“Wow, can we believe the World Cup is here?” said Monica Paul, president of the North Texas FIFA World Cup™ Organizing Committee Wednesday. Paul, along with the committee’s co-chairs, Nina Vaca and Dan Hunt, spoke at a press conference as part of the official grand opening of the Dallas Host City Media Center.
They held the event for visiting and local media at the Dallas Convention Center, but by “here,” Paul didn’t just mean “Dallas.”
“I know we have a lot of visitors, so just want to take this opportunity to welcome you on behalf of the entire North Texas region,” she continued. When she’s not executing her part of one of the world’s largest sporting events, Paul serves as the Dallas Sports Commission’s executive director. Other local municipalities have sports commissions, too, including Fort Worth, Arlington, and Frisco. While they nominally compete for certain segments of the sports business, an event of this scope demanded a collaborative mindset.
Dallas native Hunt, whose company owns soccer teams currently headquartered in Frisco and Mansfield that used to play home games in Dallas, Arlington, and Southlake, suggested that the depth of the market proved useful in positioning the area to secure its tournament-high nine games.
“One of my big pitches to FIFA is we have one of the most unique bids of any of the bid cities for the World Cup. We have the global powerhouse, the economic engine that Dallas is, but we have the cultural authenticity of Fort Worth and the Stockyards there, and the experience that creates, and the great museums there, like the Kimbell, the Modern there,” he said. “There’s probably no other city that could take nine games and host multiple visiting national teams (Czechia, training in Mansfield, and Sweden, training in Frisco) and have the International Broadcast Center (situated in the Dallas Convention Center).”
Vaca hoped the visiting media would take note of the many options the region offers them for their coverage beyond the pitch.
“Our commitment is to create the conditions for you to succeed, to give you the space, to give you the tools, to give you the collaboration to do what you do best, and that is tell the story of the World Cup,” she said. “As the eyes of the world turn toward towards North Texas, we’re excited to share all the resources, the diversity, the culture, the community, and why everyone is talking about North Texas.”
The speakers also suggested they hoped to ensure that a broad swath of North Texans could participate in the World Cup atmosphere, outside of just the games themselves that Arlington will host. She mentioned a soccer tournament, coaches symposium, media party, a 5K run, and a huge gathering in Fair Park that will offer live match broadcasts, concerts, games, food, and more through July 19.
“We were intent on creating a traditional fan festival for the entire North Texas region and visitors to be able to experience and really integrating that fan festival with a lot of World Cup and soccer elements,” said Paul.
“The fan fest is free, and that is not true for every single host city that’s hosting the World Cup,” Vaca pointed out about the Fair Park fan fest, crediting the participation of the corporations that supported the endeavor. Hunt himself also sponsored the effort and hoped the showcase the event provides can appeal to companies that could invest in future such initiatives and hire local workers.
“My hope is that they say, ‘This is a great place to move my business, to open up North American headquarters.’ We’re seeing it all the time, right?” he said. “So it’s just a commercial for us to show that we’re ready to grow. We’re welcoming here.”
One of the most important functions an international sporting event can serve is a welcoming function – bringing people together in common appreciation. Hopefully, this 2026 soccer tournament will have that effect for the teams and supporters who congregate for it. It seems to have already encouraged that sentiment in North Texas.
“This tournament is more than a sporting event to us. It is an opportunity to showcase the strength of our region, the diversity of our people, and the collaborative spirit that makes North Texas one of the most dynamic places in the world,” Paul said.
