Pride House planned in SF during 2026 World Cup

With the Bay Area one of the regions that will play host to the 2026 World Cup soccer matches, a hospitality suite catering to LGBTQ fans is being planned for when the competitions kick off next June. Fundraising for it is already underway, while programming decisions will be finalized in the new year.

Dubbed Pride House San Francisco Bay Area 2026, it will be located in San Francisco even though the six games scheduled for the region will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. It is to be housed largely at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, which has partnered with the San Francisco Spikes, an LGBTQ-focused soccer club, and the global equality group All Out to open the Pride House.

The Pride House is a way to ensure LGBTQ soccer fans, whether locals or those visiting for the World Cup matches, have an enjoyable time with like-minded fans while watching the games or accessing the other activities being planned, from speaker series to community-building workshops, said Zac Brown, 33, who is queer and vice president of the Spikes.

“And I think a priority for myself as well as the entire club is owning the space and making sure that queer folks know that the World Cup is a space for them, but also that World Cup fans know that queer folks are here to support the World Cup as well, right? And how can we make those two things related as a part of that?” asked Brown, a goalkeeper on his soccer team. “And you know, our city is going to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors next summer, many of which will be queer folks, and we want to make sure that they know what to do and where to be in community while they're here and how they can embrace the great culture that is San Francisco's queer community.”

The Pride House is modeled after the similarly named LGBTQ offerings now found in the host cities for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The first Pride House debuted at the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games co-hosted by Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.

They now fall under the auspices of Pride House International, a global charity registered in Scotland. A temporary structure is to be built at West Hollywood Park for the 2028 Summer Olympics hosted by Los Angeles, with the West Hollywood City Council recently approving $1 million to sponsor the Pride House LA/WEHO, as the Los Angeles Blade reported.

The Pride House set to open in San Francisco for the World Cup matches is expected to cost far less, according to the local organizers, since its homebase will be at the LGBTQ center located in the city’s upper Market Street corridor. The current fundraising goal is $300,000, with the center launching a dedicated online page for people to donate at give.sfcenter.org/pridehouse.

The exact price tag is still to be figured out. It will be dependent on the final plans for the Pride House and attached programming to be offered during the sporting event, plus the cost for the rights to stream the various matches at the viewing parties it will host.

Watch parties planned
“A big component of our programming will be watch parties. Some of those will be at the SF LGBT center. We're going to be asking the city for support in engaging different parks and spaces in the city to hold watch parties as well,” said Nick Ward, the center’s community programs manager.

Ward, 45, who is nonbinary, grew up in Manchester, England where their family members are major fans and season ticketholders of their local soccer team Manchester United. Having lived in the United States for nine years now, Ward told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent interview they are more into basketball these days and haven’t really watched past World Cups.

Nonetheless, they teamed up with Brown, who like Ward lives in the city’s LGBTQ Castro district, to help bring the Pride House to the city next spring and summer. Brown is serving as executive director of the Pride House SF organizing committee, while Ward is its director of programming.

“I mean the Spikes are inherently a soccer club, right? And the World Cup is inherently a soccer event. And I think something that's really key for us is we are about owning and having positive experiences around sport,” said Brown when asked why he and his teammates wanted to organize the Pride House. “And as we all know, queer folks growing up don't always get those experiences and don't always get those abilities to be young and enjoy sport in the, in the natural ways that a Mancunian should from Nick's childhood or any kid really should.”

Recently brought aboard to help with communications is Xorje Olivares, 37, a gay man who is a sports enthusiast and works in media. He joked that his “claim to fame” in his family is that he was the first person to score a goal on the soccer team he played on when he was 10 years old.

“Granted, the goalkeeper had fallen and the space was wide open for me, but I still made that goal,” recalled Olivares, who lives in the city’s Mission district and is volunteering his time like the other Pride House organizers.

Beyond preparing for next summer, they are also thinking about the lasting impact following the World Cup from hosting a Pride House, said Brown. The global tournament kicks off June 11 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, with games to be played in various Mexican, Canadian, and American cities leading up to the final match July 19 to be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Pride Houses are expected to be opened in a number of host cities in the three countries.

Generating enthusiasm
Last month, Santa Clara city leaders and Santa Clara University officials unveiled the official FIFA World Cup 26 Countdown Clock at the Benson Memorial Center Plaza on the college’s campus. The clock is counting down to June 13 when the first of the six FIFA World Cup matches to be played at Levi's Stadium kicks off. (Information about the various matches and how to purchase tickets can be found here.)

“We'll make sure that Pride House is not something that will just … it's not just a popup,” Brown said. “It's not something that will only be around for a month. It's going to be embedded in the San Francisco community for many years to come.”

In the meantime, after publicly debuting their Pride House plans at the Castro Street Fair in early October, the local organizers have been hosting watch parties of different soccer games at different venues in San Francisco. The first took place in late October at the lesbian-owned Rikki’s women’s sports bar in the Castro and was co-hosted by the American Outlaws San Francisco chapter, which supports the national men’s, women’s and youth soccer teams.

“It was just a really lovely Castro queer San Francisco moment of folks coming together doing something they loved, being in community, and learning about how they could, yeah, contribute to this moment that we're in and have some impact whilst also doing something that they loved,” recalled Ward.

For details on upcoming watch parties and other events the Pride House SF committee will be hosting, follow its page on Instagram. Anyone interested in getting involved with the planning committee can email [email protected] .

Thursday night, December 4, the Spikes soccer team is among the Bay Area LGBTQ+ recreation and athletic organizations partnering with Stonewall Sports San Francisco for what is being billed as the “first time ever” Queer Sports End-of-Year Celebration. It is being held from 7 to 10 p.m. at LGBTQ nightlife venue Oasis at 298 11th Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood.

Also taking part, according to the organizers, are Big Gay Frisbee SF, Queer Crush Climbing, San Francisco Fog RFC, San Francisco FrontRunners, SFGBA Basketball, SFGSL Softball, SF Track & Field Club, Trailheadgays, and TRIbe SF. 

“It’s incredible to see so many different queer sports groups come together under one roof,” stated Blake Gottlieb, a gay man who is league commissioner of Stonewall Sports San Francisco. “Each of us has our own traditions, but we share the same values – community, visibility, and belonging. This event shows how much stronger we are when we unite.”

A drag show is planned for 8 p.m. as part of the festivities. Tickets cost $18 in advance if purchased online or $25 at the door.