World Cup 2026: Are Americans excited about World Cup?

It was a similar story with the promotion of the World Cup in Los Angeles, where the host USA will play two of its three group matches.

There are banners on the streets leading out of Los Angeles Airport promoting ‘LA26’ and the tournament, electronic billboards feature various members of the US team and there is a large mural in downtown Los Angeles featuring Argentinian legend Lionel Messi. Some stores also sell World Cup-related products.

However, it is easy for non-football fans to be oblivious to the fact that the tournament is about to start.

A taxi driver carrying BBC World Service employees expressed surprise that such an event was starting and asked: “Is there a World Cup going on? Who’s playing?”

However, the organizers expect that the excitement will increase as the tournament progresses.

“I think we had a slow build that led to a frothy frenzy,” says Larry Freedman, co-chairman of the Los Angeles World Cup Host Committee.

“This has been a long time coming, and with so many sports and activities in Los Angeles, people are thinking about what they’re going to do tomorrow, not two or three years from now.

“But now that we’re on the eve of kickoff, people are getting very, very excited. We have a very diverse community here, and we have people from all over the world whose teams will be entering this tournament.”

For fans, even if they are not die-hard football fans, there is definitely more excitement in being in the city where their country will play their matches.

In Santa Monica, Isaiah and Husna, both from Sacramento County, were looking forward to experiencing the tournament.

“I’m pretty excited,” Isaiah told BBC Sport.

“Actually, I have never watched the World Cup, but I will watch it this year.

“I think it’s going to be exciting because it’s here in Los Angeles right now, and Los Angeles is where it is. It’s going to be something different.”

Husna added: “A lot of people here don’t know what the World Cup is, but now it’s in Los Angeles and it’s a very popular place, they’ll know about it and they’ll watch it.”

However, both admitted they did not know who the United States was facing in its opening game.

The younger generation of Americans BBC Sport spoke to – who had not experienced the tournament when it was last held in the US in 1994 – certainly seemed excited about the World Cup.

Mahon, one such fan, said: “We’ve had viewing parties, so we’re very excited about it.

“We have a few friends who don’t have much interest in football, but we try to tell them that we are Team USA, we are the pride of the country.

“I think it surpasses baseball here, but I don’t think it will be as popular as American football or basketball.

“People will agree with this.”