Julio Cortes on 2026 planning + Washington soccer history

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(Crowd Cheering)

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Kyle
Picture this, summer 2026, sun's out here in the Puget Sound, scarves are being thrown around everywhere, watch parties are being packed, and the whole region is vibing. I can picture Kyle, but why is this happening? This is the FIFA World Cup, my man. This is a big deal.

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Emily
And behind that energy, a lot of unglamorous work. Permits, transit plans, public safety, small businesses staffing up, and cities coordinating like it's a second job.

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Kyle
So if you're coming here or you live here, this show is gonna be your guide of how to make the most out of this experience of a massive event coming to the Puget Sound.

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Emily
We'll tell you what's happening, what to do, and how to actually enjoy this.

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Kyle
And we'll tell you the story of why this really matters here in Washington, because Washington didn't become soccer country by an accident. There's a whole history behind soccer here.

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Emily
Welcome to From Pitch to Puget Sound.

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Emily
Okay, now that you're here, we should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Emily, I'm your Civic Clarity co-host. So I'm gonna help you translate what's happening behind the scenes, planning, timelines, who's responsible for what, and what's real versus rumor.

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Kyle
And I'm Kyle, I'm gonna be coming at it from more of a soccer lens, focusing a lot on the history, the culture, the supporter energy, and all of the stories that explain why Washington has been such a big capital for soccer within the United States.

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Emily
Together, we're building a show that's part guide, part story, and your full resource for Washington soccer and beyond.

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Kyle
This is From Pitch to Puget Sound, your Snohomish County first guide for soccer's biggest summer, plus the story that explains why this all matters in this area.

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Emily
Presented by Snohomish Podcast Network. Every episode, we'll do two things. We'll give you practical Snohomish County first guidance, where to go, how to get around, and what to expect.

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Kyle
And we're gonna bring in the bigger soccer story here, the history, the culture, and the people who have built soccer in Washington.

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Emily
Today's pilot is a perfect example. We're starting with what it takes to get ready right now, and then we're zooming out to the history that explains why this region is ready in the first place.

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Kyle
Because the big question isn't just, are we excited? It's, is Snohomish County prepared?

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Emily
Exactly. We talked with state representative Julio Cortes, who represents Washington's 38th legislative district. We asked him three things. What's happening behind the scenes right now, the planning, the coordination, and the stuff most people never see? What impact this is expected to have on us locally for cities, small businesses, and everyday residents, and what the legislature is doing to make things easier for our hosts and guests, so the region can welcome people without everything turning into absolute chaos.

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Kyle
And whether you're visiting a local, this is the stuff that shapes your experience.

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Emily
Here's our conversation.

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Emily
All right, well, let's talk FIFA. One thing that's so funny is I don't know anything about soccer, to be honest. I'm excited, and what you shared with me was amazing from Atlanta, they had a really good description of what was going on in Atlanta. So let's talk about what FIFA is, and our role here in Washington State and Everett in this World Cup.

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Julio Cortes
Yeah, I mean, honestly, gonna be the largest sporting event in the history of mankind. And it sounds fantastical, but that's how big this is gonna be. I mean, it's the first time in World Cup history where we go from 32 teams to over 40 teams. So there's gonna be more nations involved. And it's the first time in World Cup history where more than one nation is hosting. So it's the United States, Mexico, and Canada, all three countries came together and developed this idea of hosting every other country that has qualified over the World Cup in all three of these countries. So it's gonna be incredible. Usual World Cup game gets more views, or as many views as a Super Bowl. The final, I think it's over like 4 billion people that tune in to watch, so that's a big number.

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Emily
Yeah, the Super Bowl has got nothing on this World Cup.

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Julio Cortes
Yeah, and it's gonna be great. I think it's not only gonna be fun for folks that are into soccer, but even if you're not into soccer, it's a whole show. There's gonna be performances. There's gonna be a lot of people from all across the world that will come to Washington State even, and we'll be able to showcase the beauty of our state, our mountains, our trees, the water, and us, the people.

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Emily
Absolutely, and there's 48 teams, is that the right number?

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Julio Cortes
48 teams, or typically it's 32.

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Emily
Oh, wow.

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Julio Cortes
So it's a bit of a jump.

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Emily
So as a state rep, we talked a little bit about your excitement around this, but also the preparation that we've had as a state. And so I think there's a couple things that you've been doing to help the region get ready, and you also have a role at the city. And so you've been kind of involved in some of this, like bringing people to Everett, engaging the community on this, like being prepared forever, even though the events are in Seattle, there's gonna be a lot of people that will be in this area in particular too, right?

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Julio Cortes
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, conversations at the state level started a couple years ago with the local organizing committee, which was a committee that was charged with bringing some games to Seattle. They came to the Technology, Economic, Development, and Veterans Committee, which I sit on, and gave us a little bit of an overview of what to expect with the World Cup coming to Seattle. And I remember Chair Ryu, the chair of the committee, asked all of us, you know, is there anybody that would like to kind of take this on and work with the local organizing committee to get some structure and organize as a state? And you know, my shoulder almost came out of my socket. I braised my hands so fast, so hard. I was like, I love soccer. I've been playing since I was a kid. And when Chair Ryu chose me to do that, I was very, very excited, but also nervous, right? Because it is a lot to set up. There's transportation issues, public safety issues, sexual exploitation issues. And so, you know, I got to work with the local organizing committee. And one of the first things that we started talking about is they were anticipating around 700,000 people from international markets coming to Seattle. That's a lot of people. So how do we make sure that, one, we spread the love a little bit more across the state, and two, how do we move those individuals? And so we came up with this plan of having fan zones. So Seattle, you know, will host the six games. They have a huge fan zone. But we went to nine other cities to talk about, how can we activate these cities? And the cities that we chose, see if I can remember all of them, it's Bellingham, Everett, Tacoma, Bremerton, Olympia, Vancouver, Washington, Spokane, Tri-Cities. Is that nine?

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Emily
I think so. I was just watching you. I was like, yes, got it. I was not looking at your fingers, or I was like, aren't you counting on your hands?

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Julio Cortes
I wasn't then, I lost track. I'm pretty sure that's nine. So, you know, these nine fan zones, we meet on a regular basis right now, and we are all charged with hosting watch parties. So, you know, the big screens, beer gardens, family zones to really kind of just make it a party during the games that Seattle is gonna be hosting here. And so right now the city of Everett is planning to do it at the Port of Everett, for example. So we have a great partnership with the Port of Everett, with the Snohomish County Sports Commission. And we're meeting right now, I think like two times a month to just talk logistics, talk transportation, talk security. And that's just here at the city. Then we have more meetings with all the fan zones across the state and the local organics committee, as we develop kind of plans through FIFA of sponsorships and any grant supports that those fan zones can get.

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Emily
That's awesome. And you said Seattle, right?

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Julio Cortes
Yeah, Seattle is the main fan zone. Yeah.

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Emily
Are there any games you're excited about, or you can jump in with any topics here that you wanna discuss?

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Julio Cortes
Well, no, I mean, I think that, you know, first it's gonna be super fun. Again, whether you're a big soccer fan or not, I think that there's gonna be amazing celebrations across the state that is gonna expose people to soccer parties, which I believe are very, very different from just a normal party. It's really, really fun. But also it's gonna expose our state to a lot of countries. So it's cool because we're gonna learn a lot from a lot of other cultures, but those cultures are gonna learn a lot about not just the United States, but Washington state. Which is the best state data proven in my mind. But, you know, the economic impacts that are gonna come to our state, I think, are really exciting too. All those people that are gonna be coming from international markets are gonna need a place to lay their head, a place to eat, and a place to drink. And everybody likes to buy a little knick-knack. So, you know, because of that regressive tax code, sales tax is where we get a big chunk of our revenue. So with that many people coming, buying, it's gonna, I think, give us a good economic boost, which we desperately need, I mean, today, but.

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Emily
So did you already say how much we are expected to gain, like Washington state itself, from the economic impact of these six games happening here?

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Julio Cortes
I don't know that number. I know that there was a report that the economic impact of the games to Seattle was gonna be around 900 million. So that's just to Seattle. Again, that's where the bulk of the action is gonna be. So it's gonna be a pretty nice chunk for the state as well. Fantastic. Yeah, the other concern I have is transportation, right? How are we gonna move that many people? The games are happening in Seattle. Again, there's six of them. They're gonna attract a lot of folks, but just up I-5, you know, Vancouver, BC, they're gonna have seven games. And those games are one or two days apart. And so I'm anticipating a lot of folks wanting to go up and down the I-5 corridor to, you know, experience as many games as possible. So there's concerns around, is there gonna be a choke point at the border? How do we work with our federal government and the Canadian government to make it as streamlined as possible without creating any safety issues? But then, you know, even just folks that are staying in Bellingham or Everett, getting down to Seattle, we're working with community transit and track to see how do we move that many people as efficiently as possible.

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Emily
Yeah. And speaking of other concerns, are there any concerns you have for our ability to welcome all of these people when they come?

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Julio Cortes
Yeah, I think there's a few. I mean, the one that comes to mind right away is, are we gonna have enough places for 700,000 people to sleep, you know? And so, you know, I spoke to a couple hotels in the Everett area and they're already getting calls. As soon as a draw happened and folks knew which countries are gonna come here, they started getting calls for blocks of rooms, which means that, you know, fans are starting to say, okay, my team's playing in Seattle, so we need to kind of get a place set up now. So I also got a report a couple years ago when we were first talking about the World Cup that was anticipating every single hotel room to be fully booked for June and July, two hours outside of Seattle. And so that's one of the concerns, is where are we gonna keep that many people? I think the hotels are gonna be great, but I've also had great conversations with Airbnb, for example, and they are kind of ramping up efforts to make it as streamlined as possible for people to open up their home. You know, there's folks that don't like soccer, don't like crowds. And so I've talked to a few friends that are like that and they wanna travel. And I said, okay, great, open up your house for Airbnb. You'll make some pretty nice cash. You know, demand is gonna be high, so if you have a home that you're gonna have available or a room or two in your house and you're gonna be there, you can rent the rooms out to folks that need a place to stay during the World Cup and make some pretty solid cash. But Airbnb has been great in finding ways to streamline their operations, to make it as easy as possible for folks who have never been an Airbnb host to become one.

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Kyle
That's a reality check.

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Emily
And I love that it's not just big event energy, it's timeliness, it's coordination, it's the trade-off.

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Kyle
Absolutely, and we appreciate all their hard work because this is gonna make the experience super cool. Now here's a pivot, because if you're listening to that and thinking, okay, cool, I'm glad we're expending a whole bunch of effort into making this a reality, why do we care so much about this here in the Puget Sound?

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Emily
Or why does soccer feel so baked in here? We're going to take a quick sprint through Washington's soccer routes, high level, no homework required.

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Kyle
And as you listen, keep this in mind, the planning you just heard about, it's happening in a place that's been building a soccer culture for more than a century since the inception of this state.

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Kyle
If you've ever wondered why the Puget Sound feels like it breathes soccer,

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Kyle
why stands are always packed at Loom & Field, why people care around scarfs with them on match days, and why there's thousands of youth clubs all around the region, and it feels like this just popped up out of nowhere? Well, here's the twist. This didn't start in 2009, not in 1974, not even in 1949. It started way earlier back when soccer wasn't even the word that people used. Today, we're gonna do a quick high level sprint through Puget Sound's soccer story, how working class immigrant game took root, survived wars and economic swings, and grew into a regional identity.

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Kyle
And we're building right up to the biggest moment yet, the FIFA World Cup arriving in Seattle this summer.

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Kyle
In its earliest days, it wasn't soccer. It was called Association Football, and arrived in Washington with immigrants who brought the game with them. In the 1880s and 1890s, Washington's population exploded with timber and mining and all of that booming, and workers were pouring into the state. By 1900, about 20% of the state's population were foreign born. A lot of those newcomers came from Northern Europe and places where Association Football was already a part of everyday life.

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Kyle
The first published mention of Association Football in the state of Washington shows up around 1890 or so. And by 1893, the game had reached Seattle, where a match against Everett was played at Madison Park right on Lake Washington. So if there's a theme from day one of this sport in our region, it's this,

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Kyle
Community First,

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Kyle
Competition Second,

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Kyle
Pride Always.

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Kyle
Once the game took hold, it organized fast. By January, 1906, the Northwestern Association Football League formed with teams from Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, and Port Blakely. For those that might not know where Port Blakely is, it's across Puget Sound from Seattle. And soccer wasn't tucked away in some quiet corner, it was polling crowds.

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Kyle
Big matches moved to places like Woodland Park, and by March, 1906, an estimated 2,000 people showed up to watch. This was approximately one to 3% of the entire population of the Puget Sound at the time. This was a big deal back then. Of course, there were also bragging rights involved with all this, but there were trophies that were real stakes for this too. The Macmillan Cup became one of the most recognizable prizes in Washington soccer history.

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Kyle
Then World War I reshaped everything. The Puget Sound became a shipbuilding powerhouse. And as the community changed, so did the sports. Shipyard teams formed, and the power of the game moved from mining towns down to the docks.

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Kyle
After World War I, the sport hit a lull. Adults organized league play in Puget Sound briefly faded. But here's what's wild. Even when those adult leagues slowed down, youth soccer surged. In 1921, Seattle had 54 grammar schools organizing soccer teams. That pipeline mattered, because those kids became the next generation of senior players. By 1922, the game reorganized again with the Seattle City League. And yes, that included teams connected to major community anchors, like the Boeing Airplane Company.

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Kyle
And then comes one of my favorite details. In 1926, Scottish tea magnet, Sir Thomas Lipton, yes, that Lipton, like Lipton Tea, donated a massive sterling silver trophy for youth competition in Washington. The value of this trophy? $1,500 at that time, which is insane for a youth competition trophy. But that's not just a trophy, that's a statement. That tells you how much this game mattered here.

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Kyle
And if we thought things couldn't get worse, after World War I, of course, the U.S. went through the Great Depression. This was a challenging time for communities. Jobs were being lost, families were being pushed, and you would think that soccer wouldn't be important. But soccer was important to these communities, and thus they persevered as best they could. Clubs survived through local sponsors, like small businesses, breweries, and community organizations. The names may have changed, the sponsors may have changed, but the soccer stayed the same.

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Kyle
During World War II, Italian prisoners of war, who volunteered in Italian service units and Puget Sound, were allowed to play in a state-organized league, and they won it, going to show how Puget Sound's soccer has always been about bringing communities together, no matter what backgrounds they come from. That was just the start. In June 1949, England's Newcastle United, a historic English soccer team that's now in the English Premier League, came to Seattle for a postseason tour stop and played local, quote unquote, "all stars."

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Kyle
The result? A brutal 11 to one loss, but that doesn't really matter. What really matters is what Newcastle's manager said afterwards. Basically, if you wanna grow the game, you need to dress up your game and get better fields, and let the quality rise with it. And Puget Sound leaders listened. The State Association took action, making improvements such as improving venues at Lower Woodland, adding more roster flexibility, and ensuring that there were more opportunities for younger players. And that's the blueprint we keep seeing about soccer in the Puget Sound region. A challenge arrives, and the region responds. So when we talk about the Puget Sound as a soccer region, it's not hype, it's history. And this was just a small selection, a tasting of the history that we have here of soccer and what came before it here in the Puget Sound. This place didn't inherit soccer culture. It built it. We now have seven professional soccer teams in the Puget Sound in the state of Washington alone, and that's growing.

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Kyle
Starting with immigrant communities and evolving with coal towns, shipyards, school leagues, local sponsors, wartime disruptions, and moments that forced the region to raise its standards. And now, in 2026, the world is coming here.

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Kyle
The FIFA World Cup isn't just a tournament landing in Seattle, it's the latest chapter in a story that started back when the sport was still called Association Football, when teams traveled by boat, when trophies were donated by railroads and team magnets, and when thousands packed into Woodland Park to watch a winner match. So the question isn't, is the Puget Sound ready for the World Cup? The real question is, is the World Cup ready for the Puget Sound?

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Kyle
Man, that's the part that I love. This isn't just a new soccer city story. It's a long time coming story. And it truly does change your experience if you're coming here in 2026, or if you've been here and you want to experience the World Cup. You're not just visiting for matches.

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Emily
You're stepping into a region that's been getting ready for this moment for generations.

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Kyle
And a huge shout out to the Washington State Legends of Soccer organization, a nonprofit here in the Puget Sound that helps curate the history of soccer within the state. Thank you guys so much for having information that makes it possible for us to dive deep into the history of Washington State soccer.

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Emily
Before we go, for those ready and wanting to visit Snohomish County for FIFA 2026, there's a few things that you should know. If you're visiting, consider staying north of Seattle for easier access, more space, and a real local scene. If you're local, expect weekend surges. Watch party hotspots will fill up fast, but we are going to have so much fun welcoming people to Snohomish County. And if you're bringing family, look for daytime viewing options and community events, there's going to be a lot beyond bars.

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Kyle
And here's our promise as we go through these episodes, we're going to keep these takeaways specific, down to cities, neighborhood, venues, how to quote unquote survive and what to do next.

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Kyle
This has been from Pitch to Puget Sound.

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Emily
Presented by Snohomish Podcast Network.

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Kyle
Next time we're going to be starting with where to stay, where to watch and how to build a weekend around it, especially given that Everett is one of the big watch party centers within Snohomish County.

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Emily
And we'll keep pulling back the curtain on what's happening behind the scenes, so you can plan with confidence.

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Emily
If you're a city tourism organization or local business that wants visitors to experience Snohomish County, not just Seattle, this show is built for you.

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Kyle
We're going to be looking for presenting partners and episode partners for this 2026 season of from Pitch to Puget Sound. Reach out to our show coordinator, it's the more details are in the show notes, but we're always looking for folks to help us bring this story to life to more people around the Puget Sound.

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Kyle
And if you're a local business, building watch party energy, a brewery, a restaurant, a venue, we want to do a feature on what you're doing.

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Emily
Reach out through the link in the show notes. Quick note, this podcast is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by FIFA or the FIFA World Cup.

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Kyle
All right, subscribe on whatever platform you're listening this to, hit the like button, give us a rating, send this to a friend, we'll get you ready for the summer of 2026. Tune in next time.

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Emily
And we'll meet you back here on The Pitch.