DALLAS – With the 2026 FIFA World Cup only a few months away, North Texas cities are planning for the increased traffic and watch parties the world’s biggest sporting event will bring.
What we know:
FIFA World Cup organizers said they will be working with city council members to address plans for parties and traffic, once the base camp locations for teams are announced.
The day before a FIFA World Cup match, fans will have a party. Noelle Leveaux with the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee said they are working with tour operators to work out the locations for those parties.
“Argentina is a great example. We had some meetings with them last week because they understand their fan behavior,” Leveaux said. “We can try to organize that so that it doesn’t surprise an area with, you know, 20,000 Argentina fans the day before their match.”
Leveaux says countries have fan management groups that will help with the planning.
“The Netherlands knows exactly who will be holding their tickets, and they say that they are very clear about those people that are on their list of folks that don’t necessarily receive tickets because of previous behavior,” Leveaux continued.
Local perspective:
Dallas city councilman Chad West asked for a heads-up on these plans.
“I would just ask a lot of, I think all of us here know who our neighborhood leaders are and who can kind of make sure things go as smoothly as possible,” West said at today’s meeting. “As soon as you know where the parties are going to be, please let us know.”
Another question from council members: What will the travel plans look like during the event?
“I’d like someone to describe what the route from Dallas to Dallas Stadium is going to look like,” asked councilman Paul Ridley.
Staff explained that people based in Dallas can board TRE at Victory Station and take the roughly 22-minute ride to Centreport in Fort Worth.
From there, the FIFA Organizing Committee will have a fleet of buses to take fans to AT&T Stadium, about eight miles away.
Big picture view:
Is the city ready for the worst-case scenario?
I think one bad incident, depending on when that happens, could really soil a lot of the planning that you all are putting in place,” councilman Adam Bazaldua said. “And how that’s going to be responded to from the city should not be done. It should be done proactive.”
Dallas police chief Daniel Comeaux is confident the city is prepared.
“We will be fine here in Dallas,” Comeaux said.
“We will be what?” Bazaldua asked.
“Everything will be good in Dallas.” Comeaux replied.
“That’s a really odd answer,” Bazaldua said. “But I hope that we would have more preparation than a notion everything will be fine.”
What’s next:
The Dallas police chief later answered a question about staffing. He said the department’s minimum staffing is 80%, but during the World Cup, it will be a 90% minimum.
While the interim Dallas police chief said no vacation time would be granted, Comeaux said there is room for some vacation requests to be approved during the world’s biggest sporting event.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off June 11, with the first match in Dallas to be played on June 14.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 4 reporting.