With Atlanta’s run as a FIFA World Cup 2026 host city now officially over, local business owners say the tournament delivered a financial boost they are still measuring — and that the projection of more than $415 million in economic impact may have been conservative.
Atlanta News First spent the last week collecting receipts from restaurants, hotels and small operators downtown. The pattern that emerged: a measurable revenue bump across categories, with international visitors filling the rooms and locally owned restaurants capturing a noticeable share of the foot traffic.
Restaurants see surge in foot traffic
Shafi Jamil, whose family has owned the Junction Sub Shop for three decades, said the World Cup brought a noticeable increase in business — though not without tradeoffs.
“We did lose a little bit of our customer base because of the federal employees not having to come in. So, it kind of balanced out. We did do better than we would usually do in a week. I would say it was about a 35% increase. It was great,” Jamil told Atlanta News First.
The 35% number lines up with the broader pattern hospitality analysts flagged ahead of the Cup: tournament visitors spend more per visit and visit more destinations than the typical business traveler, particularly when matches are scheduled across multiple days in a single host city.
Hotels packed with international visitors
Hotels across downtown Atlanta were also filled with fans from around the world during the stretch of matches at Atlanta Stadium.
Hotel Phoenix, which opened only months before the tournament began, saw strong results during the Cup, according to General Manager Martin Wormull.
“Business wise, it’s been very very strong. Very, very positive. We are a new hotel in downtown Atlanta and people are still getting to know us. But other people who have come here had a wonderful time, a wonderful experience and surely will be coming back,” Wormull said.
The Phoenix — part of a wave of new properties that have come online in downtown Atlanta in the last 18 months — sits close to MARTA rail lines and a short ride from Atlanta Stadium, a positioning that turned out to be a meaningful advantage when fans needed to move between match venues, Fan Festival programming and after-parties.
Looking ahead to Super Bowl 2028
With the World Cup matches concluded, many business owners are already looking ahead to other large-scale events — including Super Bowl 2028, which Atlanta is hosting — that could bring similar economic activity back to the city.
For the small operators who spent the last month staffing extra shifts and reordering inventory, the question now is whether the World Cup converts one-time visitors into repeat customers. The early returns from Junction Sub Shop and Hotel Phoenix suggest at least some of those visitors may indeed be back — whether for the next big sporting event or simply for a return trip.
The Atlanta Host Committee is expected to release a fuller post-tournament economic-impact report in the coming weeks, which will set the baseline against which the Super Bowl 2028 numbers will eventually be measured.
Source: Atlanta News First / WANF, “World Cup economic impact: Atlanta businesses report revenue surge,” July 16, 2026.
