HOUSTON \u2013 Whether it\u2019s a big city or a small town, Main Street has traditionally been considered the heart of a community. <\/p>\n
But on this evening \u2014 just hours after Houston hosted the first of its seven FIFA World Cup matches \u2014 one question seemed to linger in the downtown air:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is everybody?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said soccer fan Jason Schmitz. \u201cThat is a very good question.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many downtown business owners, restaurant managers and bar staff, the anticipated surge of customers tied to the World Cup has yet to materialize.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe restaurants got the message, but they haven\u2019t got the crowd,\u201d said Janluc Blakborn, a Dutch native who now calls Houston home.<\/p>\n
Many businesses invested heavily ahead of the tournament, expecting an influx of visitors and soccer fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe invest money, we hire people, we change our menu, we have a new drink menu, we have a new food menu,\u201d said business owner Fernando Villegas.<\/p>\n
However, when asked about the return on that investment, Villegas offered a blunt assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, not too many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Restaurants and bars throughout downtown echoed a similar sentiment. Despite months of anticipation and projections of significant economic activity, many say opening weekend has not lived up to expectations.<\/p>\n
When asked whether business was stronger than usual the night before, Villegas said there was little difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast night we were busy,\u201d he said. \u201cWere we busier than normal? No, it was normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
At The Little Dipper, employees reported a similar trend, with one bartender telling KPRC 2 News that this has been one of the slowest weekends of the year.<\/p>\n
The muted turnout has surprised many because each of Houston\u2019s seven World Cup matches was promoted as having an economic impact comparable to hosting a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
Schmitz, a longtime Houston resident, said the atmosphere did not match the expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here through Super Bowls. I\u2019ve been here through Astros World Series games,\u201d Schmitz said. \u201cThis is like a regular day. There\u2019s been nothing special about today.\u201d<\/p>\n
While opening weekend may not have delivered the crowds some businesses anticipated, Villegas is not ready to sound the alarm.<\/p>\n
He made it clear that he is taking a wait-and-see approach regarding staffing adjustments as the tournament continues. Villegas remains hopeful that visitor traffic and spending downtown will increase as more matches are played in Houston.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Whether it\u2019s a big city or a small town, Main Street has traditionally been considered the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[910,918,18957,56,58,57,66,24625,2349,223,3692],"class_list":["post-336652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-local","tag-local-businesses","tag-money","tag-news","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}