The true winners of the World Cup

It’s a big week for sports, with the Six Nations championship beginning on Thursday, the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Friday, and the Super Bowl on Sunday.

But the biggest event of them all is yet to come: The World Cup. The games don't kick off until June, but for soccer fans, the excitement is already palpable. While only one team can bring home the final ‘W,’ according to JPMorgan, there’s a slew of industries that will be raking in big bucks as the world’s attention turns to soccer—and investors who position themselves now could score a tidy profit.

Tourney talk

Ticket resellers are poised to be the biggest winners of them all. Fans have requested over 500 million tickets to World Cup games, but there’s only about 7 million available, meaning there’s going to be some serious scalping action in the months ahead. The event is expected to bring in between $1 billion and $1.8 billion in the ticket resale market, and according to JPMorgan, the company that benefits the most from all that reselling is StubHub, which could own up to $800 million of that massive market.

Another sector set to see a boost is lodging and transportation. Airbnb is projected to be the biggest winner there, according to JPMorgan: not only does the company have an official FIFA partnership, but it’s likely to see roughly $330 million in bookings as fans travel to watch their teams. Booking.com and Expedia are expected to benefit from travel, too. And Uber and Lyft should see a boom in business, while fans watching the games at home will give Doordash a boost.

Tickets and travel are obvious, but two other big winners of the World Cup will focus their efforts on your screens rather than around stadiums. The event is going to be a major driver of global ad spending, which means Meta Platforms and Alphabet, the two biggest advertising platforms on the planet, will reap the rewards: JPMorgans expects Alphabet to generate over $900 million in extra revenue from the World Cup, while Meta should bring in over $550 million.

JPMorgan also highlighted a basket of 30 international companies that could get a boost from the competition, including Anheuser-Busch, Heineken, Adidas, and more.

Playing the long game

While analysts foresee huge opportunities for these companies to make money, there are factors that could thwart their projections. For example, there are political risks, given the US has travel restrictions on at least four countries competing. Fears of immigration enforcement could also deter fans, according to Barron’s.

“There are also some displacement/substitution factors to consider as some consumers may forgo a concert or two for the World Cup, and some countries could actually experience reduced travel/vacations short-term while the World Cup is running and people stay close to home,” the JPMorgan strategists wrote.

Let the games begin.—LB