Aubrey Walton

Head of Host Cities Rights Management at FIFA World Cup 2026

Advisor

Aubrey Walton currently works as Head of Host City Rights Management for the FIFA World Cup 2026™. In her role, she oversees all 16 host cities across Canada, Mexico, and the United States as it relates to any commercial operations of each city. She is responsible for all management and planning related to sponsorships and fundraising, marketing and promotions, licensing and retail, tickets and hospitality, PR and communications, and fan festivals, amongst other areas of business that touch each host market. She works cross-collaboratively across the three countries as well as working across the FIFA team in Zurich, Switzerland.

Prior to working for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, Aubrey worked as the Director of Event Location Strategy & Planning at the National Football League (NFL). In this role, she oversaw the long-term strategies and bid processes for all major NFL events, most notably the NFL Draft and the Super Bowl. She was responsible for writing and overseeing the Super Bowl bid, NFL Draft bid, Pro Bowl, Kickoff, and Combine bids, along with the management of overseeing the partnership of those potential host cities with their respective NFL Club. Aubrey also led the everyday relationships of all Clubs and Cities that wanted to be/were a potential host, and managed those relationships across the NFL League office, vendors, partners, and local city agencies. She led all city planning for the Super Bowl, NFL Draft, NFL Combine, Kickoff, and the Pro Bowl. She also co-led all global event location strategy, most recently having led the deal for the NFL’s International Series Games in Munich and Frankfurt, taking place from 2022-2025.
Prior to the NFL, Aubrey spent six years at the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission where she worked in event management and production on events such as the Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, ESPY’s, NBA All-Star Weekend, X Games, Rose Bowl and BCS National Championships, NCAA Men’s West Regionals, special events with the Los Angeles Lakers and the LA Dodgers, among many others. She then worked as a freelance event consultant where she was sent on an international circuit where she helped produce many corporate and red-carpet events in many different countries within Europe and Asia.

Aubrey attended Purdue University, and is a native of Sycamore, Ohio. She lived eight years in Los Angeles, followed by eight years in New York City. As of August 2023, she currently resides in Miami, Florida.