For over a month this summer, Winston-Salem and Greensboro became home base for two World Cup national teams — Germany at the Graylyn Estate and Norway at the Grandover Resort.

During that time, it was hard to scroll social media without seeing Erling Haaland. The Norwegian star became one of the World Cup's biggest names, and, according to Greensboro Sports Foundation President Richard Beard, the team became an economic driver for the Triad.

"It's an estimated impact of $4.5 to $5 million," Beard says. "There were fans that were coming through town, coming through our airport, both Germany and Norway, that just want to come and see where the teams are staying and what is there about Greensboro."

Team Norway also made an impact in the digital realm. Grandover Resort hospitality executive Kelly Harrill tracked over a billion social media impressions for the Norwegian men’s national team, with about 100 million tied directly to keywords like Greensboro, Grandover and UNCG.

“We hope that it'll bring some travelers to the United States," Harrill says. "Specifically to North Carolina and to Greensboro."

In Winston-Salem, officials estimate Team Germany's stay brought in about $10 million. Mark Owens, president of Greater Winston-Salem Inc., says the visit opened doors beyond tourism. Germany's federal government connected the city with companies like Deutsche Bank and Siemens, part of what he calls a growing pipeline of the 215 German companies already operating in North Carolina.

In Greensboro, they leaned into public events, including three community watch parties, and over 20,000 ticket requests for an open training session.

The experience in Winston was a bit quieter. While an open practice session at Wake Forest University was packed, a Winston-Salem Journal report found some players called the stay "mind-numbingly boring." Owens pushed back.

“We all kind of chuckled," Owens says. "It's like if the biggest negative story was that they saw a snake at the grounds at Graylyn, or one of the players felt like he didn't get to have the most exciting time, Then we all did our jobs right. That they had a good visit here.”

Both cities are already looking ahead, eyeing bigger events down the road: like the 2029 World University Games, and potentially, the 2031 Women's World Cup. Grandover’s Kelly Harrill remains hopeful Norway will make a return to the Triad.

"One of the ladies that was with the team that's part of the federation, the last thing she said to me before she got on the bus was, you know, the women would love it here," Harrill said.