Exploring Pier 62

SEATTLE - The 2026 World Cup is upon us, with Mexico defeating South Africa 2-0 in a bizarre, physical Mexico City opener featuring a trio of red cards.

For those unable to afford to exorbitant prices and uninterested in the fans-versus-FIFA staredown for the many remaining seats, there are going to be many places to watch the games even in their host cities.

Pier 62 downtown is Seattle's watching hub, placed at the north end of the downtown wharf and near to Seattle's true downtown and the space needle alike. It is split into two sections, a free-to-enter section on the shore and a barge on the water beside it.

Before the games kicked off on Thursday, the Reign, Sounders, and RAVE Foundation hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony available to fans and media alike. The ribbon-cutting itself is ceremonial, and most of the time the ribbon-cutters have the scissors is taken up with photo-taking, but plenty of people from the Sounders-Reign organization and from RAVE were there to take questions and talk about the pier and barge opening.

Reign general manager Lesle Gallimore had a general feeling of awe around the whole event, with the world's game coming onto its biggest stage in Seattle.

"I've been to a lot of World Cups, men's and women's, and to have it in our hometown is extraordinary," Gallimore said. "There's obviously, within the club, within the Reign, within the Sounders, been a big buildup over the last couple years to come to this moment, and when we decided that this was happening, made it even more special that we can kinda be the kickoff to the week."

Setting up the event evidently took quite a while, and final touches were still being placed as media toured the site on World Cup eve. On Gallimore's side, things weren't super crazy, but she clearly took note of all that was going on around her.

"I wouldn't say on the first team side we've had to do much, but watching our front office pull together stuff like this, hosting Belgium over at the clubhouse, it's been a lot," Gallimore said. "And I think they've done a tremendous job of showing how soccer-rich not just the city is, but the club itself."

The logistics were plainly hectic for those on the ground and sea at Pier 62. The ribbon-cutting happened at around 6:20, with the backdrop set up about 30 minutes prior and many things still being set up. Even one day before the barge's opening, final construction was still ongoing, though the general vision was clear.

Spots on the 38-foot by 80-foot mini-field - the general admission section of the barge - are $50 for adult seating, while the room on the concourse above the mini-field is much more expensive on the terrace at $350 per adult. To many, this is not exactly a cheap experience, especially given that the barge doesn't go out of wharf.

"I don't think the boat is worth it, because it's just like, in the same spot," one fan said. "I thought it would at least go, like, into the water, but it's just there, so it's kind of the same thing as the fan fest over here."

There are evidently those others who disagree with that assessment, and the big screen and bigger atmosphere has already made some of the USA matches sell out on the boat. There are drinks and food on both the pier and wharf.

The landlubbing side of the Seattle Soccer Celebration is free, though it is first-come, first-serve and as such requires spectators to get there early in order to secure a spot. The kickoff itself wasn't quite as full as when real World Cup action began the next day, but there were still a fair amount of people checking out the site on Wednesday.

Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer was at the kickoff, too, and he also professed admiration for the event venue and the general environment of World Cup Seattle, displaying the optimistic attitude he has for

"They're gonna be welcomed by a lot of people. They're going to have a beautiful city to walk around, restaurants, aquarium's right behind us, if they want to go hiking, they can go to the Olympic Mountains over there, they can get on a whale-watching tour, they can go to West Seattle right over there," Schmetzer said, pointing around as he named each item. "There's so many things that you can do in this part of the world."

Schmetzer's unbridled optimism extended to the course of the World Cup itself, which he viewed as an opportunity for the problems of the world to go on pause - or at least be compartmentalized - while the globe's game is played for the next five weeks.

The problems of the world will be seen in this World Cup, however, as much as the excitement of the matches will make people of all nations and creeds forget them for a time. FIFA will try to make the fans blink first on high World Cup prices even as the empty seats prove that the high costs are still well above market equilibrium. Not to mention all the chaos surrounding the Iran War and the Iranian team.

But compartmentalization and enjoyment of the here and now are also going to occur. The World Cup will be defined by the action on the field and the players who make that action happen, the teams who defy the odds and those who fail to amount to their expectations. It probably won't "come home" - God help us all if England gets that joy at the expense of the rest of us, on the home turf and 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, no less! (such sentiments prove how the world and its game are intertwined) - and the United States probably won't have a "Miracle on Grass", but there's always going to be some nation that goes on a thunder run out of the blue and there's always going to be another that ruins their bed in a bad way.

Narratives have already started swirling around each team's stars. For the city of Seattle and the USMNT, midfielder Cristian Roldan is the big story. Like it or not, his performance will be viewed as a measuring stick for MLS players on the biggest stage, every wrong move dissected endlessly as supposed proof a player must suit up for a European team in order to matter. If Roldan brings the MNT to glory, it may end up being a watershed moment for the MLS.

Seattle will view him more favorably in any event.

"I'm crossing my fingers that Cristian gets in, that they need him," Schmetzer said. "But just to have the US here, playing against Australia, super excited about that. And a hometown kid, that storyline's great too."

Gallimore shared that hope, describing herself as a "Sounder-'til-you-die" type and intertwined with the Sounders organization in any event due to the Sounders ownership group's acquisition of the Reign in 2024. Like Schmetzer, she saw the World Cup as a chance for community and levity.

The 2026 Men's World Cup is, of course, not the only World Cup set to be hosted in the USA. Although the official appointment is set for November, the US' bid for hosting the 2031 Women's World Cup has already been declared the only valid one by FIFA, and the current setup is that the event will be played in the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica.

(The Men's and Women's Rugby World Cups will also be hosted in the US in 2031 and 2033, respectively. This isn't a rugby site.)

Gallimore is looking for the current World Cup to be a building point for future American soccer.

"I can't be more thrilled," Gallimore said of the events. "We're hoping that this parlays a moment into another moment in 2031."

Of course, with Schmetzer and Gallimore's respective organizations being two of the three to host the Seattle Soccer Celebration, they're bound to be expressing this kind of optimism. It wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for Schmetz to show up at the kickoff for the barge and say "well, yeah, it's kinda just okay" or anything similar; but they are both taking a 1000-foot view of Pier 62 as one of many places to watch soccer over the coming weeks.

The pier and barge got their first test of action on Thursday's picturesque afternoon. Unlike during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the clouds were nowhere in sight, a harbinger of a hopeful clear June that may make the tourists wonder where in the world Seattle got its rainy reputation.

Unlike Gallimore's hopes for clean soccer, however, the World Cup opener had a frenzy of reds, two on South Africa and one against Mexico. I talked with a group of guys after the game - mostly Mexico supporters with one South Africa fan intermixed - and they had a consensus distaste for the pugnacious side of the events.

"An opening game should not be like this, it should be, like, pure football," the South Africa fan said. But it was still international soccer and still enjoyable overall.

"That was a good game, though," said another among the group to agreement from many, including the lone fan of the game's loser. "Especially 'cause Mexico won," yet another one said, looking to his South Africa-supporting friend with a wry smile and getting one in return.

Overall, however, these fans liked Pier 62's environment.

"It's really good. It's a lot of great vibes here," said one of the Mexico fans among the group.

"It's pretty neat," agreed another.

The environment and the match itself were two intertwined but different stories, and the outcome of the game generated opposite feelings amongst the many Mexico fans and the one South Africa supporter. As to game itself, the Mexico supporters attested that it went well, while the dissenter dissented.

"It was okay," said the South Africa fan of the game as he rubbed the crest of his jersey.

That group had arrived to the pier at 10:00 am for the noon start time. A giant screen displayed the game while speakers blasted the broadcast audio even further, making the match's action audible even for those at other piers of the waterfront or waiting out a red light on Alaska with the windows down.

Whether or not they were representative of attitudes towards the $50-a-pop barge, that group of guys was fairly representative of the fan split on Pier 62. While there were a few South Africa supporters dotted about the place, the majority of the non-neutral spectators donned green, red, and white. Many among them wore and waved the flag itself, and the colors flew high after Mexico's 2-0 victory went in the books.

The fans ranged from casual to die-hard, old and young, groups of youth and groups of family. I briefly spoke a man named José after the game ended, who brought his wife and kid to watch the game from the Salish Steps about 150 feet from the pier itself.

"I like it, it's awesome. I came with my family, so we're having a lot of fun," José said.

He was far from the only one who sat on those steps, though he stood out due to a green-red-white "El Grande" mask reminiscent of the wrestler.

Expectations range among these fans as to where their teams are going.

"I hope we get at least to the semifinals. Probably not, but I'm hoping for something!" José said about Mexico.

Sentiments were similar among the Mexico fans in the other gaggle of guys I talked to, though with three red cards and zero points from the first match, the South Africa supporter wasn't too optimistic about Bafana's chances.

The other two teams in Group A are South Korea and Czechia, who played a nightcap in Guadalajara. Unlike the 2-0, red card-marred match in the afternoon, the Korea-Czechia game was one more similar to the clean-soccer goals held by both Schmetzer and Gallimore. Fans filtered in and out for that game, too, just as they will for five weeks more as the World Cup continues.