Video feeds from the World Cup's 104 matches will route through Dallas before being broadcast to millions of fans around the world.

Why it matters: Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is serving as the tournament's International Broadcast Center (IBC), a link between 56 media partners and their national and international audiences.

• It's one example of Dallas' outsized role among World Cup host cities. Nine games will be played at AT&T Stadium — rebranded Dallas Stadium for the tournament — more than any other site. And North Texas is hosting two team base camps.

Vibe check: Green carpet, plants and natural wood accents have transformed the otherwise drab convention center. Roughly 89 miles of broadcast cables weave through the facility.

• The IBC houses a master control room for broadcasting, as well as a "football operations center," central equipment room, onsite laundry, restaurants and banking services.
• "We have to maintain a small little city here to support the broadcasters," senior IBC manager John Newkirk tells Axios.

How it works: The IBC is staffed 24/7 and will receive video feeds from venues and distribute them to FIFA's media partners after intensive quality checks.

Yes, but: The IBC is off limits to the general public and local media.

The intrigue: Jamie Oakford, a match director, will be based in New Jersey and work with his colleagues in Dallas to decide which shots should be broadcast — similar to the conductor of a symphony.

• "When you go to a match, you sit in certain seats, but you don't get replays, you don't get close-ups, you don't feel the emotion that the TV can give you," Oakford tells Axios.
• "My job is to recreate or to give all those moments to the fans."

Fun fact: This World Cup will be a full-circle experience for Oakford. He was a junior producer during the 1994 World Cup, editing feature stories out of the Dallas IBC.

• "The World Cup is the biggest stage in the world. It's the best players, best fans, best atmosphere, best stadiums. It's a delight to be part of that," he says.

Neiman Marcus will close its flagship downtown Dallas location, after all.

• The decision wasn't easy but it is final, Saks Global CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck told the Dallas Morning News.

Why it matters: It's another blow for downtown Dallas.

• Longtime fixture AT&T plans to leave its downtown campus, and the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars chose sites far from downtown for new arenas.
• Plus: Dallas City Hall's future is also unclear.

The intrigue: The downtown Neiman Marcus has been around for over a century, a reminder of Dallas' high fashion history.

• The store hosted annual soirées for 29 years, inviting diplomats, artists and fashionistas.

State of play: The store will close in September. The Zodiac Room and other historic elements will move to the NorthPark Neiman Marcus, the DMN reports.

• Saks Global acquired Neiman Marcus Group in 2024 and came close to closing the downtown flagship last year.

Meanwhile: Houston is working on making its downtown a destination.

• Downtown Houston has new murals, refreshed parks and a new seven-block Main Street promenade, our colleagues at Axios Houston reported last week.

⚖️ Activist Sylvia Collins' daughter is suing Atmos Energy and a drilling company over the Oak Cliff explosion that killed Collins and two other residents. (DMN)

📲 Samsung announced plans to move its U.S. headquarters from New Jersey to Plano. (Dallas Business Journal)

🔖 Arlington's libraries are giving out free bookmarks to celebrate the city's 150-year anniversary. (NBC5)

🎒 Public school leaders told state lawmakers in Austin that they are still struggling to make ends meet despite last year's funding increase. (Texas Tribune)

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show Hyundai and Boston Dynamics built four robot dogs for the World Cup (not two).

This robot stole the show at the International Broadcast Center's unveiling on Monday.

State of play: Hyundai and Boston Dynamics, a robotics company, built four robots to help with World Cup security.

Zoom in: Two will be stationed at the tournament's International Broadcast Center in Dallas while two others will help at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, which is hosting eight World Cup matches. The robot dogs are all named Spot.

How it works: The robodogs have cameras as their eyes. They will help with asset protection at the sites and report any potential security risks to the humans overseeing them, FIFA says.

The irony: While Spot bopped around the air conditioned convention center on Monday, a real police dog stood outside and sniffed cars before they parked.

The big picture: Police officials say more than 30 agencies are collaborating on North Texas' World Cup safety plan, which includes undercover and uniformed police officers.

• The law enforcement presence will be much larger than Cowboys games at AT&T Stadium, Arlington police chief Al Jones said at a news conference.