On June 11, just before Mexico took on South Africa in the 2026 World Cup opening match at 2 p.m., the Coopers Tavern was turning people away.
A wave of Adidas Bold Green, Mexico’s official color, saturated the bar on Madison’s Capitol Square, filling it to capacity. Golden eagle emblems emblazoned on the team’s kits swayed with each cheer as Mexico took the attack to South Africa, scoring in the ninth minute.
The cacophony of cheers was so loud, people near the Capitol building turned toward Coopers to figure out what caused the uproar.
The Coopers Tavern anticipates being so busy with the 2026 World Cup, it is hiring the near equivalent of a starting 11 and a manager (for newbies, that’s the soccer — or football — starting lineup).
“People come out of the woodwork for the World Cup,” Coopers Tavern owner Peter McElvanna said. “We normally employ about 60 people, and it’ll be closer to 70 for the World Cup.
“It’s created an extra 12 jobs,” McElvanna said. “Extra people in the kitchen, extra hosts, extra food runners…. We’re anticipating a bumper summer.”
For McElvanna and others hosting related events around Madison, the World Cup is a boon to business. New this year is the increase to 48 teams from 32. As a fan, McElvanna doesn’t like it, but as a business owner, it means more pints and food being sold as the tournament throws more matches and countries into the mix.
Coopers Tavern, 20 W. Mifflin St., has bars on two floors. And though the upstairs bar wasn’t open on opening match day, it will be for the knockout round of the tournament — the serious end. The World Cup’s 104 matches play over 39 days. During the early group stages, three to four matches are played, with rest rounds separating knockout rounds. The final will be played at 2 p.m. on July 19.
Coopers Tavern has hosted multiple World Cup events since it opened in 2010. They seat 76 downstairs, and the upstairs bar seats 122. For the recent Champions League final in May, which pit two of the best club teams in Europe against each other, McElvanna said he turned away at least 50 people.
It’s a much different economic situation than what some host cities for the World Cup experience.
Historically, according to The Guardian, World Cups don’t often inject as much money as they claim into local economies. It varies from host city to host city, but FIFA takes the lion’s share of revenue, asking for concessions like waiving taxes on ticket sales, banning sponsorships and even paying to remove non-FIFA branding from stadiums (hence MetLife Stadium being called New York New Jersey Stadium during the tournament’s duration).
Prost, a short walk away from Coopers at 401 E. Washington Ave., had 150 people at the opening World Cup match. One man in a cowboy hat held aloft an imitation of the FIFA World Cup Trophy as steins of beer were drained.
While the German-inspired beer hall located in a former church won’t be hiring more workers, it is adding more shifts to handle the huge numbers of World Cup viewers.
Prost owner Brian Reynolds said he expects a strong summer with this World Cup compared to four years ago. At that time, the business had recently opened, just two months before the World Cup in Qatar.
He’s hoping for “more beer sales and less coffee sales,” he said, jokingly referring to the time difference, where many games were shown early in the morning.
Working Draft Brewery, 1129 E. Wilson St., is also expecting a much better outcome, business-wise, compared to four years ago.
“In the past, the Cup was in a different place in the world, so the games were much earlier in the day,” Working Draft co-owner Ben Feifarek said. “We opened early for a few of them. We got a small crowd, but while it was fun, I wouldn’t say that it was worth the squeeze, as it were.”
For example, games in Qatar were eight hours ahead of Madison’s time zone. This year, many matches are in the afternoon and evening at normal business hours.
As a European beer and vibe destination, Prost and Reynolds have already seen how fans show out for teams. Prost is the official bar for English Premier League side Arsenal, which recently won the league for the first time in 22 years in May.
“We’re a European destination establishment, so there’s nothing bigger in Europe than football, so we’re excited to host,” Reynolds said. “If you don’t think European football is on the rise, just come here on a random World Cup game and tell me it’s not popular in the United States.”
As for Working Draft, it’s a local haunt for local club Forward Madison fans.
“We are hosting the World Cup games (because) we are fans and will be watching anyways,” Feifarek said. “Second, we have a good relationship with The Flock supporter group of Forward Madison, so we see a lot of traffic surrounding the games at Breese Stevens. And third, it’s just a fun way to get people together.”
More ways to watch
Forward Madison and Rally FC have hosted watch parties at the Forward Club at Breese Stevens, an event space with food, during the World Cup. The teams also broadcast the USA opener on June 12 on the big screen for all to watch on the pitch.
Even though they’re a club organization and not a bar, they expect to make extra money selling drinks and food.
“The overall impact for the club, for us primarily, this is a community piece and a way to get more people interested in the sport as a whole, and in turn, the club too,” Forward Madison General Manager Kyler Donovan said.
He said the organization would love to be the destination for Madison for the World Cup, especially the USA. And he also expects to see a bump in tickets sold for Forward and Rally matches.
“It helps keep people here a little longer,” Donovan said, noting that the Rally FC match on the 12th began at 6 p.m., and then the USA opener against Paraguay began right after at 8 p.m.
“It’s not going to make or break our business by any means, but it’s a nice perk to have with the World Cup where you can try to keep people invested a little bit longer.”
Other bars and restaurants hope to be the home for fans as well, including the restaurant Toro y Pampa in Middleton.
The owners form a house divided: co-owner Carlos Lema supports Uruguay while his wife and co-owner Silvana Santander supports Argentina, which won the World Cup four years ago with star player Lionel Messi.
Messi kissing the World Cup trophy welcomes customers via a mural, and Lema — though he was not happy Argentina won four years ago — wants Toro Y Pampa to be a community spot for the Argentine, Uruguayan and greater Madison community during this World Cup. It has been showing games at the restaurant throughout the tournament.
Toro y Pampa also hosted a party before Argentina’s opening match offsite at Alumni Park on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, to gather Argentinians in Wisconsin to celebrate the team. It held a party after the event at the restaurant at 3303 Parmenter St.
Lema said he hopes to bring the community together, bring awareness of the nascent business and see more food and drink sales during the monthlong tournament. He said Argentine people even came from out of state to watch matches and enjoy food from their home country.
“We definitely expect (a bump) with more people coming to watch a game and consume and all that,” Lema said. “It will help us, and that is the goal.”
As a newer business, Lema said the World Cup could help them get their name out. He recommended diners come visit during an Argentina match, order Argentine food off the menu, and have Quilmes, an Argentine beer brewed with Patagonian water, for the ultimate experience.
Some of the people who could show up include a roving band of pick-up soccer players.
A Verona soccer group boasts about 275 members. Run by Tony Rice, the group plays soccer on the west side of Madison. While Rice hosts soccer match watch parties at his home, the World Cup has the group seeking a community viewing spot.
They planned to visit the Draft House, 1010 Enterprise Drive, in Verona to watch Spain take on Uruguay on June 26 and may attend more matches based on interest.
Rice said the appeal of the group is not to be “a burden on anyone’s wallet,” but he still expects his hardcore group of weekly players to be out and about in the community.
And for some who like to go out anyway, the World Cup is a good excuse.
During the Mexico versus South Africa game at Coopers, couple Chris Little and Michel Lara sat at the bar enjoying drinks and food.
Lara, a Mexican fan, was bringing Little to his first World Cup viewing party experience.
Donning a Mexican kit, she said the couple attended the Champions League final at the bar in May and expect to follow Mexico and the U.S. throughout the tournament.
“It’s a really good opportunity to enjoy games with a community instead of watching them by ourselves,” Lara said. “We normally like going out. This is another excuse for us, but a good excuse.”
Little added that the atmosphere can’t be beat.
“You almost feel like you’re at the game with how people celebrate when a goal is scored, or a big play is made,” he said.
While surveying the bar in mid-June, owner McElvanna said pints of Stella Artois, Krombacher and Guinness were selling at a strong pace. He expects even more fans to show out for France, Argentina and England matches.
And while he has been busy, he will have his own World Cup moment when he attends a match between Norway and Senegal in New Jersey.
In 1994 he attended a match at the World Cup in New Jersey between Ireland and Norway, but this time he will be with one of his kids.
And you can bet, just like people at his bar, the Irishman will be downing some creamy pints of Guiness.
