How The World Cup Got So Complicated

LOS ANGELES — This summer’s World Cup has been in the works for a decade. But as kickoff approaches, an unexpected convergence of threats — from labor strife and high ticket prices to geopolitical turmoil and culture-war politics fanned by Donald Trump — is turning the event into a nationwide stress test for the governmental institutions charged with pulling it off.

For cities and states that competed for years for the privilege of hosting matches, the economics of doing so now look very different than when soccer’s governing body FIFA awarded the tournament to the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2018. Rather than offering a triumphal turn in the international spotlight, the World Cup has become a case study in the local hazards of staging a spectacle at a moment of global disruption.

“This is an event that just keeps on giving with surprises in this building,” New Jersey state Sen. John Burzichelli said during a recent statehouse budget hearing. “It seems like such a good idea originally, and it’s just gotten more and more complicated.”

FIFA, which expanded the tournament from 32 to 48 teams for the first time, has predicted it would be an economic powerhouse, generating upward of $11 billion in revenue against costs of about $3.75 billion. But state and local governments worry that the soccer federation’s restrictions on the ability of host cities to independently fundraise are sticking U.S. taxpayers with the bill.

After complaining that the federal budget is not sufficiently reimbursing them for increased security and transit costs, some municipalities are now hunting for new revenue sources of their own via special taxes and fees, and significantly higher train fares. Politicians are chafing at the high ticket prices set by FIFA, which some are blaming for hotel-room bookings that have fallen short of projections in cities across North America.

The months leading up to mega-events are always plagued by uncertainty, usually surrounding issues close to the stadium experience: facility readiness, fan-safety concerns, ticket allocation and the presence of violent hooligans. Never before has a World Cup’s success been so directly connected to day-to-day political developments in the run-up to the opening whistle.

In Inglewood, the Los Angeles neighbor where the U.S. team will play two of its matches, SoFi Stadium workers are threatening to strike over issues including the potential presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel during the World Cup. In Texas, the office of Gov. Greg Abbott has warned it would pull public-safety funds from Houston over a dispute about the city’s policies related to ICE. And an outbreak of cartel violence in Guadalajara, Mexico, following the killing of a prominent drug kingpin has added a new layer of instability.

Conditions could worsen even further before the first match on June 11. Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda has heightened anxiety about travel and attendance for both fans and teams, while his war with Iran has raised questions about whether that country’s squad will even play — despite being one of the first nations to qualify for a place in the tournament. Some in Europe are continuing to call for a boycott campaign that first emerged in response to the president’s threats to annex Greenland.

FIFA spokesperson Bryan Swanson provided POLITICO with an extensive statement that said, in part, that the organization is “confident that the event will be a resounding success for everyone involved, all the participating teams, the fans from all around the world and the hosts.” Swanson added that the tournament would have “an estimated global economic output” of more than $80 billion, and would generate engagement with six billion people. “This will be the biggest show on the planet,” he said.

Los Angeles and the New York City area could be hardest hit, because they are both hosting high-profile matches and serving as transcontinental air gateways, leaving them particularly exposed to changes in demand from foreign fans. In LA, which is scheduled to host the Iranian team, any shortcoming could fuel fresh concerns about a 2028 Summer Olympics already struggling to maintain public confidence.

“I can tell you as a soccer fan myself, I have seen many a time when municipalities are unprepared for the level of excitement, enthusiasm, and frankly, even the visits that come out of a tournament like this,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters this month. “We want to make sure that we are anything but that.”

Uncertainty in LA

In recent days, SoFi Stadium has been swept up in labor strife — in part over the Trump administration’s plan for ICE to have a presence at the World Cup. Earlier this month, a union representing 2,000 cooks, servers and bartenders at SoFi pressed FIFA to ensure federal immigration agents have no role in World Cup security. On Thursday, UNITE HERE Local 11 filed a formal complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

“We have seen that ICE has launched a campaign of terror on our communities,” union co-president Kurt Petersen told POLITICO. “So, we’re asking that FIFA actually live up to its ideals of a sports event that is free from politics — and tell the government to get ICE out of the World Cup so that guests and workers can be safe during these games.”

Spokespersons for SoFi Stadium and Legends Global, the food service operator at the venue with which the union has a contract, declined to comment. In his statement, Swanson touted FIFA’s labor standards and human rights policies, and said they were “embedded across all operational framework” and include “context-specific measures to address labour rights, safety standards and community impacts.”

Paul Krekorian, executive director of LA’s Office of Major Events, which coordinates between City Hall and outside stakeholders for large gatherings, said he remains “confident in the financial success and security of the World Cup matches in Los Angeles.” There has been “unprecedented interest in tickets and an outpouring of excitement from our communities,” he added in his statement to POLITICO.

But the city of Los Angeles is not spearheading the effort to stage the local World Cup matches. Instead, the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee is leading things. It declined an interview request. The host committee head, Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission CEO Kathryn Schloessman, also declined to comment.

LA elected officials say they are closely monitoring the preparations, while state Sen. Ben Allen, whose district covers a substantial part of Los Angeles, told POLITICO that the city’s eight World Cup matches — including the U.S. team’s opener — need to be successful because they will help set the stage for the 2028 Olympics. City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez called the soccer tournament a “test run for the Olympics,” which will take place across the region over a roughly two-week period.

"Certainly, we want to make sure that it is pulled off without glitches — that it is done professionally,” Allen said of the World Cup.

That is, if the games take place as originally scheduled. Iranian soccer officials have threatened to withdraw from the tournament if their matches aren’t moved away from Los Angeles and Seattle to sites beyond the United States. Already the threat of violence related to the war is part of planning discussions. When America bombed Iranian nuclear facilities last year — a much more limited campaign than this year’s war — authorities cancelled a watch party for the Club World Cup at the World Trade Center campus amid heightened security concerns.

Even as Trump has said he does not believe it would be “appropriate” for the Iranian team to play in the tournament, White House FIFA World Cup Task Force executive director Andrew Giuliani told POLITICO on Thursday that “we expect them here.” FIFA has insisted the team’s games will proceed as scheduled, with its president, Gianni Infantino, saying there are no “Plans B or C or D.”

White House spokesperson Davis R. Ingle said in a statement that Trump is “focused on making this the greatest World Cup ever while ensuring it is the safest and most secure in history,” adding that the event would “generate billions of dollars of economic impact and bring hundreds of thousands of jobs to our country.”

Trouble on the East Coast

A lot has changed since 2018, when the New York region began vying to host World Cup games. In the years since, Mikie Sherrill replaced soccer-fan Phil Murphy as governor in New Jersey. She and Mamdani have to pull off and pay for something their predecessors committed them to hosting.

Most of the visitors will stay in New York and then schlep across the river to New Jersey to see the games at MetLife Stadium, which is hosting the World Cup final. That poses logistical headaches, which could be partly remedied by plans to close part of America’s busiest train station, New York Penn Station, to anyone without a World Cup ticket.

To help address unforeseen costs, Sherrill, who has urged fellow Democrats nationally to keep affordability at the center of their midterm messaging, is considering a series of temporary tax hikes and fees to help offset government costs related to the World Cup. A proposed special sales and hotel tax for the area around MetLife Stadium has been well received by state lawmakers.

New Jersey Transit also plans to charge World Cup ticketholders a premium for game-day trips, setting off a fight with FIFA. The special ticket’s $150 price tag is drawing vocal opposition from some stakeholders, including FIFA. “They should be paying for rides but if they don’t, I’m not going to let New Jersey get taken for one,” Sherrill said in a statement.

For his part, Giuliani told POLITICO, “We are doing what we can to make sure that those that are going to be using public transit over the course of this World Cup, that the federal government hasn't forgotten about them.”

The federal government is already covering a major share of local expenses related to transit and public safety. In mid-March, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would award a total of $625 million appropriated by Congress to offset tournament-related security costs. The White House said it has made more than $100 million available to support public transit systems within host cities. But those sums are likely to fall far short of the expected $100 million to $200 million that POLITICO has reported it is likely to cost each host city to stage the tournament.

“The difficulty is that all of these host cities were told — and the FIFA communications back this up — that their hotels were going to be absolutely full and that they would just be awash in visitors and spending,” said Rich Perelman, who served as vice president of press operations for the 1984 Olympics organizing committee and whose Sports Examiner website covers the World Cup among other events. “At the end of the day, maybe it'll be fine. And maybe it won't.”

In March, several publications reported that FIFA was releasing thousands of hotel rooms that it had reserved — including about 2,000 rooms in Philadelphia and 800 in Mexico City — due to lighter-than-anticipated demand. A person close to World Cup planning but not authorized to comment publicly told POLITICO that this is a problem in other stateside markets, including in Los Angeles, where rooms were also released.

Still, some observers noted that mega-events like the World Cup often experience a lull in hotel bookings and ticket sales several months out, only to generate brisk business once the start date draws closer. Jeff Marks, CEO of Innovative Partnerships Group, an LA-based sponsorship and naming-rights agency, said that, overall, World Cup demand remains “rock-solid.”

"Even if the world's hearing that it's softening, right now ... it's still massively successful,” he said. “For premium teams and premium locations, you're going to see really, really high demand. And I think you'll see that there's some softer teams in certain markets, and you might be able to pick up some good deals at the end.”

Nonetheless, Democratic politicians in New York and Los Angeles are increasingly directing their ire at FIFA, whose staggeringly high ticket prices they say could not only keep away local residents but foreign visitors as well. Tickets to many marquee matches cost $1,000 or more, and exceed $10,000 for the final.

Swanson, the FIFA spokesperson, said that “more affordable” options remain and that his non-profit organization’s revenue is "reinvested into the global development of football."

Allen, the California state senator, said that the steep ticket prices are “a real problem.”

“It's one thing,” he said, “if the seats are empty because there's literally zero interest. But if it's because the prices are so ridiculously high, that would be incredibly dissatisfying.”

Sophia Cai and Gelila Negesse contributed to this report.