San Jose will hire a “czar” to take over coordinating major sporting events in its backyard in 2026 — including the FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl LX and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament games — as town maximizes its visibility and importance would love to inject money into the local economy.
In addition to the three major sports attractions being played at either Levi's Stadium or the SAP Center and generating a whole lot of thousands and thousands of dollars in economic impact, San Jose officials see 2026 as a chance to showcase town and convey hundreds of tourists here regularly Creating “events around events.”
“We have the Super Bowl, six World Cup games and March Madness, and we want to capture that energy,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan told The Mercury News. “We need a committed and experienced leader with experience in coordinating large sporting events.”
San Jose is providing $350,000 for the 12-month leadership position.
While San Jose just approved the role, city officials have already begun planning and have engaged quite a few city departments and business partners including, but not limited to, the Bay Area Host Committee, the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, the San Jose Downtown Association , the San Jose Sports Authority and town's skilled teams.
“This is a short-term position that will be critical in the coordinating role between city departments and also with participating partners,” said Assistant Director of Economic Development Kerry Adams-Hapner. “We anticipate that this position will also help influence and coordinate with state and federal agencies, with our (Intergovernmental Relations) Department advocating for additional funding in the form of appropriations for both public safety and infrastructure “We also see this as an opportunity to pursue fundraising and sponsorship goals and use partners like Team San Jose and Sports Authority as financial agents and financial sponsors so that when we receive grants, we can be very flexible and can spend these funds very efficiently and quickly.”
Among the policy actions San Jose has begun are preparing updates to the city's code for special events, signage and establishing a downtown entertainment zone. The company is also developing a model for its “Fly, Stay and Play” campaign to encourage tourists to make use of San Jose Mineta International Airport, which Mahan said was ranked one of the best mid-sized airport within the country by the Wall Street Journal.
When Levi's Stadium hosted the Super Bowl in 2016, John Poch, executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority, said it wasn't a spotlight prefer it is today. Although San Jose can't host the Super Bowl fan festival since the convention center doesn't meet size requirements, city officials are “optimistic” the NFL will select it to host media day on the SAP Center, which could attract greater than 5,000 accredited media members and generate an economic impact of $760,000.
“One of the things we learned is that by having media day here first and the game at the end of the week, we are offering a free shuttle into the city if they want to go to Fan Fest in San Francisco,” Poch said. “If you have one of our hotel key cards, we have a shuttle, whether it's the Caltrain train or whether we charter buses. We’re making a transportation loop so they can go to the city, but they’ll go back to the better city.”
Official estimates suggest that Super Bowl LX, scheduled to happen at Levi's Stadium on February 8, 2026, could have an economic impact of $100 million to $160 million throughout the week.
The city also desires to host festivities at locations akin to San Pedro Square, Plaza de Cesar Chavez, the SAP Center and other local theaters and auditoriums.
Although the Super Bowl is greater than 15 months away, not less than 3,700 hotel rooms have been booked to date.
One of the Super Bowl teams will stay on the San Jose Marriott downtown and practice at San Jose State University. The other team will remain in Santa Clara and intern at Stanford University. NFL officials were in San Jose on Monday to provide a final overview of how town will host the teams.
Levi's Stadium can be one among 16 venues, including 11 within the United States, that may host World Cup games. The stadium will host six games between June thirteenth and July 1st. Over the six weeks the tournament lasts, town estimates an economic boost of $270 million to $360 million.
In addition to using the Signia by Hilton, FIFA intends to rent office space in town center between October 2025 and July 2026. The teams will stay on the San Jose Marriott and Hilton Downtown, while officials have chosen the Hotel Valencia as a VIP and family hotel. San Jose plans to host watch parties at San Pedro Square, other downtown landmarks and at restaurants and venues around town that express interest. There are also plans to curate outdoor dance and concert series depending on the teams chosen to perform on-site.
The city got a first-hand have a look at how successful these may very well be this summer when similar events were held in San Pedro Square for the 2024 Copa America tournament.
“We will find out who the teams will be on December 25, but that will give us the opportunity to refine the type of outreach and opportunities to bring the type of events and participants to specific games, like we did with the Colombian ones delegates have done,” said Nanci Klein, director of economic development.
Although the NFL and FIFA have forced San Jose to attend for details of its plans, Poch said town's proactive approach has prevented it from falling behind.
“We can still plan what we would like to see as a celebration for our community because what we have that no other city has to offer is a diversity like no other place in the country,” Poch said.
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