Philadelphia has a long-standing reputation as an underdog city, but when it comes to hosting the FIFA World Cup, Anne Ryan, Pennsylvania’s Deputy Secretary of Tourism, sees Philadelphia as a front-runner.
Ryan visited the FIFA Fan Festival as it hosted “PA Day” on Saturday, which included visits from a Ben Franklin impersonator, Philadelphia Union mascot Phang and Hersh the Hershey Bar.
“I’m a Philadelphian,” Ryan said. “I do love that underdog mentality, but are we underdogs anymore? We’re ranking [at the] top as one of the best host cities in the country, because of our Fan Fest and our experiences.”
Despite cloudy and rainy conditions, crowds of fans entered the festival grounds again on Saturday for Croatia-Ghana, Philadelphia Stadium’s fifth and final group stage match.
Croatians and Ghanaian supporters were well-represented in the crowd, and both went home happy, despite a 2-1 win for Croatia. Ghana, who advanced to the knockout round as one of the eight best third-place teams, had already secured a round of 32 spot entering Saturday’s match, and Croatia was able to get off the third-place cut line by surpassing Ghana for second.
English fans at the festival went home happy, too, as England finished atop Group L with a 2-0 win over Panama.
While the state office of tourism has not formally measured the economic impact driven by Philadelphia hosting the World Cup, Ryan said the success of the free Fan Festival in Lemon Hill — which has hosted 250,000 fans since opening on June 11 — is a good indicator of how many fans have visited Philadelphia during the tournament.
“The fact that we’ve already had 250,000 attendees here, it’s just insane,” Ryan said at the festival on Saturday. “Some of our original projections were 15,000 [visitors] a day. And then, to have close to 54,000 just last Friday alone, has been fantastic.”
Leading up to the tournament, hotel operators were concerned that the World Cup might not bring in the number of international tourists anticipated due to high ticket prices and concerns over entering the U.S. under the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Ryan said her office could see through flight data and bookings of Airbnbs and other rental properties that plenty of international fans were traveling to Philadelphia for the tournament.
According to Ryan, visitors on flights from France to Philadelphia International Airport are up 59%, year over year. Passengers from the Netherlands to PHL airport are up 48%, and up 25% from the United Kingdom.
The tourism office also considered the economic profile of the nations Philadelphia was hosting, and how people from those nations like to travel. The World Bank Group classifies three of the nations Philadelphia hosted in the group stage — Haiti, Ivory Coast and Ghana — as “lower middle income” nations as it relates to gross domestic product per capita.
If fans from those nations successfully navigate partial or full travel restrictions to follow their team, they’re more likely to pick a high-capacity rental than a traditional hotel.
“There was so much projection pertaining to the World Cup, like, ‘Is this going to be a flop, because all of our hotels aren’t sold out?,’” Ryan said. “But you have to look at the teams we’re hosting and how they travel. Ghana, Haiti, Curaçao, Brazil, Ecuador — they’re not staying in a boutique hotel in Center City. Our three bedroom-plus Airbnb bookings are up 53%, year over year, for June and July.”
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Ryan said overall, in the five-county region surrounding Philadelphia, Airbnb bookings are up 48%.
Data from Amtrak and SEPTA serve as another indicator of visitors coming into the city. Amtrak reported that 500,000 passengers have traveled or are booked to travel through 30th Street Station between June 11 and July 11, and 26,000 passengers boarded SEPTA’s Broad Street Line after Brazil’s 3-0 defeat of Haiti on June 19.
Ryan said the city’s transit system and its initiative to give free rides back from Philadelphia Stadium’s after matches received positive feedback, especially from international visitors unnerved by high transportation costs in other host cities.
“They came, and they’re riding,” Ryan said. “They’re taking SEPTA. And we’ve actually heard good feedback. We did some man-on-the-street interviews with visitors. People [are] really complimenting SEPTA and our buses, and the transit here.”
And despite high ticket costs, another sell-out crowd watched Croatia-Ghana at Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field). The World Cup broke its attendance record after Thursday’s slate of matches, with 3,605,357 fans attending matches across the continent entering Friday. After Saturday’s match, 341,620 fans have attended five World Cup matches at the Linc.
While it will take time for the city’s official accounting to come out on hosting the tournament, Ryan suggested the stats and indicators in key areas show the city is positioned to meet, and potentially exceed, its pre-tournament estimation of 500,000 visitors generating $770 million worth of economic impact.
“I’m a betting girl, and I’m going to say for the World Cup, we’re probably going to net out close to 800,000 [visitors],” Ryan said. “And the $770 million in economic impact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s closer to $900 million, based off of that increase.”
More visitors are likely on the way to Philadelphia because of how the tournament’s group stage shook out. If Germany beats Paraguay on Monday, and France beats Sweden on Tuesday in the round of 32, it would set up a match between the Germans and the French, two star-studded European powers, on July 4 in a round of 16 match at Philadelphia Stadium.
“We’re still waiting to hear who we’re hosting on July 4,” Ryan said. “Let’s see what our hotels and Airbnbs look like after Tuesday.”
In this World Cup, underdogs are stealing the spotlight, the U.S. men are on a roll, and Philadelphia has not only welcomed the world but has given visitors a crash course on just how real the curse of the Rocky Statue can be.
Join Jonathan Tannenwald, the Inquirer’s soccer writer, and host Lisa Carlin, analyst for CBS Sports Golazo, as they dissect the matches, the moments, and more as Philly has its moment in soccer’s brightest spotlight. Watch our latest episode right here.
Watch previous episodes:
Episode 1: The Wait is Over!
Episode 2: Groups, Goals, and Glory
Episode 3: Electric Action in Philly
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