaspora from across the eastern seaboard following their teams,” Kane said. “We’ve seen great turnout from fans over the last two weeks. … It’s a perfect case of what the commonwealth can expect next summer. Being here now, there is a real energy and buzz happening that was unexpected. I think people knew it was coming, but I’m not sure everyone understood what it meant from a fan perspective. When you have a plane full of Flamengo fans leave Brazil and land in Philadelphia at 4 a.m. already wearing their jerseys and ready to go, that’s a different experience.”

The Club World Cup also brought many visitors to hotels in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas — a pleasant surprise that hints demand will be even stronger next summer, leading guests to consider lodging accommodations in other areas.

“We’re getting anecdotal information from different hoteliers that their hotels were sold out in South Jersey, Philadelphia and Delaware, and they were not expecting that volume related to this tournament,” Kane said. “I think with FIFA World Cup 2026, there is a real possibility for overflow because people are going to come and want to be part of the party. Just like an Eagles or Steelers fan might travel to a Super Bowl city and stay 60 to 90 minutes outside where it is, I think we could see very similar types of travel.”

Specifically, Kane feels Scranton’s proximity to Philadelphia and the New York metro area should make it a popular destination among tourists for the tournament.

“I think Scranton has a unique value proposition in terms of not only potentially having a more economically competitive hotel price, but also in its positioning with New York/New Jersey also being a host city,” she said. “Scranton’s proximity to (New Jersey) might make some of the events there even more enticing than driving to Philadelphia, or you’ll see people moving between those two host cities. I think the traveling between different areas is going to be really interesting and will allow people to explore different parts of the states.”

Kane noted the average international traveler goes to the World Cup for 21 to 24 days, leaving ample free time for other activities between matches.

“They’re going to want to experience a lot of different soccer and fan festivals in the host cities, but there is a lot of hours to fill,” said Kane, who plans to tout the benefits of using Pennsylvania as a hub for their tournament experience.

Both Curt Camoni, executive director of the Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau, and Alan Stout, executive director of Visit Luzerne County, also plan to promote the perks of visiting the region leading up to the start of the World Cup.

“It will be great for our hoteliers, small businesses and restaurants, but we’ll also be pushing our attractions like ‘The Office’ tour because a lot of these folks, especially some of the international travelers, are going to have downtime and are looking to see more of America than just Philadelphia,” Camoni said. “We’re hoping it’s going to be a ‘high tide raises all ships’ situation and every Pennsylvania county has a shot at having an uptick.”

Stout has been communicating with officials from the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association about the World Cup for about two years and anticipates strong demand for hotels based on another recent sporting event.

“You look at last weekend with 50,000 people at Long Pond, our hotels were full in Luzerne County because of the spillover coming from the NASCAR race,” he said. “So, if you have people possibly coming in from all over the world for an event only two hours ago, there is the possibility they will be looking to stay here. Most cities tend to increase their rates if they know there is a big event in town, but that might not happen two hours out, so people are looking for a nice place to stay — within a reasonable drive — at a reasonable price.”

Area bars — including Backyard Ale House on Linden Street in Scranton, a popular spot for U.S. soccer matches — could also see a spike in business next summer from the combination of camaraderie and patriotism among loyalists and additional games as the tournament will feature 48 countries, including the United States national team, as opposed to 32 in years past.

Kane compared the excitement surrounding the event to the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, but stressed the chaos will persist for much longer.

“You’re now looking at days now, especially in the first two to three weeks, where every minute from potentially noon to 10 p.m. is going to have competitive soccer that matters,” she said. “The first weekend of March Madness has become almost a national holiday in that there is a game that matters every minute of every day. To do that for three weeks straight, I think, is one of the coolest experiences we can have.”

Kane (Courtesy Philadelphia Soccer 2026)

1 of 18

Kane (Courtesy Philadelphia Soccer 2026)

Expand

Originally Published: July 2, 2025 at 3:54 PM EDT