Economics of the World Cup The economics of the FIFA World Cup can be explained by how the tournament creates, distributes, and consumes income and wealth among nations and people. Sport is the largest business in the world, with football being one of the largest global sporting events, involving billions of dollars in investment, revenue, employment, tourism, infrastructure, and commercial activity. However, it also imposes significant costs, risks, and opportunity costs on host countries. The World Cup has two major impacts: economic and social. The economic impact is the direct and indirect financial gain from event-related expenditure and global tourism, while the social impact is the monetary value of non-financial changes, including both benefits and negatives. Research estimates that 9.5 million people will attend the 2026 World Cup, generating $13.9 billion in event-related expenditure. The tournament will produce $80.1 billion in gross output, $40.9 billion in gross domest...