Photo by James Smith/North Texas FWC
Audio By Carbonatix
Every morning for the last three weeks, Carvin Thompson has chosen which neon-colored T-shirt he will wear that day.
Each is a different eye-searing hue, emblazoned with the all-caps message “FIFA FAN WORLD CUP PARKING HERE.” After putting on his homemade shirt, he fills his water bottle, collects his comfiest folding chair, and drives to the empty lot across from Fair Park that he bought five years ago.
He checks the spray-painted yellow lines that mark the 35 parking spots squeezed across the skinny grass, and then he waits. Across the street, the FIFA Fan Festival will open in one hour. The cars are already rolling in.
“I was leery when they announced [that Dallas would be a World Cup host city] because I didn’t know the direction it was going to go in,” said Thompson. “But how the city of Dallas did this, they said it would benefit the South Dallas area to bring [the World Cup] to Fair Park.”
And Thompson is benefiting. At $20 per car, Thompson is making at least $700 per day on most days the fan festival runs. He runs his makeshift lot during large concerts at Dos Equis Pavilion and at the State Fair as well. Unlike those events, when cars pull up for the World Cup watch party, they’re staying all day.
Some crowds are especially dependable. On days Mexico plays, he doesn’t bother opening up the lot until right before game time, confident that “it’ll fill up.” The festival is free, but reserving a ticket is required for crowd control purposes. Dallas’ festival has hit capacity the last three times Mexico has played.
“The best crowd is Mexico. When Mexico plays, everybody’s lot is full,” he said. “That whole left side [of the lot] over there, I keep it reserved for Mexico because I know they’re coming.”
Thompson is retired, but his parking lot hustle helps him maintain a steady stream of income. While the summer slowdown typically means it’s time to pinch pennies, the World Cup has meant that Thompson has been able to put some money in savings and pay off some debt he wouldn’t normally be able to address.
The money he’s making from the Fan Festival parking will be enough to “carry him to the State Fair” in late September without stress.
The financial impact of the World Cup is often hotly debated. Dallas officials have projected a billion-dollar economic boost from the games, and a much-needed sales tax surge. Bank of America data suggests that spending in World Cup host cities is up more than 6% year-over-year, though it’s worth noting that the bank is an official sponsor of the World Cup.
While lofty projections are promised, the fine print tells a different story. According to the Texas Tribune, host cities are often on the hook for things like security, fan festivals and infrastructure upgrades, while it is the FIFA organization itself that rakes in cash from concessions, merchandise and ticket sales.
But slipping between the cracks are the hustlers who take matters into their own hands.
Take, for instance, Fady Atef, an artist who moved to North Texas from Dubai several years ago and decided to use the North Texas World Cup games as an opportunity to make some cash. Atef has stood outside of Dallas Stadium during Arlington gamedays with a small folding table bedecked in flags and hand-drawn images of his soccer heroes, and a sign that reads, “Face Painting: $5.”
On days with especially enthusiastic fanbases, he’s snagged 20 customers an hour. Not a bad way to make $100.
“I wanted to do something creative,” said Atef on Tuesday while painting a Norwegian flag on the cheek of a fan headed towards the stadium. “And I wanted to be in the energy.”
There are the teenagers who sell bottled water at the exact intersection where European fans start wondering how much farther they have to walk to their cars. There are counterfeit jersey sellers whom we definitely have not hit up for our own gameday fits. There are also flag sellers, Polaroid picture-takers and screen-printed T-shirt slingers.
Each one saw the World Cup was coming to town and saw dollar signs.
As far as his own allegiance goes, Thompson is hoping Mexico goes all the way. Keep the cars coming to Fair Park, he said.
That’ll be the real win.
