Miami is one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup — not Fort Lauderdale.
Yet Fort Lauderdale has received a request to dedicate $350,000 in taxpayer dollars to help brand the city during the games.
Mayor Dean Trantalis is questioning why the city would contribute any money at all if Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens has already been chosen as a host venue.
“The actual games are going to be played at the Hard Rock Stadium, which is not in Broward County,” Trantalis said during a recent City Hall meeting. “The only time soccer players will be participating in Broward County would be at Chase Stadium, but only for practice sessions.”
Next year’s World Cup is being co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The matches will be held in 16 cities across the three countries from June 11 to July 19, with the final taking place in New York/New Jersey.
Trantalis also questioned how President Donald Trump’s travel ban might impact attendance at the games.
“Ticket sales have plummeted because everyone’s afraid to come to the United States who might find themselves in an untoward situation because they’re not a U.S. national,” Trantalis said. “It was reported that ticket sales (for this year’s games) are now down because people are not buying the tickets. They’re afraid to come to the U.S.”
The travel ban makes exceptions for “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state.”
The travel ban, however, doesn’t mention exceptions for fans from targeted countries wanting to travel to the United States to take in the games.
Officials with FIFA, organizer of the World Cup, could not be reached for comment.
The World Cup games would present Fort Lauderdale with a unique branding opportunity, City Manager Rickelle Williams told the commission.
“It’s truly an international sports tourism and economic development opportunity,” Williams said. “We’d like to leverage our financial commitment with Visit Lauderdale and Broward County. The request to the county will be discussed in August and the request is about $2.5 million. The $350,000 would be to make sure that Fort Lauderdale has a stake in whatever activations come out of that.”
The mayor, who represents the city on the county’s Tourism Development Council, continued to question whether it would be a smart use of taxpayer funds.
“This came up at the last Tourist Development Council meeting,” Trantalis said. “And the general sentiment was, ‘What are we getting out of it?’ I would want to hold back and wait and see what that money’s going to go towards and how we’re going to profit from that. Honestly, I don’t see any gain from it.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached for comment at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan
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