Podcast - How Hosting the FIFA World Cup Will Benefit Miami's Real Estate Market

Isabel Diaz: Hi everyone. My name is Isabel Diaz, and I'm an attorney here at Holland & Knight, an international law firm that services companies and different groups throughout the world. I'm very excited to be here. I'm specifically part of the real estate group here in the Miami office. I'm joined by my colleague Alexa Duarte, who's also part of the real estate department here in Miami. And we're very, very excited to have such an influential and powerful woman who's left already a legacy in Miami-Dade County and in Miami generally and in the state of Florida already in what she's done. We have here with us Alina Hudak, who is currently the president and CEO of [the] FIFA World Cup '26 Miami Host Committee. One of the things that I found very interesting when I read about you is I didn't know that you were the first woman city manager for the city of Miami Beach, and also first woman county manager for Miami-Dade County. And I was really impressed with that. So I'm going to turn it over to you so you can tell us a little bit about yourself. And then, obviously, we're here to talk about the FIFA World Cup '26 Miami Host Committee. So tell us about yourself and how you became involved in that next chapter in your life. 

Alina Hudak: Well, thank you, Isabel. I hope I can match your energy, I love it. I have a 40-year history of public service in Miami-Dade County that I'm very proud of. I am a Miamian, I came to this country when I was 6 years old and the dream was always to be in Miami. And I've been here since I was 10 and went to University of Miami, so my entire life has been devoted in one way or another not only to serving our community, but to being a part of it. So I'm thrilled and honored to be here today participating with you, but also to be in this capacity to share in this legacy moment for our community. You know, the Miami Host Committee and what we're charged with doing is this really important moment to really bring Miami to the international sports global market in a way that we've already done with things like Art Basel, for example. Miami Beach is certainly front and center in December in the international culture and art world. So I think being able to host a World Cup here and seven matches during June-July 2026 is really going to take us to another level in the sports world. We have a long history of hosting national championships, Super Bowls. I personally have been a part of six Super Bowl host committees, which I'm, again, really proud of. But I think this is a really legacy moment for South Florida and for Miami, and I'm thrilled to be a small part of it.

Isabel Diaz: I'm going to turn it over to Alexa for our next question.

Alexa Duarte: Hi Alina, so good to meet with you and to speak with you today about this. So the World Cup is a massive event, it's expected to bring hundreds of thousands of people to Miami, not only for the seven matches, but for the fan fest that you have going on. How will the local communities and real estate developers benefit from such a massive event here in Miami?

Alina Hudak: Well, first and foremost, the entire economy in South Florida is going to benefit. We have projections that predict that there's going to be an over $1 billion economic impact. The impact is significant, not just because of the time of year that it is. It's June-July, which is a time that traditionally our tourism revenues are down, our hotels are empty, our restaurants are suffering. So to have 30 to 39 days of activation where hundreds of thousands of tourists and visitors are going to be here for seven matches is really significant. And what I tell people in business is it's not only the hospitality industry that's going to benefit. Obviously, in real estate, for example, I mean, obviously your markets are only as vibrant as the people who want to live and buy and purchase real estate. So I think we're an extraordinarily popular destination, and we certainly know that post-COVID, a lot of people have come to South Florida and chosen to stay here and make South Florida home. But again, this is another opportunity to introduce the real estate market and the beauty that is Miami to yet another demographic and another market. And international market, not just a Central American or South American market — we're certainly the gateway to the Americas — but a European market. So it's an incredible opportunity for all of us, not only to showcase South Florida and what the opportunities are here, but to showcase the state of Florida as well.

Isabel Diaz: Thank you, and leading to that, I know you said I have a lot of energy, and yes, that is, and I'm feeling it from you, and I love that. What excites you? So, just to give you a little bit of background, I had the opportunity of working on the Miami Freedom Park lease agreement, and Alexa helped me, and I remember being at the commission meeting when the project got approved, and going outside, and seeing the large crowd and all the media, and to me, being at that commission meeting and going outside and seeing the crowd was so exciting for me. So what excites you about bringing this big event and bringing sports generally to the South Florida community and maybe like on a personal level, right? What was your why to saying yes to taking on this role?

Alina Hudak: Yeah, that's a great question because it was a decision point. I had retired twice from two very high-profile positions, and quite frankly, I had a vision of myself going into academia and really shifting courses, and when this opportunity presented itself, it took me all of about an hour to decide to take it because again, it is such an incredible moment for Miami. And if you're a person like me, this is my home, this is where my children were born, this is where I hope that my daughters will build their lives [here]. And so for me, it was just such an opportunity to use what I've learned in government and my ability to navigate the requirements of the operational needs of what it takes to put something like this on and to leverage that and maximize that, but to really be able to do it right and to lead a team that is made of professionals and people that know about public safety, that know what it takes to put on large events, event production people. And so it was very exciting. Quite frankly, I didn't know much about soccer at the time. And I certainly had no knowledge of the impact of a World Cup. In the year that I've been involved, it's amazing to me the importance of soccer as a sport worldwide, the amount of viewership, the amount of social media following that soccer has — most people don't realize that the three athletes that have the highest level of following and engagement in social media are three soccer players, professional soccer players. So for me, it's been an incredible education, but also a really wonderful opportunity to be part of something that is important from a legacy perspective and from an economic perspective, for sure.

Alexa Duarte: Being former city manager of Miami Beach, you're no stranger to hosting massive events. You mentioned you were also on Super Bowl committees before. How do you think this particular event will be different in terms of the impact that it'll have on the community and what legacy it'll leave behind, specifically on the real estate market?

Alina Hudak: I can tell you from a planning perspective already, there's no doubt in my mind that this is the most significant global sporting event that has ever come to Miami and to the state of Florida. There's nothing like it. There's nothing that compares to it. I mean, this is really the world stage. Seven matches, again, I can't emphasize enough, over 30 days of activation. So from that perspective, there is no comparison. And, you know, again, as a city manager of a global destination — and Miami Beach certainly is that, it's a very small city from a governance perspective, because in terms of number of employees and operations, it's actually considered as a small city, but from its significance, I can tell you there's nowhere in the world that I would go and say, "I'm the city manager of the city of Miami Beach," and people didn't know where I came from. And I think that World Cup soccer is the exact same thing. There's nowhere in the world that you can go and say, "I am part of the North American World Cup in 2026," and people don't know what you're doing and the importance and the significance of it. So I think it's very important. Again, I'll reiterate to our real estate market, I think the economic impact of the amount of visitors, the ability to really offer opportunity to people who come to visit here, to stay here permanently and to invest here locally, not only in property but obviously in our economy in some other way. It makes the economy vibrant, which makes people have affordability and offer people the opportunity to invest in real estate.

Isabel Diaz: Well, with that, we wanted to say thank you. We also wanted to say FIFA is very lucky you were chosen this enormous, but well within your powerhouse to get this going, and hopefully maybe we can go to some matches.