Seattle gears up for World Cup boom, Fredy Montero’s business shines

Fredy Montero’s Seattle business has become a gathering place for the city’s Colombian community just as the World Cup turns downtown into a global stage. With Seattle expecting 750,000 visitors and a projected $845.6 million economic impact, the shop sits at the intersection of sport, migration and neighborhood identity.

Seattle is one of 16 host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and will stage six matches at Seattle Stadium, including four group-stage games, one round of 32 match and one round of 16 match. The slate opened on June 15 with Belgium-Egypt, and the United States played Australia in Seattle on June 19. Bosnia and Herzegovina-Qatar follows on June 24, Egypt-Iran on June 27, then knockout matches on July 1 and July 7.

The city has sold itself as a rare host venue with a stadium in the heart of downtown, reachable on foot, by bicycle, bus, streetcar and ferry. FIFA has also highlighted the noise history of the venue, noting that it has held the Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium twice. In a city built around movement across water, roads and transit lines, that accessibility helps explain why World Cup traffic is already reshaping how Seattle is experienced.

For Montero’s business, the tournament is more than a calendar event. It is a cultural anchor for people who want a familiar place to gather, speak Spanish, and follow a competition that carries national pride well beyond the pitch. In a host city with a large influx of international fans, that kind of space functions as a small embassy for Colombian identity, giving diaspora communities a foothold in the middle of a mass tourism boom.

SeattleFWC26 and its partners have tried to spread that energy beyond the stadium gates. Since the expanded fan-celebration model launched on Feb. 23, free events have been planned across Seattle Center, Waterfront Park, Pacific Place and Victory Hall in SODO, starting June 11. The city’s legacy plan leans on public access as much as spectacle, a recognition that the economic upside of a World Cup depends on whether neighborhoods, not just ticket holders, feel the benefit.

Washington state is spending $120 million on the World Cup, and the scale of the bet is clear. Seattle’s downtown stadium, its transit links and the buzz around Montero’s business all point to the same reality: when the matches begin, the tournament will not just fill seats, it will test how well the city turns global attention into local belonging.