Three major sporting events set to take place in San Francisco's Bay Area in the next two years are expected to net the region more than $1 billion in economic output, boosting commercial sectors that have struggled to recover from the pandemic.

The FIFA World Cup, the National Football League's Super Bowl and the National Basketball Association's All-Star Game could collectively bring $1.4 billion in spending to San Francisco and surrounding cities, according to a report commissioned by the Bay Area Host Committee.

The World Cup and the Super Bowl will both take place at the 49ers’ home stadium in Santa Clara in 2026, with the soccer event slated to generate $480 million to $630 million and the football event expected to bring in between $370 million and $630 million. Next year's NBA All-Star Game, slated to occur at the Chase Center in San Francisco — home of the Golden State Warriors — could bring in $350 million, according to the study from The Boston Consulting Group.

“These sporting events and partnerships with the NBA, NFL and FIFA are converging to create an immense economic boost that will have a tangible impact on our Bay Area communities for years to come,” said Zaileen Janmohamed, CEO and president of the Bay Area Host Committee.

High-profile sporting events across the nation have been known to “fuel annual performance” for hotels and drive average daily rate increases, according to Emmy Hise, senior director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group. The three events are likely to result in the booking of 400,000 rooms over a 17-month span from 2025 to 2026, the report said.

That would bring a welcome boost to the area's hotel sector, with San Francisco's hospitality market among the hardest hit in the wake of the pandemic, in part due to the city's reliance on the international visitors that typically account for 60% of overnight visitor spending, according to a 2023 report by SF Travel.

Even though two of the three events are taking place in Santa Clara, a South Bay city near San Jose, San Francisco stands to gain from the influx of visitors, according to Hise. Last time the Super Bowl took place in Santa Clara in 2016, "the hotel performance was stronger in San Francisco," Hise notes, in part due to events hosted in the city, like pregame festivities at Moscone, a 2 million-square-foot convention center that's hosted other events like the 1984 Democratic Presidential Primary Convention.

Prior to the pandemic, San Francisco hotels were roughly 80% occupied with average daily rates of $250, among the highest metrics in the United States, according to STR data. Today, San Francisco's hotel market aligns with the national average after seeing one of the sharpest declines in the United States during the pandemic, according to CoStar data.

The city's average occupancy is 58% with average rates of $200, similar to the rest of the country.

The South Bay paints a similar story, with stagnant leisure and corporate travel keeping occupancy and average daily rates below pre-pandemic levels.

In addition to hotels, “many retailers, restaurant and bar operators" are looking forward to the looming sports events, according to Alex Sagues, first vice president at CBRE.

“As San Francisco’s retail sector continues to grow, large events in the Bay Area like games, concerts and conferences will drive people to the city who will spend money and contribute to that growth,” said Sagues.

The Bay Area isn't the only region in California looking to the sports industry to aid in real estate recovery efforts. Los Angeles officials hope the looming completion of a new NBA arena — along with a trio of major sports events planned — will continue to spur more real estate demand in Inglewood, California, next to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Clippers expect to open the nearly $2 billion Intuit Dome in Inglewood in August, a venue that's expected to play host to the 2026 NBA All-Star Game and for competitions relating to the 2028 Olympics planned for greater Los Angeles.

Intuit Dome's neighbor, the roughly $5 billion SoFi Stadium, will also host Olympic events, about one year after it hosts the 2027 Super Bowl.

There are a handful of hotel projects in various stages of development in response to a rise in visitors drawn by the city's two newest arenas, according to Inglewood Mayor James Butts. Last year's concerts from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift alone brought 720,000 people to Inglewood, while the NBA All-Star Game is expected to generate $350 million in economic activity.

SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome have supercharged the city of Inglewood, where property values have tripled and hundreds of millions of dollars in property sales have occurred in recent years.

The planned 17,700-seat Intuit Dome started construction in September 2021 and topped out in March 2023. The arena's construction created 7,000 jobs and is expected to inject $260 million in annual economic activity to Inglewood when it's finished, according to the project's website.