Name: Host Cities Score: Local Customers Drive a Strong SMB Summer
Creator: PYMNTS Intelligence
Published: 2026-09-09T08:01:59+00:00

A crowded shopping district near a packed World Cup venue can seem like a compact economic engine. More people on the sidewalks, more eyes on storefronts and more customers potentially opening their wallets at restaurants and checkout counters. But for Main Street businesses in the 11 major U.S. cities and metropolitan areas that hosted event matches, including Los Angeles, Miami and New York/New Jersey, the commercial boost from this year’s tournament seems more modest than might have been expected. Throughout this report, a “host city” means the full metro area around its venue rather than the formal city limits.

Research promoted by World Cup organizer FIFA and the World Trade Organization predicted the event would have a $30.5 billion economic impact in the U.S., including $6.4 billion in tourist spending on accommodations, food and retail. Independent economists typically describe the boost of major sporting events as overstated; locals tend to shift their spending around rather than add new money to the economy, and crowds deter regular tourists. With the World Cup, much of the money that comes in goes to international hotel chains and FIFA coffers in Switzerland rather than to local businesses.

So did U.S. business owners enjoy any economic windfall this time? SMBs inside the 11 U.S. metro areas that hosted 78 World Cup matches this year were more likely to report higher summer sales than those located elsewhere. At the same time, World Cup visitors were a minority of the customer base for nearly nine in 10 small businesses in venue metro areas. As the U.S. prepares to host the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, the data contributes to a robust body of independent research on business and consumption trends during major sporting events that demonstrates or suggests limited economic benefits to local businesses from major sporting events.

Those are just some of the findings from the latest edition of PYMNTS Intelligence’s SMB Growth Monitor, a survey of 529 SMBs fielded in July 2026, spanning the tournament’s final days and the period immediately after it ended.

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SMBs in World Cup host metros were more likely to report strong sales this summer.

It was a good summer for SMBs in host metros. Forty-three percent said their sales for the season were stronger than they would be in a typical summer. Just 10% reported weaker sales. In comparison, only 33% of SMBs in non-host metros reported higher sales, and 15% reported lower sales. Roughly half of businesses in both groups said their summer looked about typical. In general, host-metro businesses were about 1.3 times as likely as other businesses to report a better-than-usual summer.

The stronger sales stopped at the host-metro line.

The stronger sales appeared only inside host-metro boundaries; being nearby was not enough. Inside host metros, 43% of SMBs reported higher summer sales. Just outside those same metros but less than 50 miles away, only 28% reported higher sales, making a business inside the host-metro boundary about 1.5 times as likely to report a stronger summer as a business just over the border. Farther out, the pattern returned to normal. One-third of SMBs located 50 or more miles from any host metro reported higher sales, in line with the 33% figure for non-host SMBs nationally.

The sales bump showed up in customers walking into stores. Foot traffic showed a modest increase in host metros. Thirty-four percent of host-metro SMBs reported more customers walking through their door than in a typical summer, versus 29% outside host metros, a difference of five percentage points. More visitors on the ground likely could have meant more browsing, and potentially more buying, or more local visitors patronizing shops.

None of this data demonstrates that the World Cup caused a sales boost for local businesses. What it shows is a correlation. Businesses inside host metros were more likely to have a good summer at a time when small business sales across the country were essentially flat to slightly negative in June and July 2026, according to National Federation of Independent Business data.

World Cup host-metro SMBs only partly credit their location for their strong results.

What’s clear is that geography doesn’t get all the credit. Roughly 85% of SMBs in both host and non-host metros said non-World Cup factors, including their own marketing, changes to products or pricing, repeat customers and word of mouth, affected their sales.

Nearly six in 10 host-metro SMBs updated their online listings and reviews or ran social and digital ads aimed at visitors, compared with 51% outside host metros. Meanwhile, SMBs outside host metro areas leaned slightly more on other levers: community ties, such as local events, festivals or partnerships with hotels and tourism boards (35% versus 33% in host metros), and offers like seasonal products or promotions (51% versus 48% in host metros).

Regardless of location, most businesses attributed their success to a combination of internal and external factors. Two in three host-metro SMBs with strong summer sales and 61% of non-host SMBs said both their own operational efforts and external factors played a role in boosting sales.

People-facing industries, meaning restaurants, retail stores, hotels, arts venues and personal-service businesses, reported higher summer sales more often inside host metros than outside them, 39% against 30%.

At the same time, visitors were a minority of the customer base in both groups: 88% of host-metro SMBs and 87% of non-host SMBs said visitors made up less than half of their summer customers.

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Methodology

PYMNTS Intelligence gathered these findings for the latest edition of the SMB Growth Monitor by surveying 529 small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across the United States, including 528 in operation for more than 12 months and 136 in the U.S. metro areas that hosted World Cup matches. Fielded July 10–21, 2026, the survey covered the final 10 days of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which ran from June 11–July 19 across 11 U.S. venues, plus the days right after the tournament ended. Results are weighted to reflect the broader U.S. SMB population, and all businesses included have a physical location.

About

PYMNTS Intelligence is a leading global data and analytics platform that uses proprietary data and methods to provide actionable insights on what’s now and what’s next in payments, commerce and the digital economy. Its team of data scientists includes leading economists, econometricians, survey experts, financial analysts and marketing scientists with deep experience in the application of data to the issues that define the future of the digital transformation of the global economy. This multi-lingual team has conducted original data collection and analysis in more than three dozen global markets for some of the world’s leading publicly traded and privately held firms.

The PYMNTS Intelligence team that produced this report:
Lynnley Browning: Managing Editor
Chinbo Chong, Ph.D.: Senior Research Analyst
Franco Coraggio: Research Analyst

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