North Texas soccer fans are just a few games away from learning which team Frisco will host as a FIFA World Cup base camp this summer. Playoff matches March 26 will decide which two teams out of Albania, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine will advance to the final on March 31. The winner of that game will qualify for the World Cup, stay at the Westin Dallas Stonebriar resort in Frisco and train at Toyota Stadium this summer.
The city, which markets itself as “Sports City USA,” hopes that hosting a base camp will also make it an attractive place for tourists to stay in June and July, when nine FIFA matches will be held in Arlington.
Visit Frisco, the city’s tourism department, is deploying about $650,000 to market the city to tourists. A marketing video depicts the 25-odd miles between Frisco and downtown Dallas as “just a kick away.” The city also plans to tap influencers and FC Dallas players to help drive visitors to hotels in Frisco.
Related
Breaking News
Josh Dill, assistant executive director for Visit Frisco, said it would be best for the city if Poland or Sweden won the playoffs.
Striker Robert Lewandowski on the Polish team, a well-known athlete who also plays for FC Barcelona, would “bring a lot of attention” from soccer fans around the world, not just Poles, Dill said at a Visit Frisco board meeting Wednesday. If Frisco bags Poland, the city’s tourism department plans to mine its database and target companies that sponsor the team or Polish soccer fans to secure group hotel bookings.
Dill noted that some international tourists are hesitant about traveling to the United States, but that effect isn’t as strong among Polish tourists.
“When we turned on international marketing, there’s some negative U.S. sentiment out there,” Dill said. “But the Polish politics line up with the U.S. politics and so there’s not that negative sentiment.”
Related
If Sweden qualifies, Dill said the city would ask Herman Johansson — who plays for FC Dallas in Frisco — and the Swedish national team to make social media content to promote Frisco to fellow Swedes.
Frisco did not land top-ranked team Argentina, which will be hosted at a base camp in Kansas City. But Visit Frisco is watching Argentinian fans closely because about 100,000 are expected to travel for the World Cup and spend more than a week in the Dallas-Fort Worth when Argentina plays two matches in Arlington, Dill said. He said the Argentinian fans are expected to book hotels around AT&T Stadium and the Fan Fest in Dallas’ Fair Park, which could bring other tourists to Frisco.
Related
“Those other … fans are going to be pushed further out because they’re staying so long. So that’s really advantageous for us,” Dill said.
The city will also be hosting three influencers in the next few months who will make videos for social media related to soccer and tourist attractions in Frisco. Among them is Jill Scott, who played for England at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Scott will film content at the Cowboys practice field at The Star, said Cori Powers, director of marketing and communications for Visit Frisco.
“The goal is to … create buzz around Frisco and our sports scene,” Powers said.