The FIFA World Cup will come to North America in 2026. The first major event arising from that circumstance will happen next month when the FIFA masters draw lots to see which country teams will be in which groups. Next year’s tournament will be the first one with an expanded field of 48 teams – – up from 32 teams in the recent past – – and that event will command the attention of as many as a billion folks around the world.
I ran across a report that many of the US venues for World Cup games have announced their parking fees for those who will drive to the events. For Group Level games at Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), Jerry-World (Dallas) and Arrowhead Stadium (KC), parking will cost $75. Round of 16 games will cost $100; Quarterfinals will cost between $125 and 145; and for the Semifinals at Jerry-World, parking will be $175.
One venue was a bit out of step on this front. Lincoln Financial Field (Philly) will host 6 matches – – or “fixtures” as the EPL prefers to call them – – at the Group level and then in the Round of 16. Parking for those games will be $145 for “preferred parking” and $125 for “parking”. Let me do some back of the envelope math here:
- The Linc seats almost 70,000 people. There is relatively convenient public transit to The Linc and people will likely come to the game in pairs or groups; so, let me assume that there will be 25,000 vehicles seeking parking for each game.
- Also, let me assume that the average tariff for parking is $130 – – regular parking outnumbers “preferred parking” significantly.
- 25,000 cars X $130 per car X 6 games = $19.5M
That Round of 16 game in Philly will happen on July 4th which happens to be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. If the US Men’s National Team were to make it through the Group stage and into the Round of 16, I suspect their game would find its way to Lincoln Financial Field by some fortuitous circumstance.
Having thought about the World Cup, I decided to go and look to see what countries had already qualified for the field. To no surprise, teams like Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France, England and Spain are in the field. There were a few competitors that I would not have thought would be included:
- Algeria – – first time in the field since 2014
- Cabo Verde – – first time ever in the World Cup Tournament
- Curacao – – first time ever in the World Cup Tournament
- Haiti – – first time in the field since 1974
- Jordan – – first time ever in the World Cup Tournament
- New Zealand – – first time in the field since 2010
- Norway – – first time in the field since 1998
- Scotland – – first time in the field since 1998
- South Africa – – first time in the field since 2010
No peeking at Google Maps, how confident are you that you could walk up to a world map and locate all 9 of those countries in 30 seconds? I found 8 of them easily but had to scan very carefully to locate Cabo Verde; it is not very large.
One other point about that list. I am old enough to remember – – and enjoy – – Monty Python’s Flying Circus. One of their more outrageous sketches – – and that is saying a whole lot – – was about alien beings called “Blancmanges” attacking and devouring tennis players at Wimbledon simply to assure that a Scotsman named Angus Podgorny would be the Wimbledon champion. I know nothing about the Scottish futbol team other than it has qualified for the World Cup in 2026 for the first time in almost 30 years. Nonetheless, I suspect it will take the intervention of alien “Blancmanges” for the Scots to hoist the FIFA World Cup Trophy in July 2026.
Finally, the mention of Monty Python led me to go and reread the script of one of my favorite sketches; it is known as “Crunchy Frog”. Here is a link to the script; go and enjoy Inspector Praline as he investigates the products offered by the Whizzo Chocolate Company.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………