The 2026 FIFA World Cup officially begins today, June 11, and runs through July 19 across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It is the largest tournament in the competition’s history — 48 teams, 104 matches, a projected global audience of more than 5 billion viewers, and commercial revenues estimated between $11 billion and $13 billion, up roughly 50% from the 2022 edition in Qatar. The United States is hosting 78 of the 104 matches across 11 cities including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, Houston, and Seattle. The last time the US hosted was 1994 — a generation ago, before smartphones, before streaming, and before legal sports betting existed in virtually any American state.