FIFA has selected On Place, a superior world kindness and go company, to be the established hospitality provider of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by the U. S., Canada and Mexico. The 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup will be the biggest in the history of the sport, which will be led by the New York-based company, Major League Soccer ( MLS), who will manage the hospitality program. The partnership will grow from 32 to 48 teams, making it the largest in FIFA World Cup history. In turn, the kindness program will even grow, serving the 16 network places and 104 games.
The 2026 World Cup was co-hosted by On Place and MLS in 2021, and FIFA started the competition’s selling procedure in September 2023. MLS may participate in the sales process, but finally, FIFA will contract entirely with On Location, as FIFA is just engage with one entity for this role.
Due to its extensive practice managing kindness applications for major sports and leisure activities like the Super Bowl, the UFC, the NCAA’s men’s and women’s Last Four, the Ryder Cup, and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, FIFA chose On Place. In 2021, the company secured hospitality rights for the 2024 Paris, 2026 Milan-Cortina and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
” We’ve been working together with On Location on this process since 2021″, Jay Berhalter, MLS ‘ EVP of business development, said in a video call. We believed that the On Location and MLS would make a great combination in any bidding process based on our combined expertise, experience, and relationships.
Match Hospitality, which oversaw the FIFA Hospitality Program for the men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments since 2010, was the incumbent.
Later this year, official sales agents and the FIFA website will start selling hospitality packages for the 2026 World Cup, giving fans their first chance to purchase official tickets.
According to those with knowledge of the situation, FIFA anticipates an overwhelming demand with tens of millions of ticket requests, with seven million tickets available for purchase across the 104 games. One million premium tickets will be allocated for On Location/MLS to sell, and approximately half of the available tickets are going to consumers.
In a video call, On Location’s chief commercial officer Scott Jernigan stated,” We’ve been working with FIFA for the last six weeks, thinking through different experiences at each of the buildings where we have deep expertise across North America. ” From the best seats to once-in-a-lifetime experiences, the hospitality before and after the matches, the meet and greets, and special memories, we are tailoring those experiences for FIFA but also representing the different host cities and host countries”.
The NFL purchased On Location from Endeavor in 2020 after the company launched On Location in 2015 to sell hospitality packages for the Super Bowl. FIFA anticipates generating record revenue of$ 3.1 billion from ticket sales and hospitality rights during the 2023-2026 World Cup cycle, the majority of which will be the men’s World Cup.
” The stadiums hosting FIFA World Cup 26 matches already boast some of the world’s best hospitality features”, Berhalter said. ” They could host the World Cup tomorrow”.
The number of requests FIFA anticipates receiving for the 2026 World Cup has been updated in the fourth-to-last paragraph.