Endeavor-owned On Location said it is bullish about the demand for premium sports’ experiences in North America, after being appointed by Fifa as the official hospitality provider of the 2026 World Cup.
On Location has vowed to create the “biggest-ever” World Cup hospitality programme, a likely achievable feat given the tournament is expanding from 32 to 48 nations for the first time in USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026.
The firm is understood to have seen off competition from Beyond Hospitality to land the contract from Fifa following what has been described as a “thorough request for proposals process”, which began some 10 months ago.
It is not known why the sales process took so long.
On Location announced the contract today (Thursday) and has immediately said it will work with Major League Soccer, which will act as the hospitality sales agent in Canada and the US.
MLS has clubs in each of the 13 World Cup host cities in the two countries, offering direct touchpoints to potential buyers of hospitality packages, while On Location itself has provided hospitality for the NFL’s Super Bowl in five of the tournament’s host stadiums.
It is thought On Location is forecasting around one million buyers of hospitality packages.
The hospitality sector was rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the recovery has been slow particularly in Europe, with sales for both the recently-completed Uefa Euro 2024 and the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics having been difficult, multiple sources have told SportBusiness.
The global hospitality contract for Euro 2024 hospitality packages was held by Hospitality Experience, a joint venture between the Sportfive agency and Zurich-based ticketing technology platform Fortius.
Hospitality packages for the final between Spain and England were still being pushed in the 24 hours before last Sunday’s showpiece final.
On Location, meanwhile, holds the exclusive hospitality service provider contract to the Olympic Games in 2024, 2026 (Milan-Cortina) and 2028 (Los Angeles) as part of a landmark deal agreed with the International Olympic Committee three years ago.
In interviews with SportBusiness, both On Location and MLS dismissed concerns of apathy in the sports’ hospitality space, particularly in North America.
Scott Jernigan, chief commercial officer of On Location, said: “Across our properties in the US we’ve seen insatiable demand, especially coming out of the pandemic. People might be going out less, but they want to do something really special. From the US point of view, we haven’t seen any slip or experienced headwinds.
“We are looking for the blend between corporate hospitality and people who are possibly taking a friend, a once in a lifetime experience, a bucket list event.”
Jay Berhalter, executive vice-president of business development at MLS and Soccer United Marketing, added: “I think it’s fair to say the World Cup is a different property to the Olympics or the Euros. It has a broader audience.”
Recent World Cups are certainly in On Location and MLS’ favour.
In 2018, the US sent more supporters to the World Cup than any other country apart from the host nation Russia, despite the failure of the national team to qualify for the tournament.
In 2022, in Qatar, where the exclusive worldwide hospitality contract was held by Fifa’s then long-term partner Match Hospitality, sales targets were projected at more than $500m (€458m) across all territories, with the US and Mexico leading the charge.
Michael Kelly, Match Hospitality’s chief revenue officer, told SportBusiness ahead of the tournament: “Both internationally and domestically, the sales results have been tremendous, stronger than any World Cup launch that we’ve ever seen before, which is going back to Brazil 2014 and certainly a lot better than what we saw when we first launched Russia.
“In particular, we’ve already seen very strong demand in the United States. In fact, the US is our second-highest performing territory right now, just after Mexico. We’re really happy with the results that we’re seeing already so far.”
For Qatar 2022, sports marketing agencies Elevate Sports Ventures and Premier Partnerships were appointed by Match Hospitality to sell hospitality packages in the US. Hospitality ticket prices started at less than $1,000, rising to in excess of $2.6m for personal use of a 40-seat suite in the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, where the final was staged, for 10 games.
Match also stepped into handle hospitality sales of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, albeit that yielded revenues of just $1.3m, given the tournament location of Australia and New Zealand.
World Cup 2026 ticket-inclusive hospitality packages are expected to go on sale before year-end. Guests will have the opportunity to purchase official hospitality products for individual matches or in bundles, allowing them to attend several matches in one or more cities, during a particular tournament stage, or to follow a specific national team. The products on offer will also include add-on experiences for matchdays and non-matchdays.
As with the MLS deal, On Location will go on to hire official sales agents for various territories around the world, with Mexico, where Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City will all be host cities, likely to be a priority.
Jernigan said: “Our mandate is worldwide and we are thinking through our go-to-market strategies around the world. Later this summer we will be launching RFPs for sales agents in countries that we won’t service directly. There’s a group of sales agents that have worked with Fifa in the past. When we launch the process later this summer we are open, and work with the best around the world.”
Berhalter continued: “We’ve been working on this project for two and a half years. We’ve got presence in every major US and Canadian market and have deep experience of these markets and a fanbase built in these markets. We are going to lean on the MLS network to deliver once in a lifetime experiences with On Location.”
The 13 World Cup host cities in the US and Canada are: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Toronto.