The World Cup’s Impact on Real Estate

Editor’s Note: Scott Lowe recently joined CNBC Senior Real Estate Correspondent Diana Olick, alongside leaders from Colliers and Saint-Gobain, to discuss the long-term real estate impact of the FIFA World Cup. This article expands on Scott’s perspective. Read Diana’s original Property Play story.

When people think about the World Cup’s impact on real estate, it’s easy to focus on stadiums.

I don’t think that’s where the real story is.

What has fascinated me throughout the tournament isn’t the venues themselves. It’s the places surrounding them, and, just as importantly, the places where fans gathered even if they never stepped inside a stadium.

That’s the conversation I keep finding myself having with owners and developers.

A recent meeting with a prominent family office reinforced that. We were talking about how the World Cup had changed the way they were thinking about future development. Not about the stadium experience. The conversation centered on creating more green space, more shade, more outdoor gathering areas and more places where people genuinely want to spend time.

That isn’t really a conversation about soccer. It’s a conversation about placemaking.

Rethinking the Anchor

We’re entering a period where the more important question is something else: What draws people to a place, and what makes them want to stay?

I call those social condensing agents. Sometimes it’s a stadium. More often, it’s the plaza outside it, the restaurant district, the park, the entertainment venue or the public space where people naturally gather.

During the World Cup, we saw that play out in real time. Thousands of fans gravitated to places like Texas Live! and the AT&T Discovery District, not because they had tickets, but because those destinations created an experience people wanted to be part of. That’s the World Cup’s impact on real estate showing up before the game even starts.

What Comes Next

The World Cup will eventually move on. The lessons it leaves behind won’t.

If you’re a developer, investor or city leader, the opportunity isn’t simply to build for the next major event. It’s to build places people want to return to every day after it’s over. That’s the World Cup’s impact on real estate worth planning around.

Scott Lowe is Chief Revenue Officer at The Beck Group.