Nearly eight years to the day since the 2026 FIFA World Cup was awarded to the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and the opening day of competition is finally here. At 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, Mexico will kick off this summer’s World Cup against South Africa at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
One of the more unique aspects of this summer’s tournament is the breadth across which it will take place. A stark difference from 2022 in tiny Qatar, the 2026 World Cup will span an entire continent, from Vancouver to Guadalajara to Boston, adding to the global feel of the world’s largest sporting event. Networks are trying to capture that feel in a variety of different ways.
Take Fox, the network that holds exclusive English-language broadcast rights for the tournament in the United States. Since February, Fox One has been releasing episodes of Stories from the Cities, a show in which host Jenny Chiu chronicles the culture, both soccer and otherwise, in each of the 16 host cities of this year’s tournament.
Having already traveled to each host site, Chiu gave Awful Announcing some insight into how the spread-out nature of this year’s tournament could impact the players and teams.
“It depends how well their federation planned their base camp, to be honest,” Chiu remarked. “It’s very different to the Qatar World Cup, for example, everything being very close, the ability to transport being way, way easier. We are going across three countries [this year]. But the truth is, it makes it really beautiful. I’ve heard of so many people excited about getting to experience Mexico for the first time because they’re going to a World Cup game, or going up to Canada for that.”
Stories from the Cities will introduce fans to each World Cup site and help viewers get a feel for the local culture in a sort of Anthony Bourdain-style format, but CBS is taking a different approach.
CBS has long been invested in broadcasting some of the world’s best soccer, including holding exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League. So, despite not holding any live game rights for the World Cup, CBS is still taking some big swings for its World Cup coverage. That effort will be headlined by Nico Cantor, a host and analyst for many of CBS’s top soccer properties and son of the legendary broadcaster Andrés Cantor.
Beginning Thursday, Cantor will be living out of an RV for 41 days, traveling to each and every World Cup site within the United States and documenting his journey for CBS Sports Golazo, CBS’s FAST network dedicated to soccer.
From LA to NY — @Nicocantor1 meets his home for the 2026 #FIFAWorldCup 🇺🇸🏆 pic.twitter.com/2esDE3BXh6
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) June 10, 2026
Cantor will begin his journey in Los Angeles for the USMNT’s opening game versus Paraguay and eventually make it all the way across the country to East Rutherford for the World Cup Final. Stops in Seattle and Miami along the way ensure he’ll touch every corner of the country.
“This is our moment. We’ve been building for this for the U.S. Men’s National Team for so long. And to finally get to see it come to fruition or not is going to be a big deal,” Cantor said of the project. “I feel like a lot of the time, the classic English trope against the U.S. is always, ‘Oh, they’re not a footballing country.’ And I beg to differ. I think the United States is a very rich, diverse football country, and you just gotta explore it a little bit to see it.”
Luckily for Cantor and his two RV-mates, a producer and driver, it won’t be 41 consecutive days sleeping in the van. Inside the cities, the trio will get a reprieve in the form of hotel nights. But even still, some of the drives will be grueling, and trying to follow a World Cup while on the road poses its own challenges, like needing to watch games while flying down the interstate. But it’s a challenge Cantor didn’t need much convincing to take on.
CBS Sports Golazo coordinating producer Mike Nastri was the brainchild of the concept, and after proposing the idea to his colleague, converting Cantor from a skeptic into an enthusiastic participant was rather straightforward.
“It only took a couple of conversations for him to make me understand that this is going to be one of the most rewarding trips that I’ll ever do. And I think that’s true, I think I’m gonna get to understand this country a little bit better.”
As is often the case during marquee global sporting events, the location becomes a character in the broader story. Already, social media is brimming with first-time visitors discovering North America with childlike amazement. Expect media companies to try to bottle that same energy and package it for viewers throughout the next five weeks.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.