What Major Events Are Teaching Retailers About the Future of Payments

The FIFA World Cup 26™ brought millions of spectators through stadiums, transit systems, restaurants and local businesses, creating a large-scale test of the payment and customer experiences U.S. businesses provide to international travelers. As one of the payment providers powering contactless transit fare payments across World Cup host cities, including Atlanta and Houston, NMI has seen firsthand how visitors move through a city and where payment experiences influence the broader customer journey.

Our analysis of card-present transactions processed through the NMI Gateway also shows that the impact of a major event extends well beyond the stadium. Visitors spend across the local economy, from transportation and restaurants to retail stores and other businesses. The opportunity is significant: the 2026 Sports ETA State of the Industry Report found that 3.6 million international sports tourism travelers generated $6.3 billion in direct spending in the U.S. in 2025. The World Cup therefore gives retailers a useful snapshot of how people want to pay and where expectations may be moving next.

International Visitors Highlight the Gap

One of the clearest patterns was the growth in contactless payments among international visitors. During the tournament, international contactless payments increased by approximately 54 percent per day, compared with around 5 percent for U.S.-issued cards. Visitors were not adopting a new way to pay because they were at the World Cup. Many were simply paying the way they already do at home.

That matters because the U.S. experience doesn't always match those expectations. According to a May 2026 NMI survey of 1,009 U.S. adults who had traveled internationally within the previous 12 months, 46 percent thought paying abroad was faster or easier than paying in the U.S. Additionally, 80 percent said easy payment options make them more likely to make a purchase.

International visitors can therefore highlight points of friction that U.S. consumers may have become used to.

Transit is one clear example. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said international visitors would expect to tap a card or phone to pay for transportation in the U.S., while 77 percent said a poor transit payment experience could affect a tourist’s overall impression of their visit.

That expectation doesn't stop when someone gets off the train. A visitor who can tap to ride, pay for lunch with a phone and move quickly through a store checkout expects that same ease wherever they happen to be. They don't think about each payment as a separate system. They simply expect it to work.

Small Payment Challenges Can Have Big Business Impacts

Major events also make everyday payment problems much easier to see. Long lines, unreliable payment systems and failed transactions can frustrate shoppers and discourage purchases. The research found that 75 percent of respondents are less likely to make a purchase when encountering a long payment line, while 64 percent said a failed payment terminal or kiosk makes a business look unprofessional.

At lower volumes, a slow checkout or unreliable terminal may seem like a minor issue. During a major event, those problems quickly become more visible. Lines grow, consumers walk away and staff spend time fixing payment problems instead of serving shoppers.

But the same thing happens in retail every day, just on a smaller scale. Consumers are constantly deciding whether a purchase is worth the wait or the hassle. The easier retailers make it to complete a transaction, the less chance there is of losing that sale at the final step.

What Major Events Tell Us About the Future of Retail Payments

During the World Cup, around 64 percent of card-present transactions processed through the NMI Gateway were contactless. That's not just a World Cup story. It's another sign that tapping a card or phone is becoming a normal part of the payment experience.

The bigger shift is in what consumers expect around the payment itself. They want it to be quick, familiar and reliable. They don't want to think about the technology behind the transaction or adjust the way they pay from one business to the next.

Major events are useful because they bring those expectations into sharper focus. They put large numbers of people with different payment preferences into the same cities at the same time, making it easier to see where the customer experience works and where it falls short.

With North America set to host more major international events over the next several years, including the Olympics in 2028, retailers will have more chances to see these changes play out at scale.

The lesson is not simply to prepare for the next major event. It's to recognize that many of the payment experiences international visitors expect today are increasingly becoming standard expectations for U.S. shoppers too. Retailers that prioritize fast, flexible and reliable payment options will be better positioned to capture spending, strengthen relationships with regular customers, and deliver better experiences for visitors passing through town.

Tobias Ostwald is a director of analytics at NMI, an embedded payments platform for ISOs and SaaS.