FIFA is canceling its reserved hotel rooms in World Cup host cities - but nobody is saying why
Source: The Independent
Monday 23 March 2026 16:33 EDT
FIFA has cancelled the reservations for thousands of hotel rooms originally reserved for this year's World Cup event in Philadelphia, but hasnt said why.
Approximately 2,000 hotel rooms have been cancelled by FIFA, the world soccer organization, at hotels in the city, according to the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. The group had previously blocked off approximately 10,000 rooms.
Ed Grose, the president of the Philadelphia Hotel Association, told ABC 6 that the bulk of the cancellations were at four City Center hotels. He also told reporters that FIFA did not provide a reason for the cancellations, but acted within the terms of its contract and was not penalized for the cancellations. The Independent has requested comment from FIFA and the Philadelphia Hotel Association.
FIFA hotel cancellations are hitting other U.S. host cities as well, according to Grose. He said it's unclear how the cancellations will affect hotel pricing, but he encouraged fans who are looking for rooms not to wait to book their stays.
Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/fifa-world-cup-2026-hotel-rooms-host-cities-b2944127.html
This was big news here. We do have a pile of big events going on here this year for obvious reasons but I suppose the hotels are obviously flummoxed.
SunSeeker
(58,243 posts)Interesting.
Cosmocat
(15,411 posts)Likely some kind of BOD stupidity.
I get that they were in a tough spot, working so hard to make the gains they have made in the US market.
But, at the very least they should have been gaming how to move US sites to other countries since May of last year and committed to doing it by late summer.
JustAnotherGen
(38,037 posts)In Philadelphia for the 4th of July.
agingdem
(8,835 posts)will have to return the absurdly named FIFA Peace Prize?...I do hope FIFA is globally ridiculed for awarding a sadistic war-monger a "peace" prize...
eggplant
(4,186 posts)sheshe2
(97,432 posts)It blends in well with the other cheap crap he has there.
OldBaldy1701E
(11,069 posts)So, start the downward slide of these hotels and then they will be easier to buy out.
Or, easier to... control...?
Or, FIFA is just going to screw the entire event over because they are getting flak from other nations.
Who can say?
Ocelot II
(130,418 posts)or maybe some entire teams, will not want to participate.
Old Crank
(7,007 posts)There is still time to reschedule in Canada and Mexico.
When teams and or their fans can't get to games it shouldn't be held in the US.
dem4decades
(14,029 posts)And soccer fans of the world are forced to pay for it.
popsdenver
(2,235 posts)will tell you that FIFA is the world's 2nd most corrupt criminal organization.........with U.S. Republicans taking first place..........
eppur_se_muova
(41,875 posts)Nothing personal, it's just business.
Or so I'm hoping.
IronLionZion
(51,203 posts)Botany
(77,254 posts)
Reason # 2
They are going to pull the World Cup from America
Reason # 3
FIFA doesnt want its game to be terrorist targets
Well I hope all those Trump voters who own businesses that were expecting $ from
the World Cup are now happy.
Reason # 4
FAFO

FakeNoose
(41,485 posts)... they should have done it already, like LAST YEAR. Instead they doubled down on their bet on Chump.
The simple answer is that people aren't buying tickets, they won't come to the US venues. World Cup is going to lose a ton of cash on this, and hopefully there will be a change in FIFA leadership after this.
bdamomma
(69,526 posts)not to the leopard!!!!
Delphinus
(12,515 posts)and I agree with them, I'm wondering if this ties in to Thiel wanting Vance to pull the 25. One more nail in the coffin of the orange shitgibbon.
UPDATE: Not Thiel but Scott McConnell of the American Conservative Magazine.
QueerDuck
(1,666 posts)FIFA held 10,000 rooms and realized they only needed 8,000. For the hotels, this actually frees up rooms to sell to regular fans at (likely) even higher rates.
Major organizations like FIFA often place massive "block" holds on hotel rooms years in advance to ensure they aren't priced out. As the event schedule becomes clearer, they release the excess rooms they no longer need for staff, media, or dignitaries.
SergeStorms
(20,532 posts)And quite possibly the answer to the mysterious cancelations.
AverageOldGuy
(3,790 posts)Makes a lot of sense.
BumRushDaShow
(169,303 posts)But given what is going on with the Visa issues for a number of countries, there might be less of a foreign fan crowd understandably expected and thus yet another blow to the U.S. tourist and hospitality industry.
QueerDuck
(1,666 posts)It's unlikely that the difference will be made up domestically to match the optimistic number of reservations.
Momma always told me... don't count your chickens before they hatch. 🐤🐣🥚
BumRushDaShow
(169,303 posts)with a lot of overlapping events, they probably factored that in as well to reserve for these games. But it will be interesting to see how many even attempt to go those other events given the fuel costs, etc. The hotels might be forced to go cheaper than planned to get people out in this environment!
maxsolomon
(38,656 posts)Don't you know we need to talk about President MFer more?
QueerDuck
(1,666 posts)BlueWavePsych
(3,333 posts)They have a lot of inventory they need to move, Barry Kahn, a former ticketing executive who helped pioneer dynamic pricing in sports, told The Athletic.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7080325/2026/03/02/fifa-world-cup-ticket-surprise-window-demand-usmnt/
littlemissmartypants
(33,280 posts)mwmisses4289
(4,058 posts)because of pressure from the various teams. Trumps ice goons, denying visas to teams from certain countries, refusing to guarantee they won't be taken by ice, lack of ticket sales...no games will be played in the U.S., they will be moved to other countries for the safety of the players, the fans, the owners of those teams.
Lovie777
(22,892 posts)nothing is perfect in reality, and there are things I don't like.
But at present, I feel unsafe in security and economically. The US have insane persons over the government, congress, courts, intelligence agencies, law enforcement's and religion. These nut cases are destroying the USA inside and out.
I truly understand where the FIFA is coming from.
JBTaurus83
(1,338 posts)And the city allocated hundreds and hundreds of millions towards the events this summer. I was even considering renting my home out on Airbnb since Im close to the stadiums and Independence Hall. It seems the US Federal government has done just about everything possible to make the summer less lucrative than anticipated.
Hours long airport delays, and Nazi storm troopers to greet foreign visitors, a war in Iran which not only will increase the cost of air fare, but, makes terrorism more likely, and the Pig insulting basically everyone else on the planet.
BumRushDaShow
(169,303 posts)and between the FIFA matches, the MLB All Star Game in July -

and the Liberty Medal presentation to Pope Leo XIV the day before July 4th (with a live video feed of his acceptance), it's gonna be nuts, and I can imagine 45 making it even more nuts.