HOUSTON | Sports Teams/Events/Venues Thread

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=0#cxrecs_s

Tilman Fertitta, others continue to eye Houston's NHL prospects after Arizona Coyotes deal

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Apr 15, 2024

The Arizona Coyotes' pending move to Utah could mean that if Houston were to score an NHL team, it’s more likely to come via league expansion than relocation.

According to multiple reports, the Coyotes will be sold to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, move to Salt Lake City and be renamed. The team had been playing at Arizona State University’s 5,000-seat Mullet Arena the past two seasons after Tempe, Arizona, voters rejected three propositions that would have allowed the Coyotes to build a new $2.3 billion arena and entertainment district — prompting some to speculate yet again that the franchise could move to Houston.

Now, the team’s players and coaches are expected to play in Utah beginning next season, but Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo will keep the Coyotes name and work toward a new arena for an expansion team, per the reports. Meruelo reportedly will have five years to build a new NHL arena with the league promising to award Phoenix an expansion franchise if he is able to do so.

While Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has been vocal about his intentions to bring an NHL franchise to Houston, he said in a statement to the Houston Business Journal that he was unable to bid for the Coyotes organization as "the NHL views Houston as expansion target, removing the ability for us to purchase and relocate an existing team."

Fertitta touted Toyota Center, the Rockets' downtown arena, which previously hosted the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros, as an ideal location for a potential team, adding that Houston has a passionate and loyal hockey fan base.

"I remain committed to exploring all opportunities to bring professional hockey to Houston in partnership with Ira Mitzner," Fertitta wrote in the statement.

Mitzner is the CEO of Houston-based Rida Development Corp., which developed the Marriott Marquis hotel across Discovery Green from Toyota Center.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2024/04/23/houston-texans-new-uniforms-2024.html

Texans 'fearlessly evolve' with new uniforms (PHOTOS)

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Apr 23, 2024

The Houston Texans have unveiled new uniforms for the first time in the organization’s more than two-decade history.

The Texans unveiled four new uniforms on April 23, featuring Deep Steel Blue as the team's primary color on its home jersey and Liberty White on its away jerseys. Houston also revealed alternate and Color Rush uniforms. The alternate uniforms features Battle Red — like in year's past — while the Color Rush jersey features accents of H-Town Blue and a brand new logo.

The team undertook the process of crafting new uniforms at the urging of Cal and Hannah McNair, Texans principal owner and vice president of the Houston Texans Foundation, respectively. The McNair family challenged the organization to “fearlessly evolve” and to “think differently” about how it presents its brand in the Houston market, including with its uniform, said team President Greg Grissom. While the Texans logo remains the same, the color and design of its uniforms are certainly an evolution from what the team wore previously.

“You can call it an evolution, you can call it a rebrand; it is a different representation of your Houston Texans,” Grissom told the Houston Business Journal. “Whether it’s a rebrand or an evolution, I guess everyone else will have to decide.”

The uniforms are the result of feedback the team received from about 50 focus groups, 10,000 surveys, hundreds of thousands of social media comments, current and former players and staff, Grissom said. The team first started gathering that feedback in 2022. Incorporating input directly from fans was one of the foundational pieces of the process.

“A lot of teams don’t talk about uniforms. It’s all of a sudden one day, here’s a new set of uniforms,” Grissom said. “We intentionally went the opposite direction, and we really wanted to have the most transparent and most inclusive process of any team in the NFL.”

One of the most heated topics of debate during the fan feedback process was the incorporation of the H-Town Blue into the new uniforms, Grissom said. The Texans are unable to use the color as the primary or secondary color in the design since it belongs to the Tennessee Titans, which took the Houston Oilers logos and team history with it when owner Bud Adams moved the organization in 1995.

Grissom said it’s important for the NFL that every team is easily recognizable, especially with the mix of colors the teams use. While the Texans weren’t able to feature the H-Town Blue more prominently because of the conflict with the Titans, the organization was able to work with the league to use the color as an accent.

“It’s important to represent that color because it’s a color of the city of Houston,” Grissom said, referencing the light blues used in the city’s flag and blue tile street signs. “It’s not really a color of any team.”

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opi...s-19422636.php

Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor, Cynthia Cooper, Tammy Jackson, and Sheryl Swoops hold up four trophies representing their four straight WNBA championships during a rally after a parade in downtown Houston, 8/29/00. (Buster Dean/Chronicle)

Buster Dean, Staff / Houston Chronicle

The Comets put the WNBA on the map. Houston needs a new team. | Editorial

By The Editorial Board

April 30, 2024

The greatest basketball team ever assembled in the city of Houston exists only on grainy YouTube footage.

For hoops junkies, sifting through old clips of the Houston Comets, the WNBA’s first-ever championship team, is like unearthing buried treasure.

Years before “super teams” — the concept of several big-name stars teaming up to try and win a title — took over the NBA, the Comets could credibly lay claim to being one of the first. Their Hall of Fame Big 3 – guard Cynthia Cooper and forwards Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson — ran roughshod over the WNBA, winning four consecutive championships from 1997-2000, a dynastic feat no American professional sports team has matched since.

The few videos documenting those Comets — even with poor picture quality — are thrilling. There’s Cooper, a whirling dervish with a lightning-quick first step carving up opposing defenses with deft ball-handling and finishing at the rim with a feathery touch. Swoopes, one of the greatest women’s basketball players ever, is a deadly mid-range shooter, able to take over a game with her scoring while also locking down the opponent’s best player on defense. And Thompson is all swagger and grit — a loquacious power forward happy to do the dirty work, barreling to the basket for layups and rebounds, then rubbing it in with a healthy dose of trash talk.

So why are we reminiscing about this defunct team from a bygone era? Well, because we want them back.

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/tex...s-19432315.php

University of Houston plans to buck NFL, add alternate blue uniform for all sports
By Joseph Duarte,
Staff writer
May 1, 2024

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The University of Houston has informed the NFL that it will proceed with plans to add an alternate blue uniform.

The about-face comes six months after the NFL’s merchandising and licensing division sent a cease-and-desist letter to UH, threatening legal action if the school did not halt what was described as UH’s “blatant copying” of the Houston Oilers-themed uniforms.

“We literally have a story we can show the city uses it,” athletic director Chris Pezman told the Houston Chronicle at the Big 12’s spring meetings. “This isn’t a reach. This is a layup. We’ve got a very defensible position.”

UH wore the blue uniforms for the football season opener against UTSA and during the women’s soccer and golf seasons. School officials weighed legal options and changed course with a letter sent in mid-April that notified the NFL of the school’s plans.

“We’re doing it,” Pezman said. “We’ve reviewed everything and come to the conclusion that we are going to proceed.”

UH had not received a response from the NFL as of late Tuesday. The NFL was not immediately available for comment.

“We’re giving them two or three weeks to respond,” Pezman said. “We’re waiting on a response to see if we get one.”

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...maid-park.html

Houston selected as host city for 2026 World Baseball Classic


By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
May 23, 2024

Houston's Minute Maid Park has been selected as one of the venues to host the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

It's the first time Minute Maid Park will host games for the international baseball tournament, which is in its sixth installment. Houston will host games for Pool B of the group stage of the tournament, as well as matches for the quarterfinals. The World Baseball Classic is expected to have an economic impact of between $50 million and $60 million and bring more than 350,000 visitors to the city, according to the Harris County Houston Sports Authority.

“We are excited and honored to be hosting World Baseball Classic matchups for the first time,” Astros owner and chairman Jim Crane said in the announcement. “Houston is a global city with the best baseball fans, and we are proud to welcome fans from across the globe to watch international competition at Minute Maid Park."

The HCHSA and Houston First Corp. have been partners throughout the selection process, HCHSA said. HCHSA first told the Houston Business Journal it was bidding to host the tournament in January.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...on-comets.html

Houston group seeks majority owner to lure WNBA expansion franchise

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 11, 2024

A Houston group is seeking to bring a WNBA franchise back to the market and resurrect the city’s most successful professional sports team, the Houston Comets.

Space City Basketball Club has a plan in place to bring a WNBA franchise back to Houston, but it's missing one key piece: a majority owner. The organization, run by longtime building designer Sean Bolden and Crossover Athletics owner Tee Barefield, has “handshake agreements” with potential minority owners, private equity clients and developers to provide what the WNBA is looking for in terms of capital and infrastructure once that majority owner steps in.

“We’re at a point where we have all the infrastructure put together,” Bolden told the Houston Business Journal. “The only thing we don’t have is that majority owner.”

Houston was home to the Comets, one of the original WNBA franchises, from 1997 to 2008. The team won the first four WNBA Championships — the most titles of any professional sports team in Houston to this day. The team was dissolved in December 2008 after the league’s search for a new ownership group came up empty.

The efforts to bring a WNBA team back to Houston come as the league is fully in expansion mode. The league’s 13th franchise — the Golden State Valkyries — will begin play in 2025, and the WNBA in May awarded Toronto the 14th team, which will play its first season in 2026. That appears to be just the beginning for the league.

“Our plan and goal is to get to 16 teams in the next few years,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said at a press conference before the WNBA Draft in April.

Engelbert said she is confident that the league would be at 16 teams by 2028. With Toronto taking the 14th slot, that leaves two more openings for cities vying for a professional women’s basketball team — and the competition appears to be fierce. During the press conference, Engelbert said the league is taking calls from and engaging with places like Philadelphia, Portland, Denver, Nashville and South Florida.

Houston was notably absent from the list of cities Engelbert said the WNBA is engaging with. When asked if the league was interested in coming back to Houston and if it has received formal interest from any local groups, a WNBA spokesperson directed the HBJ back to Engelbert's previous comments.

While it's unclear where Houston stands regarding WNBA expansion, Space City Basketball Club believes the city needs to be included in the next round of expansion.

“The 15th team or the 16th team has to be us. We have to get in within this expansion period,” Bolden said. “We have the economy, we have the resources, we have the people, we have the corporations.”

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=0#cxrecs_s

Houston in talks with FIFA to become 2026 World Cup hub site

Additionally, a newly released schedule shows which teams might come to Houston in the knockout stage.

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 14, 2024

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is now less than two years away, and more details are beginning to trickle in, some of which have significant implications for Houston.

FIFA released its initial list of potential hub sites on June 12, which include training facilities and paired hotels for teams traveling to the U.S., Mexico and Canada for the 2026 tournament. These “home away from home” sites will be where teams travel from and where players, staff and officials will spend the majority of their time during the group stage.

Although Houston is notably absent from the initial list, FIFA is continuing to accept expressions of interest from cities wishing to serve as hubs and will update the list throughout this year and 2025. Hubs will be selected closer to the tournament.

Houston is having ongoing conversations with FIFA to join the list, the Harris County Houston Sports Authority confirmed to the Houston Business Journal. FIFA is currently looking at Houston Sports Park, the multifield training site of the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash, and Sabercats Stadium, the home venue of Major League Rugby’s Houston Sabercats, as potential training facilities. Hotel pairings are still being considered, HCHSA said.

Houston serving as a hub site would bring additional economic impact beyond the expected windfall from the seven games the city will host at NRG Stadium, HCHSA said. It would drive a significant number of additional long-term visitors, including teams, fans, families and media.

A previous economic impact study estimated that the 2026 World Cup could generate $1.3 billion for Houston, but that was based on the city hosting five matches.

FIFA is allowing nonhost cities to serve as potential hubs for the 2026 World Cup. Nine such cities were included on the initial list, including San Antonio. Dallas was also included on the list with four total training sites and hotel pairings.

Houston didn’t make the initial cut despite the city’s hospitality market being the largest in the state. Houston has 107,200 total hotel rooms, nearly 10,000 more than Dallas (98,804) and more than double that of San Antonio (48,700), according to data provided by Houston First Corp.

The list will provide hub options for the teams in the 2026 tournament. The qualifying teams will submit their hub preferences after the final draw, which is expected to be in late 2025 and will determine which geographic zone the 48 nations competing in the tournament will play in their group-stage matches.

Only the teams from the three host countries have qualified for the 2026 World Cup so far.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...acilities.html

Houston focused on fan fest, facilities and fundraising for 2026 FIFA World Cup


By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jul 8, 2024

After hosting matches for the CONMEBOL Copa America tournament in recent weeks, Houston now turns its attention to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Houston hosted three matches for the Copa America tournament, garnering 53,763, 67,059 and 69,456 fans at NRG Stadium, respectively. While the three games — which included a group stage match with the Mexican National Team and quarterfinal match featuring Lionel Messi’s Argentina squad — failed to sell out the 72,220-seat stadium, Houston appeared to be one of the most-attended markets in a tournament plagued with low turnouts.

Copa America, along with the MLS’ Leagues Cup coming later this summer, provides a preview of the 2026 World Cup, which is now less than two years away. With the countdown on, there is still plenty on the city’s to-do list as it prepares to host the world’s preeminent soccer event.

Planning World Cup fan festival
Perhaps one of the most complicated tasks left for the host committee is planning the fan festival. FIFA updated its guidelines earlier this year to allow host cities to have more control over their fan fests, including as it relates to the amount of space needed and days of operation for the events.

Houston currently is targeting East Downtown as its site for the fan fest, said Chris Canetti, Harris County-Houston Sports Authority executive and president of the Houston 2026 World Cup Host Committee. Because of the scale of the event — which encompasses an entire neighborhood and will be open from the first World Cup game on June 11, 2026, to the final one on July 19, 2026 — the planning for the fan fest will take at least another six months to complete, Canetti said. The city is currently in discussions with public and private entities to secure land for the event and has not yet started designing the fan fest.

Ancillary events for recent major sporting events haven’t come close to the scale Houston is planning for the 2026 World Cup. For the 2023 NCAA Final Four and 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship, the city hosted weekend-long fan fests at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Meanwhile, Houston hosted a one-day fan fest at Discovery Green downtown for the Copa America tournament.

“We’re taking on a new idea here by bringing it into a neighborhood,” Canetti told the Houston Business Journal. “This is not as simple as putting it in a convention center or a park.”

The fan fest will serve as a viewing party for all 104 matches during the 2026 World Cup. Canetti said the city expects “thousands of daily visitors” to attend the event, which he described as the “primary and most important ancillary event” Houston will host outside of the seven matches at NRG Park.

“We want this fan fest to be a strong representation of our city and our culture,” Canetti said. “Whether someone is coming from Katy or Friendswood, or whether they’re coming from Germany or Argentina, we want them to walk away with a positive impression and a memorable experience from being in Houston.”

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2024/07/05/big3-basektball-league-houston-team-energy-execs.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_27&cx_artPos=9#cxrecs_s

Big3 basketball league expands to Houston with local execs as team owners

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jul 5, 2024

Houston will soon be home to yet another professional sports team.

The Big3, a professional 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by musician and actor Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz, will expand to Houston starting in 2025, the league announced July 3. Local executives Eric Mullins and Milton Carroll purchased the rights to the Houston franchise. The deal is valued at $10 million, according to Bloomberg.

The new professional team comes as Houston has been actively recruiting other leagues to expand to the Bayou City. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is leading the effort to bring the NHL to Houston, while another local group is setting the foundation for the return of the WNBA.

Houston will be the Big3's third location-based franchise following the league’s expansion to Los Angeles and Miami earlier this year. The Big3 was founded in 2017, and since then each team has been owned and operated at the league level with the league traveling to different cities each week. Starting in 2025, each team will be associated with a home market.

Team branding and a home venue for Houston’s franchise has yet to be determined, a Big3 spokesperson said.

“I am so pleased to be bringing another BIG3 franchise to a state that has been so loyal to the BIG3 for so many years,” BIG3 CEO and co-founder Ice Cube said in a July 3 press release. “Eric and Milton have been at the top of their game for their entire careers, and I am confident that the Houston BIG3 team will be no different.”

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Need some ice for that juice? Minute Maid Park will officially rename to Daikin Park on January 1st 2025, after Japanese HVAC company Daikin Comfort Technologies and will remain as such until at least the 2039 season (wow!). Minute Maid will remain a partner of the Astros until at least 2029.

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https://www.chron.com/sports/article...e-21085550.php

ESPN NHL personality teases Houston as next expansion location

Could Houston and this fellow Sun Belt City land NHL teams No. 33 and 34?

By Michael Shapiro,
Sports Reporter
Oct 6, 2025

Houston is already home to three major professional sports teams. Can the Bayou City soon add a fourth and become the 13th American city with a clean sweep? One ESPN personality floated the possibility with a post on social media.

John Buccigross, ESPN's leading studio host and play-by-play man for its National Hockey League coverage, tweeted pictures of two postcards Saturday with the caption, "Getting warmer..." followed by two eye emojis, a hockey stick and a "+2." The cities in question for the two postcards? Atlanta and Houston. Consider the NHL's potential plans for expansion in the coming years, and Buccigross' message is clear: For those who continue to await the arrival of the NHL in Houston, the hope may be as deserved as ever.

Buccigross' hint is far from the only source of optimism for the hopes of an NHL team in Houston. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman appeared to confirm plans of the league's expansion from 32 to 34 teams in the coming years in a recent interview with Sports Business Journal's Alex Silverman, noting Houston and Atlanta as two sensible choices for possible expansion.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...rtunities.html

On the world stage: How Houston will capitalize on the 2026 FIFA World Cup


By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Oct 7, 2025

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest sporting event the world — let alone Houston — has ever seen.

The World Cup is already the most watched sporting event across the globe, with the 2022 tournament in Qatar reaching 5 billion people via linear TV, streaming/digital, social media and FIFA platforms. Next year’s tournament will be even larger thanks to an expanded format. The 2026 event will feature 48 teams, up from 32 in previous years.

“That means 104 matches — or, as we say, 104 Super Bowls, so that we can make sure everyone understands the magnitude of it,” Amy Hopfinger, chief business and strategy officer for FIFA World Cup 2026, said during the Houston Business Journal's World Cup panel discussion on Oct. 2.

Houston will host seven of those matches — the third most of any city — two of which will be knockout-stage matches. The city also will host a 39-day fan festival in East Downtown, featuring watch parties for all 104 matches. The tournament is expected to bring half a million visitors to the region and generate $1.5 billion in economic impact.

“The scale of this tournament is unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” added Chris Canetti, president of the Houston 2026 World Cup Host Committee.
The HBJ hosted its World Cup panel discussion to learn more about how the tournament came to be in Houston, what the event means for the future of the region and how local businesses can get involved. The panel featured Hopfinger; Canetti; Michael Heckman, president and CEO of Houston First Corp.; John Kristick, co-head of Playfly Sports Consulting and head of global events for PlayFly Sports; Kris Larson, president and CEO of Downtown Houston+; and Jessica O’Neill, president of business operations for Houston Dynamo FC.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...m-rebrand.html

Houston’s United Football League team rebrands, moves to 3rd venue in as many years


By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Oct 7, 2025

One of Houston’s professional sports franchises is on the move — again.

The Houston Gamblers — the city’s newly rebranded United Football League team — will now play at Shell Energy Stadium, the East Downtown home of the Houston Dynamo FC and Houston Dash, the UFL announced Oct. 7. It’s the team’s third home stadium over the past three years, having played at the University of Houston’s TDECU Stadium in 2025 and Rice University’s Rice Stadium in 2024.

The move from TDECU Stadium to Shell Energy Stadium for the 2026 season cuts the team’s attendance capacity in half from about 40,000 to approximately 20,000. That aligns with new UFL owner Mike Repole’s vision to play games in smaller, more intimate stadiums that are better suited for the league’s attendance.

The new venue for the Houston Gamblers is part of a much broader reimagination of the UFL under Repole’s leadership. On Oct. 3, the league announced that it would exit its Memphis, Michigan and San Antonio markets.

Over the summer, it was also reported that the Houston franchise could be relocated, though it is now confirmed the team will continue to play locally in the 2026 season.

The league announced the addition of three new markets on Oct. 7, naming new teams in Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and Orlando, Florida.

“We’re heading into this season with new teams, new markets, new venues, and a renewed energy that reflects the momentum building around this league,” Repole said in a press release.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2025/10/20/houston-rockets-business-up-big-2025-26-season.html

Houston Rockets season ticket, sponsorship sales up big ahead of 2025-26 season

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Oct 20, 2025

The Houston Rockets are entering the 2025-26 season up big on the business side of the team.

Season ticket sales are up more that 25% compared with last year and reached the highest level since the 2019-20 season, said Gretchen Sheirr, Rockets' president of business operations. That comes after season ticket sales increased 15% ahead of the 2024-25 season. Houston ranks among the top three in the NBA in season ticket membership growth, Sheirr said.

Additionally, corporate partnership sales are up 15% annually, and retail sales are up four times from this time last offseason, Sheirr said. That includes the extension of the venue naming rights deal for its downtown Houston arena with Toyota. Sources told the Houston Business Journal in May that the deal is a five-year extension estimated to be worth $7 million or more annually.

The big wins come as the Rockets build momentum on the court. Following the team’s rebuild coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rockets earned their first playoff berth in five years last season, finishing as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Expectations are high again this year after the team traded for superstar Kevin Durant this offseason.

“We had the momentum from the playoffs — and people were already excited — and then you layer in an iconic, legendary, future Hall of Fame player like Kevin Durant, and that momentum continues,” Sheirr said.

Toyota Center will undergo a major renovation project during the 2025-26 season to replace all of the seats at the venue. The seats are original to the building, worn out and the material is difficult to clean, Sheirr said. The new seats will be black instead of red, and every seat will have a cupholder now.

“Red will forever be the Rockets’ color, and we want it to pop, but when everything is red, sometimes nothing is red,” Sheirr said. “We feel like the black color is clean and timeless and modern.”

Additionally, the Rockets are introducing fan-friendly pricing for the upcoming season. The team piloted the initiative in previous season during playoff games, but it did not have the fan-friendly pricing last season. The deals include hot dogs, popcorn and soda for $3.99 each and a kid’s meal for $5.95.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2025/10/29/2026-fifa-world-cup-houston-stadium-training-sites.html

Houston's 2026 FIFA World Cup host committee selects stadiums for training sites

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Oct 29, 2025

A number of Houston sports facilities will be utilized when the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes to the city next summer.

Most notably, all seven matches Houston is hosting will be played at NRG Stadium. The games include five group-stage matches and two knockout-stage matches. Houston will find out which teams will play locally after the official draw on Dec. 5.

For the five group-stage matches and the round-of-32 game, teams will practice at Shell Energy Stadium in East Downtown. However, countries also have the option to only practice at their base camps — their “home away from home” for the tournament — and only come to Houston for the match itself.

“We have to make this available for the teams, but at the end of the day, it’s their choice as to whether they want to use it or not,” said Chris Canetti, president of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Houston Host Committee.

Meanwhile, for the round-of-16 match being played in Houston, there will need to be a second site in addition to Shell Energy Stadium for teams to practice. The host committee is currently working on different options for the second site, Canetti said.

In addition, the host committee is moving toward finalizing agreements to make Sabercats Stadium — the home of Major League Rugby’s Houston Sabercats in southern Houston — Houston’s base camp, Canetti said. The base camp serves as the primary site for teams where they will train, rest and prepare for matches in Houston or elsewhere.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2025/10/28/fifa-world-cup-2026-draw-which-teams-play-locally.html

2026 FIFA World Cup draw determines which teams will play in Houston. Here’s how it works.

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Oct 28, 2025

Houston knows which parts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament it will host, but the teams that will play here are still not known.

That will be determined on Dec. 5 during FIFA’s World Cup draw at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The draw will divide 48 teams — the largest-ever field for the World Cup — into 12 groups of four. Shortly after the draw, FIFA will release the official schedule revealing which teams will play in Houston.

Here’s how the World Cup draw works

First, all 48 qualified teams are assigned to one of four “pots” based on their FIFA men's world rankings. The host countries — the U.S., Canada and Mexico — are automatically assigned to the first pot. The next nine highest-ranked teams will then be added to Pot 1. Then, the next 12 highest-ranked countries will occupy Pot 2, and the same system will be used to fill pots 3 and 4.

During the draw itself, one team from each pot will be randomly selected and assigned to a group until all 12 groups are filled. Each group will be filled with one team from each pot.

The caveat for the draw is that only one team from each federation can be drawn into each group, except for the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which can have two teams in a group. For example, Argentina and Brazil cannot be in the same group since they are both in the CONMEBOL federation. However, Germany and Italy — both members of UEFA — would be allowed to be in the same group.

Once the draw is completed, each team will know its opponents for the group stage of the tournament. However, Houston won’t know which teams will be playing at NRG Stadium until later in the day, when FIFA releases the official schedule.

Houston’s five group-stage matches will include two games featuring Group K and one game each from Groups E, F and H. The city’s round of 32 game will pit the winner of Group C against the runner-up of Group F.

Houston’s round of 16 game will feature the winner of the match between the runners-up of Group A and Group B against the winner of the match between the winner of Group F and the runner-up of Group C. That means there’s a path in which Mexico or Canada — which are automatically placed in Group A and Group B, respectively — play in Houston for the round of 16.

However, there is no path in which the U.S. Men’s National Team plays in Houston.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=2#cxrecs_s

Houston's 2026 World Cup preparations advance with fan fest site, practice facilities finalized

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Dec 31, 2025

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is quickly approaching — and Houston’s host committee has been busy preparing for the largest-ever iteration of the tournament.

Houston will host seven matches at NRG Stadium — which will be known as “Houston Stadium” during the tournament — for the 2026 World Cup. That includes five group stage matches featuring teams such as Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal and two knockout stage matches.

The World Cup is expected to draw 500,000 visitors to the Houston metro and generate $1.5 billion in economic impact for the region, according to the FIFA World Cup 2026 Houston Host Committee. The tournament is expected to cost Houston more than $100 million to host.

Host committees received a big boost in paying for the tournament from President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” spending package that passed earlier this year. The bill allocates $625 million for safety and security for the 11 U.S. host cities. Safety and security is the largest expense associated with the event, Chris Canetti, president of the local host committee, previously said.

The host committee is working on finalizing plans for safety and security, as well as for transportation. The transportation plan will focus not only on getting visitors to key areas such as NRG Park and the fan fest but also ensure that current residents can continue to move around the region seamlessly.

One of the other major expenses and responsibilities of the host committee is the fan festival. The host committee finalized East Downtown as the site of the fan fest earlier this year. The committee will transform 360,000 square feet just south of Shell Energy Stadium, spanning several blocks and taking over warehouses, greenways, streets and parking spaces.

The fan fest will feature 104 watch parties, daily live entertainment, local and global cuisine, interactive games, soccer pitches, sponsor activations and official merchandise. Officials expect 15,000 daily visitors and a total of 500,000 during the tournament.

Additionally, the Houston host committee chose Germany-based SportFive as the general contractor to manage the fan festival in East Downtown, Canetti said. The organization will bring in local subcontractors to help run the 39-day event.