Imagine you see soccer legends like Lionel Messi or Kylian Mbappé practicing a bicycle kick with their teammates from the Argentina or France national teams. But you're not watching television, you're seeing it live on the soccer field at Gonzaga University as the team prepares for the World Cup.
That once-in-a-lifetime experience is what Washington legislators, the city of Spokane, Visit Spokane and Spokane Sports are hoping Spokanites can experience as the city has been selected to host a team base camp for one of the teams. National soccer teams will use team base camps in the months leading up to the World Cup and during the group phase as a primary location for training, rest and preparing for their matches.
Spokane is also slated to serve as one of nine fan zone sites across the state, featuring large screens to watch matches streamed live and acting as a local hub for the FIFA World Cup.
Visit Spokane is helping market the fan zone, working with Seattle's World Cup organizing committee, which selected the city as a fan destination. Visit Spokane CEO Rose Noble says the fan zone will be geared toward locals in the region.
At the heart of downtown Spokane, Riverfront Park is the ideal spot for people to enjoy the park, as well as watch the matches and purchase official merchandise without heading to Seattle, Noble says.
"Riverfront Park makes perfect sense, and we have the infrastructure to support a large viewing party, and being designated an official fan zone means we get all of the official branding and merchandise for FIFA," Noble says. "We envision it being a very welcoming, inclusive, vibrant space that has large screens to watch some of the key games with the branding that no one else will have anywhere on the east side."
Spokane Sports will handle the fan zone operations. The organization's CEO Ashley Blake says via email that Spokane has always been a sports town, and the FIFA fan zone will be a great chance to curate lasting memories.
In March, Spokane Sports created fan sites for travelers and locals to enjoy during the Women's March Madness games. They'll be able to build on that work to create unique experiences in Spokane during the World Cup.
"Spokane Sports is proud to work alongside partners across the region to deliver a memorable fan zone," Blake writes. "Our organization has a rich history in event execution, and we're looking forward to building an electric atmosphere."
Currently on Gov. Bob Ferguson's desk is House Bill 1515, which will allow local governments to ask the Liquor and Cannabis Board to approve expanded outdoor alcohol service on civic campuses, such as parks, for liquor licensees within their jurisdiction.
The bill was designed for fan zone sites like Spokane, and Seattle, which is a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The bill, if signed by Ferguson, would allow the Gesa Credit Union Pavilion to serve alcoholic beverages outside of a confined, age-restricted beer garden, with up to 100 acres of space to maximize mobility for event guests and families. It will allow Washington cities with a population over 220,000 to produce up to 25 expanded alcohol service events a year until December 2027.
For Mayor Lisa Brown, it's a natural evolution of what can be done in Spokane, with places like Brick West already offering a large outdoor area for families to enjoy live music, drinks and food.
"The ability for people to come, for adults to have alcohol, and for kids to play is something we already have going on in Spokane," Brown says. "I go to Brick West every year when my son plays music on the stage. I've got my little grandson there, and I just think it's something we've already shown we can do."
TEAM BASE CAMP
In Olympia, despite a tough biennial budget cycle, legislators also included $100,000 in the state capital budget to make improvements at Gonzaga University's practice field so it can host the team base camp.
Alexander Scott, city administrator for Spokane, says all the qualifying national teams need to make their base camp selections by March 2026. He says that national teams may already be scouting without the city knowing.
Currently, the three host countries including Mexico, the United States and Canada, qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Japan, New Zealand, Iran and Argentina have qualified as well. Other qualifying countries are expected to be determined by the fall.
For Scott, a dream scenario would be to host one of the nations with a Spokane sister city, such as Japan, South Korea, Italy or Ireland.
Scott says FIFA had to do a lot of back-and-forth with Gonzaga about their practice field, also known as a pitch. The international soccer organization has strict requirements for their pitches to have natural grass with a synthetic stitched base.
"FIFA technical crews were out here looking at the Gonzaga pitch and signing off on that," Scott says.
Looking at past World Cups, Scott believes that there would be some collaboration for event planning between the national team that opts to stay here and the city. There will be opportunities to watch practices or youth clinics.
"The public would possibly be invited to attend an open practice, or they might put on clinics for youth," Scott says. "For the most part, they're going to be very much going about their business and getting ready for the World Cup."
FIFA ruled out using university dormitories for teams to stay in while they practice during the months ahead of the World Cup, and when they're not competing in one of the host cities, Scott says.
The official FIFA website lists Northern Quest Resort & Casino as the official hotel partner for a potential team stay in Spokane.
Brown says she's looking forward to experiencing the fan zone sites and for people not from the region to experience all that Spokane has to offer. She says that even with the current issues around immigration, Spokane can be a connector of different cultures and languages united through soccer.
"Soccer — there's just something about it as an international sport that I think connects us to the world in a positive way, and I think we need that right now," Brown says.
The Seattle FIFA World Cup organizing committee is excited to have Spokane on board.
"Spokane's fan zone is an incredible opportunity to bring the energy of the FIFA World Cup to Eastern Washington," says Hana Tadesse, vice president of communications for Seattle's FIFA World Cup committee. "We're thrilled to be able to bring the celebration of soccer to everyone across the state — and especially in Spokane, the beating heart of soccer in the Inland Northwest." ♦
