President Donald Trump said Friday that the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw will take place at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 5, calling it the kickoff to one of the largest sporting events in history.
"The World Cup draw will set up the group stage of competition. Forty-eight teams will play in 104 games across 16 North American cities, from Seattle to Vancouver to Atlanta to Miami. It's going to be so exciting for our country," Trump told reporters Friday afternoon.
"The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be one of the largest and most complex events. This will be one of the greatest events, one of the largest. In a way, it's like having many Super Bowls in a short period of time because each one of these games essentially is a Super Bowl. Some of them are bigger than Super Bowls, actually."
Earlier on Friday, Trump tied the announcement that the World Cup will have its main office at the Kennedy Center to ongoing renovations.
"We have artists from all over the world wanting to come," Trump told reporters. "I think we're signing the World Cup. The World Cup is going to have its primary office in the Kennedy Center."
He added that the building would also play a central role in the tournament's major ceremony and praised the board supporting the effort, saying they "have been absolutely incredible."
NBC News reported earlier that Trump was expected to announce the 2026 World Cup draw would be held at the Kennedy Center.
The tournament's draw, which sets the group stage of competition for the 48 countries set to participate, would mark the first major event of the quadrennial tournament, roughly six months before the first matches kick off.
Trump has sought to tie his White House closely to the World Cup — hosting related events, attending the Club World Cup final earlier this summer, and speaking regularly with FIFA chief Gianni Infantino, with whom he has grown friendly, according to a senior White House official.
FIFA projections, shared by a White House official, say the tournament will draw 6 million fans to matches in 16 North American cities and will drive $30 billion into the U.S. economy.
However, ESPN reported in late July that Las Vegas will host the 2026 World Cup draw on Dec. 5, citing multiple sources. The network said Canada and Mexico were ruled out as hosts for the ceremony, which will be staged in the United States.
The last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup, in 1994, the draw took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center. That venue is booked for this December, and The Sphere, another potential site, was also ruled out, according to sources close to the facility.
Trump said, inviting reporters to tour the Kennedy Center, that contractors are already working on the landmark facility.
"I have some great marble contractors and woodworkers," he said. "They are fixing the Kennedy Center the way it should be. It was a mess. But the bones are so great, they have marble that is unbelievable. It hasn't been polished, it hasn't been taken care of."
He said the project would preserve much of the original material.
"Big, white, beautiful slabs — you couldn't buy it," Trump said. "We're renovating it, and the Kennedy Center, within a year, will be unbelievable."
Trump added that the exterior and interior are both being updated.
"We're painting the columns a different color," he said. "It's got a fake gold. If you don't use 24-karat gold, it doesn't look good. We're going to paint it a beautiful white. It'll look beautiful with the white marble behind it. The marble is all being renovated inside and out."
He added that the interior work includes new seating and stage improvements.
Trump credited the board overseeing the work, saying nearly 40 members "have made great contributions for it."
He said visitors may soon be able to see the progress, promising to show "beautiful slabs" that "look like they got put in yesterday by a top marble smith."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.