By Matt Kite
Tacoma Weekly
June 10, 2026

Yəhaw. In Twulshootseed, the language spoken by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the word means, “Let’s go.” Pronounced yuh-how, it has become the official mantra of the Puyallup Tribe and its partners ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Seattle.

“As we partner with everybody and get ready for these games,” said Amy McFarland, the tribe’s World Cup project director, “we invite everyone to join us, be a part of the community, and take part in the joy.”

The Puyallup Tribe made soccer history by becoming the first indigenous group in the world to become an official Host City Legacy Supporter of the World Cup. Instead of paying a corporate fee like a typical business sponsor, the tribe is overseeing a cultural exchange that will introduce itself to the wider world.

As part of the agreement, the Puyallup Tribe will be hosting several free events on the tribal campus, including a parade on June 12, a traditional coastal protocol on June 18, a community powwow June 19-21, and a stickgame tournament June 26-28. Pierce Transit will be running a free shuttle from the Tacoma Dome Light Link Rail Station to the campus to alleviate congestion on the roads and in parking lots.

The campus has been designated an official FIFA Fan Zone, which means soccer fans in the greater Tacoma area will have a place to gather and watch live broadcasts. Food trucks and cultural programming will round out the festivities.

Each event, meanwhile, features local history. For the parade, the tribe is teaming with the organizers of the annual Daffodil Parade, nearly a century old. The parade will be followed by the official opening ceremony and fireworks. The coastal protocol is a long-held customary gathering and exchange among the Coast Salish peoples, who traveled shore-to-shore by canoe to visit one another. The powwow will be the first of its kind for a World Cup. And the stickgames, also called Slahal or bone games, will be returning to the region after a long absence.

“It is the first set of bone games that will be hosted on our reservation in over one hundred years,” McFarland said, “since all of our longhouses were burned to the ground one hundred and seventy years ago.”

Working in support of the Puyallup Tribe is the city of Tacoma and Visit Tacoma-Pierce County, the region’s official destination marketing organization.

From June 15 to July 6, Seattle will be hosting a total of six World Cup matches. To prepare for that twenty-two-day stretch, the city agreed to hand over Lumen Field (“Seattle Stadium,” per the city’s agreement with FIFA), upgrade the stadium, beautify the streets, and enhance security and transportation, among other things, all at no cost to FIFA. All told, Seattle’s expenses will total roughly $32 million, according to city estimates.

FIFA, meanwhile, estimates it will make up to $10 billion worldwide from ticket sales, marketing, broadcasting, and sponsorship during the 2026 World Cup. A total of sixteen cities are hosting matches around the globe, with the final match slated for July 19 at MetLife Stadium (“New York New Jersey Stadium”) in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

On the plus side of Seattle’s ledger, city officials predict some 750,000 visitors will be flocking to Puget Sound and spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 million while they’re in the region. No doubt, some of those soccer fans will spend some of their time and money in the Tacoma area, designated a FIFA World Cup Fan Zone.

When asked about the Puyallup Tribe’s World-Cup-related expenditures, McFarland demurred.

“It depends on who you ask,” she said. “There are a lot of numbers floating around. When we look at the investments, time is immeasurable. It’s priceless.”

Countless local officials and volunteers have been working around the clock to prepare for the World Cup, McFarland said, and the value of their contributions is difficult to assess in monetary terms. Two people contributing to the tribe’s efforts are Dean Burke, president and CEO, and Matt Wakefield, chief marketing and date officer, of Visit Tacoma-Pierce County. The two have been meeting weekly with the tribe for a year now.

“When SeattleFWC26, the Seattle organizing committee, went out to bid for the World Cup,” Burke said, “part of the pitch to FIFA was they wanted to involve most of the state. The way they did that was by creating fan zones, which is completely unique to Washington and Seattle. It’s new language, not FIFA’s language. It’s Seattle’s. They picked the top nine counties and top cities in each and said, ‘Congrats. You’re now a fan zone.’ It was less an invitation and more, ‘Here you are.’ It was a good thing, a unique approach. By giving out viewing licenses to all these counties, they would make the games free and watchable for about eighty-three percent of the state. The tribe is the host legacy sponsor for Seattle, the highest-level sponsor. This is super unique. They’re the first indigenous tribe to be a sponsor.”

The Puyallup Tribe and the Twulshootseed language will be featured prominently in all things World Cup, giving soccer fans who travel to Seattle for the matches a unique perspective.

“When they step off the plane, they’re going to be greeted by the language,” McFarland explained. “When they come and visit our events, they’ll see the language.”

Other introductions will come courtesy of broadcasts and announcements during the matches. SEA&WIN, FIFA’s official regional app for Seattle, will tell the story of the Puyallup Tribe.

“Our primary goal in working together is to share our culture, our history, our language, our economic development with the world,” McFarland said, “to demonstrate the generosity and welcoming nature of the Puyallup people.”

As part of its efforts, the Puyallup Tribe partnered with Tacoma Public Schools, Bank of America, Visa, and Street Soccer USA to build Visa Street Soccer Park, a new soccer pitch at the site of the former Gault Middle School in Eastside Tacoma. It will accommodate everyone from kids and families to blind athletes training for the Paralympics. McFarland hopes the new facility, plus the unity and teamwork displayed by everyone in the region, will be among the World Cup’s lasting legacies in the Tacoma area.