Some morning\u00a0wakeups these\u00a0past\u00a0few weeks, Monica Paul\u00a0says, have\u00a0resembled\u00a01993\u2019s\u00a0Groundhog Day, but Tuesday\u2019s dawning promises to be distinct. Historic.<\/p>\n
Eight\u00a0World Cup<\/a> games played in Arlington over the past 29 days have crescendoed to this momentous occasion: Tuesday\u2019s 2\u00a0p.m.\u00a0semifinal\u00a0match\u00a0between world No. 1-ranked\u00a0France and No. 3 Spain in Dallas Stadium.<\/p>\n Although the\u00a048-team tournament\u2019s\u00a0curtain\u00a0closer\u00a0will be Sunday\u2019s\u00a0title\u00a0game\u00a0in\u00a0New York\u00a0Stadium,\u00a0the North Texas FIFA organizing committee, area municipalities and the Cowboys organization, among others, have earned a prolonged bow, regardless of Tuesday\u2019s match outcome.<\/p>\n No\u00a0region will\u00a0have hosted\u00a0as many\u00a0games, marquee teams\u00a0or\u00a0f\u00fatbol superstars as North Texas. Seemingly by criteria, on and off the pitch, the region has risen to the moment of hosting its first World Cup in 32 years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s what we wanted, to be able to host a World Cup and to shine like this,\u201d said Paul, president of the\u00a0local FIFA\u00a0organizing\u00a0committee and\u00a0executive director of the Dallas Sports Commission.\u00a0\u201cBut I think it has exceeded even my expectations of what it could be for this region.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking\u00a0to\u00a0The Dallas Morning News by phone, Paul became emotional while describing the collaboration of city officials across the region. She said the spirit of unity began the moment North Texas learned<\/a> on June 16, 2022, that it would be a host site and has gelled this past month, as they had hoped.<\/p>\n On Monday afternoon,\u00a0Paul\u00a0was part of a\u00a0host\u00a0committee news\u00a0conference\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center,\u00a0adjacent to\u00a0the\u00a0485,000-square-foot International Broadcast Center that has\u00a0been hosting 2,000 media workers from around the world.<\/p>\n Joining Paul\u00a0at\u00a0the news conference\u00a0were North Texas FIFA organizing committee co-chairs Dan Hunt<\/a> and Nina Vaca;\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0executive vice president of business operations Chad Estis;\u00a0Arlington mayor Jim Ross;\u00a0and\u00a0Dallas city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert.<\/p>\n That day began\u00a0with awe-inspiring scenes of an estimated\u00a020,000\u00a0Dutch fans chanting,\u00a0singing\u00a0and marching<\/a>\u00a0alongside their double-decker\u00a0Oranje\u00a0Bus\u00a0toward\u00a0Dallas Stadium. It concluded with equally passionate,\u00a0blue-clad\u00a0Japanese fans\u00a0following custom by\u00a0cleaning the stadium<\/a>\u00a0after\u00a0the 2-2 draw<\/a>.<\/p>\n For North Texas,\u00a0those were the first vivid splashes\u00a0of a cultural mosaic that has brightened\u00a0the region\u2019s vast landscape, from\u00a0large gathering spots\u00a0such as\u00a0Klyde Warren Park, the FIFA Fan Festival at Fair Park and Texas Live.<\/p>\n Before\u00a0now, the highest-profile World Cup match in North Texas was\u00a0played\u00a0July 9,\u00a01994,\u00a0in the Cotton Bowl, where Brazil defeated Netherlands 3-2 in a quarterfinal match.<\/p>\n That year\u00a0a combined 375,283 fans came to the Cotton Bowl\u00a0for its six matches, an average of 62,547 fans. Assuming France-Spain\u00a0is a sellout, 632,316 fans will have come to Dallas Stadium for\u00a0nine games.<\/p>\n That would be an average attendance of 70,257, which\u00a0is 99.4% of capacity\u00a0in the FIFA-mandated configuration of Dallas Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n In anticipation of hosting the World Cup, the Cowboys increased\u00a0an already-planned \u201crefresh\u201d of the 2009-built stadium to $350 million, including the costs of temporarily removing\u00a0ground-level\u00a0corner\u00a0suites and raising the\u00a0floor by 4.5 feet to accommodate a grass pitch and irrigation system.<\/p>\n Cowboys\u00a0owner Jerry Jones even had to cede his personal suite for FIFA to sell, as did other stadium suite-holders, with FIFA\u00a0re-leasing\u00a0many for $1 million\u00a0each for the duration of World Cup.<\/p>\n Paul told\u00a0The News\u00a0it will\u00a0take weeks for FIFA to analyze the ticket data of the 16 World Cup venues across the\u00a0United States,\u00a0Mexico\u00a0and Canada, but she said\u00a0metrics from the\u00a0five group-stage games in\u00a0Dallas Stadium\u00a0revealed no surprises.<\/p>\n Tickets\u00a0purchased\u00a0by international fans\u00a0ranged from 45%\u00a0to\u00a056%\u00a0of the total. Another\u00a0roughly 40%\u00a0were\u00a0purchased\u00a0by out-of-state Americans. The\u00a0remainder\u00a0were\u00a0purchased\u00a0in-state and locally.<\/p>\n Paul\u00a0said\u00a0it will be\u00a0weeks, if not months, before\u00a0the\u00a0World\u00a0Cup\u2019s\u00a0full impact\u00a0on North Texas is known. Pre-tournament projections were for an economic impact of\u00a0$1.5 billion\u00a0to\u00a0$2.1 billion\u00a0and as many as 4 million visitors to the region.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know this semifinal will be big,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we just\u00a0have to\u00a0wait, collect data in certain\u00a0areas\u00a0and get with the economists to get a true glimpse.\u201d<\/p>\n Soccer non-purists in North Texas might not have grasped\u00a0all of\u00a0the beautiful\u00a0sport\u2019s\u00a0nuances these past few weeks, but a veritable parade of marquee teams and superstars\u00a0has palpably heightened the region\u2019s excitement level.<\/p>\n As of Tuesday\u2019s kickoff,\u00a0all\u00a0of\u00a0this World Cup\u2019s semifinal teams\u00a0will have played here at least once; and in the cases of Spain and Argentina, twice apiece.<\/p>\n Six of the top nine teams in the world rankings will have played\u00a0here;\u00a0as well as five of the eight World Cup quarterfinalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n