“We are more LGF than LFG.”
Welcome to ‘Bay Area Style’. The kid at the front of the class who raises his hand for every question, grinning with the pre-existing knowledge that he has the right answer. A kid who boringly, naturally, seamlessly excels at everything in life, from Shakespeare to Shanahan.
The kid who runs the playground owns, who encourages the next haircut trend, who gets laughs with every joke, whose name has something else in the school, like a rich history of family prestige (the older brother sat in the back of the bus).
LGF. As in “let’s go first,” host committee president and CEO Zaileen Janmohamed would explain.
The San Francisco Bay Area is that kid in 2026, rising to the task of hosting both the Super Bowl and the World Cup in the same year, while other members of the class share looks of wide-eyed admiration. Some would argue that this is guaranteed by both LGF and LFG, as in ‘let’s go…’ – you know the rest. But yes. Let’s go. Go.
Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, California (Credit: Visit California)
“In the Gulf, we have this mentality of going first,” Janmohamed said Ski Sports. “I don’t think anyone backs down from a challenge or a problem. I think they actually like to see that.”
“If someone comes to you with a problem and you’re in the bay, there’s a mindset here of ‘I want to put it on the board and try to figure it out, let me deal with it.’
“No one has been to the World Cup and Super Bowl. I don’t think there were many volunteers this year to do both. We were like, this is us. We can figure this out. Let’s go first.”
A historic year in sports for the Bay Area officially begins this week when the New England Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, on Sunday, February 8 – live on Ski Sports.
The same stage in Santa Clara will then open its doors for six matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup between 11 June and 29 July.
Janmohamed and Bay sit at the table of a powerful collaboration between the richest and most influential sports operations, FIFA president Gianni Infantino clearly wants to reflect America’s trademark opulence, and San Francisco is more than willing to oblige as the main executors of said vision.
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Phoebe Schecter goes through everything you need to know about the Super Bowl LX
“It was really interesting to see how FIFA, who is organizing a tournament of this scale for the first time with 104 games and 16 cities, really tries to learn about the passion of American football, especially in the USA,” said Janmohamed.
“You’re going to hear the president (Infantino) say a lot ‘We’ve had 104 Super Bowls’ — he looks at the Super Bowl and the NFL as something we want to repeat.”
“He announced it was going to be halftime in the middle of the finals, that’s a Super Bowl thing. I can definitely see those learnings from FIFA in the NFL.”
Roger Goodell and the NFL have similarly taken inspiration from FIFA’s global importance through an international expansion that will see Paris join Madrid, London, Munich, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro as a host city during the 2026 season. The American game has become a world game.
“I think on the flip side, what you’re starting to see from the NFL, and they’ve been doing this for a couple of years now, is the power of the international game,” Janmohamed continued. “They look at an entity like FIFA and say ‘how do you actually resonate in so many countries around the world? How do you do it well?’
“They play in soccer stadiums. When I see that, I get goosebumps when you play in Madrid where Real Madrid plays. It’s amazing to me. I think there’s really good learning for both. You have American football and soccer and the fans of both that may or may not overlap. It’s really interesting to watch it all happen.”
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London-born Aden Durde reflects on his journey as he prepares to make history as the first British-born coordinator to coach in the Super Bowl, where his Seattle Seahawks will face the New England Patriots
A taxi trip to meet Janmohamed at Levy Stadium would introduce us to the driver, Tah, who recalled fleeing Afghanistan as a child before growing up to play soccer for the San Jose Earthquakes Academy. He described the World Cup’s arrival in California as a ‘game changer’ for soccer’s long-term rise in the US, bemoaning its more modest profile during his own youth but hailing what he expects to be a decisive catalytic effect.
San Francisco lays claim to countless stories like Taha’s, beacons of cultural diversity championing a city that boasts a rich variety of backgrounds, from Chinatown to the largest of only three Japantowns in the US. It is a city open to everyone, for everyone.
“In the most basic sense, basically, that’s what makes the Bay Area unique,” Janmohamed said. “It’s a beautiful place. Beauty like I’ve never seen, there’s great food and wine. There are things you can access and see and do every day that make it just a great place to visit, but I really think the people on the bay and the diversity of the bay is what makes it really unique.”
Come Sunday, the Bay will proudly pay tribute to the West Coast’s vast Latino community when Bud Bunny, a public critic of US President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration policies, headlines the Super Bowl halftime show as the latest part of the NFL’s bid to cater to its global audience.
“I think the NFL wants to make sure they reach people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to the sport,” Janmohamed said.
“The NFL does a really great job of not just making what you see on the field for four quarters of the game. When you come to the Super Bowl, they spice up that game with food and music. They do that really well, so when you bring music and sports together, you’re going to bring people who wouldn’t otherwise watch or be involved in the game.
“That choice is very purposeful and intentional to make sure we’re expansive in who’s involved and who’s going to be affected and who’s going to be able to participate. I think it was intentional. I think it’s a positive thing for us in the diversity that we’re bringing out as a region, and it’s going to be a really great show.”
Murals in San Francisco’s Mission District (Credit: Visit California)
The Super Bowl returns to Santa Clara a decade after the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium in the 50th edition of the NFL Finals.
Janmohamed remembers the cauldron of raucous noise when Colombia were in town for the Copa America not long ago, teasing much like the eyes of the world are once again looking at San Francisco.
“I walked into the stadium and the World Cup was still very far away, but I remember walking out and it was so loud,” she said. “I think what people don’t understand about the World Cup is that there is a fandom of people that you don’t see in other sports.
“They’ll be banging drums and painting faces and coming in droves. Really passionate about their team, sometimes for generations. You can’t really find that passion in another sport. And so I mean loud, colorful, colorful, chills.”
At the same time, Levi’s Stadium will shine as a central amphitheater to amplify all that the area stands for. This was evident at their Impact Awards ceremony, during which the charity 10,000 Degrees was honored for helping children in poverty secure college opportunities, and where Faatima Amen-Ra A, founder and CEO of the Women’s Premier Basketball Association, was recognized as a champion for women in professional basketball.
“I think for the Super Bowl, this is an American sport, right? It’s always a spectacle when the Super Bowl comes,” Janmohamed said. “You already have a really compelling halftime show. But I think the non-game thing that’s most exciting to me about the stadium is that the NFL has gotten really good at representing and profiling the local market in the game itself.”
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Highlights of the 2015 New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl XLIX.
Including last February’s NBA All-Star Game at the Chase Center, Janmohamed estimates a total economic impact of $1.3 billion following the presence of the Super Bowl and World Cup in the Bay Area. The Super Bowl and World Cup are also expected to bring half a million visitors to the Bay and generate sales of 400,000 hotel rooms.
“The challenge is literally just scale,” Janmohamed explained. “You have two major international events coming into your market with governing bodies in the NFL and FIFA who are not used to having another event in their market three months before or after.”
“There’s also a really great opportunity. We can talk about two events in the same year. We have a longer period of time where people are coming to the Bay, really experiencing who we are.”
“They’re not just going to be here for Super Bowl weekend. They might be here for two weeks of the tournament. The opportunity is the efficiency in the events, the impact on both events, the ability to have legacy programs that can own both. When you put people to work for the first time in the Bridge to Work program, they can work for both events. When you have the ability to build a framework for them to play the field at both events. and the footprint and allow you to do more over a longer period of time.”
Levi’s Stadium in California will host Super Bowl LX this week
It’s shaping up to be a defining year for FIFA, soccer and their collective efforts to forever break the traditional US Super Bowl-centric market, centered around California’s rich roots in the sport. Taxi driver Tana wished he had more knowledge, more support, more opportunities for young players during his childhood with the earthquakes, his path would have been potentially very different if he had. Janmohamed foresees an opportunity to achieve just that.
“Responsibility is the right word,” she said. “Very early on when I got into this business, I gathered all the soccer organizations in Bay and Bay FC and the San Jose Earthquakes and said this is a very good opportunity for us to grow the game.”
“I’ve got two kids. They both play football. This is going to be something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. A lot of times when you come to the World Cup or a really big event and you see the players you watch on TV, that’s what makes you come to the next practice, work hard in the next practice and have a good practice.”
“Making sure they have access to the games, but also how do we hold watch parties? How do we make sure all the kids we’re responsible for on a daily basis have the opportunity to be involved in the World Cup in some way, shape or form? That will encourage them to be better athletes on the field.”
For now, Janmohamed and her coaching staff are tasked with lifting Super Bowl 60, which featured the same week’s Pro Bowl games. The stars are in town, the world is coming and the Bay Area is more than ready.
“For people who come here as visitors or people who live here, to be able to have elite athletes at that level, in and around your neighborhood, eating at restaurants that you know, that’s actually really, really great,” she said.
“I think it raises the profile. You see people you might admire and or see on TV in and around your neighborhood.”
Welcome to the bay.
Watch the New England Patriots vs. the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Sunday, February 8, with coverage beginning at 10:00 PM on Sky Spots NFL before kickoff at approximately 11:30 PM