The FIFA World Cup 2026 has taken the United States by storm. It’s the first time the US has hosted the tournament in more than three decades, with matches spread across 11 host cities and 10 million fans traveling from around the world. The World Cup hasn’t just packed stadiums with excited fans —  it’s reshaped travel patterns, traffic conditions, and driving behavior.

Group Stage Analysis

CMT analyzed how driving behavior shifted across the 11 US host cities during the World Cup group stage, from June 12–27, 2026, comparing game days with equivalent non-event days. The analysis measured distracted driving, hard braking, and congestion near the stadium to understand how the tournament affected road safety and traffic.

To capture where fans were traveling, we defined a regional impact area for each host city covering the primary travel corridors leading to stadiums and official fan zones and downtown viewing districts, where applicable. A separate stadium impact area measured traffic conditions immediately surrounding each venue.

The results reveal a clear pattern: distracted driving increased across most host cities, traffic backed up significantly around every stadium, and the greatest road safety risks emerged after the final whistle. 

The analysis examined three metrics: 

Phone tapping events (per 100 miles driven) — a proxy for distracted driving across the broader city and its major travel corridors.

Hard braking events (per 100 miles driven) — a measure of reactive driving behavior.

Near-stadium congestion — measured by the percentage of time drivers traveled between 0–20 mph, indicating traffic congestion surrounding the stadiums. 

Key takeaways

1. Distracted driving increased across most host cities, led by San Francisco and Boston.

10 of the 11 US host cities experienced higher levels of distracted driving on game days than on similar days. San Francisco saw a +10.1% increase and Boston saw a +9.7% increase, the largest all-day increases. Seattle was the only city where distraction declined (-0.7%). 

2. The highest-risk windows took place after the final whistle. 

Across most host cities, distracted driving and hard braking peaked after matches ended. Boston recorded one of the tournament’s sharpest post-game increases, with a 23.2% jump in distraction and 14.1% increase in hard braking. In Los Angeles, distraction climbed from +6.2% before matches to +14.2% afterward. Hard braking also surged 10.7% post-game. In New York/New Jersey, distraction was elevated 8.2% before games and 7.5% after games. 

3. Every host city experienced significant congestion. Some handled it better than others. 

Slow-speed congestion near stadiums surged in all 11 host cities, underscoring the transportation challenge of moving tens of thousands of fans before and after each match. Miami experienced the tournament’s most severe congestion with an increase over 102.7% throughout the day. In Boston and New York/New Jersey, post-game congestion exceeded 100%. 

4. Heavy traffic didn’t necessarily mean more hard braking.

Overall, hard braking remained relatively stable throughout game days outside the post-game period, with many cities recording fewer hard braking events than on similar days. Slower traffic likely reduced opportunities for sudden braking, even as distracted driving and congestion increased. The tournament’s biggest safety challenge wasn’t aggressive driving — it was keeping drivers focused behind the wheel.

For a deeper look at how risky driving and congestion changed throughout the tournament, explore our interactive dashboard. Compare all 11 U.S. host cities, drill down into every group-stage match, and see how driving behavior changed before kickoff, during play, and after the final whistle.