Massachusetts has wrapped up its hosting duties for the 2026 World Cup. It remains to be seen what the full economic impact will be on the state, but there are some early indicators of success.
Lodging
Airbnb has called the World Cup its biggest hosting event ever. More people rented out their homes during the tournament than during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris — the company’s previous biggest event — with Greater Boston and Providence among the top areas nationwide for new hosts.
“ It helped me pay for my mortgage for a couple of months,” said Samantha Spano of Wrentham, who rented out her home for the first time this World Cup.
Spano said she made over $5,000 renting to visitors from the United Kingdom and Norway during the tournament. Her three-bedroom house is located just a few minutes away from Gillette Stadium, where matches were held. So it was a “no-brainer” to rent it out for when she learned Boston would be a World Cup host city, she said.
“It was definitely worth it,” Spano said. Based on this experience, she said she’ll start renting out her place for future events like concerts at Gillette.
Gillian Lang of Providence also felt the financial benefits of the World Cup. She moved into a really old house a year ago that needed a lot of expensive work. She said renting out part of her house to tourists visiting Foxborough helped cover her mortgage and has been a huge financial relief.
“ It’s been nice to just feel a little bit more secure and getting back onto steadier ground financially,” Lang said.
She said can now save more money and hopefully take a trip in the fall.
Hotels in Greater Boston also saw a boost. They made 20% more revenue per room from June 12 to June 27 compared to the same time last year, according to preliminary data from Meet Boston. But hotel occupancy rates were about the same as they were last year — approximately 87%.
Still, the tournament isn’t over, so there isn’t a full picture of the its economic impact on Massachusetts.
Some critics don’t believe the World Cup will make much of a difference to the state.
“Some of that economic activity is a displacement of activity that would otherwise occur,” Chris Dempsey of the urban design firm Speck Dempsey told WBUR.
Dempsey, a former state transportation official, said summer is already peak tourism season for the region. He’s been a longtime skeptic of global sporting events. In 2015, he led the campaign to end Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
Compared to the typical peak season, the region has seen higher demand and higher rates when it comes to short-term rentals, according to AirDNA, which gathers data on short-term rentals.
Demand for short-term rentals in Greater Boston increased by 9% during the first two weeks of the World Cup, according to AirDNA’s director of economics and forecasting Bram Gallagher. And occupancy was 81%, compared to 76% during those same weeks last year. Gallagher said that’s a big boost, especially since the region also added 1,000 more listings this June compared to last year.
“Certainly for Boston, this is great for short-term rental hosts,” Gallagher said.
It’s also been lucrative. The Boston area had some of the highest short term rental rates of all the World Cup host cities. Rates averaged around $300-$350 per night — which is up roughly 25% compared to the same time last year, according to Gallagher.
“A Super Bowl or a Taylor Swift concert can definitely bring a lot of additional demand and rate for a couple nights” but with the World Cup, “the average rate is that much higher for the entire month of June,” Gallagher said.
Those rates brought in almost $57 million in revenue, according to Gallagher.
“ It’s definitely having a really significant economic impact,” he added. The revenue figure doesn’t include taxes or other types of spending visitors made, such as food or transportation, he added.
Restaurants and bars
Local bars have seen a huge boost during the World Cup, with some establishments experiencing a 30%-50% increase in sales. Some places even ran out of beer.
According to the Beer Institute, Massachusetts had the highest growth in beer sales of any hosting region in the U.S. Beer sales in the state were up more than 25% at bars and restaurants during the first two weeks of the tournament compared to the same time last year, the institute found. People also drank more at watch parties and at Gillette, where matches are held.
Andrew Heritage, the chief economist at the Beer Institute, said the World Cup has given the industry a boost because it has led to more communal gatherings — which means more spending.
“It’s not people saying, ‘I wanna have a beer,’ but people saying, ‘I wanna go socialize,’ ” Heritage said. “And beer being central to those experiences, we see such a big impact to the beer industry.”
Overall consumer spending at Boston bars and restaurants — including food and other beverages — increased more than any other host city during the first two weeks of the World Cup, according to the payment platform Square.
Net benefit?
We’re still waiting on final numbers from the state as to how much the World Cup cost taxpayers. Several estimates, including from Dempsey, put that figure at $100 million. That includes MBTA costs to improve the commuter rail station at Foxborough and $10 million for public watch parties.
Gov. Maura Healey previously told WBUR she believes the tournament will be a net economic positive.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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