Loading article...

KUOW - The World Cup gave parts of Seattle a boost

By Kim Malcolm - 7/9/2026, 12:29 AM - 1,130 words

Faulty reasoning signals

Article text

The World Cup gave parts of Seattle a boost, but mostly skipped its CID

Seattle hosted its last World Cup match this week. In the lead-up to the games, there was a lot of focus on the financial win it would be for the city. But early on, it became clear not all neighborhoods near the stadium were benefiting.

KUOW digital reporter Cornelius Hocker went to 50 businesses in Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District to ask, "Is the World Cup hurting or helping you?" He talked to Kim Malcolm about some of the responses he heard.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: Let's start in Pioneer Square. What stands out to you from the reporting you did there?

Cornelius Hocker : Businesses in Pioneer Square overall did extremely well, whether it was the bars, the restaurants. I even went to a rug shop, Turabi Rug Gallery, and he said he sold more than $10,000 worth of rugs to World Cup fans. But there were two main exceptions, FRIDA and Dollz & Dames. They both mostly sell women's clothing. FRIDA didn't expect to make any money, but Dollz & Dames said it wasn't only they didn't make money, they lost money, because the regular customers were staying away.

That was in Pioneer Square. What did you hear in the Chinatown-International District?

Overall, it was awful. They didn't get the game-day influx that they were expecting, that they were told to prepare for. International Lobster Roll said they were down 20% to 25%. And the owner of Anh Ơi Bake Shop, a Vietnamese bakery, posted on TikTok that he had his worst sales days ever since the World Cup started.

Did these business owners in the International District have any explanation for why this was happening?

Well, there are two opinions on that. One camp says the city didn't do enough to market the CID to the World Cup fans. They also feel like the city did not do enough to take care of the issues we know about at 12th and Jackson, the unhoused people doing drugs on the street.

Tanya Woo is a former Seattle City Council member. Her family owns businesses there. She was one of the people that was leading the charge. Here’s how she sees it:

“We just want the city to engage in conversation on how we can improve in the future. We would love to see things like more signage directing people to the CID, and also we would have hoped that there would be some relief on 12th and Jackson, that some of the issues that have been overlooked this last year could have been addressed, more housing, bring people inside, more social workers out to help people. But unfortunately, we have not seen much relief. “

I also spoke to Hyan Ho, who owns International Lobster Rolls, the place that was down 20% to 25% sales since the World Cup started. His opinion was different from Tanya Woo’s:

“You have to look at it from a different perspective, like as a sports fan, OK? You want to be where everybody is. You want to be with the crowd. You want to celebrate. You want to cheer. You want to cry, whatever you do. That's the sports fan mentality, and it's always been like that, even just on a normal Sunday when the Seahawks are playing. Certain restaurants will be slow during that time because they're all down at the sports bar, they're in certain places where sports fans gather, right? And that's the mentality, and this is just on a bigger scale.”

Now, along with the slowdown during Seahawks games, we've seen this happen before with Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and All-Star Weekend. All of these events brought in thousands of people, but resulted in a slowdown of business for the CID.

In the aftermath of the World Cup and the mixed reactions we're hearing from the different business communities, how is the city and Mayor Wilson responding to this?

I spoke to Mayor Katie Wilson, and she's painfully aware of what's happening. People have let her know. In our conversation, she brought up the Unity Loop . It’s supposed to be a legacy of FIFA, showing people around different neighborhoods. It’s a walking tour around the stadiums, Pioneer Square, the International District, Capitol Hill, SoDo.

As far as the issues at 12th and Jackson, back in the middle of June she released a plan saying that we're going to have more police there telling people, "You can't do drugs. Let's get you into services." And if they don't get into services and they continue using drugs, arrests could be made. But she did say that it's going to take some time. These problems aren't going to be fixed overnight.

Which folks in the CID are painfully aware of. And I'll just note that they've heard promises of change before, so I'm sure we'll be keeping track of that story.

On a side note, what should listeners know about your new role and what you are looking forward to reporting on?

A lot of my role is going to focus on getting these stories out on social media, because that's where so many people get their news. They're on their phones every day, Instagram, TikTok, so that's where I'm going to be doing a lot of my work. Of course, going out like I did with the 50 businesses, getting all of that, and then putting it on social media. And the stories I'm looking forward to covering? Stories like this, stories that resonate with people, stories that you can read today, you can read tomorrow, you can read in five or 10 years and learn something from, just stories that really teach people something.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.

Why you can trust KUOW

Kim is the local news host of KUOW's All Things Considered, airing from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. weekdays. Kim covers breaking and developing daily news, both local and regional, as part of NPR's afternoon drive time programming.