FIFA has selected On Location, a premium global hospitality and travel agency, to be the official hospitality provider of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The New York-based company is collaborating with Major League Soccer (MLS) to manage the hospitality program for the tournament’s 23rd edition, which will be the biggest in FIFA World Cup history after expanding from 32 to 48 teams. In turn, the hospitality program will also expand, serving the 16 host cities and 104 matches.
In 2021, On Location partnered with MLS to jointly bid on the hospitality agency role for the 2026 World Cup, and FIFA initiated the bidding process for the tournament in September 2023. MLS will participate in the sales process, but ultimately, FIFA will contract exclusively with On Location, as FIFA can only engage with one entity for this role.
FIFA selected On Location due to its extensive experience managing hospitality programs for major sporting and entertainment events, such as the Super Bowl, the UFC, the NCAA’s men’s and women’s Final Four, the Ryder Cup and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. 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. “Our thinking was that the combined expertise, experience and relationships we have between On Location and MLS would make for a great combination in any bidding process.”
Match Hospitality, which oversaw the FIFA Hospitality Program for the men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments since 2010, was the incumbent.
Hospitality packages for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are set to debut later this year on the FIFA website and through official sales agents, marking the first opportunity for fans to buy official tickets to the event.
With seven million tickets up for grabs across the 104 games, FIFA anticipates an overwhelming demand, estimating tens of millions of ticket requests, according to people familiar with the matter. Approximately half of the available tickets are allocated for consumers and one million premium tickets will be allotted for On Location/MLS to sell.
“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,” On Location’s chief commercial officer Scott Jernigan said in a video call. “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 launched On Location in 2015 to sell hospitality packages for the Super Bowl, and the company was acquired by Endeavor in 2020. According to its 2022 annual report, FIFA expects to generate record revenue of $3.1 billion from hospitality rights and ticket sales during the 2023-2026 World Cup cycle, most of which will come from 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.”
(This story has been updated in the fourth-to-last paragraph to clarify the amount of ticket requests FIFA expects to receive for the 2026 World Cup.)
