No city-organised World Cup public viewing in Munich's Olympiapark, council told

A public viewing event at Munich's Olympiapark for the 2026 men's football World Cup, organised by the city or by Olympiapark München GmbH (OMG), was not possible, according to a written reply to SPD city councillors. Kathrin Abele, Arda Celik, Barbara Likus and Lena Odell had submitted a motion on 20 May 2026 calling for public viewing in cooperation with OMG. Dr Christian Scharpf, head of the city's Department of Labour and Economic Affairs, gave the answer after the tournament's final had already taken place on 19 July 2026.

OMG said there was no venue on the site that could host public viewing for the whole tournament. The Olympic Stadium is unavailable because of its current renovation. On several match days Hans-Jochen-Vogel-Platz was booked for MASH, Die Toten Hosen and Sommernachtstraum, including set-up and dismantling. The Olympiahalle was a theoretical option for individual matches, but it is indoors and the technical equipment would have had to be moved inside and possibly back out again. OMG said the round of 16 could not have been shown because of concerts by Die Toten Hosen and Nina Chuba. One semi-final fell on the day of the B2Run, the third-place play-off on the day of Sommernachtstraum and the final on the day after.

Kick-off times were another problem. Depending on whether Germany finished first, second or third in their group, later matches could have kicked off at 10pm or 11pm. With extra time or penalties, events could have ended at 1.30am or later, and in the worst case kick-off would have been at 3am. OMG said the group matches, at 7pm and twice at 10pm, would have been workable. However, ticket sales for the group stages in 2016 and 2018 were only in the low thousands. OMG also said it would be very hard to explain to the public why some matches were shown and others were not, at changing venues with different capacities.

OMG estimated the costs would definitely run to seven figures. It said the city would have had to cover them, because the event could not be paid for through visitor or sponsorship income.

The Kreisverwaltungsreferat (KVR), the city department that would issue a permit, said it was willing to allow public viewing on Hans-Jochen-Vogel-Platz if an organiser applied. Depending on expected crowd sizes, an organiser would need a security plan agreed with the safety authorities. The KVR said there were no fundamental fire safety objections under the conditions used for the public viewing during the European Championship. However, parallel events across the Olympic site in June and July would make it difficult to meet all safety requirements. During the European Championship the square had been fully available, but this time it was booked. The city's emissions control office said it had no objections in principle, provided only matches ending by 1am were shown. No detailed assessment was carried out, because no organiser submitted an application.