World Cup 2018 Underway As Miami Looks To 2026

MIAMI, FL — In a city where many of the people are from somewhere else — not just a different zip code — the World Cup carries a world of significance. Miami and South Florida are places, where more people grew up playing soccer than hockey, basketball or baseball. To them, Sunday football meant something entirely different from the traditional American experience.

So as the 2018 World Cup games got underway in Russia on Thursday with a 5-0 home victory over Saudi Arabia — and no U.S. team in the mix — excitement still ran high in the Magic City. South Floridians are defaulting to the teams they followed as children while looking ahead to 2026 and the growing likelihood that Miami will play a key role on one of the world's biggest sporting stages.

Miami's Telemundo Center, the massive global headquarters of the second-largest Spanish language programming provider in the United States, was abuzz with news that the United States, Canada and Mexico had been awarded the 2026 games as the network kicked off its live coverage of this year's spectacle from Russia.

Network executives are already thinking ahead to 2026.

"Part of the games are going to be here — also in Canada and Mexico — but the bulk are going to be particularly in Miami," predicted Javier Garcia of Comcast, which owns Telemundo.

Garcia wouldn't discuss how he came to that conclusion, but as the official Spanish-language broadcaster of the 2018 games in the United States, Telemundo is hoping to broadcast the 2026 games to a soccer-hungry Latin American audience in the United States.

"Soccer is something that is becoming more and more mainstream in the United States," observed Garcia, who oversees Comcast's operations in South America and Florida. "Now it's getting to a professional level. We're going to have a new MLS team here in Miami."

Comcast has been conducting watch parties at its stores in South Florida and confirms what many people have suspected for some time, that soccer is near and dear to the hearts of many in South Florida.

"We know in South Florida it's huge," Garcia explained. "The turnout has been amazing, so we know it's very important."

Telemundo also debuted a new sports analysis and entertainment program on Thursday — "Viva el Mundial y Más" — as co-hosts Jacqueline Bracamontes and Karim Mendiburu sat down with Patch to discuss Miami's chances for hosting one or more games in 2026 as well as the show's upcoming slate of celebrity guests, including legendary basketball star Shaquille O’Neal.

"It's going to be a party," said the former Mexican contestant in the Miss Universe competition of her show. "People can see all the matches in the morning. They can turn on the TV at 7 o'clock (at night) and they are going to see everything that they missed through the day."

Mendiburu, who is a well-known TV personality in Mexico, had little doubt that Miami would be selected as a host city,

"It's going to happen," he said on the set of "Viva el Mundial y Más."

"For sure," added Bracamontes.

They both pointed to the city's diverse population as a plus for the selection process to become a host city for one or more of the 60 matches that are likely to be played in the United States during the 2026 World Cup. Canada and Mexico are each expected to host only 10 matches.

"Miami has a beautiful stadium," Mendiburu explained. "You have South American fans. You have Central American fans and you have United States fans who live here in South Florida."

In their new primetime sports and entertainment program, viewers can experience all the action of the World Cup along with renowned personalities and music stars while enjoying an hour of analysis by soccer experts, including exclusive reports around one of this year's most anticipated sporting events in the world.

Enrique Bertran, who serves as director of production for Telemundo Sports, pointed to the recent $500 million investment in Hard Rock Stadium as well as the stadium's recent experience hosting other high-profile soccer matches as pluses for Miami.

"I think with the amount of Latin Americans that live in Miami, it's a natural that Miami is one of the cities," Bertran told Patch. "Soccer is so important to Miami. You have Colombians. You have Mexicans. You have people from all over Latin America that just live and breathe and feel soccer."

Watch below as Patch discusses Miami's chances for becoming a host city in 2026 as well as "Viva el Mundial y Más" with co-hosts Jacqueline Bracamontes and Karim Mendiburu:

Co-hosts Jacqueline Bracamontes and Karim Mendiburu of Telemundo's "Viva el Mundial y Más" sit down with Patch ahead of Thursday's debut broadcast. Photo and video by Paul Scicchitano.