How the World Cup showcases payment tech

• Key insights: The World Cup is a testing ground for new payment products.
• What's at stake: Research suggests businesses may lose customers if they don't have up-to-date checkout technology.
• Forward look: The event is expected to generate about $30 billion in economic activity, creating payment spikes and an opportunity for businesses near the venues to pick up business.

Sports venues are ideal for new payment types, drawing large, ready-to-spend crowds to centralized locations, with payment companies hoping to foster habits that outlast the event.

"It's one of the few environments where scale and intensity come together in real time. You've got millions of fans moving through stadiums, cities and digital platforms all at once, which creates a really dynamic setting for consumers to interact with our technology, and our brand," Andrea Fairchild, senior vice president and global head of sponsorship strategy at Visa, told American Banker.

Visa has tested payments technology at global sporting events for years, piloting wearables and new forms of contactless payments as early as 2012. Now it's demonstrating technology that ties payments to other digital experiences during this year's World Cup.

The card network hopes to take advantage of the size of the World Cup, which is expected to draw 6.5 million spectators and generate between $160 million and $600 million in revenue for each host city and $30 billion overall. That includes tickets and adjacent revenue such as hotels, airfare and shopping at nearby venues.

Visa's goals

For the World Cup, Visa is pushing a "Tap In" campaign that ties digital payments to other content about the event, teams and players through the same app. The card network is showcasing contactless technology, such as tap-to-pay in stadiums or engaging with Visa's Tap to Score marketing promotion.

"It all comes back to one ID," Fairchild said. "When it works well, fans don't think about the tech, they just feel like everything is easier."

To measure success, Visa examines if it's meaningfully improving the fan experience, according to Fairchild. "From there, we look at engagement and behavior," she said. "Are more people choosing to use the technology when it's available? Are we seeing repeat usage beyond the event itself? Those patterns tell you whether something is resonating beyond a single moment."

Big global events are often a proving ground for new ideas, according to Fairchild. "They give people a chance to try something new in a trusted environment. If the experience is seamless, that's what drives longer-term adoption. Ultimately, success is when the innovation stops feeling new and just becomes the expected way to pay."

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, Visa reported that 78% of payments from international travelers in Paris and surrounding areas were contactless, which was 9% higher than the same weekend the prior year. The card network also saw a 26% increase in sales at local businesses from Visa consumers. But it's not just about scale; it's also about relevance, according to Fairchild, noting that fans are already in a moment where they're making quick decisions, such as buying food or merchandise at a match or engaging digitally.

"Payments need to be fast, seamless, and almost invisible," she said. "That makes it the ideal."

By the numbers

Recent research paints a picture of how payment volume changes during the World Cup. Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults plan to watch the event, according to research from SumUp, which notes that spending is expected to spike on match days. Thirty-three percent of World Cup watchers say they will spend more at local businesses on match days than during a typical weekend day, SumUp said.

The payment company also reports 60% of adults pay with cards at local businesses during sporting events, while 14% use a mobile wallet. The stakes are high. Forty-nine percent of U.S. adults say they would switch to a chain retailer if their local business' checkout is slow, according to SumUp. 

"Major international events put payment experiences in the spotlight," Peter Galvin, chief marketing officer at NMI, told American Banker, noting NMI research found that nearly half of U.S. consumers who have traveled internationally in the past year say payments are faster or easier abroad, reflecting how accustomed travelers have become to contactless, mobile-first and tap-to-pay experiences in other markets.

"That creates pressure for U.S. firms, but also opportunity," Galvin said. "Visitors arriving across World Cup host cities will judge their experience by how easy it is to get around, buy food and merchandise, pay for parking and move through a city without unnecessary friction."

NMI's research found that 77% of consumers say difficulty paying for transportation would negatively affect international visitors' overall experience of the U.S. 

"That matters because transit is often one of the first interactions a visitor has with a city," Galvin said. 

Payment networks like Visa and Mastercard have been built on three core pillars: technology that connects the network, clear rules of participation, and brand, according to Zil Bareisis, banking and payments director at Celent. 

"Sponsorship of high-profile sports events like the Olympics or the World Cup, have an enormous effect on brand awareness, given the global audiences that such events attract," Bareisis told American Banker. "Also, while there is usually a direct impact of increased spending during the event itself, sometimes the occasion can serve as a showcase for new technology, kick-starting a wave of adoption afterwards."