FC Dallas President Dan Hunt: “This could still be the epicenter of the 2026 World Cup” | FC Dallas

The footprint of the World Cup goes much further than just the matches, of course. Dallas/Fort-Worth hopes to be the base camp for visiting national team squads, as well as the home of the International Broadcast Center and the Referee Headquarters for the duration of the tournament.

“The benefit of having nine matches is that we believe there will be more visiting national teams that pick the Metroplex as their home training center, with the probability of having elimination round matches here,” Hunt explained. “We’re also waiting on the Referee Headquarters to be designated. If we’re so fortunate to have it at Toyota Stadium, it’s my belief that we’d only have one visiting national team. If we don’t have (the Referee Headquarters), we could have two visiting national teams at Toyota Stadium. But the Metroplex is right to have many visiting national teams pick this area and use facilities like MoneyGram Soccer Park (in Dallas), Toyota Soccer Center (in Frisco), SMU, UTD, there’s a litany of them.

“We’re waiting on the International Broadcast Center announcement, hopefully that will be coming in the next few weeks. There are so many things coming to the Metroplex and we’re in the final running. This could still be the epicenter of the World Cup. The opportunity to have all of these visiting national teams, the International Broadcast Center, the Referee Headquarters, it just goes on and on. Our legacy of this 2026 World Cup will last not just generations, but much further than that.”