The 2026 World Cup in Woodinville: How It Went at Rooneys
The 2026 FIFA World Cup wrapped up on July 19, and for about five weeks Woodinville felt like a different town. Seattle was one of the sixteen host cities, six matches were played at Lumen Field about 25 minutes down the road, and the whole region got a summer of football in the other sense of the word.
Rooneys showed every match of the tournament, group stage through the final, on our 12-foot projector screen and all 20 TVs. If you were here for any of it, thank you. It was one of the better stretches this bar has had.
What Seattle got
Lumen Field hosted six matches across the tournament, including a United States group-stage game and knockout-round fixtures. For a city that has always taken its soccer more seriously than most of the country, having the World Cup arrive in the neighborhood was a genuinely rare thing. The last time a men’s World Cup was played in the United States was 1994, and Seattle was not a host city then.
The atmosphere carried well up the valley. We had mornings where the bar was full before noon for a group-stage match, which is not a normal Tuesday in Woodinville.
What we learned about watch parties
A few things worked, and we are keeping them:
The projector is the draw. A 12-foot screen changes how a crowd watches. People sat facing the same direction and reacted together instead of drifting into their own tables, and the room got loud in the right way.
Early kickoffs are worth opening for. Plenty of matches kicked at 9 or 10 in the morning Pacific, and opening early for those turned out to be one of the better calls we made. It is the same muscle we use for morning NFL kickoffs during football season.
Groups should book ahead. The sections that reserved in advance had the best afternoons. Everyone else did fine, but the people who called got the seats they wanted for the matches they cared about.
What is on the screens now
Football season is next, and this one matters more than most around here. The Seahawks are the defending Super Bowl champions after beating New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX in February, and they open the 2026 season at home against those same Patriots on Wednesday, September 9.
Seattle drew six primetime games this year, a franchise record, including the first Christmas game in team history against the Rams on Friday, December 25. We have the full breakdown in our 2026 Seahawks season guide, including every date, kickoff time and broadcast.
Before that, Mariners baseball runs through the summer and the Storm are mid-season, and both are on the screens here. You can see what is coming up next on the big screen any time.
Soccer is not going anywhere
The tournament is over, but the sport is not. Sounders and Reign matches stay on the screens through the MLS and NWSL seasons, and if there is a match you want up, ask the bar and we will find a screen for it. We carry the full sports packages on DirecTV and Comcast, so it is rarely a problem.
Planning a group watch party
Whatever the sport, the setup is the same: reserve a section, tell us the match or the game, and we will put it on the screens you are sitting under. We can sort out food from the scratch kitchen for the table, and there are 12 beers on tap plus a deep whiskey list behind the bar.
Head to our Private Events page with your date and headcount, or call (425) 481-3586.
Find us
Rooneys Sports Bar is at 17626 140th Ave NE in the Woodinville Towne Center, open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day with free parking in the lot. Rooneys is a 21-and-over venue.
The flags are down for now. The 12 flag is going up.
