Government
BY ALEX REECE
Frisco talks World Cup, city’s potential role With under a year and half before the first 2026 FIFA World Cup game, the city of Frisco could still be picked as a participating team’s base camp, although an announcement won’t come until early 2026, officials said. International delegations have begun touring potential sites, said Josh Dill, Visit Frisco’s director of sports and events. The city’s recent $182 million investment in Toyota Stadium renovations, where a team would practice if Frisco is picked, has meant the city is “in a position to not be left out of that conversation,” he said. The big picture The city’s World Cup involvement was discussed by Frisco City Council members during an annual two-day winter work session Jan. 30-31. Including Frisco, there are five confirmed Dallas-Fort Worth area cities being considered for
Council to focus on ‘progress in motion’ Frisco officials have finalized the items and goals for the city to work toward in 2025. The list was first discussed during a Jan. 30-31 winter work session and then announced during a Feb. 3 town hall meeting. In a nutshell In previous years, the list was referred to as the city’s “top 10 priorities,” which has created some confusion, Mayor Jeff Cheney said. “It is now ‘City Council’s 2025 progress in motion’ list,” he said. The updated list includes Grand Park, Frisco Center for the Arts, The Rail District, World Cup 2026, community engagement, reinvestment in Frisco, mobility and trans- portation, business engagement, technology and innovation, heritage and Frisco’s history.
At nine matches, the DFW area will host more matches than any other participating city: Looking ahead Group stage Round of 32 Round of 16 Semifinal match
• June 14 • June 17 • June 22 • June 25 • June 27
• June 30 • July 3
• July 6 • July 14
SOURCE: FIFA/COMMUNITY IMPACT
base camps and another two that could be added to the list later, Dill said. A list of potential base camps released by FIFA in November paired Toyota Stadium with a hotel in Plano. The games are projected to bring thousands of spectators into the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “We’ve contracted over 27,000 hotel room nights in Frisco at four properties over that [2026 World Cup games] time frame,” Dill said. The four hotel blocks do not include fan book- ings or the broadcast teams and referee groups.
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