Stadium Neighborhood Liaisons: The People Behind Seattle's World Cup

Written by Spencer Xu

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When thousands of soccer fans poured into Seattle this summer, most only saw the celebration. Streets filled with people wearing jerseys from around the world. Fans marched toward Seattle Stadium singing and waving flags. Restaurants were packed, watch parties spilled into parks, and for a few weeks the city felt a little different.

What most visitors didn't see was the work happening behind the scenes long before the first match kicked off.

For neighborhood leaders and partners of the Seattle FIFA World Cup 26™ Local Organizing Committee like Melissa White and An Huynh, this summer’s tournament wasn't just about hosting games. It was about making sure the communities surrounding the stadium were ready for an event that no one had experienced before.

"We knew this big event was coming," Melissa White said. "Our goal was to make sure businesses were prepared, knew what to expect, and felt like their voices were being heard."

White is the Senior Communications Manager for the SODO Business Improvement Area, where she spent the last several years helping businesses prepare for the tournament. But instead of promising huge crowds or record sales, her team focused on something much simpler: giving businesses honest information.

"There were a lot of unknowns," she explained. Rather than telling businesses they would automatically benefit from the tournament, the goal was to help each one decide what made sense for them. Some restaurants and bars expected busy match days, while warehouses and manufacturers knew the tournament probably wouldn't change much for their day-to-day work.

The work wasn't only about businesses. New murals welcomed fans arriving by light rail, and a Welcome Center on First Avenue gave visitors a place to ask questions, grab water, and learn more about the neighborhood. White said those projects were designed to leave something behind after the final match, not just create excitement for a few weeks.

When asked what she would remember most, White didn't mention the final score of a game. Instead, she smiled as she talked about the United States versus Australia match.

She remembered looking outside the Welcome Center and seeing thousands of Australian fans walking together toward the stadium. They were singing, dancing, laughing, and stopping to chat with volunteers along the way.

"It was really exciting to see what SODO could be," she said. "You don't normally see crowds from all over the world filling our streets like that."

Just a few blocks away, An Huynh was seeing a different side of the games.

As Director of Community Development at the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda), Huynh spent months helping the Chinatown-International District prepare for the tournament. Her team supports hundreds of hundreds of immigrant- and refugee-owned small businesses, and she quickly learned that preparing for these games often meant answering questions no one could fully answer. Different meetings sometimes shared different updates, and her team worked hard to make sure businesses received clear information in English, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese.

One of her favorite memories came during a neighborhood watch party at Hing Hay Park. Local families, tourists, performers, and longtime residents all gathered to watch soccer together. Some picked up takeout from nearby restaurants before settling in to watch the match.

Looking around the park, Huynh felt like the event reflected what the neighborhood had always been about—a place where different cultures and generations come together.

By the end of the tournament, both White and Huynh had different stories to tell, but they shared the same hope. They wanted visitors to remember more than the matches. They wanted people to remember Seattle's neighborhoods, return to them, and continue supporting them long after the World Cup was over.