Dallas Closes in on 2026 FIFA World Cup International Broadcast Center

Dallas City Council has approved $15 million in infrastructure upgrades to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas that would be the International Broadcast Center for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Dallas hosted the International Broadcast Center for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The IBC is the home for all FIFA related media operations between television, radio and online journalists. Preliminary estimates are that up to 5,000 broadcasters from around the world will be based at the IBC.

Dallas will have nine matches during the 2026 World Cup, the most of any city, and the Metroplex region also has five potential team base camp options, the most of any region.

In an initial presentation to a City Council committee earlier this month, the information posted online says “OVG360, the City’s private venue operator for the KBHCCD, has been negotiating with FIFA on the terms of a use contract” and “some of the items requested as part of the negotiations fall outside of OVG360’s contract with the City including certain capital, perimeter and other needs requested by FIFA.”

Setup would begin in January 2026 and be of use for FIFA through the entirety of the tournament. According to CBS Texas, Rosa Fleming, the director of the city’s Convention and Event Services, said the money spent in upgrades will be recouped in fees paid to use the convention center, as well as the hotel occupancy taxes that will come from the thousands of hotel rooms that will be filled for months by broadcasters coming for the 2026 World Cup.