World Cup vs. Taylor Swift: How Economic Impact on US Cities Compare
The World Cup is expected to boost America's economy by over $9 billion, nearly double what the Eras Tour did, but when you look on a per event basis, the gap between Taylor Swift’s massive concert experience and the World Cup narrows.
Enthusiasm about the World Cup has been thrown into question as flights and hotel bookings are less than what people would expect to see. There's more pressure on the World Cup to generate revenue for the host cities than Swift's Eras Tour had because millions of dollars, financed by taxpayers, that have been invested in infrastructure to bring the tournament to the United States.
With a weeks long tournament, experts told Newsweek that it's unlikely that Swift's economic impact will be able to beat the economic impact of the World Cup.
"The Eras tour didn't ‘import' a lot of money from outside the United States," Gonzaga University economics professor Ryan Herzog told Newsweek. "Many cities saw large increases in tourism, but these tourists were likely visiting from other parts of the United States. Whereas, for the World Cup, it is likely we will see (and are already seeing) a large inflow of international tourists (especially from Europe)."
Economic Impact of the World Cup vs. Eras Tour
FIFA is estimating that the World Cup in the United States will result in $9.6 billion in gross domestic product boost for the U.S. A key indicator of economic growth, the number includes all goods and services produced within the United States during the World Cup. Globally, the World Cup is expected to boost GDP by $21.1 billion, according to the FIFA estimate.
An analysis of the Eras Tour from Action Network in December 2024, found the Eras Tour boosted GDP by $4.3 billion for the first leg of her tour and $680 million for the second, for a total of $4.9 billion.
Safe embed will be rendered here
Service URL: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/29382031/embed
One of the key differences between the World Cup and the Eras Tour, though, is where people are traveling from to see the event. Given that 48 countries are competing at World Cup games, there's visitors from all over the world coming to the United States to watch the games and take a vacation. Herzog noted those visitors may come for the game but also travel around the United States, thereby creating a bigger economic impact because they'll spend longer times at hotels, meaning they'll spend more on meals and other outside spending.
In contrast, most fans for a Taylor Swift concert were local to that area. An analysis Herzog did found that for Taylor Swift's Los Angeles concerts, only one-third of people going to the concert lived more than 200 miles from Los Angeles.
"The Era's tour had large local economic impacts but the impact across the country was relatively small," Herzog, who teamed up with Nobel laureate Paul Krugman to create an academic curriculum dubbed “Swiftonomics,” said. "Effectively, US residents traveled to other US destinations to spending money. We assume this money would have been spent in the U.S. at a different event."
Ticket Sales
Swift’s Eras Tour sold over $2 billion in tickets worldwide, breaking a record for ticket sales for a concert tour. The previous record was held by Coldplay for their Music of the Spheres World Tour that started in 2022 that sold $1 billion, about half of what Swift sold.
Every date of the Eras Tour sold out tickets, and the price for buying tickets on the secondhand market ranged from a few hundred dollars on the day of the show to over $20,000.
Right now, the World Cup doesn't have the problem of selling out matches. FIFA and President Donald Trump have praised the sales for being "unprecedented," and it's true. They've sold 6 million tickets, which is more than previous World Cups, but many of the matches aren't sold out.
"What FIFA gets wrong that Taylor gets right is the dedication to understanding and relating to the psychi of their fans," Misty Heggeness, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Kansas and author of Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy, told Newsweek. "Taylor prioritizes fan experience. Swifties know this – and so they are willing to pay for it."
Ed Farnsworth, communications director for the Society for American Soccer History, told Politifact that the sales are breaking records primarily because the tournament includes more teams.
However, ticket sales for the World Cup are known for picking up as the tournament progresses and resale values on tickets have increased. For some matches, the cheapest ticket that can be found on resale sites is over $1,000.
One of the concerns with the World Cup was ticket pricing turning people off from going to the games. While some seats were initially offered for $140, other tickets to the finals were up to $32,970, a significant increase from the $1,600 price for the 2022 final in Qatar.
The pricing sparked criticism, including from Trump, who called the prices "highway robbery" and said he wouldn't pay $1,000 for nosebleed seats.
"They are flailing with dynamic ticket prices," Heggeness said.
It’s possible the ticket prices is part of the reason cameras are capturing empty seats at the stadiums. For an upcoming match on July 1, that could feature Team USA if it wins its group, The San Francisco Gate found 400 tickets were still available for the first three rows of sections closest to the fields. Tickets in those sections were running $1,995 per seat.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended ticket pricing, saying that the prices FIFA was charging were comparable to other sporting events. FIFA also pushed back on viral images of empty seats, saying that people left their seats to watch in the concourses.
When it comes to ticket sales, more people bought tickets worldwide for the Eras Tour than have bought tickets to the World Cup. About 10 million tickets were sold for the Eras Tour worldwide, including over 4 million in the United States.
Comparing The Economic Impact of the Eras Tour and World Cup
The World Cup is likely to generate more economic growth for the United States than the Eras Tour. But, part of that is being driven by how long the tournament is. While the Eras Tour lasted longer in the United States, people were less likely to turn it into a long vacation, with fans either going for the day or a weekend.
But, the difference in GDP contribution narrows when you look on a per event basis. There are 76 matches in the United States for the World Cup and there were 62 Eras Tour shows in the United States.
Based on raw numbers, the World Cup is expected to generate 2.2 times more GDP than the Eras Tour did for the United States. On a per-event basis, the World Cup is expected to generate 1.5 times more than the Eras Tour.
The true impact of the World Cup on America's GDP won't be known until after the tournament ends, but there is more riding on the World Cup than the Eras Tour. For the Eras Tour, Swift was responsible for footing the bill to put the show on. But, for the World Cup, taxpayers are helping pay to put on the tournament. The government's spent over $5 billion, including $625 million for security. Host cities have also spent tens of millions preparing for the World Cup and there's no guarantee that they'll make that money back, although they're hopeful.
2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 12:40 PM.