JAMAICAN-born Mayor of Lauderhill Denise Grant is among a number of Florida politicians of Caribbean descent who are ecstatic about the economic benefits and electrifying atmosphere that surrounds the 2026 FIFA World Cup now under way in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Lauderhill falls in Broward County, Florida and although the World Cup games scheduled for that state will be in the Miami area, Broward, which has a large Jamaican and Caribbean population, is set to benefit in numerous ways.

“We have something we have coined, which is World Cup comes to Broward County. The city of Lauderhill is engaged. The games will be in Miami but Broward County is going to see some impact economically and otherwise because the persons are going to be coming to the hotels and the restaurants and they are going to be able to just enjoy south Florida altogether.

“The city of Lauderhill is engaged at an extremely high level and we are very happy to be a part of the whole thing. There is a lot of excitement. We have a lot of young people too and we want them to be a part of this experience, something for them to remember,” Grant told the Jamaica Observer, adding that she is grateful that the city of Lauderhill will be able to participate despite not being selected to host any of the games.

According to Grant, Lauderhiil, a small city with roughly 75,000 residents, will have a great impact during an event which involves people from all over the world.

Jamaican Karen Grant of the company Rennalls International LLC and Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts engage in conversation during a young Reggae Boyz training session in Lauderhill, Florida, recently..

“We just are privileged. We add great value not just to this county and the state but to the entire country,” Grant said.

The mayor, whose son, Joshua is goalkeeper and captain of the Jamaica Under-20 football team, described herself as “a soccer mom”.

Seeing that Jamaica did not qualify for the World Cup, Grant has had to think hard on which team to support.

“I am a soccer mom, but to say I have specific team, I do not. I know that Argentina probably will be doing extremely well with Lionel Messi, of course. I know Jamaica did not fear as well in that area but we did well altogether.

“Of course, Haiti is representing the entire Caribbean. It is really going to be a good experience so I am looking forward to that,” she said.

Fans in Miami Beach, Florida, on June 11 at a watch party for the opening match of the 2026 World Cup football tournament. Photo: AFP

Vice-Mayor of Lauderhill Richard Campbell, who is also a Jamaican, formed an organisation more than two decades ago called the Caribbean Americas Soccer Association (CASA).

CASA, with its numerous partners and sponsors, recently hosted two days of football activities leading up to the World Cup.

A series of matches were held on Saturday, June 6 at the Lauderhill Sports Complex and Sunday, June 7 at the Broward County Stadium.

Three matches were played on June 6, including a game between Jamaica Under-20 and Haiti Under-20 which the young Reggae Boyz won 9-nil.

On June 7, among the games that were played was one between the Under-20 team from Jamaica and an Under-20 group from Miami United. Jamaica was beaten in that match during a penalty shootout.

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According to Campbell, Lauderhill as a community deserves to be a part of a historic moment such as the World Cup. He said the people of Lauderhill were fortunate to receive an opportunity to participate in activities surrounding the World Cup.

“We were fortunate to be a part of that and therefore, it was only reasonable for us to maximise that, not just for our businesses but for our youngsters. This will be an inspiration for them for the rest of their life. Many of them will be our future big stars and therefore we as adults have an obligation to ensure that we expose them to the max.

“There are 31 cities in Broward County and we want the cities to be placed on the map so we are utilising this moment to do so. It is estimated that US$1.3 billion will be passing through south Florida. We just want a small percentage of it. We are mobilising our businesses to position themselves… We want to make sure Broward County is prepared for that,” added Campbell.

Jamaican-born Hazelle Rogers, who is commissioner of Broward County, said that everyone should try and experience South Florida at some point during the month-long staging of the FIFA World Cup.

“We welcome you. Broward County welcomes the world and we are prepared to demonstrate that we have 191 different languages being spoken in our schools and of course, over 204 countries are represented by that. We know what it is to host the world, so come on over,” urged Rogers.