It’s June and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup is here! It took years of planning and preparation to get to this point, and my team in the Special Events Office was an integral part of that planning.
As an avid soccer fan who’s been obsessed with World Cup for most of my life, it’s been a true career highlight to contribute to World Cup planning.
As you’re out and about in the city, perhaps attending a World Cup match watch party, our Special Events Office and the Special Events Committee are behind the scenes. We’re coordinating with SeattleFWC26 which is Seattle’s local organizing committee, FIFA, Business Improvement Area partners like the Alliance for Pioneer Square, agencies like the Port of Seattle and the U.S. Coast Guard, and hundreds (hundreds!) of event organizers. Our goal is to make sure that not only World Cup-related activities are set up for success but also keeping the permitting train moving for all of the events that make Seattle’s summer so vibrant every year.
As part of the City’s larger planning efforts, in 2024, we were asked to lead a Permitting Planning Workgroup, bringing together representatives from several City departments to discuss all things permitting. These included from changes to Lumen Field (rebranded as Seattle Stadium for the World Cup) to watch parties in some of the city’s most iconic locations like Pioneer Square and Westlake Park to facilitating more unique permitting scenarios (have you heard about the Seattle Soccer Celebration floating soccer pitch?).
The workgroup met regularly and participated in event-specific planning sessions, ensuring City departments that aren’t typically a part of the Special Events review process were aware of activities happening throughout Seattle and could layer in priorities to the planning process. For the Seattle Soccer Celebration floating soccer pitch, we facilitated regular planning sessions with event organizers and a variety of City departments, as well as partners from agencies such as the U.S. Coast Guard to help share information so that everyone could work together.
Our office also provided permitting wayfinding services, liaising directly with event organizers to learn more about their event activities and connecting them with the appropriate permitting authorities. This included coordinating with partners in the Office of Arts and Culture and the Seattle Parks and Recreation department to guide organizers, particularly those that received community activation grants, through the right permitting processes.
We also stood up a resource page specific to permitting for events related to the World Cup, pointing folks to resources like watch party playbooks, branding guides and how to host a zero-waste event.
While all of this was happening, we continued to plan and coordinate events (literally hundreds of them!) that make Seattle a top-ranked World Cup host city. Events like the Fremont Solstice Parade, C-ID Block Party (with an attempt to break a dim sum world record!), Dragon Boat Festival, Second Saturdays on the Block, and Juneteenth celebrations like Skate to Freedom. On top of all that, don’t forget Pride weekend with PrideFest Capitol Hill, the Pride Parade, and about a million other things going on. We could keep going, but you should check out our calendar to see the things we are working on.
Now that the World Cup is here, between our continued planning efforts in support of events coming up this summer and fall, you’ll probably find us out and about watching a World Cup match or two (or twenty) and checking in on some of the hundreds (hundreds!) of events we’ve been permitting. Who knows, maybe you’ll see us on a paddleboard during one of the Lake Union Concerts!
I can’t wait to watch Seattle come alive as a host city, with residents and visitors experiencing the true vibrancy of our city.