A Miscalculated Play
The Arlington Museum of Art launched its ‘More Than a Match’ soccer exhibit in May 2026, positioning the showcase just steps from AT&T Stadium, which was slated to host nine World Cup matches. The exhibit featured memorabilia from the National Football Museum in England and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, aiming to capitalize on the global tournament's momentum.
Museum president Chris Hightower later said the timing coincided with the tournament’s biggest games, but poor coordination with city leaders left the exhibit struggling to capture the expected crowd. Ticket sales dropped by 90%, falling from around 10,000 last summer to significantly fewer visitors this year.
Promotion and Expectations
The Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau invested heavily in the campaign, buying ad space on ten separate days and deploying social‑media posts, Meta advertisements, email blasts and news releases to drive traffic. Despite the effort, the museum opted for a soccer theme over a proposed Edgar Degas retrospective, a choice Hightower now calls a miscalculation in hindsight.
Hightower attributed the low attendance to the misalignment between the museum’s schedule and the city’s World Cup match calendar, noting that fans were more likely to return to Fort Worth and Dallas after matches rather than linger in Arlington.
A Contrasting Example
Across the border, Mexico City’s Museo Jumex hosted its own soccer‑themed exhibitions during the same period, drawing larger audiences and illustrating a different reception to sports‑linked programming. The divergent outcomes underscore the uneven economic ripple of the World Cup, with some local businesses reporting higher sales while others, including the museum and nearby hotels, saw diminished footfall.
Local hotels and downtown businesses experienced mixed economic impacts from the World Cup, with some reporting increased revenue and others facing reduced traffic, highlighting the unpredictable benefits that major sporting events can bring to different sectors of a city.