Moments ago, I received a text from my 25-year-old son: “Dad, we have to go to this game.” The text was followed by a link to this Daily Mail story saying that the 2026 World Cup Final will be played at AT&T Stadium. Here’s the most important thing to know about this development: in October 2022, I made a $20 bet with D Magazine contributing editor Eric Celeste that we’d get the Final. I’ve already collected. I’m a genius.
The second thing to know is that everyone should right now start getting as excited as my son is—but with one caveat. This might be bunk. The European press, when it comes to football, is known to be a bit, um, speculative. Ben Swanger of our sister publication D CEO has made some calls. Ben tells me: “Nobody within the Dallas bid committee has heard from FIFA officials. Tony Fay PR [which handles the stuff] told me right now it’s unconfirmed, and they’re working to uncover the validity of the report.”
Y’all, let’s sit tight and assess. And also: lessgooooo!!