In 1994, the U.S. hosted the men’s FIFA World Cup, and 3.5 million fans gathered to watch the tournament. The games marked the most-attended FIFA World Cup ever, and this year the U.S. will become one of five nations to host a World Cup for a second time, with 2026 co-host Mexico holding its third.

For the duration of the games, stadiums across North America are forced to go dark from 20 days before the first games through to the end of the World Cup on July 19. That means many stadiums in major markets, including Toronto, Mexico City, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco, are unable to host concerts for two months in the summer — normally prime outdoor concert time.

“Initially, when the World Cup was announced a couple years ago and we started thinking about this summer, there was some trepidation,” UTA’s Jbeau Lewis, who books Bad Bunny and Karol G, tells Billboard. “The reality is that it’s become one of the biggest — if not the biggest — stadium tour summers ever.”

This year, Bruno Mars, Karol G, Noah Kahan, Morgan Wallen and Ed Sheeran are among those performing in stadiums across North America. Kahan’s tour utilizes baseball stadiums, with dates at Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Citi Field. Wallen’s stadium tour is hitting college football stadiums, with two dates at Michigan Stadium (a venue only utilized for a concert once before, when Zach Bryan performed there along with special guest John Mayer last September) and Clemson Memorial Stadium.

In order to route around the cities where the games are being held, some artists are either beginning their runs in Europe and avoiding North America until the latter half of the summer or kicking off in the North American cities that aren’t hosting games.

Sheeran’s upcoming tour takes the latter approach. The first half of his North American run lands in cities that aren’t hosting World Cup games: Nashville on June 20, Chicago on June 27, Denver on July 4 and Las Vegas on July 18. He’ll head to Levi’s Stadium near San Francisco on July 25, just six days after the World Cup ends. (Levi’s Stadium’s final World Cup game takes place on July 1).

Mars kicked off his Live Nation-promoted The Romantic Tour in Las Vegas on April 10, landing in markets including Atlanta, Nashville, Detroit, Chicago and Toronto all before May 28, the cutoff date for World Cup venues. (Mars’ final tour date took place at Rogers Stadium in Toronto, while the World Cup is hosted at the city’s BMO Field). From June 18 through July 28, he’ll embark on his European run, returning to North America Aug. 21 through Oct. 17.

BTS’ ARIRANG tour (also promoted by Live Nation) started in Asia and moved through select North American markets from April 25 through May 28, with dates in Tampa, Fla.; El Paso, Tex.; Mexico City; Stanford, Calif.; and Las Vegas. Throughout June and July, the group makes its way through Europe before landing back in North America Aug. 1 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. (The group’s second North American leg will end on Sept. 6 at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium.)

“We were on [this year’s bookings] early,” says Omar Al-joulani, president of touring at Live Nation. “We worked closely with our partners to map out venue availability and routing well in advance, which allowed us to plan around any potential conflicts. As a result, the World Cup hasn’t slowed the business down at all — in fact, we’re on pace for a record stadium year in spite of it.” 

While 16 stadiums in all are currently hosting World Cup games, artist teams have known since 2022 which specific venues would be going dark. Given that these days tours are plotted out years in advance, that advance notice meant booking agents and promoters could ensure routing wouldn’t be an issue. 

“There were effective ways of looking at the routing. If you started a tour in the window where the World Cup was happening, then start in the handful of stadiums where there is no World Cup,” Lewis says. “Then route the World Cup markets into the period of time once it’s passed.”

Navigating venue availability is a common practice for the touring industry. Arena tours are often up against NBA and NHL games, and artists who hope to perform at Madison Square Garden must balance a schedule that also juggles the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers. Compared to football stadiums, ballparks don’t host quite as many concerts in the summer due to a heavy baseball schedule — and parks that opt to host a show often must go dark for several days in order to protect the grass playing fields.

“In my experience, there wasn’t a situation where we had to massively change a tour because of [the World Cup],” Lewis says. “For Karol G, it worked out nicely that the start date for the tour happens to be right after the World Cup ends, but it wasn’t necessarily planned that way. It just worked better for our schedule.” 

For venues in close proximity to World Cup host cities, the games blocking off stadium dates are allowing other venues to book shows. Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., is hosting Shakira on July 14, the timing coinciding with her performance during the World Cup Final halftime show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on July 19. Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J. — which hadn’t hosted a concert in 12 years until last summer, when Rüfüs du Sol performed two nights in July — hosted a bill with DJ Snake and Justice on June 16. 

“This goes into the strategic planning,” says Sean Saadeh, chief programming officer at Prudential Center. “It makes sense for [Shakira] to route a tour around that time frame in which she’s in the area and also do the halftime show. It’s tremendous there’s such great planning into the routing of this to get her here in front of an international audience that’s going to be in town.” 

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