Cyrei Daniel had been trying to get the city’s attention for months — not just for her bakery, Sweet Me Good, but for the entire block.

When the city announced Atlanta would host eight FIFA World Cup matches, Daniel was ready to capture the economic bump from the extra visitors this summer. She applied for grants to make improvements to her storefront and marketing ahead of the tournament and received two. She also showed up to city council meetings to push for how the city planned to support small businesses during the games.

Daniel’s bakery sits on Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn corridor, one block from the King Center, on the streetcar line that runs straight to downtown. A million people visit the King Center every year. Two weeks before the World Cup, there were no banners, no flags, nothing on the street to signal the tournament was weeks away.

Economists and city officials have pointed to the tournament as a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity for the entire country. But for the small business owners who make up the backbone of Atlanta’s neighborhoods, the question isn’t whether money is coming — it’s whether any of it will reach the ground where they’re standing.

The World Cup is a great economic opportunity for local businesses

Atlanta is one of 16 host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with eight matches running from June 15 through July 15. The Metro Atlanta Chamber estimates 65,000 spectators per match, with at least 520,000 people expected across all eight games.

Ona Utuama started planning a year ago. Her eyewear brand, Tribal Eyes, is carried in Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, and she’s designed flag-printed sunglasses representing each country competing in the tournament, planning to vend at a brand activation near Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the first qualifier round, June 15 through June 27.

She’s also a physician. She built CollabMD Direct Primary Care specifically for international visitors who won’t carry American insurance — a cash-pay clinic with QR codes distributed through hotels, Airbnbs, taxi drivers, and Uber hosts, directing visitors to same-day appointments and telemedicine options in multiple languages.

Between the eyewear and the clinic, Utuama is projecting $50,000 to $90,000 in revenue from the tournament — and she’s built two separate businesses specifically designed to capture it.

The clinic’s World Cup page will offer language selection, IV hydration services, and same-day appointment availability throughout the summer. The clinic is designed to serve as an on-call doctor for hotel guests who have forgotten their medications or need care for minor medical issues, without having to navigate the American healthcare system. She approached the Marriott Marquis, which told her they love the idea and will follow up, and submitted a capability statement to Hartsfield-Jackson airport, which has been exploring a potential on-site clinic.

Between the eyewear and the clinic, Utuama is projecting $50,000 to $90,000 in revenue from the tournament.

Local businesses are going after tourists

Brian Lee started planning in late 2024. His company, Scratch Food Group, makes plant-based food products sold at Walmart, and he saw the World Cup as an opportunity to introduce his brand to a global audience — and hit a revenue goal of $30,000 during the tournament.

He attended the city meetings, then built his own strategy rather than wait for the city to hand him one. By spring, he had secured a spot at a corporate FIFA partner’s watch party, lined up pop-ups with Atlanta Breakfast Club and the Belt Hub at Ponce City Market, and won a Beltline Business Ventures grant to launch a mobile Scratch Cafe cart. He invested $15,000 in preparation — mobile carts, a commercial doughnut machine, mobile proofers, smallwares, and access to a new commercial kitchen — and brought on additional staff.

For Lee, the World Cup is as much about the long game as it is about the summer bump. The Scratch Cafe cart concept he’s launching through the Beltline Business Ventures grant isn’t just a World Cup play. He’s building it to operate at Atlanta Breakfast Club, the Belt Hub, and other venues in the city long after the tournament ends.

“I wish someone had told me to stop waiting on the city to figure out the World Cup plan for small businesses,” Lee told Business Insider. “I should have just plowed ahead.”

He’s honest about the risk. When asked if zero benefit from the whole thing would surprise him, he didn’t hesitate. “It wouldn’t surprise me,” he said. “There are so many unknown variables.”

Some businesses have been struggling to stay open

Seven minutes from the airport, Vanetta Roy has been doing it herself. The owner of Eat My Biscuits in East Point launched World Cup merchandise, redesigned her staff uniforms — clean white shirts, bow ties, everyone crisp — and added a limited-edition lobster biscuit called the “Gold Getter” to the menu for the summer. She’s not thinking about whether East Point foot traffic will find her. She’s thinking about what she wants the world to know about her brand when it walks through the door.

If the World Cup doesn’t deliver the boost she’s hoping for, Roy isn’t panicking. “Business as usual,” she said. In the meantime, she’s focused on making sure international visitors can find her — optimizing her Google Business Profile so Eat My Biscuits shows up when tourists search for food near the airport corridor.

Small businesses in Atlanta were struggling even before World Cup planning began, and that’s why so many are hoping for a bump in revenue during the monthlong tournament.

According to a September 2025 CBS News Atlanta report, Roy lost approximately $200,000 compared to the prior year after East Point began a beautification project in February that placed a fence directly in front of her restaurant, cutting off street visibility. She laid off staff and took on multiple roles herself to keep the business open, and her rent is behind.

Atlanta last hosted an event of this scale in 1996. Lee, who has closely tracked World Cup preparations, noted that small businesses largely missed the financial wave from the Olympics — and said Mayor Dickens has publicly vowed that the World Cup will be different.

ATLANTA – A Mexican national faces federal charges after authorities caught him flying an unauthorized drone over Centennial Olympic Park during the FIFA Fan Festival in Atlanta, according to a federal criminal complaint. 

Federal agents took 37-year-old Lorenzo Rojas-Martinez into custody on Friday after discovering he was unlawfully present in the United States following two prior deportations. 

What we know:

Federal agents standing near Centennial Olympic Park on Friday spotted Rojas-Martinez operating a drone in a temporary flight restricted zone, according to the criminal complaint. Rojas-Martinez was standing in a nearby parking area recording video of the FIFA Fan Festival when agents approached him and requested his identification. 

A review of his driver’s license confirmed his identity and led agents to discover his status as a repeat deportee who also holds a prior conviction for cocaine distribution, federal officials said. Rojas-Martinez was formally charged on Monday with operating a drone in a temporary flight restricted zone and illegal reentry by a removed alien. 

What we don’t know:

Officials have not yet confirmed the exact type of drone Rojas-Martinez was operating or what he planned to do with the recorded video footage. It remains unclear how long he had been back in the country following his second deportation or where he obtained the aircraft. 

Authorities have not disclosed whether Rojas-Martinez has retained an attorney to speak on his behalf. A trial date has not been set, and the government maintains the burden of proving his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

By the numbers:

The FBI Atlanta Counter UAV Task Force has seized 21 drones, including the aircraft used by Rojas-Martinez, as part of ongoing airspace protection measures around World Cup events. The enforcement action is tied to Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative targeting illegal immigration, cartels, transnational criminal organizations and violent crime. 

U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg and Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham of FBI Atlanta noted that Ground Intercept Teams will continue monitoring restricted areas. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dash A. Cooper is prosecuting the case, which is being jointly investigated by the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

As Atlanta welcomes the world this summer, a coalition of community organizations is working to make sure some of the city’s fathers are home in time for Father’s Day.

On Tuesday, June 16, the Emerald United Foundation, in partnership with Atlanta City Councilmembers Antonio Lewis and Byron Amos, will lead the Father’s Day Freedom Initiative — a citywide effort to bond out low-level, nonviolent fathers currently detained at Fulton County Jail. The action begins at 4 p.m. at the jail, located at 901 Rice Street in northwest Atlanta.

Nearly 77% of the individuals currently held in Fulton County Jail have not been convicted of a crime. Many remain incarcerated pretrial — separated from their children and households for weeks or months at a time — not because they pose a danger, but because they cannot afford to post bond.

“A family is not whole without its father,” said Brittany Brewster, founder and chair of the Emerald United Foundation. “Thousands of fathers remain detained for minor, nonviolent offenses — not because they are dangerous, but because they cannot afford to come home. As Atlanta welcomes the world this summer, we have a chance to show what this city’s values truly are. That starts with bringing fathers home.”

Building on the Mother’s Day Freedom Initiative

The June 16 effort builds on the momentum of EUF’s inaugural Mother’s Day Freedom Initiative, held May 7, which freed nonviolent mothers from Fulton County Jail and connected them to long-term wraparound support.

This time, coalition partner A Seat at the Table is making a landmark contribution, bonding out 11 fathers in coordination with EUF and the broader coalition — a demonstration, organizers say, of what becomes possible when community partners move together.

The timing carries added weight. The initiative unfolds as FIFA World Cup activities are underway at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Juneteenth observances approach — a moment of unprecedented national and global attention on Atlanta.

More Than a Bailout

Organizers stress that the initiative is designed not only to secure release, but to support full restoration, with onsite services available to participating fathers the moment they walk free.

Those services include emergency healthcare and transportation through Healthcare & Emergency Solutions; housing support through PAD Atlanta; additional housing and realty resources through Head of Household Realty; workforce placement through First Step Staffing; opioid recovery and treatment referrals through Men and Women of Excellence; mental health and therapeutic care through Mindful Discovery Therapeutic Solutions; violence prevention through the Emory Hillandale Hospital Violence Prevention Program; family reunification and reentry support through Motherhood Behind Bars; bonding services through AAA Assured Bonding Co.; and additional community support through A Seat at the Table, 11th and Co., and Mothers Against Gang Violence.

“The household is only as strong as the man that leads it. How can he lead behind bars?” Brewster said. “Every father returned home is a household made whole again — and that is what restoration looks like.”

Pain Transformed into Purpose

Brewster founded the Emerald United Foundation following the personal loss of her mother and brother. Built on the belief that pain can be transformed into purpose, the Atlanta-based nonprofit is dedicated to empowering youth, strengthening families, and restoring hope in underserved communities through strategic partnerships, direct services, and community-led programming.

A community engagement and economic development professional with more than a decade of experience, Brewster currently serves as Community Engagement Manager at Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., and has held leadership roles within three offices of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office. Over the course of her career, she has raised more than $1.5 million in funding and launched citywide initiatives in partnership with organizations including Amazon, Coca-Cola, and UNCF.

How to Get Involved

Community members interested in supporting or participating in the Father’s Day Freedom Initiative are encouraged to register at EmeraldUnited.org or by contacting [email protected]. Space is limited, and confirmed participants will receive additional event details upon registration.

What: Father’s Day Freedom Initiative
When: Tuesday, June 16, 2026 — 4 p.m.
Where: Fulton County Jail, 901 Rice Street, Atlanta

The Atlanta Voice is a media partner of the Father’s Day Freedom Initiative.

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