IN-DEPTH: World Cup heaven or hell?
The FIFA World Cup starts today, and retailers from across the globe will be keeping an eye on the impact that the event has on economic activity.
Research by UK-based private bank Coutts and separate research by US-based tech industry trade association NetChoice highlight how unclear the picture is, in terms of the financial winners and losers.
It’s estimated that 6.5 million fans will attend World Cup matches across the US, Canada, and Mexico in the coming weeks, so an uplift for travel companies and hospitality businesses is a given.
But the broader legacy effect on the economy tells a more underwhelming tale, according to Coutts. It looked at the last six World Cups and compared the winning nation’s GDP growth 12 months after the event (relative to its previous 10-year average) to the equivalent figure for the hosts. Its findings were essentially that correlation between hosting/winning a World Cup and seeing a positive knock-on effect on GDP is somewhere between mixed and non-existent.
Sources: Economic and Social Research Institute Japan, Bank of Korea, IMF, Statistics South Africa, IBGE, Federal Service of State Statistics, Istat, INE, INSEE National Statistics Office of France, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censos Argentina, Coutts. Data accurate as at 03/06/2026.
Meanwhile, NetChoice cites research conducted by VistaPrint, showing that many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) expect meaningful upside from the event. The 2026 survey of SMBs in Toronto and Vancouver found that: 64% expect a positive business impact from the World Cup; 41% anticipate revenue increases of at least 20%; and 56% expect increased customer traffic.
The type of traffic matters. While a local ice cream vendor would expect to see sales go through the roof, a high-end luxury retailer in any of the host nations should brace itself for quite the opposite, as high net worth individuals give the area a wide berth and fans flock to the tourist traps in the middle of major cities.
On the brand side, things have evolved too. Where LVMH’s TAG Heuer and Hublot have been pumping sponsorship money into FIFA events in recent years, for the 2026 World Cup the only official commercial collaboration involves the little-known Axia Time, an American microbrand that has secured the rights as the first officially licensed World Cup watchmaker for the 2026 tournament.
Rather than buying out the multi-million dollar pitchside timekeeper slot, they have established a licensed-product arrangement to manufacture Swiss-made, tournament-branded timepieces aimed directly at capitalising on the massive influx of North American soccer fandom and retail merchandise demand.
It seems to be a significant missed opportunity for both FIFA and a prospective watch sponsor, as the governing body misses out on millions of dollars, and a brand misses out on wide, official exposure to an estimated 5 billion people across the world, not to mention the millions that will be attending at stadiums across the US, Canada, and Mexico.
