Going to North America '26: tickets, accommodations, etc. (non-politics)

Ha - they just sent me over the 4 "free" Club World Cup tickets that were part of the deal. Tickets are for the Rose Bowl match 90 minutes from now (Im in Florida)

 

As someone noted above the only real consistent coin toss is Atlanta/Miami, beyond that it looks simple enough to figure out. The only two that are up in the air to me are Houston/Philadelphia on June 14 (lean Houston due to roof) and Mexico City/Houston on June 17 (Azteca obviously a better stadium but could see the US cities getting priority for every window).

June 13: New York (Boston)
June 14: Dallas (Monterrey), Houston/Philadelphia
June 15: Los Angeles (Seattle), Atlanta/Miami
June 16: San Francisco (Kansas City), New York (Boston)
June 17: Dallas (Toronto), Mexico City/Houston
June 19: Philadelphia (Boston)
June 20: Houston (Monterrey), Kansas City (Toronto)
June 21: Los Angeles (Vancouver), Atlanta/Miami
June 22: Dallas (San Francisco), New York (Philadelphia)
June 23: Houston (Guadalajara), Boston (Toronto)
June 24: Atlanta/Miami
June 25: Dallas (Kansas City), New York (Philadelphia)
June 26: Seattle (Vancouver), Houston (Guadalajara), Boston (Toronto)
June 27: Dallas (Kansas City), Atlanta/Miami, New York (Philadelphia)

 

this is gold. Thanks dude

 

First of all congratulations on the purchase and hopefully it turns out to be a great game and fond memories if you end up going. Side note - I'd love to attend NZ vs. Uzbekistan at 2026

I don't say this to single you out as it's quite unfortunate if it ends up being the case, but to help and give a warning and example for anyone who considers buying one later on - thate there were three M104 in that $499 pack, but according to those who report over minting numbers on the publicly accessible blockchain (seen on discord), the third M104 was hit hours before you said you "just bought the pack". Which would be annoying and unfortunate as buying a Houston/Dallas RTB otherwise is around $270 or cheaper without the dangling carrot of an RTB for the final. In the last maybe two months, almost weekly there would have been at least one "affordable" Dallas or Houston pack in one of their weekly drops for cheaper if you were just chasing the random gambling aspect of it.

 

But also consider there's more to it than just biggest team in biggest venue. One half of the 50/50 affects the other, and even perhaps a little flow-on effect of the other matches played that day but very minimally.
- Do they give the European team (or other far away country) the early game indoor stadium when possible for a better tv market. And how often.
- Do they go for the romanticized option of Latin team playing in Miami (or other Latino alternative).
- Does every city get at least one top seed non-host game? (which narrows down certain dates that could be a better game in some cities)
- Or do they just go for the money and screw certain cities over? (and focus primarily on USA too)

As marianelah said, you can just make great assumptions. It will be super interesting to see how it ends up.

 

For Atlanta/Miami it would depend on the teams. If there's a big UEFA team, probably Atlanta at noon with the roof closed. If there's a big CONMEBOL team, probably Miami at 6 or 9 pm. If both against each other, could be anything.

 

Yeah this is what I believe. I feel that FIFA already knows what stadium will have the primary matchup for every game except the Atlanta vs Miami. Imagine a group of England, Ecuador, Ivory Coast and Honduras with the games being England vs Ivory Coast and Ecuador vs Honduras. No one on this forum would have any doubts about which game goes to which city.

 

For the recent few World Cups, they’ve made no effort to limit travel (even for top seeds). But if the host country’s schedules are an indication, this time we might see the top seeds based in a city for 2 of 3 matches. If that’s the case, that city will likely be the biggest stadium/cities.

But that said, all of these stadiums are 65-85k except for the ones in Mexico and Canada. So if they want to share the top seeds around, there are many adequate options. And Canada and Mexico already have a top seed playing there (the hosts).

 

If they give the top seeds two games in one location, these are the options for the non-host groups:

Group C: Boston
Group E: Philadelphia
Group F: Dallas or Monterrey
Group G: Los Angeles, Seattle or Vancouver
Group H: Miami or Atlanta
Group I: NY/NJ or Boston
Group J: Kansas City, Bay Area, or Dallas
Group K: Houston
Group L: Toronto

 

I suspect the top seeds would prefer less travel over any other option (except maybe guaranteed indoor games). But I also suspect FIFA couldn’t care less about what the teams want and will pick the stadiums, schedules, and kickoff times that best suit FIFA’s interests.

 

Yeah no arguments there, my assumptions here are that FIFA gives as much benefit to USA as possible since that is who they actually wanted to host the tournament, and I can't see them giving Toronto etc any game preference when there's 30k less seats in the stadium.

The one wildcard is what times the games will be at. My guess right now would be 12/3/6/9 EST, which makes it both relatively palatable for the European market but also means that you can get a pretty solid read on the full match schedule. I pity whoever ends up with the mid-afternoon games in Kansas City.

 

Matches at 12/3/6/9 ET both makes sense and is what they’re doing right now for the CWC. The West Coast and Mexico matches probably won’t kickoff at 9 or 10am local time, but all other timeslots would be available for all matches. I think might see 11am local kickoffs in Texas (with their indoor stadiums) and maybe even Kansas City. A bit early in the day, but it was done in 1994. And 11am local is a common kickoff time for college football games.

 

Given all the Club World Cup weather delays in Florida. No way they get top matches. There is no way.... Even KC may be over Miami.

 

How do you define "top games"? Given the number of teams, there are really only a few that are of great interest (Arg, Bra, Col, Ecu, Eng, Portugal, Germany). In the end, FIFA doesn't care at all - the only thing that matters is that there are almost 10,000 more spectators at Game 72 in Atlanta than at Game 71 in Miami.

 

Have there been any delays in Miami? Every outdoor venue from KC east is vulnerable to summer thunderstorm delays.

 

Any predictions on where Brazil will likely be in the group stage? I feel like that's a tough call.

 

No one can predict that. Wherever the ball lands in December.

 

I think Brazil goes West or Central zone if pre-determined and not random draw.

 

The group letter that Brazil is assigned to will be random. But within each group, FIFA has flexibility (after the draw) to assign the stadium used for each match on each matchday (between two choices each matchday). Brazil is presumed to be participating in the “bigger” match on each of its group’s match days.

Someone earlier posted the breakdown of possible stadiums to be used by each group on each day. There seem like some obvious choices regarding stadium size and city prestige, but that still leaves 5 or 6 options to choose from. And who knows, maybe FIFA will go crazy and put some big teams in Monterrey or Kansas City to spread things out.

 

I seem to recall FIFA shuffling venues of certain matches around a bit after the final WC draw, but maybe I am misremembering. Either way, I think if dynamic pricing is used for the first time in 2026, FIFA and other money grabbers will care more this time around. There is simply more money to be made if a more attractive match is played in the 85-90k-capacity stadium and the lesser attractive match is played in the 60-65k stadium, than if it were the other way around.

 

In Qatar, they had full flexibility each day to pick between all four stadiums/kickoff times, since the whole tournament was in one city.

Before that, the exact draw process has been slightly different for each one. But at least for Russia and Brazil, the schedule and match assignments (A2 vs A4) were set pre-draw. A1, B1, etc matches were of course generally placed in the bigger stadiums and cities. And as soon as the balls popped out with a country and its position within the group (2, 3, or 4), you knew exactly where and when that team was playing. The only post-draw adjustments I can recall were moving the Manaus kickoff times to 6pm instead of 12pm local. But that was due to anticipated weather, not the teams involved.

 

Hello everyone,

Glad to see many of the people who participated in the 2022 journey here. Hope everyone is doing well!

Looking into the logistics of this World Cup for us, the fans, it will be hard.

I feel that my best targets with the easiest logistics for this World Cup are:

1. M74 in Boston
2. M77 in New Jersey
3. M89 in Philadelphia or M86 in Miami
4. M91 in New Jersey
   
   I will be watching the winners from M74 and M77 again in M89 tho if I choose M89.

I feel that New York would be the best option to use as a base. Any other suggestions?

My main concern regarding this tournament is commuting. Any idea if there will be anything special for the tournament regarding trains/busses? I feel it will be overwhelmingly expensive and hectic if everything is left as it is currently during the tournament.

 

New York would be the best base for that schedule. You can get to Boston and Philadelphia by train/bus on day trips. Train is best, but it would have to be an overnight bus if those are 9pm kickoffs. But it’s possible. Boston is tricky because their stadium (Foxboro) is an hour outside the city with no real existing public transit. I anticipate there will be FIFA shuttle buses from downtown Boston to the stadium.

New York is expensive but if you’re willing to stay across the river in New Jersey, it gets cheaper. Based on what we’ve seen with the Club World Cup, a lot of fans will be basing themselves in NY or passing through at some point (like Moscow, St Petersburg, Rio). Especially around Midtown/Times Square, there will be a good World Cup vibe. That’s where the trains and buses to the New York stadium depart and arrive and a lot of the bars around there are hosting special events for the CWC.

New York also gives you good flight commuting options to basically anywhere. Atlanta, Miami, and Toronto can be done as flying day trips. Maybe even Dallas/Houston. Depends on kickoff times and obviously flying on matchday is always risky.

I don’t think we’ll see any special inter-city buses or trains. Amtrak train tickets get more expensive as the date gets closer, so book early. You can pay just a few dollars more and get a fully refundable ticket.

 

For the northeast corridor, bus travel is way cheaper than train travel. Try Flix, Megabus, even Chinatown buses, if you are really adventurous.

Also, avoid Amtrak and take SEPTA/NJ Transit/PATH if you must take trains between Philly and NYC. Again, way cheaper. SEPTA between Philly and Trenton, NJ Transit between Trenton and Newark, PATH or NJ Transit between Newark and NYC. It will probably be 50% to 67% cheaper.

I discovered this method by accident in the early 90's at New York Penn Station. I'll never forget the prices. Amtrak would have been $31, NJ Transit/SEPTA was $13. PATH to Newark would have likely made the total even less.

Once upon a time, MBTA had rail service to Gillette Stadium for Patriots games. There is a rail spur to the stadium. They also had game day buses from the end of the T line in Quincy for Revs games. Worth a look next year.

 

Agreed on the buses being a consistent cheap option all through the NE corridor. But Amtrak also offers plenty of weird discounted fares depending on the time of day and demand. Early morning and late night especially are often as low $15 for a direct train (1.5 hours) from Philly to NY Penn Station (and back). I paid only $30 each way during peak rush hour last week going to a CWC game in NJ.

Taking the SEPTA/NJ transit/PATH between Philly and NYC would be like three connections, could take an extra two hours or more, and may not be worth saving a few dollars (if any).