Seattle proves its world-class status during the World Cup

Seattle’s 2026 World Cup run proved its world-class status as crowd-friendly infrastructure and an urban redesign paid off: about 750,000 visitors to fan celebrations, SeaTac’s busiest periods, roughly 1.1 million transit riders on the first two match days, 675,000 Lime trips, and 625,293 Waterfront Park visits—plus heavy pedestrian uplift in the Chinatown-International District—demonstrating that many improvements were permanent and that Seattle can host major events well into the 'post-World Cup' era, with two more games still to come.