By now you’ve probably heard that the North American contingency of the United States, Mexico and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup.

This is really great news, but let’s back up for a second.

One of the main reasons the North American bid won the bid against rival Morocco was due to the promise of revenue, lots of it.

The United bid, as they like to call themselves, promised twice the revenue creation ($14 billion) of the bid from Morocco and nearly three times the amount the World Cup in Brazil generated just a few years ago.

Bold statement? Over-promising while destined to under-deliver? Maybe.

We’ve all been bombarded with visuals of decrepit post-Olympic stadiums in cities like Sochi and Rio, regions that were unable to leverage the short-term boom to the local economy into a sustainable future.

The same has held true for World Cup events where huge stadiums were created to house the games, only to see them lay waste in the near future. These concrete and glass monoliths, no longer useful to a local community, become cracking, overgrown visuals of what once was. 

Maracena stadium was the crown jewel of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, now it lays in waste - unplayable, decrepit, an eye sore on the city (pictured, right). 

But the United bid was different, stadiums and facilities already dot the landscape like ants at a picnic. Whereas Morocco would have to build nine stadiums and renovate another five, the United bid had stadiums a plenty.

The bid going to North America just made too much sense, which brings us back to why this is such great news for the US, Canada, Mexico and you:

According to the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a Brazilian think tank and higher education institution, 14 million jobs have been created in Brazil during the last four years because of the FIFA World Cup.

And there it is, the big payoff.

Sure, revenue is awesome to talk about in the political committee meetings, but job creation makes the real people, really happy.

And that is what we have to look forward to – more jobs in soccer, more internships, more volunteer opportunities, more experience to be gained and more people to network with.