DALLAS — With two weeks to go before the first 2026 FIFA World Cup match kickoff in Arlington, local and federal authorities in charge of ensuring safety and security for the football matches say they’re ready to go after more than two years of planning.
“From the very beginning, safety and security has been our top priority,” Monica Paul, president of the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, told reporters Monday during a news conference on the region’s safety and security plans.
Local police agencies said they’ll have a higher police presence on the streets, at the matches and FIFA Fan Festival at Dallas’ Fair Park, and around places where visitors and media are expected to stay and gather. Undercover officers will be on the lookout for human and drug trafficking. Police stressed they have enough resources in play to ensure people who call 911 to report emergencies will receive prompt response.
Authorities also warned private pilots and drone operators to stay on top of Federal Aviation Administration advisories for temporary flight restrictions during the month and half of World Cup action in North Texas.
Authorities said they took lessons from other major sporting events in North Texas, including, most recently, the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington held in March.
Dallas Police Department
“You will definitely see a higher presence of officers on the streets, you will see us in uniform, you will see us at different intersections, and, yes, we will be enforcing motor traffic,” Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux said. “If you’re speeding, running red lights, we will be enforcing that, because that’s going to be part of keeping everyone safe here.”
The big police presence will extend to the fan festival, he said.
And the department will deploy its new fleet of drones. “Our drones will be in the air, flying around trying to make sure we keep everything safe and secure,” Comeaux said.
At the International Broadcast Center at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas, “the security has already started,” Comeaux said. “It will continue on throughout the entire event. It is our priority to make sure that that area remains totally safe.”
Comeaux also “let the secret out the bag” on Dallas Police Department’s effort to combat human trafficking during the matches. “We will be working undercover in this area,” he said, noting such activity typically picks up during major sporting events. “Also in the drug space. We will be working undercover activities in the drug space.”
Comeaux said the department has discussed the police approach with prosecutors.
“If you’re doing bad illegal things during this time, we will enforce every single law possible,” he said. “If you do something wrong, you are going to jail.”
Arlington Police Department
Officers from more than 30 outside agencies “will be coming into the Entertainment District to assist us on match days,” Al Jones, the Arlington police chief, told reporters.
The city’s local and federal partnerships “will allow us to secure the Entertainment District, and we will continue to maintain normal police staff to respond to emergencies,” Jones said.
“I really want to drive this point home. If you need help and you call 911 during World Cup, Arlington police officers will be available to respond. This event will not impact the service that our residents should expect and receive.”
Jones said the city would not disclose how many uniformed officers agencies would deploy in the city. “But I can tell you it’s going to be larger than what you would expect when you come to the Cowboys games at the stadium,” he said.
Arlington will have “several officers working in plain clothes” on match days, “as well as visible officers in strategic locations,” Jones said.
The police also will use technology such as drones and street cameras “to help us monitor crowd activity,” he said.
Some aspects of traffic management and security will be different than what Dallas Cowboys fans are aware of around the stadium on game days, Jones said.
Street closures will include portions of AT&T Way and Cowboys Way, and several parking lots also will be closed to the general public, he said.
Only the east and west plaza entrances will be open to fans, and organizers are encouraging fans to check their tickets and enter through the most appropriate entry.
“I don’t want them to have a west ticket and try to get to the east gate,” Jones told the Report. “That just clogs up everything and makes it difficult for them to get to their seats.”
Arlington transportation
Fans who don’t want to drive into Arlington will be able to use expanded Trinity Railway Express service to get to the games. Organizers have chartered 125 buses that will run between CentrePort/DFW Airport Station and a temporary bus hub near the stadium. The hub will be only for buses running from CentrePort.
Trinity Railway Express also will run at increased frequencies.
“The visitors coming are more reliant on public transit than they are on cars,” Caroline Vandergriff, a spokesperson for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told the Report.
If organizers learn fans have overwhelmed the rail service, chartered buses will be dispatched to the rail platforms to ferry fans directly to the stadium, Vandergriff said.
Organizers have also secured a parking lot north of the Esports Stadium Arlington as the designated lot for rideshare drop-off and pick-up.
Jones said authorities prefer that fans use the Trinity Railway rail-and-bus connection.
“That’ll actually alleviate some of the traffic,” he said. “I think that’s the way to go.”
Staying hydrated
Fire departments and EMS services will put up temporary stations around the stadium and other FIFA sites to help fans stay hydrated and out of the hospital.
In Arlington, the fire and EMS services will locate the cooling stations inside and outside the secured perimeter around the stadium. Fans will need a ticket to enter the perimeter.
The cooling stations will be air-conditioned and staffed by physicians, nurses and paramedics, Arlington Fire Chief Bret Stidham said.
“We’ll have a whole slew of extra ambulances just in case, standing by,” Stidham told the Report. “We’ll also have a mobile hospital set up, like we did for the Grand Prix. “What we’re trying to do is keep people out of the hospital system as much as we can.”
Among the fans he’s most concerned for are the ones who choose to walk the half mile from the bus hub to the stadium, Stidham said.
“A lot of the folks who are coming in are not used to our Texas summers,” he said.
Dallas’ fire department also will put up hydration stations at venues in that city, Fire Chief Justin Ball told reporters.
No-fly zone
The Federal Aviation Administration announced last week that all aircraft, including drones, are barred on match days from flying within a 3 nautical-mile radius of the Arlington stadium and up to 3,000 feet above ground level.
The FAA also barred aircraft from flying within a 1 nautical-mile radius of the fan festival and up to 1,000 feet above ground. “Additional restrictions will apply for team hotels, base camps, training facilities,” Joe Rothrock, FBI special agent in charge of the Dallas field office, said.
Violation of FAA temporary flight restrictions can result in a $100,000 fine, jail time and seizure of the drone, Rothrock said.
“Before you consider flying a drone, I strongly encourage you to check for active flight restrictions using an FAA-approved airspace awareness tool,” he said.
Immigration enforcement?
After a reporter asked whether federal immigration authorities planned immigration enforcement in North Texas around the matches, Christina Foley, the U.S. Secret Service agent in charge of the Dallas field office and federal coordinator of the FIFA World Cup Dallas, said:
“The idea of making a fun environment for the fans is the whole approach. FIFA wants it to be a fantastic event for the fans from all over the world. If someone is here and gone through the legal process to be here to see the games, there’s nothing … to be worried about when it comes to any additional expectation.
“It’s a matter of knowing the process,” she said. “That process has been out for a very long time as far as getting visas or the required paperwork to come in. As long as that process is followed and people are here through the legal means, then there’s nothing extra to worry about when they come to the stadium and fan fest.”
Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
