TACOMA, Wash. — In 295 days, the migration of 750,000 soccer fans to the Puget Sound will begin as the first World Cup matches begin. But who’s counting?
Community leaders in Pierce County are, as Pierce Transit got more than 100 of them together Wednesday to figure out how to collaborate and plan for the region’s showcase on the world stage.
A large showcase at that, according to Seattle FIFA Senior Vice President of External Affairs Dylan Ordoñez. Ordoñez put in perspective for leaders: The Super Bowl gets around 150 million global viewers. The least watched World Cup game brings in 200 million people tuning in world wide. He estimates, the six games in Seattle and seven games in Vancouver will bring 2 Billion eyeballs to the region.
“It’s going to take everybody to make sure this is a success,” Ordoñez said.
Locally, the games will be accompanied by nine fan zones, from Bellingham, the Tri-Cities and Tacoma.
“It’s inclusion for people that can’t necessarily get up to the games or can’t make that kind of trek, they can still have a taste of the World Cup,” Mary Anderson, the Board President of the North Tacoma Soccer Club.
The North Tacoma Soccer Club has seen the number of kids in their program double since 2020, Anderson points to the popularity of soccer in Western Washington as part of the reason. Still, she thinks the sport has room to grow.
“Kids who might have been on the fence about how far they wanted to go in soccer might take that lead,” Anderson said.
Anderson does worry about getting around with essentially the population of Seattle spread across the sound over the five weeks of matches.
Ryan Mello, the Pierce County Executive who is also on the Sound Transit and Pierce Transit Boards says agencies are looking at “surge” levels for light rail trains, busses, and the Sounder commuter train.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Mello said, “I have every confidence in the world that Pierce Transit is going to figure out how to move our staffing around to accommodate this opportunity we have to help host the world here.”
Mello also mentioned new payment programs, like a multi-day Orca pass to make using transit easier for those visiting from around the world. While the location of the Fan Zone has not been determined, Mello says it will need to have transit in mind.
“We need a fan zone that can safely accommodate folks and accommodate transit options. Those are key features,” Mellos said.
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