Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz-Gavarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. The FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world, with matches all over the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for the next month. And here in the Bay Area, six World Cup games will be played with San Jose and the South Bay at the center of the action.
Jeff Konya: [00:00:32] This community event, you see just the energy in the crowd. It’s gonna be fantastic World Cup. In our part we’re playing, we couldn’t be more thrilled.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:41] San Jose is yet again hoping to capitalize on the thousands of visitors coming to the Bay for this big sporting event. Today, reporter Aya Ali-Ahmad takes us to San Jose to see what World Cup fever looks like on the ground.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:08] How would you describe the vibes in San Jose around the World Cup right now?
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:01:12] I think it’s been surprisingly consistent and exciting in San Jose.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:22] Ayah Ali-Ahmad is a reporter for KQED.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:01:27] I’ve seen all types of people come down to downtown San Jose where they’re hosting watch parties, people from other parts of the Bay Area, other parts to the country and also the world. So San Pedro is the neighborhood to be in downtown San Jose. It has a lot of sports bars. It has two big food courts with a communal outdoor space to eat. They barricade off part of San Pedro. You can open carry a bunch of drinks from the sports bars into this turf area that they have laid out for people to sit comfortably down or set up lawn chairs. And then they have this 500 square foot screen. They have multiple screens, but one really big screen for people too to watch all 104 of these matches.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:02:30] It was 97 degrees last week in San Jose and people were out watching the first opening Mexico South Africa match in San Pedro and that was filled up to the brim. There are people hanging out at the parking structure next door just because of how busy it got. People hang out at nearby patios, just filling up the space and being with each other. It’s buzzing, it’s alive. It’s not something that I think I saw really even with the Super Bowl.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:03:06] Wow, that’s interesting. Yeah, it sounds like people are there for the vibes.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:03:11] Yeah, and that’s why I kept hearing from people I talked to every time I would go down to San Pedro for these watch parties.
Lugene Youssef: [00:03:19] My name is Lugene. I’m from South Bay. I’ve been living here in San Jose. I’m coming out here today to celebrate Egypt. And I’m here to support their team. So excited. So far we’re winning.
Dania Taleb: [00:03:30] Hi, I’m Dania, also here, local to San Jose. Yeah, shout out Egypt. We’re here to watch the game.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:03:36] I talked to Lugene Youssef and her friend Dania Taleb, two South Bay natives who have tickets to the Jordan and Algeria game coming up, and they made a pit stop down to San Pedro Square to watch the Belgium and Egypt game, which they were rooting for Egypt.
Dania Taleb: [00:03:56] It’s been really nice just having, like being able to watch it with others who are also passionate about the games as well. And I’m not somebody who’s like the most passionate, I don’t know the names of the players and whatnot, but it’s still fun to kind of like be there to support each other and even like.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:04:10] And they talked to me about how they came for the vibes and they’ve been coming for the vibe They’ve came to San Pedro every day since the first opening match
Lugene Youssef: [00:04:21] It’s an experience that we’re not going to experience again, so like why not?
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:04:28] I know you also talked to some folks who are actually traveling in for the games as well, right?
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:04:33] Yeah, so I stopped a group of guys who are attending their first World Cup game, two that are from Jordan who are accompanying their friend who’s lived in the States for 37 years, who’s also from Jordan.
Jamal Abu Ahmad: [00:04:45] We came to support the Jordanian team, but I’m here to party and enjoy everything, you know.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:04:53] Jamal Abu Ahmad and his two friends came from Maryland, staying in the South Bay, stopping by San Pedro Square. They were extremely excited about trying the food in the Bay Area is one thing that they said.
Jamal Abu Ahmad: [00:05:07] Yet and I am in the restaurant business so I am definitely a foodie so we’re gonna check out the food later
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:05:14] and they were excited because again it was a first World Cup game despite being fans all their lives and being able to see their team play out in the U.S. Was particularly exciting for them.
Jamal Abu Ahmad: [00:05:25] Yeah, they’re playing tomorrow. They’re playing Austria, I think, and we’re going to win probably 3-0, hopefully. Remember this. And then Algeria, 2-0. And we’re gonna beat Argentina in Texas. Many countries, many people from different worlds, and I love that, more than anything. Doesn’t matter who wins it that day, it’s just like, it’s a beautiful, peaceful gathering for everybody to enjoy the game.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:05:57] It was really sweet to listen to your conversation with him and just how excited he was. He really just was this person who’s like, ‘I just wanna be where the party is!’
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:06:07] Yeah, and even during the Egypt-Belgium game, which was very excitable over in San Pedro, you had a lot of people repping Egypt especially. He was one of many who, even though that’s not his home team, was very loud and proud about.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:06:26] As I understand it, there’s games that are being played at Levi’s, also these World Cup sanctioned events that are going on all around the city, but also the Bay Area. And there are also teams practicing here in the Bay area, right?
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:06:43] Yeah, so there’s two teams who have base camps in the Bay Area. This is also happening in other parts of the US just because, again, how big the World Cup is. 48 countries participating. And so the two teams, one is Australia and Alameda where the Oakland Roots actually trains. And Paraguay is staying over in San Jose and practicing in San José State University’s facilities, the Spartan Soccer Complex.
Jeff Konya: [00:07:09] We were what back in 94 and now again here in 26 with Team Paraguay. This community event, you see just the energy in the crowd. It’s gonna be fantastic World Cup. In our part we’re playing, we couldn’t be more thrilled.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:07:20] Jeff Konya, the San Jose State University athletic director, actually welcomed the team and he said that the university as well as the city is excited to host the team.
Jeff Konya: [00:07:34] The whole campus is excited about having Team Paraguay here and, you know, they’re having two games up here in the Bay so they’re kind of our adopted team locally, I imagine.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:07:42] I was able to go down and watch them practice during this fan event. About 500 fans were able to watch for free. They were giving out these cute little FIFA sticker books for kids to get autographed from Paraguay. And a lot of the people I talked to there weren’t even necessarily fans of Paraguaya. They were just excited to, again, be in proximity to these teams.
Kai Burgess: [00:08:07] I think they’re like, they make it look effortless because they’re so sharp on the ball and they have really good quality.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:08:14] One pair I met was a father and son coming from Oakland, Kai and Evan Burgess, who said they weren’t initially Paraguay fans, but ended up leaving fans of Paraguaya.
Evan Burgess: [00:08:26] It was a great way to kick off the World Cup to see the players live, you know, training, getting ready for the World cup and getting ready to watch a lot of the World Cup on TV. So it’s going to be an exciting event.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:08:45] We’ll have more with KQED’s Ayah Ali Ahmad, right after this break. By the way, if you love the local news deep dives that we bring you here on the Bay, consider becoming a KQED member. We can’t do this work without you. Just go to donate.kqed.org slash podcasts. We’ll be right back.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:09:12] Well, I want to talk, Ayah about just the economic impact that the World Cup could have. Because, I mean, Santa Clara just had the Super Bowl. Huge deal, obviously. Lots of conversation leading up to it, and even after, about the economic benefit of having such a big thing like that here in the Bay Area. Is that the same for the World Cup or not so much?
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:09:38] It’s a hard comparison. The most recent numbers for the Super Bowl, Santa Clara County themselves are saying they saw 195 million in an economic impact, which was four times as much as the Superbowl a decade ago. I don’t know if it’s going to look the same for the World Cup, because again, the World Cup is spread out. You have the 104 matches, only six are here versus the SuperbowL, which had that single week concentrated of big regional events around the Bay Area and then again the Super Bowl. But I think the World Cup will still have a clear positive impact in the Bay area, again especially in South Bay, in Santa Clara. You might not see hotels filling up the same like the Superbowl, but you’re still going to see a lot of fans visiting. The Bay Area host committee that’s helping with a lot of this stuff is estimating around 260,000 visitors from outside of the Bay are coming in. VTA said the other day for the first Levi’s match that happened this past Saturday, they saw 37,000 riders, which is 6,000 more riders than the Super Bowl brought in. So I think there’s going to be different metrics, but again, those are two very different types of sporting events to compare.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:10:57] Yeah, it feels a little bit maybe more like a patchwork this time around, whereas the Super Bowl was just like one big.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:11:06] Yeah, and in July, the last game hosted at Santa Clara is going to be one of the knockout games. It’s going to July 1st. I think that, depending on who plays that, you’ll see more people coming in.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:25] Well my last few questions for you here Aya, you’re actually from San Jose, right?
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:11:29] Yes, I am from San Jose.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:31] What’s it been like for you to just watch all the excitement around the World Cup? I mean, it’s the biggest sporting event in the world. Does it feel like that for you living out there?
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:11:43] I don’t know if it feels like the world is in San Jose and it’s the biggest sporting event in the world. I think the Super Bowl brought in so much hype that just doesn’t necessarily compare. However, it’s been really fun going down to places like San Pedro Square and seeing it fill up. And it’s also just been fun to get on the bus and see people in FIFA gear. Go to a restaurant in downtown and see people in different jerseys kind of reminded me of my childhood going to some of the free sporting events around the Bay Area like San Jose Giants and yeah just felt like it just feels like the South Bay has a lot to give and to show especially these visiting fans.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:34] And it must be nice to see San Jose specifically getting some love, not just like, you know, San Francisco.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:12:41] Yeah, San Jose has been doing really well sports-wise. They just announced a female hockey team coming to the SAP Center and sharing that space with sharks. The earthquakes have been doing well. The sharks have been hype. So South Bay has a lot to offer, especially in terms of sports. And I think there’s been finally some sort of recognition to that. And that’s something that the Bay Area Host Committee that, again, is helping host all this sort of stuff and doing a lot of the managing here has said that that’s. That San Jose is the ideal spot in all of the Bay Area to do a lot of these sort of activation activities and bringing fans. Also, you just have a lot of space for people to stay, like at our hotels and.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:13:23] Diverse food options in San Jose as well
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:13:27] Oh yeah, I mean, you stay anywhere on the Bay Area, but especially San Jose, you can appeal to all types of cultures, all types of visitors, and I think that’s also what San Jose does a really good job at.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:13:43] Well Ayah, thank you so much for joining me appreciate it.
Ayah Ali-Ahmad: [00:13:46] Thanks for having me.
