By Delaney Tarr
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup inches closer, counties across Georgia are gearing up for their own taste of the football frenzy.
The World Cup is months away from coming to Atlanta, and its going to bring a staggering impact. Local officials estimate 300,000 people will descend on the city, and the monthlong celebration will generate about $1 billion in economic impact.
They’re staggering numbers. Everyone wants in on the boost.
Most of the World Cup attention is focused around the actual host city, Atlanta. It spurred development in the disinvested downtown areas like the Gulch and South Downtown, which will become the stylish Centennial Yards and SoDo for excited visitors.
For downtown Atlanta, the World Cup will be the biggest economic event since the 1996 Olympics. But Metro Atlanta officials want to bring the tourists across the region, and they each have their own strategies.
Some are straightforward. Most cities will host watch parties around the region at local breweries or city centers. Norcross and Alpharetta already announced their own events.
Other areas are looking at different ways to impact the economy. Fayette County is home to one of three “Team Base Camps” where players will practice at the Atlanta United FC Training Center.
In response to the base camp, officials launched “Fayette Forward.” Through the online portal, residents can register their homes to rent out to tourists and athletes during the monthlong event.
Fayette borrowed from the Augusta model. When the Masters Tournament rolls around, locals vacate their homes and rent them out to visitors. To make the “Soccer Housing Bureau” happen, county officials had to rewrite local policy.
Now, over 500 homes are expected to sign up for a chance at tax-free income, while visitors will get a local feel for Fayette. Officials also hope it will boost local cleaning, landscaping and construction industries.
It’s the kind of creative approach counties often take to get tourists out of the city, especially in areas not known for their tourism industry. But one county has gone all out on the World Cup action: DeKalb County.
DeKalb is situated in a prime location for the eight World Cup matches. About 10 percent of the county sits in the city of Atlanta, and the rest covers Metro Atlanta areas like Avondale Estates, Decatur, Dunwoody, Stone Mountain, Chamblee, Tucker and more.
Discover DeKalb CEO James Tsismanakis explained the county is in a strong spot to host international tourists. It’s home to Stone Mountain, a frequent tourist draw, and boasts Buford Highway, known for hundred of international restaurants and shops.
There’s already a built in tourist draw. Capitalizing on it is a different thing. That’s why the Convention and Visitors Bureau kicked off a campaign last year to “pre-market” the World Cup.
Tsismanakis and his team wrapped Ubers, opened social media accounts in Spanish and Portuguese and used AI bots to answer questions about the upcoming cup.
“A lot of what DeKalb has been doing is trying to bring brand awareness,” Tsismanakis said. “That we exist and that we’re part of Metro Atlanta.”
Alongside the ad campaigns, Discover DeKalb is putting out three films focused on the county, with one on Buford Highway, one on refugee soccer culture and one on a local boxing gym.
The goal? Drawing tourists from Fulton to DeKalb.
“They’re not all going to stay downtown,” Tsismanakis said.
The tourism leader wants visitors to extend their stay or leave the city and discover the rest of what DeKalb County has to offer. Ideally, he wants them to choose DeKalb as their home base.
“We’re affordable, even if our rates during FIFA are what they are,” Tsismanakis said. “We’re safer, we have the opportunities to use MARTA, many of our hotels are a short ride to MARTA.”
DeKalb County has easy transportation access, and 12 cities hosting different events and activations. But the county only has control over marketing campaigns. Watch parties and museum exhibits are run privately.
That’s where the DeKalb United Sports Commission comes in. In 2025, DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochrane-Johnson created the commission to create a “joint effort” between the county and its cities.
It is primarily a website to coordinate and promote the dozens of activations happening around the World Cup. On the landing page, tabs promote the Chamblee watch party, the Assembly Studios Watch Party and the upcoming Decatur Watchfest – the 34-day outdoor screening series will culminate in a free Indigo Girls concert on the city lawn.
The commission also links to things like the “Footwork: Where We Gather” photography exhibit at Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum. The exhibit by Sheila Pree Bright celebrates Atlanta sports culture, and it will be up for the World Cup.
“It’s coordination, but it’s also discussing with the cities and their planners, ‘what can you do?’” Tsismanakis said.
The commission will have meetings until the World Cup to discuss best practices in each city, and what the different leaders can learn from each other. They will also coordinate where to point tourists, or how to schedule events to maximize impact and presence.
“We’re looking at a long term thing,” Tsismanakis said.
To Tsismanakis, the World Cup can put DeKalb County on the map. Tourists can visit Assembly studios and learn about the local film industry, or enjoy Stone Mountain enough to book a return trip. He sees it as a way to “tell the greater story of Georgia.”
But the commission doesn’t have the answers yet. Tsismanakis explained the process is about finding out how to collaborate. As the World Cup gets closer, he plans to meet with tourism agencies across Metro Atlanta and ask the essential question. “How do we collaborate better?”
Once finished, he envisions a map to guide the Metro through every one of Atlanta’s major events. A legacy document for the 2028 Super Bowl and beyond.
“It will be like a book we can put on a bookshelf,” Tsismanakis said. “I love it.”
