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# What it was like attending the World Cup in Houston
- URL: https://www.sportsindustryinsider.com/what-it-was-like-attending-the-world-cup-in-houston/
- Published: 2026-06-22T14:43:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-22T14:54:16.000Z
- Author: Matt Traub
- Tags: What It's Like

The air is thick with humidity that turns your skin moist and your hair frizzy, the type of humidity that leaves beads running down your forehead in minutes and makes clothes stick to your back like glue. 

In the summer of Houston, air conditioning and water are the two most valuable resources and sometimes it’s not water that is atop the list. The humidity and heat of Houston summer hits you right in the face like the right hook of a top heavyweight. It’s humidity that makes your glasses fog up early in the morning when you walk out of the hotel and makes you wonder just how anybody gets through the day without three meals and three showers. 

Have you caught on to the idea of humidity yet? OK, enough for now. 

This year’s World Cup adventure for my fiancée, Johanna, and me extends to five of the 16 host cities, four in the U.S. and one in Canada. Throughout the next few weeks, I’ll be taking readers behind the scenes at what it was like not as a member of the media, but as a fan in each city and each stadium — what the city was like and what the stadium experience was like to make the fan experience as seamless as possible.

Our first stop was Houston, a place I’ve visited multiple times. This time, it was to find out the fan experience and cheer on my ancestral homeland, Germany, as it made its 2026 World Cup debut against Curaçao, the first-time qualifiers.

## **The Fan Experience**

One of my previous visits to Houston was the Men’s Basketball Final Four in 2023\. It was through a hotel chain, and we got separated from our main group that was on a bus back to the hotel. We looked into taking the light rail that goes from NRG Stadium to downtown, but the line was so disorganized that, no joke, we walked three miles around midnight before finally catching a train the rest of the way to the hotel. 

So, was the World Cup experience that we had better? 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7130.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7131.jpg)

**Getting to the Game:** Our hotel was right at a light rail station pickup spot and at 8:52 a.m., we got on the train along with plenty of other German fans in various tops, whether this year’s version or otherwise (I wore my 1986 green replica). There was somebody at every light rail platform to troubleshoot for fans and the fare was the regular price of just $1.25\. We got off at the light rail station at 9:30 a.m. and began the slow walk to the fan activations, where we had ticket checks at 9:36 a.m. and then again at 9:42 a.m. to enter the last mile for fans. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7134.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7144.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7148.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7151.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7152.jpg)

**Outside the Stadium:** Having gotten there pretty soon after gates opened, we went to what was already an extensive line for the official FIFA merchandise store. It took at least 45 minutes to get into the store standing in the sun. After that, there was a fan activation area that included a half-dozen local food trucks for a variety of things, although the only thing we wanted or needed at that moment was a Coke. That, along with Michelob Ultra, were the main activations we saw with massive areas that included some shade but not enough; organizers definitely should have set up some man-made shaded areas. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7153.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7169.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7177.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7187.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7189.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7190.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7194.jpg)

**The Stadium:** It was dressed very nicely by FIFA and with minimal signs of overly dressed issues such as, say, the Levi’s logo at … excuse me, Bay Area Stadium. The food kiosks remained named the same as they would for a Texans game, but the offerings and prices were all in FIFA red. There were more than enough spots to grab a beer, but frankly the merchandise areas were few and far between, leading to long lines which clogged the concourses. The seats are cramped and the aisle space between rows is slim; the stadium is two decades old and would be worth having a revamp to expand the space between rows, as people getting up and out of the rows would leave you leaning back into the laps of the people behind you.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7160.jpg)

The corner flag and FIFA requirements meant that the corner in each area had to be modified with some stands that ordinarily would be there for a Houston Texans game were removed.

For a game where Germany scored early and often in a 7-1 win, sitting behind the German goal for the first half as we did led to plenty of exercise with standing up and sitting down depending on what action was in front of me, of which there was plenty. Still, seeing Curaçao score in the first half and have its fans treat it as a national celebration was amazing to know history was in front of your eyes. Even after the game, no Curaçao fans left until after they got the chance to applaud their heroes. 

**Leaving the Game:** After about 75% of the stadium emptied out and we soaked in the experience, we started to leave our section at 2:15 p.m. By 2:37 p.m., we were in a line for the northbound train to go back to our hotel, and that’s when the waiting began. It was 3:27 p.m. when we walked into our train — 40 minutes spent snaking through a line that was covered but had little air circulation. By 4:10 p.m., we were back in the hotel, a 43-minute journey. The reports later were that for some fans, the wait was two hours long to get on a train. There was plenty of grumbling in the line with a few people around us making sure visitors knew “the rodeo is better organized than this.” While we haven’t been to the rodeo, that there were no buses as part of the fan experience is a notable negative.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7207.jpg)

**One more thing …* is where Johanna can say what she thinks about the experience. Here are her thoughts: The in-stadium merchandise areas left a lot to be desired, both in terms of variety of items and the shopping experience. The kiosk was set up with all merch items displayed on a wall. Customers waited in the line to speak with a cashier, who would grab the items you wanted, ring them up and bag them in a special World Cup bag. Many stood in long lines that lasted an entire half of the game. You would think that standing in a line for that long, staring at the items on the wall would make you very prepared to select your merch when it’s your turn. That turned out to be a foolish assumption, as multiple customers needed to touch every item one by one before making their selections. That slowed the line down considerably. Some items ran out of stock and were taken off the wall. But the majority of the jerseys, shirts and scarfs were still available at the end of the game. That included a special match-day scarf split between the countries with the location and date.*

## **Where We Ate**

On my first night after checking into the hotel, we went around the block to get [Frank’s Pizza](https://frankspizza.com/?ref=sportsindustryinsider.com) and boy, we were glad we did. The pepperoni pizza wasn’t like-for-like when it comes to New York slices, but it was exceptional for Texas. There was a wide variety of slices if you were just stopping in. We also got mozzarella sticks and breadsticks, which were terrific. 

Another big recommendation is [Torchy’s Tacos](https://torchystacos.com/?ref=sportsindustryinsider.com), which we also had delivered to the hotel. We had a variety of tacos including a brisket breakfast taco which was amazing and the carnitas tacos were hard to resist chomping quickly. It advertises ‘damn good tacos’ and this certainly was the case. Normally an afterthought can be the chips with salsa but not here, the hint of lime and generously salt was welcomed.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7128-1.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7208-1.jpg)

## **What Else We Did**

Nothing, unfortunately. This is where I would like to say that we went to the [Space Center Houston](https://spacecenter.org/?ref=sportsindustryinsider.com) to see a lot of NASA memorabilia, or that we went to see an Astros game when they were in town or go to the daily FIFA Fan Festival. But after some rain drops on Sunday before the game, we woke up to torrential rain on Monday morning that did not stop and was forecast to continue for days, so we packed up early and left to head to Philadelphia two days ahead of schedule knowing the fan festival had been cancelled for the day. In retrospect it was lucky to leave when we did, because we missed Tropical Storm Arthur. 

## **Where We Stayed**

The [Moxy Houston Downtown](https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/houox-moxy-houston-downtown/overview/?ref=sportsindustryinsider.com) was our hotel for the two nights before leaving town early. The Moxy is a Marriott ‘modern’ style, but this was not a great spot to be honest. The rooms are extremely small and if you expect to have a bed that has a box spring plus mattress, you’ll be disappointed. It’s not the level that you would expect from the Marriott brand. Its biggest positive (some would say only positive) is that it was right at a light rail stop which made getting to the game easy.

## **The Airport Experience**

The [George Bush Intercontinental Airport](https://www.fly2houston.com/iah/?ref=sportsindustryinsider.com) did have in our terminal an area that promoted the World Cup with a video game console, foosball table and AI photo booth with a few volunteers on hand. Once in the main arrivals area, there were close to a dozen volunteers with FIFA World Cup uniforms around to help people with questions. In the arrivals section there was also a heavy World Cup presence. It was noticeable and for those traveling from overseas, it would have been welcomed.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/d4/61d4b429-1f23-4fd7-9623-81594f8b35f4/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7127-1.jpg)

*Next stop on the journey: Philadelphia.*