Countdown: T-Minus 6 Weeks For A World Cup Launch in Houston

The stream of guests will likely be great for bars, restaurants and hotels. It will likely not be great for commuters, but public transportation has been boosted and heavily encouraged. As anyone who’s ever tried to get from downtown to outside the Loop during rush hour knows, traffic isn’t just a problem during big events. 

The concerns for Houston activist Tamaro Bell go beyond the weather and traffic. She implied at an April 21 city council meeting, while pleading for more public safety funding, that the city’s law enforcement appeared overwhelmed during a series of events in March, including the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, World Baseball Classic and CERA Week energy conference. 

“FIFA is in six damn weeks. We ain’t ready,” she said. “Spring break was a damn sugar honey ice tea show [compared to what is coming]. We are not ready. We’ve got dead people in the bayous. We still don’t know how the hell they got there. We ain’t ready. The public ain’t safe.” 

And what’s it all for? Many Houstonians have lamented that they can’t afford match tickets, which can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars for semifinals and finals. Tickets for less-popular teams during non-championship games, like Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia on June 26, are in the $300 range. 

A free alternative — Fan Festival in East Downtown — will run daily from June 11 to July 19 and is expected to draw large crowds of tourists and locals. The matches will be broadcast on a big screen surrounded by a soccer pitch, live entertainment and food vendors. 

Host committee members have highlighted that the World Cup will offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience for visitors and Houstonians, who also get to benefit from more than $515 million invested in streets and drainage, infrastructure improvements and beautification projects. 

The infrastructure investments are taxpayer-funded but city officials maintain that those upgrades could and should happen regardless of whether the World Cup is coming to town. 

Canetti told the Houston Press on April 29 that he was not familiar with a report issued earlier that day saying host cities would be lucky to break even, despite their massive investments to retrofit stadiums, pay for security and upgrade infrastructure, as FIFA nets an $11 billion profit from the World Cup. 

Host cities won’t earn a cut of game-day revenues from ticket sales, concessions, merchandise or parking, the Texas Tribune, Houston Chronicle and ProPublica reported. 

But hosting the World Cup was never intended to be a profit-generating venture for the city, Canetti says. The host committee was formed by and operates under the umbrella of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, a nonprofit in charge of organizing local operations for the World Cup. Funding comes from private donors, corporate sponsorships, the Texas Major Events Reimbursement Program, and state and federal grants, Canetti says. 

“We’re here to facilitate the event on behalf of our city and our county so that our residents can benefit from it, and that’s exactly what will happen,” he says, referencing the projected $1.5 billion economic impact, the equivalent of five Super Bowls. “It’s not a situation where money is coming out of our city budget or county budget, so they’re not losing money on this. The host committee is taking on the burden of financially covering the expenses associated with this event through various sources of funding.”

Being a host city also puts Houston on an international stage for future major events and dozens of “legacy initiatives” are being launched, including the Freekicks program, green corridor, hospitality sustainability, and human trafficking training. 

“This is the largest sporting event in the history of the world, and I know that Houstonians have a lot of pride in the city,” Canetti says. “For Houston to be selected to host is a prideful moment for our city in its own right. We as a community believe that major sporting events bring value to our community. This World Cup is going to have an everlasting, profound impact on the city’s future and the legacy.”

Public Safety

Sgt. Tommy Calabro of HPD’s SWAT division was tapped to serve as the chief safety and security officer and says that “knowing what’s going on in the world today, we have to prepare for everything.”

Houston found out it won the bid in 2022 and Calabro and his team have been working on safety plans for every possible scenario for the past two years, calling on more than 150 subject matter experts for their input. “Part of the preparation is gathering as much information and intelligence on the event and what’s going on in the world, not just nationally but internationally and with the soccer world,” Calabro says. 

That means a heightened awareness that one of the countries in the tournament lineup, Iran, is at war with the United States. Although there’s been much discussion about Iran possibly bowing out of the World Cup, FIFA hasn’t confirmed it, and Iran is scheduled for matches on June 15 and 21 in Los Angeles and on June 26 in Seattle. 

Dr. Lars Thestrup, chief medical officer for the Houston host committee, says he’s worked alongside the Houston and Harris County health departments to monitor other countries’ active threats and endemic diseases, such as dengue fever, a viral illness spread by infected mosquitoes common in parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa. 

“The health departments will be doing surveillance and watching the ERs to see if there are particular cases that are popping up, and they’ll be providing active reports and giving them out to EMS agencies, clinics, urgent cares and ERs so we know what’s going on,” Thestrup says. 

Houston has hosted more sporting events than any other city in North America since 2004, according to Canetti. However, the World Cup is on a much larger scale than anything Houston has ever hosted. Calabro’s team took the best practices template from previous large events and aligned it with FIFA’s protocols to create a complex guidebook for any possible scenario.

It’s the extended duration of time that makes the World Cup unique, not necessarily the number of people, Thestrup says. The Super Bowl brought about 150,000 people to Houston but only lasted a weekend. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo extends over a 23-day period. Thestrup pointed out that at the Kelly Clarkson show in March, there were 180,000 people on NRG grounds for either the concert, the rodeo or the carnival. “We won’t have half that many on NRG property for World Cup,” he says. “The stadium [capacity] is about 75,000.” 

Calabro says his team has created crowd management plans not just for matches but for Fan Fest, parades and protests. “No matter what discipline it is, whether it’s SWAT, bomb squad or the uniformed officer on an assignment, we are preparing public safety professionals to handle this,” he says. “It’s been a long process, but we do have a lot of people with a lot of experience.”

Calabro has been working alongside some of the representatives from partnering agencies since Houston hosted the Super Bowl in 2004. “Things can happen, and when things happen, we have people in place with experience to make the decisions to handle the challenges,” he says. “If a critical incident occurs, we have people in place to mitigate it.” 

To date, Houston is one of the only host cities that has published its human rights plan, which is split into two parts: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Host committee officials say it’s important to educate people coming from other countries about state and federal law. The Netherlands, for example, regulates legal sex work, so it’s important for those visitors to know the law so they don’t wind up in jail. 

When it comes to providing medical care, Thestrup says his goals for the World Cup are to manage incidents on site, avoid overwhelming the healthcare system and maintain baseline business — or 911 responses — for the Houston Fire Department. 

“We don’t want to send everyone to the hospital because that’s going to cause downstream problems,” he says. “Medically, it’s tough to predict. You can have a crochet festival with 5,000 people that’s going to cause a big problem if it’s outside in the middle of summer versus if the same thing was indoors, it wouldn’t cause any problems.” 

Heat is Thestrup’s No. 1 concern, particularly because international travelers won’t be familiar with Texas weather and know that they need to stay hydrated. “We plan for active attacks, vehicular attacks and drone attacks, but I think our biggest threat is going to be the heat. We have a really extensive heat plan for Fan Fest and NRG.” 

At the Fan Fest, cooling tents and a mobile medical unit will be available, and if someone experiences a heat stroke, they can be submerged in ice and transported to the hospital if necessary.

Free water, cooling towels and misting stations will be offered at the all-outdoors Fan Fest, but NRG is a different story. It’s air-conditioned, but spectators will have to pay for water and be smart about when to lay off the booze. Alcohol sales are typically cut off during the second half of soccer matches, well before the final whistle. However, host committee members emphasize that this is FIFA’s event and it may employ its own set of rules. 

FIFA’s 35-page stadium code of conduct covers its bag policy and advises that guests can bring in an empty, transparent reusable plastic bottle for water. Host committee public relations executive Carla Gomez said a “know before you go” briefing will be held the first week of June. 

Thestrup says his team is expecting potentially rowdy crowds and those who may have had too much to drink. HPD will handle most of the drunk and disorderly behavior, and the 911 system will be bolstered, Thestrup says, explaining that the fire department is contracting to add “a significant number of EMS units built into the 911 system.”

The host committee considered that people from other countries may not be familiar with the American 911 system. Some use 999 or 111, so a new dispatch system was created so the other emergency numbers, when used within the Houston region, are forwarded to Houston 911.

The host committee has a multi-layered approach to language interpretation, which intentionally includes redundancies, Gomez says, noting that HIPAA-compliant assistance protecting patients’ private information and the FBI’s linguistic services will be available at official venues.

Houston Recovery Center’s Sobering Center will be staffed up for those who need a four-to-six-hour detox. “The last thing ERs need is to be filled with people who just need to sober up,” Thestrup says. “It’s better to send them where they can be appropriately watched and taken care of, not necessarily taking up a bed that’s needed for a medical emergency.” 

Interagency Coordination

FIFA representatives have visited Houston on several occasions and took over NRG Stadium on May 1 to install the pitch. Gomez says FIFA officials have said how organized Houston is and how well its agencies work together. “FIFA has the experience in managing host cities and seeing how a city comes together, or not, for a major event, and to have them say that Houston is one of the most prepared cities is significant.” 

Thestrup says it’s evident that Houston can handle a crisis, but he is concerned about personnel fatigue because of the 39-day duration of the event. “We worry about exhaustion,” he says. “We’re making a big effort to make sure people don’t burn out during the event.”

While some Houstonians can buy into local leaders’ ability to handle a crisis, there is a concern about the presence of immigration agents. The federal government has said that ICE will play a key role in security for World Cup matches in Houston and other host cities, with a focus on intelligence and safety. Foreign visitors have been advised to have their residency or visa documents on hand. 

“That’s a FIFA-level question,” Gomez says when asked what the host committee has been told about ICE operations. “The White House Task Force exists in conjunction with FIFA, and those conversations around immigration are held at a FIFA level with the White House and lawmakers directly.” 

Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to revoke $114 million in grant funding, including $64.7 million allocated toward World Cup security, if Houston moved forward with its policy limiting HPD interaction with ICE when a non-criminal immigration warrant is identified.

In a 13-4 vote on April 22, the Houston City Council amended that policy to allow officers to wait “a reasonable amount of time” for an ICE agent to arrive after a traffic stop is concluded. The action satisfied the governor, and the funding remains secure. 

Houston City Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz said in a meeting last month that Houston might not appear welcoming to international visitors. “Has anybody considered how the people coming from other countries, how safe they feel coming to a city where ICE is allowed to run rampant?” she asked. 

Some foreign travelers may not even be able to get to the United States. Iranian fans, along with those from Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal can’t get visas to come to America because of a travel ban imposed by the U.S. government. 

Those who do make it to Houston are encouraged to ride the METRO for World Cup activities. METRO is running more frequent light rail trains, especially on the Red Line serving NRG. They’ve expanded bus service and routes, increased Park & Ride frequency and hours and added MetroLift services for seniors and those with disabilities.

Some host cities are increasing public transportation prices on match days, but Houston METRO confirmed last week that it will not, so a round-trip ticket to NRG will cost about $2.50. For those with lingering questions, stay tuned. Host committee officials said last week a “major” media briefing will be held May 11 at NRG Park to cover safety, security and transportation logistics. 

While a CenterPoint Energy official said last week that the utility company won’t staff up with mutual aid resources unless a significant weather event is forecast, Calabro says his team has reached out to 17 adjoining counties to ensure that they’re aware of the plans and can provide resources and personnel if needed. 

“Being in Texas, we are resource and capability strong,” Calabro says. “We have all these agencies, whether they be local, state or federal, that are coming together to help us.”

CenterPoint Says It’s Ready

Thestrup says that in the last 100 years, during the period that the World Cup will be in Houston, 40 hurricanes struck the Texas coast, and two of those, including Beryl in 2024, hit Houston directly. 

The odds of a June hurricane in Houston are low based on a preliminary forecast six weeks out, but anything can happen, and emergency responders say they prepare for the worst. 

CenterPoint Energy vice president of special response Jason Fabre says the utility company has elevated its standards since Beryl hit Houston two years ago. They’ve done significant maintenance, including burying power lines, replacing old utility poles and removing vegetation. 

CenterPoint has also moved to an Incident Command System structure during severe weather events. The nationally recognized system allows for a smooth transition when working with mutual aid partners. 

“We’re absolutely ready,” Fabre says. “We’ve taken on a number of activities to get ready for the World Cup, but it’s a part of what we do already. If there’s a hurricane, we have an all-hazards operations plan and we plan to respond to various types of events.” 

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas manages the power grid, which serves about 90 percent of the state, and oversees the wholesale electricity market, where power companies buy and sell electricity. 

ERCOT officials haven’t issued any statements advising that World Cup host cities Houston and Dallas will face grid-capacity shortages. They have said that the grid is more reliable now than in years past, especially after post-2021 winterization and added generation, and they maintain that they won’t allow new demand from data centers or large events to exceed what the grid can handle. 

In an April 2026 long-term forecast, ERCOT executives said they were “significantly more concerned about the long-term, structural impact of population growth and industrial expansion” than temporary spikes from major, short-term events.

Fabre agrees that Houston has adequate capacity and notes that all the facilities involved in the World Cup are designed for 100 percent use. CenterPoint officials have been frequently conducting maintenance around airports, practice sites, training facilities, NRG Stadium and areas like downtown to ensure that the infrastructure is resilient. 

“During the seven games that are played here, we’re going to activate our emergency operations center,” Fabre says. “We’re going to have crews staged at strategic locations so if something unplanned does occur, we’ll be able to rapidly respond and restore those systems as quickly as possible.”

“We’re doing things throughout our service territory, which is 5,000 square miles with about 2.9 million customers, but we have looked at the systems serving the stadiums and the airports and various hotels where VIPs are supposed to be staying,” he added. “We have taken corrective actions if we identify anything from a bad pole to a tree that was in close proximity.”

Many Houston businesses have backup generation, he added. If a Harvey-level hurricane hits, it would be Harris County’s call whether to convert NRG into a processing center or shelter since it owns the property, Fabre says. 

Fabre says CenterPoint has available resources and contractors through the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative to respond to power outages, so it would only need to call in out-of-state utility workers if a significant weather event, like a hurricane, occurs. Between now and mid-June, CenterPoint will remain in close contact with the Harris County Office of Emergency Management and FIFA representatives, and they’re conducting exercises to test systems and practice response. 

“This is important to me,” Fabre says. “We’ve put an appropriate amount of effort into this, to train, to practice, to go through the scenarios and to have our team members where they need to be through the event. For all of these scenarios, safety is the first thing we think about.”

Thestrup says the medical team employs a standard lightning plan for sporting events: when it’s 15 miles out, they issue a warning. At 12 miles out, the gates are closed and no one else comes in, and at 8 miles out, they evacuate to hard structures. “Fortunately, at NRG, there’s a massively large hard structure right there,” he says. “At Fan Fest, there are plenty of hard structures that people can evacuate to.” 

Canetti says the host committee can’t predict the unknown but they have tested numerous scenarios and will continue to do so until the matches begin. 

“I think confidence comes from preparation, whether you’re studying for a test or you’re an athlete preparing to play on the field, or building a plan around an event,” he says. “I’m confident that we have great professionals who are going to respond in the most professional way.”

When the first match kicks off at the now-rebranded Houston Stadium, probably even the skeptics will be cheering for Team USA. Simpson, the west Houston resident who worries about CenterPoint’s ability to keep the lights on during blue-sky days, says the Fear of Missing Out will prompt him to get off the couch and to the Fan Fest in EaDo. 

“The FOMO is real,” he says. “I came here for college and never left. I love this city and how there’s always something going on here. I’m not going to sit around while the biggest international and cultural event in the world is going on in my town. I’ll check it out.”  

Related