World Cup hands US economy $20B boost — with host cities like Kansas City, Philly cashing in big, BofA says

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has given a $20 billion boost to the US economy, according to Bank of America, sparking massive local booms in host cities and helping propel the strongest surge in consumer spending in more than four years. BofA CEO Brian Moynihan said half of the tournament’s $40 billion in fresh economic activity has been funneled to the US, and that the footprint extends far beyond the turnstiles. The bank’s 70 million consumer customers, who spend more than $400 billion a month, are shelling out 5% to 6% more than a year ago. “Even when we look into host cities like a Kansas City, we can see the growth rate in spending faster than other cities,” Moynihan said. “So it's having this on-the-ground economic impact, and that spending is going into what we call bricks-and-mortar — going to bars and restaurants and things like that — not necessarily only the people in the stadium.” Americans are spending at their fastest clip since early 2022. Total credit and debit card spending jumped 6.3% year over year in June, or 5.6% after stripping out gasoline, economists at the financial giant found. Government data tells the same story. US retail and food services sales climbed 6.7% from a year earlier in June, the fifth straight monthly increase, with second-quarter sales up 6.4% from 2025, the Census Bureau reported. Spending at bars and restaurants — the categories most exposed to World Cup crowds — ran 3.8% ahead of last year. Bank of America’s data shows airline and leisure spending posted double-digit growth in June, while clothing rose 7% and general merchandise 5%. The BofA report does not include spending by foreign visitors, meaning the overall economic impact is undoubtedly far higher. According to the New York/New Jersey Host Committee, fans spent $1.2 billion in June in alone, generating a total economic impact of $2.1 billion. In that same time, the host committee says $228 million in tax revenue was generated as well. The tournament's kick is visible in the geography of the receipts. Brick-and-mortar restaurant spending in host cities jumped two percentage points during the opening weeks, while non-host cities were essentially flat, the bank found — with lower-income consumers driving much of the boom. Hotels cashed in through price, not just volume. Kansas City saw a roughly 90% jump in renevue per room, while San Francisco saw that figure surge by 55% according to data from CoStar Group. “In Kansas City, that's going to dominate your markets quickly,” noted Victor Matheson, a sports economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross. “You're going to have likely bigger increases in hotel prices because you get capacity constrained a little quicker.” Matheson said the financial boon for each city was also highly dependent on the luck of the tournament draw. While Boston was “overrun with Scots drinking us out of our beer,” he pointed out that a group stage matchup like Austria versus Algeria in Kansas City likely relied much more heavily on local attendance, as those nations traditionally bring smaller traveling fan bases to North America. The wallet-opening comes despite a broader hiring slowdown. Employers added just 57,000 jobs in June, well short of forecasts, and leisure and hospitality shed 61,000 positions on we...