Issue 35 | EXPERIMENTAL GRASS VERSUS ACTUAL TRAINS

🔥 Highlight Reel 🔥

🌮 SOME HOST CITY UPDATES: Peak into a few of the 16 cities that will be hosting next summer.

💰 ECONOMIC REALITY CHECK: Oxford Economics forecasts hotel rates surging 300% during peak weeks, meaning your accommodation budget just transformed from "reasonable splurge" to "second mortgage territory."

🇺🇸 BIG STATE, BIG PICTURE: With 16 matches between Dallas and Houston, Texas becomes the tournament's epicenter. But here's where it gets interesting: these two cities aren't just geographically separated; they're philosophically opposed in almost every preparation decision.

🌎 HOST CITY UPDATES: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN BEGINS

🇺🇸 KANSAS CITY: THE MIDWEST'S MOMENT TO SHINE

The Opportunity: Six matches at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, from group stage through round of 32

The Preparation: Local public radio KCUR released a comprehensive fan guide covering everything from match schedules to transportation logistics, essentially doing FIFA's homework for them while adding actual useful information.

The Appeal: Kansas City is positioning itself as the accessible alternative, affordable tickets, vibrant pre-game atmosphere, and BBQ that would make vegetarians question their life choices. While coastal cities price-gouge their way through hospitality packages, KC offers Midwest charm with considerably less financial trauma.

Transportation Strategy: The guide emphasizes public transit options and parking alternatives, suggesting organizers learned from other cities' traffic nightmares and decided to address problems before they become Twitter trends.

Fan Zones: Expect downtown KC to transform into a soccer celebration district where American football fans discover that "football" means something completely different to the rest of the world, then embrace it with surprising enthusiasm.

The Verdict: Kansas City represents the World Cup's democratic promise: quality matches without requiring venture capital funding to attend.

🇲🇽 MEXICO CITY: LEADERSHIP TRANSITIONS AND PRESIDENTIAL ASSURANCES

The Stadium Shake-Up: Felix Aguirre, longtime Estadio Azteca executive, stepped down from operational duties to focus exclusively on World Cup Host City management. This move suggests FIFA finally convinced someone that hosting the June 11 tournament opener requires undivided attention.

The Strategic Logic: Aguirre's transition streamlines decision-making for the venue's five matches and ongoing facility upgrades—essentially creating a dedicated position for someone to worry about seating configurations and fan amenities while others handle regular stadium operations.

Presidential Confidence: President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed all Mexican host city projects (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey) remain on schedule, with no delays in metro expansions, security enhancements, or infrastructure improvements. This announcement carries the weight of political reputation, when presidents publicly guarantee timelines, bureaucratic obstacles tend to mysteriously resolve themselves.

Sustainability Focus: Mexico unveiled a national plan emphasizing environmental responsibility and cultural integration across its three venues, proving that World Cup hosting can theoretically coexist with ecological consciousness (results may vary).

The Azteca Factor: As one of football's most iconic venues, host to Maradona's "Hand of God" and Pelé's brilliance, Estadio Azteca carries historical gravitas that transforms logistical challenges into sacred obligations. You don't just host matches there; you steward legacy.

🗽 NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY: THE FINAL'S ULTIMATE PRESSURE TEST

The Stakes: MetLife Stadium hosts eight matches culminating in the July 19 final—the tournament's climactic moment when organizational excellence (or failure) becomes globally televised.

The Challenge: Moving 82,500 fans through New Jersey infrastructure designed for NFL games (where most attendees arrive hours early and leave gradually) now faces soccer's compressed timeline of mass simultaneous arrival and departure. Traffic engineers are earning their salaries this year.

The Innovation: Organizers promise augmented reality fan apps and tech integrations that will either revolutionize stadium experiences or become cautionary tales about over-promising digital solutions. The line between "innovative" and "solving problems we created" remains delightfully thin.

The Dress Rehearsal: NYC's successful 2025 FIFA Club World Cup hosting provided crucial operational experience. Times Square fan zones proved viable, transportation systems survived international crowds, and the city demonstrated it can absorb major football tournaments without descending into logistical chaos (mostly).

The Pressure: Hosting the final means every organizational decision faces maximum scrutiny. MetLife's success or failure will define North America's World Cup narrative—no pressure whatsoever to the coordination teams currently developing stress-induced eye twitches.

The NYC Factor: The broader New York metropolitan area brings advantages (diverse accommodation options, multiple transportation modes, established international infrastructure) and challenges (expense, congestion, the general chaos that is existence in the tri-state area). Visitors should embrace the controlled anarchy as part of the authentic experience.

🇲🇽 MONTERREY: CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS AND REGIONAL PRIDE

The Uber Eats Alliance: Monterrey welcomed its first official World Cup Host City ally, focusing on food delivery integrations for Estadio BBVA's three matches. Because modern tournament hosting apparently requires seamless taco-to-hotel-room logistics at scale.

The Strategy: Partnerships include fan zone pop-ups and sustainable packaging initiatives, combining commercial opportunity with environmental responsibility (or at least the appearance thereof). Uber Eats essentially becomes the official sponsor of late-night post-match hunger management.

The Grupo Berel Deal: Local firm Grupo Berel signed as Monterrey's inaugural Host City Supporter, pledging transportation fleet support and logistics coordination. This represents strategic local business involvement—companies investing in their city's global moment while building brand associations with international football.

The "Regio Pride" Narrative: Host City Manager Alejandro Hütt emphasized these partnerships at a Forbes forum, framing corporate alliances as expressions of regional identity. Monterrey isn't just hosting matches; it's showcasing its capacity for world-class event management while maintaining distinctly northern Mexican character.

The Reputation Game: For Monterrey, successful hosting means establishing itself as Mexico's alternative to Mexico City—a modern, business-friendly destination capable of international-caliber events without capital city bureaucracy.

🇺🇸 BOSTON: THE STRATEGIC FRIENDLY

The Setup: Gillette Stadium hosts France vs. Brazil in March 2026—a high-profile friendly that doubles as operational reconnaissance for both national teams and venue organizers.

The Logic: This "scouting mission" allows teams to test travel logistics, practice facilities, and match-day operations months before tournament pressure arrives. It's the sporting equivalent of a dress rehearsal where actual world-class teams serve as very expensive test subjects.

The Venue Benefits: Stadium management can refine parking procedures, media setups, and fan flow patterns while identifying operational weaknesses before group-stage matches expose them to global audiences. Any problems discovered in March can theoretically be fixed by June (theoretically).

The Team Advantages: France and Brazil get venue familiarity for potential knockout rounds, turning a friendly into strategic preparation. When margins between tournament success and elimination are razor-thin, knowing where the locker rooms are might actually matter.

The Fan Experience: Boston-area supporters get a preview of World Cup atmosphere while organizers test transportation capacity, security protocols, and concession logistics under semi-realistic conditions. It's infrastructure stress-testing disguised as international football.

💰 THE ECONOMIC REALITY: OXFORD'S SOBERING FORECAST

The Big Picture: Oxford Economics projects $2.5 billion in total visitor spending across the 16 host cities, with economic impacts ranging from transformative to "nice boost but not life-changing" depending on venue capacity and match allocation.

The Lodging Surge: Hotel rates are expected to increase up to 300% during peak tournament weeks, transforming "finding accommodation" from logistical challenge to financial crisis management exercise. Cities like Seattle and Toronto will see particularly dramatic spikes due to limited alternative lodging options near venues.

The Transit Investments: Seattle and Toronto are highlighted for significant transportation infrastructure upgrades, suggesting these cities view World Cup hosting as catalyst for long-overdue improvements that tourism demand finally justified budgetarily.

The Supply Chain Warning: The report cautions about merchandise and hospitality supply risks, noting that pandemic-era lessons about global logistics haven't magically disappeared. Expect potential shortages in official merchandise and last-minute vendor scrambling.

The Fan Translation: If you haven't booked accommodation yet, your budget just became a work of creative fiction. If you have booked, congratulations on your financial foresight, please share your wisdom with the rest of us who convinced ourselves prices wouldn't actually climb that high.

The Long-Term Question: Whether these economic projections translate to sustainable tourism growth or merely represent one-time spikes remains the billion-dollar question. Host cities are betting on legacy benefits; time will reveal if World Cup hosting builds lasting international appeal or just creates really expensive summers.

🧭 THE PHILOSOPHICAL TAKEAWAY: SEVEN MONTHS TO GLORY (OR CHAOS)

The World Cup's final approach reveals tournament hosting's essential paradox: the event is simultaneously meticulously planned and chaotically improvised. Cities prepare for years while knowing match-day reality will inevitably deviate from every carefully crafted contingency plan.

Kansas City offers accessibility. Mexico City brings historical gravitas. New York/New Jersey faces ultimate pressure. Monterrey builds corporate alliances. Boston conducts strategic rehearsals. And somewhere, in all 16 host cities, coordinators are discovering problems they didn't know existed while solving them faster than seems humanly possible.

For fans, this means embracing controlled chaos as part of the authentic experience. Your hotel will cost more than expected. Transportation will take longer than planned. Something will go wrong. And somehow, when you're in the stadium watching nations compete for football immortality, none of the logistical frustration will matter.

That's the World Cup's magic, it transforms organizational nightmares into memories worth the hassle.

🎯 THE BIG PICTURE: TEXAS AS TOURNAMENT HEADQUARTERS

📊 The Numbers That Matter

Dallas/North Texas: 9 matches (including a semi-final)
Houston: 7 matches (including knockout rounds)
Combined Impact: $3+ billion in projected economic activity
The Reality: Two completely different philosophies for achieving the same goal

Texas didn't just win World Cup hosting rights, it dominated them. With 16 matches between Dallas and Houston, the state becomes the tournament's gravitational center. But here's where it gets interesting: these two cities aren't just geographically separated; they're philosophically opposed in almost every preparation decision.

Dallas chose the high-risk, high-reward path, massive capital investment, experimental technology, and operational complexity that would make NASA engineers nervous. Houston selected pragmatic leverage, using the World Cup deadline to fund permanent infrastructure while solving problems with existing assets rather than inventing new ones.

The Question: Which strategy wins when 48 nations, millions of fans, and the entire global media apparatus descends on Texas in summer 2026?

🏙️ DALLAS/NORTH TEXAS: BUILDING A TEMPORARY MEGA-EVENT EMPIRE

💎 The $295M+ AT&T Stadium Transformation: Engineering Ambition (or Madness)

AT&T Stadium isn't getting renovated: it's getting re-engineered from the ground up. The budget oscillates between $295 million and $350 million depending on who you ask and when you ask them, which definitely inspires confidence about cost controls.

The Engineering Puzzle: Transforming an American football field into a FIFA-compliant soccer pitch requires physically raising the entire field level. Reports vary on the exact height, some cite 4-6 feet, others claim 15 feet, suggesting the engineers are either still figuring it out or deliberately keeping everyone guessing to maintain dramatic tension.

This elevation allows the pitch to widen into areas currently occupied by lower-level seating, reducing maximum capacity from 100,000+ to a FIFA-compliant 90,000. Translation: thousands of seats sacrificed to ensure the ball doesn't roll into spectators' laps during corner kicks.

The Grass Gamble: FIFA forbids artificial turf, but growing natural grass inside a domed stadium for a 39-day tournament represents agricultural science fiction. Past attempts using temporary grass "mats" created seams that players compared to "playing on a poorly installed carpet," which is both hilarious and deeply concerning.

The 2026 solution? A proprietary "system to grow grass during the event" using heat-resistant Bermuda varieties, retractable roof sunlight, and supplemental grow lights. FIFA is co-funding multi-million-dollar R&D with universities to perfect this technology for all five indoor North American venues.

The Verdict: This is either a brilliant innovation that revolutionizes indoor sports surfaces or an expensive cautionary tale about overcomplicating simple problems. Place your bets accordingly.

The Premium Play: A separate $180 million targets premium suites and clubs: upgraded designs, new technology, reimagined corridors. This component isn't about FIFA compliance; it's about ensuring AT&T Stadium can charge oligarch-level prices for hospitality packages. The stadium is essentially getting a luxury penthouse renovation while simultaneously undergoing experimental basement surgery.

🎬 The Operational Triple Threat: IBC, Fan Fest, and Stadium Chaos

Dallas secured the tournament's ultimate prize: the International Broadcast Center (IBC) at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. This 45,000-square-meter facility became the "nerve center" for global media operations, hosting 2,000 media professionals and the main Tournament Operations Center.

The Strategic Problem: Dallas now manages a "three-body problem" of unprecedented complexity:

1. The Matches: AT&T Stadium in Arlington

2. The Media Hub: IBC in downtown Dallas

3. The Fan Fest: Fair Park in South Dallas (35,000 daily visitors expected)

These three high-value targets sit in geographically distinct locations, forcing security and transit resources to spread across a massive metropolitan area for 39 consecutive days. It's operationally ambitious in the way that "attempting to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle" is technically impressive but questionably wise.

🚌 The Arlington Mobility Nightmare: When Your Stadium City Has No Transit

Here's a fun fact that transit planners discovered too late to matter: Arlington is the largest city in the United States with zero public mass transit. The city hosting nine World Cup matches literally has no trains, no buses, no subway, nothing. It's the transportation equivalent of hosting the Olympics in a city that banned sidewalks.

The $18.2M "Bus Bridge" Solution:

Option 1 - Train + Shuttle: Ride the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) from Dallas or Fort Worth to CentrePort Station, then transfer to private shuttles for the final leg. It's like connecting flights, but for stadium access, and equally frustrating.

Option 2 - Direct Express: A fleet of approximately 50 DART buses running express service from Victory Station directly to AT&T Stadium via dedicated Interstate 30 lanes. Expected capacity: 4,000 fans per match.

The Catastrophic Vulnerability: This entire plan depends on DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) successfully executing the service. Unfortunately, DART is currently facing a $78 million budget shortfall and proposing $60 million in system-wide cuts for 2026.

Translation: The transit plan that moves tens of thousands of fans to nine World Cup matches might collapse because local political infighting threatened DART's core funding. When your mobility strategy's greatest enemy is your own legislature, you've achieved a special level of operational chaos.

The Risk Assessment: This represents Dallas's single greatest point of failure. If DART's budget crisis prevents execution, the regional transportation strategy doesn't just struggle, it collapses entirely. Fans would be stranded, matches would be accessible only by car (good luck with that parking situation), and Dallas's World Cup would become an instant case study in what not to do.

🛡️ Security: A Federal-Led Fortress for 39 Days

The security operation reflects Dallas's high-stakes role. The FBI leads a central Joint Operations Center (JOC) coordinating 25 local agencies plus state and federal partners. This federal-level command structure exists because the IBC, filled with global media and dignitaries, represents a high-value target requiring maximum protection.

The Soft Threat: Perhaps most concerning to planners is the "medical surge" risk from extreme Texas summer heat. International visitors unaccustomed to July in Texas could trigger mass heat-related emergencies, diverting police, fire, and EMTs from security perimeters at the stadium, IBC, and Fan Fest.

Security planners treat this not as a comfort issue but as a threat multiplier, a heatwave creates a resource drain that malicious actors could exploit. Therefore, cooling stations, water distribution, and on-site medical facilities are core components of anti-terrorism strategy.

Additional Measures: Comprehensive VVIP protection, advanced credentialing systems, cybersecurity protocols, and Counter-Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (CUAS) to mitigate drone threats. It's 21st-century event security where the threat matrix includes everything from terrorism to TikTok influencers flying unauthorized quadcopters.

🏨 The Great STR Showdown: Legal Drama Meets Economic Logic

Dallas possesses over 140,000 hotel rooms with 10,000 more in development: a massive, ready-made accommodation inventory. So naturally, the city is currently engaged in expensive litigation to ban most short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO.

The Timeline: As of October 2025, Dallas's STR ban ordinance is blocked by court injunctions. The city appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, explicitly citing the World Cup as justification for expedited ruling.

The Paradox: Dallas simultaneously promotes a $1.5-2.1 billion economic impact from "millions of visitors" while actively trying to eliminate a critical accommodation sector that those visitors need. It's the policy equivalent of inviting the world to dinner while removing half the chairs.

The Consequence: If Dallas wins its legal battle, it creates an artificial accommodation bottleneck, driving hotel prices to "sell-a-kidney" levels while pushing thousands of visitors (and their spending) to unregulated suburbs. The city would inflict an economic wound on itself while paying legal fees for the privilege.

🌆 HOUSTON: THE PRAGMATIC POWERHOUSE

🔧 The $55M NRG Stadium Upgrade: Paying Down Infrastructure Debt

Houston's strategy is refreshingly straightforward: use the World Cup deadline to fund desperately needed repairs. A 2024 assessment revealed NRG Park requires $1.9 billion in maintenance over 30 years, with $264 million in immediate needs.

The $55 million World Cup investment is a triaged down payment prioritized by FIFA's hard deadline:

Deferred Maintenance: Fix elevators, escalators, replace 4,750 decaying seats (original to 2002 construction), install new chillers and LED lights

FIFA Compliance: Remove corner seats to widen the pitch, install natural grass surface

The Critical Vulnerability: The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo - a massive, non-negotiable event, prevents grass installation until May 2026. Houston's first World Cup match is June 14. That's a 30-45 day window for complete installation, testing, and FIFA approval.

This "just-in-time" strategy leaves zero margin for error. A slight Rodeo load-out delay, unexpected weather, or sod cultivation problem could jeopardize pitch readiness. Houston traded budget efficiency for timeline risk, a calculated gamble that either looks brilliant or becomes a cautionary tale.

🚇 Houston's Transit Advantage: Actually Having One

Houston's mobility strategy can be summarized in one glorious sentence: NRG Stadium has a direct METRORail connection.

The Red Line serves Stadium Park/Astrodome station - a short walk to the venue. No experimental shuttle systems, no temporary bus bridges, no complex multi-modal transfers. Just a train that already exists, running to a stadium that already has a station.

The $18.4M Investment: Houston METRO budgeted for expanded World Cup service, but here's the genius, it includes 160 new buses and 141 paratransit vehicles as permanent capital assets.

The Long-Term Win: After the tournament, these vehicles integrate into regular METRO service, improving daily transit for all Houstonians for the next decade. Dallas's $18.2M evaporates July 20, 2026. Houston's investment keeps paying dividends.

It's the difference between renting a tuxedo and buying one. Houston chose the permanent asset.

🏨 Houston's STR Strategy: Regulation Over Litigation

While Dallas fights expensive court battles, Houston passed a pragmatic ordinance (April 2025) that regulates rather than prohibits short-term rentals. Enforcement begins January 1, 2026 - perfectly timed for World Cup market stability.

The Rules:

• Annual registration certificate required

• Registration number displayed on all listings

• 24/7 local emergency contact (1-hour response time)

• STRs cannot be advertised as "event venues"

• Mandatory human trafficking prevention training for all hosts

The Brilliance: This policy achieves multiple objectives simultaneously:

✅ Market Certainty: Legal framework established, no litigation drama
✅ Resident Protection: Addresses noise/party complaints via 24/7 contact requirement
✅ Public Safety: Human trafficking training turns hosts into safety force-multipliers
✅ Economic Maximization: Creates stable, legal accommodation supply for visitors

Houston executed a masterclass in multi-objective public policy while Dallas spent legal fees arguing about whether tourists deserve places to sleep.

🛡️ Houston's Security: Locally-Led, Tech-Forward

Houston's security framework is multi-agency like Dallas, but with a crucial difference: it's locally led rather than federally commanded. The Host Committee's security chief is a former Houston Police Department SWAT commander, creating a "ground-up" structure built on local institutional knowledge.

The Focus Areas:

• Upgraded traffic analytics and bilingual dynamic messaging

• Verizon "Cellular on Wheels" (COWs) to prevent network collapse near NRG Park

• Secure police escorts for all 48 national teams

• Counter-drone (CUAS) operations via White House Task Force coordination

This locally-led approach reflects Houston's more concentrated event footprint. Dallas needs federal coordination for the IBC and "three-body problem." Houston focuses on mastering traffic, crowd flow, and team logistics, problems that local law enforcement understands intimately.

⚖️ THE STRATEGIC COMPARISON: TWO PHILOSOPHIES COLLIDE

🚇 Transit: Temporary Patchwork vs. Permanent Infrastructure

Dallas: $18.2M operational budget for temporary shuttles and enhanced TRE service, wholly dependent on DART's embattled finances, solves nothing long-term

Houston: $18.4M capital investment in 160 permanent buses leveraging existing METRORail connection, provides compounding public benefit for decades

Winner: Houston, decisively. Dallas built an expensive temporary solution to a 50-year-old infrastructure gap. Houston used World Cup funding to acquire permanent assets while leveraging existing advantages.

🏨 Accommodations: Prohibition vs. Regulation

Dallas: Expensive litigation attempting to ban STRs while promoting massive visitor influx, creating market uncertainty and potential self-inflicted accommodation crisis

Houston: Pragmatic regulation with safety measures (human trafficking training, 24/7 contacts), creating market certainty and maximizing economic capture

Winner: Houston, embarrassingly so. While Dallas fights ideological battles in court, Houston quietly implemented intelligent policy that addresses safety concerns while embracing economic opportunity.

💰 Stadium Investment: Bespoke Transformation vs. Foundational Repair

Dallas: $295-350M experimental transformation including proprietary grass technology and $180M premium suite overhaul: high-risk innovation bet

Houston: $55M pragmatic upgrade addressing deferred maintenance and FIFA compliance, low-risk necessity

Analysis: These reflect different goals. Dallas aims to cement AT&T Stadium as the world's premier event venue. Houston aims to prevent elevators from trapping VIPs during matches. Both strategies are valid for their respective contexts, but Dallas carries infinitely more technical and financial risk.

⚠️ CRITICAL RISKS: WHAT COULD GO WRONG

🚨 Risk 1 (Dallas - CRITICAL): DART Transit Collapse

The $18.2M mobility plan is a single point of failure. DART's $78 million budget shortfall and proposed $60 million in cuts directly threaten the bus fleet and enhanced TRE service. If DART cannot execute, the entire North Texas transportation strategy collapses, stranding tens of thousands of fans.

Mitigation: Ring-fence the $18.2M immediately from NCTCOG, regional partners, or corporate sponsors, making it immune to DART's internal budget politics.

🌱 Risk 2 (Houston - CRITICAL): Grass Installation Failure

The 30-45 day post-Rodeo window to install natural grass leaves zero margin for error. Any delay: weather, Rodeo load-out issues, sod cultivation problems jeopardizes Houston's June 14 first match.

Mitigation: Secure backup contract for pre-grown, tested, ready-to-install emergency sod from the same R&D consortium supplying Dallas.

🏨 Risk 3 (Dallas - HIGH): STR Accommodation Shortfall

If Dallas wins its Supreme Court appeal and enforces the STR ban, artificial accommodation crisis ensues. Hotel price-gouging intensifies, visitors flee to suburbs, massive local economic benefit evaporates.

Mitigation: Pass temporary "safe harbor" ordinance mirroring Houston's model for tournament duration, pilot regulatory framework while avoiding legal chaos.

🌡️ Risk 4 (Both - HIGH): Extreme Heat Medical Surge

A major heatwave triggering mass medical emergencies at fan zones (especially Dallas's Fair Park with 35,000 daily visitors) creates cascading resource failure, diverting public safety assets and creating security vulnerability.

Mitigation: Resource heat mitigation as "hard threat" with dedicated, non-divisible medical/fire/emergency assets separate from primary security teams.

🎯 THE PHILOSOPHICAL TAKEAWAY

Dallas and Houston represent two fundamentally different approaches to mega-event hosting:

Dallas: Build temporary infrastructure, accept massive complexity, innovate aggressively, spend extravagantly. Bet on being the best, most expensive, most elaborate host.

Houston: Leverage existing infrastructure, invest in permanent assets, regulate pragmatically, spend strategically. Use the World Cup as a catalyst for long-term urban improvement.

Neither strategy is inherently superior: context matters. Dallas's role as IBC host and nine-match venue justifies extraordinary measures. Houston's seven-match allocation and existing transit advantage enable pragmatic efficiency.

👋 FINAL REFLECTION

Seven months until kickoff. The countdown clock is running, host cities are executing final preparations, and fans worldwide are making increasingly questionable financial decisions in pursuit of being there when history happens.

Texas isn't just hosting World Cup matches, it's hosting a live experiment in urban strategy, infrastructure philosophy, and risk management. Dallas bet on ambition; Houston bet on pragmatism. Both cities will welcome millions of visitors, generate billions in economic impact, and create memories that last lifetimes.

But only one avoided expensive legal battles over whether tourists should be allowed to rent apartments.

Welcome to the beautiful chaos.

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 📩 Got questions? Craving clarity? Reach out: [email protected]

"The journey to the World Cup begins not with kickoff, but with the first moment you allow yourself to imagine possibility."

Are you interested in joining the Soccertease team? We are looking for fun and soccer-obsessed guides in host cities to help make the 2026 World Cup one of the greatest events ever held!

See you in the stands!

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