{"id":306051,"date":"2026-06-13T03:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T03:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/306051\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T03:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T03:55:10","slug":"world-cup-fever-fuels-crowds-at-st-pete-watch-parties-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/306051\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup fever fuels crowds at St. Pete watch parties, businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Thousands of soccer fans packed local pubs and Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg<\/a> on Friday night to cheer on the U.S. Men\u2019s National Team as World Cup<\/a> fever swept through the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg watch party <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

A sea of red, white and blue filled Al Lang Stadium in downtown St. Petersburg on Friday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

More than 3,000 fans watched as the U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Paraguay 4-1 in its World Cup opener.<\/p>\n

Soccer fans react <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Scott Wilson and his family were among the many fans<\/a> dressed in patriotic attire for the match.<\/p>\n

“We’re coming here to watch the U.S. play,” Wilson said. “We couldn’t make it out to Los Angeles for this game, so we wanted to get as close as we could.”<\/p>\n

Several supporters dressed up for the patriotic occasion, including Jenni Tavares.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“This is a USA T-shirt that I bought from Target, then I have this American hat and sunglasses,” Tavares said. “I was like, perfect, this will work.”<\/p>\n

Elvia Flores expects the excitement to continue throughout the World Cup.<\/p>\n

“It’s only going to get busier, crazier and wilder,” Flores said.<\/p>\n

Pubs see business boost <\/p>\n

Local perspective:<\/p>\n

Hours earlier, Mary Margaret’s Olde Irish Tavern was filled with fans watching Canada take on Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n

Soccer fan Luke Miseyko says the best part of the World Cup is bringing people from different countries together.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“No matter who’s playing, you’re going to find someone from that country that’s here enjoying it,” Miseyko said.<\/p>\n

Mary Margaret’s co-owner Kat Van Dora expects the six-week tournament to bring in big business.<\/p>\n

“We get so many international people and so many proud people,” Van Dora said. “They\u2019ll come out and watch their country, so we’re happy to host them.”<\/p>\n

Future watch parties <\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The Rowdies are also hosting watch parties during Team USA’s two remaining group-stage games.<\/p>\n

The next watch party will take place on June 19 at Jannus Live, when the Americans face Australia at 3 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another watch party is scheduled for June 25\u00a0at Ferg’s, as the U.S. takes on Turkey at 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

The Source: The information in this story was gathered from interviews with local fans Scott Wilson, Jenni Tavares, Luke Miseyko, and Elvia Flores, as well as Mary Margaret’s Olde Irish Tavern co-owner Kat Van Dora. Details regarding upcoming watch parties were provided by the Tampa Bay Rowdies.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg<\/a>FIFA World Cup<\/a>Sports<\/a>Business<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Thousands of soccer fans packed local pubs and Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[558,47,115,1157,110,202,204,203,199,201,200,628,9611],"class_list":["post-306051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-business","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-sports","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-us","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}