World Cup may invade West Orlando in 2026

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Local leaders propose spending $50 million to bring a major disruption to West Orlando.

That disruption is the 2026 World Cup soccer matches for men.

One of the main venues for this event -- which would bring thousands of people from around the world -- is Camping World Stadium.




This initiative was announced late last month. It is being pushed by Orlando, Orange County and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission.

Local elected officials working on collaboration with the Greater Orlando Sports Commission are preparing a bid for Orlando to be selected as one of 16 cities in the United States hosting the matches.

The officials say that the World Cup will bring an economic impact of $600 million to $1 billion to the Orlando area.

In response to questions from us, Jason Siegel, CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission responded:
“We believe that bidding on the 2026 FIFA World Cup will have a positive impact on Westside residents and on the region as a whole.  The united bid (USA/Canada/Mexico) submitted to FIFA in 2018 made a number of commitments and we believe that hosting matches in Orlando will provide an incremental return on investment.”

That’s pretty much the same line officials used when this area hosted World Cup events in 1994, but nobody seems to know any local person who benefitted from the sporting event.

Much of the burden for hosting these games falls on the historically black neighborhoods near Camping World Stadium.

People in those neighborhoods continually complain about the noise and carousing associated with the Electric Daisy Carnival, monster truck events and more.

World Cup is bigger and brings no benefit to the neighborhoods.

What’s more troubling is that the quality of life in Orlando is in a downward spiral with the traffic headaches, inadequate public transit, a shortage of affordable housing, gentrification, homelessness and the lack of jobs that pay a livable wage.

Research shows that the economic benefits of hosting World Cup are wishful thinking. Click here for details.

In addition to the costs, capital projects to accommodate World Cup frequently lead to social disruptions, such as demolishing poverty housing and displacing people near the event sites.

The World Cup boosters also conveniently overlook the fact that the World Cup has been wracked by major scandals involving bribery, racketeering, money-laundering and wire fraud.

For more on this subject and other critical issues in urban Orlando, listen to the 32805 Spotlight podcast by clicking here.






Location: 1 Citrus Bowl Place, Orlando, FL 32805, USA

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