According to data from Bank of America, the 2026 FIFA World Cup injected $20 billion into the US economy, and several host cities experienced a spending boom.
The financial surge came despite fears that a host of factors, including President Trump’s tough immigration policy and the U.S. war with Iran, could scare away foreigners and hurt economic profits.
However, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, a sponsor of the tournament, told CBS News that about half of the $40 billion in economic activity generated by the World Cup occurred in the United States.
“It’s having a tangible economic impact,” Brian Moynihan said in Face the Nation. “The spending is going to what we call physical businesses: bars, restaurants and things like that, not necessarily just the people who are in the stadium.”
“People are coming,” he continued. “They’re having a great time. If you go to a game, you know, they keep the stadium open two or three hours after my quarterfinal game in Boston, and the place was packed.”
Bank of America’s Consumer Checkpoint report for July revealed a 6.3 percent year-over-year increase in credit and debit card spending in the country, the largest growth in four years. In the opinion of the researchers, part of this increase could be attributed to the World Cup, which especially benefited restaurants and bars.
The analysis measured spending during two periods: the first, from May 20 to June 9, just before the start of the tournament, and the second, from June 10 to June 30. In the host cities, spending on restaurants doubled, rising from around 3 percent in the first period to 6 percent in the second.
But while 11 cities hosted games in the United States, not all of them experienced the same boost, according to The Wall Street Journalstated that destinations such as Philadelphia and Kansas City turned out to be the big winners.
In contrast, major tourist destinations such as New York and Los Angeles appear to have underperformed. While the New York Hotel Association estimates that total lodging revenue in the city would have increased by $100 million thanks to the World Cup, this figure was considerably less than the $300 million predicted, Costar added.