North Texas has been in a frenzy preparing for the FIFA World Cup to come to town. Restaurants, police departments, city workers, hospital staff, and hotels and BnB hosts alike have all been planning for an estimated 4 million visitors to turn a busy region even busier. More than 100 Dallas children will also have a role to play in the games. There are a lot of moving parts, and every day there’s a new World Cup-related story—it’s a lot to keep up with!

I thought a special newsletter that breaks down all the essentials and helps you plan the best ways to celebrate might be helpful. Keep scrolling for tips and interesting stories that all lead back to the Cup.

To keep up with World Cup info, long after this newsletter hits your inbox, make sure you bookmark the World Cup section of our website to get all the info over the course of the month-long experience.

During the Cup, going about your regular routine may be tricky. When commuting in Dallas, know that Fair Park and Klyde Warren Park will host the Fan Fest throughout the month-long event. The Kay Bailey Hutchinson Center will also serve as the hub for international broadcasting of the matches. Along with the Cotton Bowl, SMU will host a training base camp.

The Mansfield Stadium will serve as the official base camp for the Czech team, and Frisco’s Toyota Stadium will be the base camp for the Swedish team. AT&T Stadium has officially been renamed Dallas Stadium and will host all matches. See the game schedule below to know what days to avoid the AT&T Stadium area.

Expect traffic in that area to be worse than on a Cowboys game day, and if you are going to a match, plan for parking fees to be 5x those at a football game. Public transit in the region has been prepared for this. There will be a $ 9-a-day regional pass for you to travel throughout the DART, Trinity Metro, and DCTA systems. (The new DART GoPass cards will feature FIFA-branded artwork, so it may be cool to get one as a keepsake.) You can plan your trip here.

Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are still available—after all, the venue has a capacity of 94,000—though they certainly don’t come cheap. If you’re looking for ways to catch some of the excitement without shelling out the big bucks for a pitch-side seat, here are some alternatives.

(Illustration by Luis Castaneda/COURIER Newsroom)

By Brian McManus

When FIFA sold Texas on the World Cup, it came wrapped in the language of transformation. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has famously called the economic impact of the event equal to “three Super Bowls a day.” Dallas boosters projected up to $2.1 billion flowing into the region. Houston organizers dangled $1.5 billion more. Together, they promised, the tournament would inject $3.5 billion into the state’s economy—a once-in-a-generation windfall for a soccer-skeptical state now hosting some of the sport’s biggest games.

But as the opening whistle draws near, a harder question is cutting through the hype: How much of that money will actually land in Texas, and how much will taxpayers be left paying for the privilege of hosting?

Local businesses will have to get creative about how they market World Cup events and special deals. FIFA has trademarked verbiage and images, and businesses can even get in trouble for using related hashtags and face copyright infringement lawsuits. See the guidelines here and tell me what you think.

Are these rules overkill or do they seem fair to you?

The local games will feature teams from the Netherlands, Japan, England, Croatia, Argentina, Austria, and Jordan. Team Czech Republic and Team Sweden will be based in the area.

If you want a better way to dive into these cultures, here are a few suggestions:

🇦🇷 If you’re Team Argentina, now may be the time to try an Argentina Tango class at Tango Amor or try some empanadas at Stephania’s Empanadas.

🇳🇱 Driving to the Netherlands isn’t that bad when you have two long-time restaurant options, Henk’s European Deli & Black Forest Bakery in Dallas and Dutch dessert pop-up Lekkerbek Texas, a staple at the Flower Mound Farmers Market.

🇯🇵 The Japanese food scene is alive and well in North Texas—there are too many places to list, but for a dive into other cultural representation, check out the Samurai to the Imperial Court: Japanese Metalwork exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art or walk a 7.5-acre traditional Japanese garden at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 We’re all pretty familiar with English culture and the soccer fandom that’s a critical part of it. The English pub The Londoner will host watch parties at all three of its locations.

🇨🇿 If you want to channel the Czechs, well, Texas is essentially a second home for the culture. Our state has the largest Czech-American population of any place in the US, and the tasty kolache is an essential part of a Texan’s diet. If you go about 1.5 hours south of Dallas, you’ll find West, Texas, an epicenter of Czech heritage. But if a day trip isn’t in your future, I’d recommend A Taste of Europe in Arlington for a delicious escape into Eastern European heritage.

You’ll find my full review of this restaurant in tomorrow’s newsletter!

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Joi Louviere with stories by Joey Held and Brian McManus. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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