World Cup scouting report: Dallas, where they say bigger is better, lives up to ethos with most North America matches

CoStar News examined each FIFA World Cup host city and what the tournament June 11-July 19 could mean for local infrastructure, real estate, tourism and economic development long before the first soccer match is played. Find links to all the markets here.

The Dallas-Fort Worth region, in a state where locals like to say everything is bigger, is set to play an oversized role in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It will be home to the most matches out of the 16 North America host cities this summer.

North Texas will also be home to the International Broadcast Center for the 2026 tournament, where the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas is being reconfigured to be able to accommodate an estimated 2,000 to 3,500 journalists from across the globe.

The International Broadcast Center is expected to total nearly half-a-million square feet of space, the largest broadcast center in FIFA's history, and operate as a city within a city for global media. Construction was well underway in March, with a maze of custom-built studios overtaking the A, B, and C convention halls and offering everything from food to dry cleaning services to broadcast studios 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the entire tournament.

This is the second time Dallas will host the International Broadcast Center — the city served as the home for global media during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. That year, Dallas hosted six matches at the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium.

This year's nine matches are scheduled to be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, a city between Dallas and Fort Worth, with seating capacity of 80,000 fans and standing capacity for more than 100,000 fans. The World Cup matches, International Broadcast Center and other plans are estimated to bring between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion in direct economic impact to the region, according to the Dallas Sports Commission.

North Texas will also host six base training camps at stadiums that include the Cotton Bowl, Southern Methodist University, Toyota Stadium, the University of North Texas, Texas Christian University and Mansfield Stadium. Major League Soccer team FC Dallas plays at Toyota Stadium, with the Cotton Bowl being a go-to destination for international friendlies and home of Dallas Trinity FC.

"It's going to have a great economic impact," Dan Hunt, president of FC Dallas and co-chair of the North Texas FIFA World Cup 2026 Organizing Committee, told CoStar News.

The affinity for the sport is expected to help fuel what will be known as FIFA Fan Festival Dallas at the Cotton Bowl, beginning at the kickoff of the World Cup until its last game. The festival is expected to be free and open to the public, including locals and visitors.

Here's CoStar News' scouting report:

Dallas was founded in 1841, initially as a trading post and settlement on the east bank of the Trinity River. However, when people talk about Dallas, they are often referring to the broader Dallas-Fort Worth region, the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan area with more than 8.4 million residents. Fort Worth, to the west of Dallas, is also known as Cowtown and is famed to be where the West begins.

The region is known for its Dallas skyline, with its tallest tower being Bank of America Plaza, a 72-story, 1.8-million-square-foot skyscraper. But North Texas is expansive, with neighboring cities such as Irving, Fort Worth and Plano each offering their own sky-high views.

The Dallas-Fort Worth region is known for its diverse business community, with it being the corporate home to 21 companies on the 2025 Fortune 500 list, including American Airlines, AT&T, AECOM, CBRE, Jacobs, McKesson and Texas Instruments.

Dallas-Fort Worth saw the highest total number of residential real estate transactions among large U.S. markets in February, but the region is showing signs of slowing this year compared to 2025. Dallas-Fort Worth led the nation in total sales, but that pace fell 12.6% year over year, according to Homes.com data, reflecting what has been a national slowdown in home sales. The median price for a single-family house in the Dallas-Fort Worth region is $399,000.

Even as demand for office space in North Texas improves, it has yet to return to levels seen prior to the pandemic with vacancy sitting at 17.8%. The vacancy rate on office space pre-pandemic was 14.6%, CoStar's market analytics team said. Nationally, office vacancy has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

On the industrial side, the Dallas-Fort Worth region has led the nation for years for new construction leading up to the World Cup, causing an elevated vacancy rate of 8.4% in the region. Despite this, North Texas remains resilient in early 2026, with strong tenant demand, positive net absorption and developers pursuing new projects, according to CoStar's market analytics group.

Only 20% of the North Texas retail construction pipeline is available for lease, CoStar's market analytics group said. Pricing remains strong at grocery-anchored centers, the analytics team said, even as annual rent gains have slowed to their weakest pace in a decade — they remain above the national average.

The World Cup games are expected to be a big hospitality driver in Dallas-Fort Worth, with an estimated 100,000 daily visitors to the region. For a typical summer, hotel occupancy hovers at 63%, officials said, however, with the World Cup games, it is expected to rise upward of 75%.

AT&T Stadium, which opened in 2009, is the gameday venue for the Dallas Cowboys, an NFL team that touts itself as America's Team and is also the world's most valuable sports team. The stadium plans to install natural grass to meet FIFA regulations for the World Cup. At prior soccer matches, AT&T Stadium used an artificial turf field.

The stadium has a history of hosting major sporting events, having been the venue for the Super Bowl in 2011, the 2010 NBA All-Star game and the 2014 NCAA Men's Final Four.

AT&T Stadium has hosted a few CONCACAF Gold Cup games, with superstar players, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, having played in the venue that ranks as the NFL's third-largest stadium by fan capacity. Messi will be returning for at least two group stage games this year as a member of the Argentina national team.

North Texas has long been a soccer destination with the Hunt family, starting with the late Lamar Hunt, helping establish MLS in 1993 and FC Dallas that helps foster local soccer talent. So far, the FC Dallas Academy has signed 48 players to homegrown contracts, making it one of the premier talent producers in MLS.