Friday, November 7, 2025
A revised funding plan for the FIFA fan zone would lower the financial contributions required from participating governments, especially Tumwater.
The details were revealed in an update about the issue from Tumwater City Administrator Lisa Parks at a city council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
The FIFA Seattle Organizing Committee has designated nine fan zones in the state where the public can watch and celebrate the 2026 FIFA World Cup games, which are happening in cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, with Seattle hosting several matches.
Parks previously told the council on July 8 that each participating city and the county was being asked to contribute $375,000 to fund the events in each county's fan zone. At that time, council members expressed concern about the feasibility of tapping into city funds without straining the budget.
Parks said since her last update, officials from Tumwater, Lacey, Olympia, Thurston County, the Port of Olympia and the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce have held several joint meetings to further discuss their plans.
At the latest session on Thursday, Aug. 28, Parks said Thurston County Commissioner Carolina Meija proposed a revised plan in which the involved parties would only need to pool $300,000 in total. Most cities and the county would have to pitch in $84,000, except Tumwater, which would pay $50,000 due to its smaller population.
Parks recalled that when she outlined the plan to the city council, most council members agreed to source its funding from lodging taxes, which are taxes on hotel and motel in the city.
Parks said city staff submitted an application to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) to apply for $50,000 on Friday, Aug. 29, the final day of applications for the current funding cycle.
The Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, composed of Council member Eileen Swarthout and three representatives from the local tourism sector, decides on how lodging taxes are used by reviewing organizations applying for the funds.
Parks asked council members whether they agreed with the staff’s direction or preferred to withdraw the application. Should the committee approve the city’s application, she said there is enough in the lodging tax fund balance to grant the requested $50,000.
Swarthout noted that LTAC maintains a fund for new events.
“As long as the money’s there in LTAC, I think that’s a doable thing for us,” she said.
Council member Michael Althauser agreed the revised plan eased Tumwater’s financial burden, but asked whether scaling back the budget would also reduce the workload for city staff.
Parks said Meija’s scaled-back proposal would likely result in less effort on behalf of all parties involved. She recognized there would still be immediate impacts, as the events are expected to draw 2,500 participants, which would require coordinated responses from law enforcement, fire and emergency services.
Though most council members supported the move, LTAC would still have to review the city staff’s application before making a recommendation to the city council.
Only Council member Peter Agabi was against using lodging taxes. He had expressed in the previous meeting that he was skeptical about the entire fan zone, believing that FIFA in the county would not draw in that many people due to the county’s soccer culture and current political climate.
Parks added there were talks about scattering the events throughout the county, in contrast with the initial plans to centralize the events at the Port of Olympia peninsula in Olympia.
She said several people during the last joint meeting felt that the event could be held at multiple smaller locations.
“I think the purpose behind that suggestion was to try and help reduce the costs, as well as to provide opportunities for bars and restaurants to acknowledge or address the issue of a wider benefit to multiple jurisdictions who are participating,” Park said.
Parks said the challenge with a central location was it would highly impact Olympia.
Likewise, separating the venues would have its own issues. Jurisdictions would have to deal with viewing licenses. It could also make the cities and county ineligible for state and federal grants, particularly those that support security.
“I think that there are a myriad of requirements that FIFA and the Seattle Coordinating Committee basically have agreed to that are going to probably make a multiple venue scenario difficult, if not impossible,” Parks said.
Parks asked whether the city council had any preference as to whether they want a central venue or separated. Some council members expressed no preference, while Council member Angela Jefferson strongly expressed a desire to see events in the city.
7 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
OlyBlues
As a Tumwater city taxpayer, after reading this I want to know what exact benefit is the city receiving to blow $50K in tax dollars on this "fan zone" dream? If people want to watch the game, they are going to go watch it. They don't need the city to waste tax dollars so they can join other jurisdictions in wasting precious funds. There are so many other worthwhile projects that Tumwater could spend $50K on that would benefit families. The city council sure makes it easy to lose faith in your city Government. These poor decisions diminish their credibility when the city comes to us and says we need tax increases because we don't have enough money. What a waste!
Friday, September 5 Report this
jimLacey
Reminds me of privately owned sports teams getting cities to provide new stadiums for them courtesy of taxpayers.
In this case, it is FIFA, which according to wikipedia, "FIFA generates billions through sponsorships, broadcasting rights, and tournament hosting fees—especially from the World Cup". Basically they get local governments all over the country to chip in to their profits.
Seems like we would be better off just encouraging sports bars and restaurants to show the games, and let interested fans decide how they want to watch.
Friday, September 5 Report this
peterpumpkinhead
I would agree that maybe this isn't the best use of taxpayer funds. Given the uncertain economic near future we face, city leaders need to be careful with discretionary spending.
Friday, September 5 Report this
Porter
In my mind, it is illegal, unethical, and borderline criminal to take MY tax dollar inputs and use them for this. Impeach the whole of city council if they pay one dollar for this bullshit.
Friday, September 5 Report this
Adnama
I want to commend the Tumwater City Council for questioning the original price tag of $375,000 and getting it lowered to $50,000 (AND also lowering the cost for Olympia and Lacey, as well!). You are doing your due diligence.
Personally, I still agree that we are too far away from Seattle for folks to care, and this political climate makes the success of any kind of international sport attendance questionable. I don't think that we should rely on locals to pick up the funding slack for FIFA.
If this $50K is what allows bars to show the event, perhaps we can consider it. However, if bars can show the event regardless of the city's participation with FIFA, I would say let the individual bars take it on to advertise to their base and get folks to come out.
Overall, I think the Tumwater City Council does a great job of supporting events that can make our city proud. Keep supporting Screen on the Green, the Brewfest and the new development by the brewery.
Thanks Tumwater City Council for asking all of the right questions.
Friday, September 5 Report this
Wesley
I think not. No one likes soccer.
Monday, September 22 Report this
TheFireplaceGuy
None of you haters think that there might actually be a chance that the tax revenue generated by the city being a little more inviting for fans to show up and buy food, drink and other concessions at restaurants, bars and local shops around Tumwater during the World Cup would offset the $50k? I would certainly think so after you factor in the revenue from lodging, gas and anything else people see to it to spend their money on while in Tumwater.
For this area (greater Seattle area along I5) to be able to host games for FIFA's World Cup is huge. Whether you like soccer or not The World Cup is one of the largest sporting events that take place worldwide. The number of fans, support personnel, press, etc., would make the Super Bowl turnout look like a Saturday rec league game at The RAC. My hat's off to the council for mitigating the costs down to be able to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity. Also, I do believe that YOUR tax dollars are safe unless you are a regular at the hotels and motels in Tumwater as I do believe the article above mentioned that the $50k would be coming from the lodging fund. So pump the brakes just a bit, relax a little and go watch a soccer match. Get outside and breathe some fresh air and let the keyboards cool off.
Wednesday, October 8 Report this