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After welcoming more than 90,000 visitors, hosting 300-plus events, and providing a 24/7 stage for TV cameras from all over the world during Super Bowl week, the Bay Area can breathe a sigh of relief.
For a moment.
The biggest event in North American sports may be over, but the biggest event in the world is on its way. The 2026 men’s World Cup will feature 48 teams and 104 matches across 16 North American venues, one of which is Levi’s Stadium. The Santa Clara venue will host six matches between June 13 and July 1, including a round-of-32 game that the U.S. men’s national team could play in — if it wins Group D.
“Maybe we’ll take like three days off, but then we’ll come right back after,” said Bay Area Host Committee CEO Zaileen Janmohamed. “It will be a 90/10 split on the World Cup and then finalizing all of the Super Bowl reconciliation.”
FIFA named the “San Francisco Bay Area” one of 16 host cities in June 2022, 11 months before the NFL selected Levi’s Stadium as the venue for Super Bowl 60.
Despite that regional designation, all six games will be played in Santa Clara. And while the NFL set up operations 43 miles north of the stadium at San Francisco’s Moscone Center and hosted its buzziest events in the city, FIFA is unlikely to follow suit.
The pivot to San Jose
In January 2025, San Jose named former U.S. Olympic speed skater Tommy O’Hare as its sports and special events director. City manager Jennifer Maguire conducted a nationwide search for the position, which was created so that Levi’s Stadium visitors “would stay and play in our vibrant and diverse city.”
In other words, San Jose is tired of watching tourists flock to San Francisco when major sporting events are held next door in Santa Clara. O’Hare’s job is to bring out-of-towners downtown — and give locals a taste of the action too. “We want to make sure that the residents feel a sense of inclusion and community pride from these big sporting events,” O’Hare said, even if they pass on buying tickets “because they’re so expensive.”
In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, the Bay Area Host Committee held a concert series in San Francisco featuring Benson Boone, Shaboozey, and Chris Stapleton. Tickets for the Stapleton concert went for $650.
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San Jose, meanwhile, bootstrapped its own series, with Kehlani and DJ Dom Dolla playing back-to-back nights outside City Hall — at a much more affordable price point. “I think the most expensive ticket was $85 or below,” O’Hare said.
The city also held the free, three-day San Pedro SuperFest in downtown’s San Pedro Square, offering a local alternative to the official weeklong Super Bowl Experience at Moscone Center.
Expect a different vibe at the World Cup. For a Super Bowl, league officials, star players, celebrities, and media from across the country descend on one city for a solid week. The World Cup, in contrast, is more like a traveling circus, as teams and their supporters move from city to city throughout the tournament, never stopping for more than a few days.
“The World Cup is going to be different,” Janmohamed said. “It’s going to be a longer event with a much more international fan base that comes into the Bay. The footprint, or I would say the area of focus, will probably be much more South Bay than San Francisco.”
In San Jose, the committee will expand its Bridge to Work program. The workforce development initiative debuted ahead of the 2025 NBA All-Star Game and was designed to “create a defined roadmap to stable employment.”
Oluwadamilola “Dami” Bolarinwa, a Nigerian immigrant, is one of nearly 300 Bridge to Work participants who worked during Super Bowl week. After joining Bridge to Work, Bolarinwa secured a job as a senior account executive with Kyocera in the Bay Area. The former college soccer player hopes to keep his side gig through the World Cup.
“If I can be able to work the World Cup next, why not?” said Bolarinwa, who assisted with the NFL Fan Experience at Moscone Center. “I want to be in front of all the electric fans that are just happy to just be around the atmosphere. As a sports fan, that’s all you can ask for.”
Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto was one of nine venues to host World Cup matches in 1994. | Source: Peter Robinson – PA Images via Getty ImagesThe South Bay’s sport
Soccer has a deep history in the South Bay. With two pro teams, a women’s powerhouse at Santa Clara, and elite men’s and women’s programs at Stanford, the South Bay and Peninsula form a talent-rich region where the sport was celebrated long before it became mainstream in the U.S.
In 1994, Stanford Stadium was one of nine domestic venues to host World Cup matches. More than 80,000 fans watched the U.S. men’s national team meet its demise there in an Independence Day loss to Brazil.
The 1-0 defeat wasn’t exactly a crushing blow to locals. After the game, Brazilian fans swarmed the streets of Los Gatos — outside the team hotel at the former Lodge at the Villa Felice (opens in new tab) — and residents joined the party.
After three wins in Palo Alto, Brazil went on to win its fourth men’s World Cup title at the Rose Bowl, leaving a lasting impression on a region just warming up to soccer.
San Jose Earthquakes legend Chris Wondolowski was 11 and living in the East Bay when the World Cup arrived in the Bay Area. He called the “carnival down Main Street” in Los Gatos a “catalyst” for his career. “I was able to watch Brazil practice, and it was a closed practice, but myself and my dad and my brothers were looking through a fence.”
Wondolowski went on to score a franchise-record 167 goals with the Earthquakes and 11 for the U.S. national team.
Five years after the U.S. hosted the men’s World Cup, San Jose’s Brandi Chastain scored a title-clinching penalty kick in the 1999 women’s World Cup final, at the Rose Bowl, and ripped off her shirt in one of the most famous celebrations in modern sports.
Chastain is one of Bay FC’s “Founding Four,” joining San Jose natives Aly Wagner and Danielle Slaton and former Santa Clara star Leslie Osborne in the ownership group of the National Women’s Soccer League expansion franchise. The team, which plays home games at PayPal Park in San Jose, averaged more than 13,000 fans and ranked fifth among 14 teams in attendance in its inaugural 2024 season.
Bay FC’s “Founding Four” pose with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The StandardBringing people together
If the Super Bowl is an all-American event with global appeal, this year’s World Cup is a global event designed to capture American attention. Levi’s Stadium will host Algeria, Australia, Austria, Jordan, Paraguay, and Switzerland before a round-of-32 knockout match July 1.
San Jose will hold watch parties at San Pedro Square Market during all six World Cup matches at Levi’s Stadium. The city will also host drone shows and outdoor concerts downtown throughout the tournament. The goal is to blend civic pride with cultural celebrations and bring residents downtown to gather alongside visitors from around the world.
“San Jose is the biggest city by population in the Bay Area,” O’Hare said. “It’s very culturally diverse. And so that lines up well with the World Cup, because there’s so many different nationalities who take part in it.”
The games at Levi’s Stadium may not include the likes of the 1994 Brazil squad, but having part of the action in town could inspire the next generation of Bay Area players. “That love for the game, that’s where it started for me,” Wondolowski said. “And I’m hoping that 2026 will have that similar bond, where you feel attached to it. Hopefully the U.S. will make a great run.”