Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The 2026 FIFA World Cup officially gets underway on Thursday, with two games kicking off the massive six-week event spanning across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The U.S. men's national soccer team will commence its tournament on Friday night when they take on Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium) in Group D action. They will then continue group play on Friday, June 19 against Australia at Seattle Stadium (Lumen Field), before closing out the stage with a matchup against Turkiye back in Los Angeles.
Back in Buffalo, a number of watch parties are planned for the U.S. matchups across a number of businesses and other locations in the city.
In the Electric District, Tappo Italian restaurant will be hosting watch parties outside its restaurant along Ellicott Street.
"We've been planning on this for the last six months. In fact, we bought a 10x25-foot TV, which is the largest LED TV in Western New York, and that'll be across the street," said Rocco Termini, member of the Electric District Alliance. "You'll be able to watch it from the restaurant, and we'll be using that for both soccer and football."
Termini admits it's hard to say how many local soccer fans are anticipated to take part in watch parties throughout the city, especially if the weather forecast is not favorable for outdoor viewing.
"People are saying it's going to rain, but we're going to be able to do this rain or shine, because we'll be inside watching the screen outside. So whether it rains or doesn't, we're going to still have our party," Termini said with WBEN. "But it's so difficult to tell how many people in Buffalo really are enthusiastic about soccer."
Michele Cicatello, marketing manager at Buffalo Waterfront, knows it's always a special time when the World Cup makes its return every four years. That's why she's hopeful for a large turnout for this weekend's viewing party at Canalside, even through some weather concerns.
"It's a really fun tournament, and obviously seeing Team USA go all the way would be fantastic," said Cicatello in an interview with WBEN. "Obviously Buffalo is a huge sports city, and as we're coming off all the Sabres watch parties, I think we're just trying to keep the momentum going with having watch parties down here for the U.S. men's team.
"The nice thing about our venue is we are able to maintain a very large capacity, whereas a lot of other venues are not able to. Anyone is welcome down here, and we have a huge video board on site so you can see it from quite a distance. People are welcome to come out, come down, spread out, bring chairs, just kind of relax and enjoy."
Cicatello and her team at Buffalo Waterfront were able to learn plenty from the success of the Sabres watch parties at Canalside, and tailor that for what's to come for USA Soccer watch parties in Downtown Buffalo.
"I think just from a logistical standpoint - figuring out where the crowds come in, where they tend to hang out, where to position things - we really were able to fine tune that through the Sabres watch parties," Cicatello noted. "Where to place food trucks, how many bathrooms to have. So I think logistically, we really had all that stuff nailed out from the Sabres watch parties, so I think it'll really be smooth sailing for the [World Cup]."
As for Conor Hawkins, owner of the Banshee Irish Pub on Franklin Street in Buffalo, he has been waiting for the World Cup to make its presence known in North America since the last tournament took place in Qatar in 2022.
"We have a very huge soccer base here in Buffalo," said Hawkins with WBEN. "Here at the Banshee, we get maybe 11 supporters clubs with the English Premier League. We also have the American Outlaws Buffalo chapter, this is their official bar headquarters. These guys have been talking about it for the last four years. Everyone's taking six weeks off work just to come and watch World Cup soccer, so we're very blessed. The next two weeks are going to be very, very busy. There's some days we've got four games every single day, then we've got the knockout stages. It's nail biting for people, because people live soccer - I call it football, being from Europe. It's just amazing. So excited for it."
Being one of the soccer hubs in the City of Buffalo, Hawkins says the Banshee normally has about 200 people here on a good Saturday morning for English Premier League action. He feels there could be four times as many people on-hand for World Cup action, especially when Team USA kicks off the tournament.
"The USA game being on the West Coast, a little bit late - there's one at 9 p.m., one at 10 p.m. - but we're still expecting to have all three floors opened, many, many bartenders," Hawkins said. "A normal week, we'd probably go through maybe 12 kegs of Guinness, we've got about maybe 25 kegs of Guinness coming in this week. Lots more beer, lots more staff, so not only are we excited for it, the staff's excited for it too. I mean, they're all working many, many hours, so everybody's just looking forward to these six weeks."
While there are expected to be several watch parties for Team USA's matches at different locations across Buffalo, the general feeling across the board is the more people willing to come to the city to watch the games, the better.
"I think anything that brings out people is beneficial to the city," Termini said. "We're doing something special here that's not being done anyplace else, and nobody has a screen as big as ours. And nobody's giving away free drinks, free shirts, free scarves. So ours is a little different than what's going to happen in other parts of the city."
"I do think our event is unique in that we have such a large space, and a lot of the other watch parties are at bars or restaurants, smaller establishments, which have a smaller capacity," Cicatello said. "So anyone that wasn't able to get a reservation or fit in those smaller venues, you're welcome to come down here. We've got the space.
"I think Canalside is kind of like the meeting spot and the hub of Buffalo, of the community in Buffalo. Just being able to bring all sorts of different people together from all different areas of Buffalo to this one spot, with the common goal of rooting on Team USA is a really special feeling, and very cool to witness.
As for Hawkins, he feels these watch parties are a great opportunity to introduce new people to the sport.
"Soccer is building-and-building-and-building over here in Buffalo," Hawkins said. "When I first came here 25 years ago, we didn't get much soccer on TV, and we didn't have streaming back then. We were lucky to get the FA Cup every year, or maybe you only get to see the World Cup every four years. Now everybody has a chance to see every single game in the Premier League, every European game that goes on, maybe MLS game. It's a huge sport. It's the biggest sport in the world, and it's growing in Buffalo at a very, very fast pace."
And with World Cup games set to take place in Toronto, Hawkins feels some people that make their way to Southern Ontario will be willing to make the 90-minute drive to cross the border and check out what Buffalo has to offer.
"It's great for the city," he said. "I think people are going to be coming in from out-of-town, the suburbs, maybe Rochester. I think people that are coming into Toronto to watch games in Toronto, obviously, are going to travel down to see Niagara Falls, because why wouldn't they if they're in Toronto? And in Toronto, they're going to take a quick nip over to Buffalo and Google 'soccer bars' - see the Banshee, see Més Que, see duende [at Silo City]. And see all the great things that Buffalo has to offer, and they're going to spend money in the city of Buffalo."
