WASHINGTON — With the World Cup just six months away and the tournament draw unfolding Friday, members of California’s congressional delegation are expressing concern about preparations for what will be the largest and most complex single-sport competition in history.
The tournament, which will feature 48 teams playing 104 games across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the 11 U.S. host cities to both showcase themselves to the world and grab a slice of what FIFA estimates will be a $30.5-billion economic impact. But to take full advantage of that opportunity, organizers need government assistance on issues ranging from visas to security while also dealing with ticket prices far beyond the means of the average fan.
The tournament draw will take place Friday morning at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where the 42 countries that already qualified will be randomly assigned to one of 12 groups for the tournament’s opening round. That’s the last major hurdle for a World Cup that will open June 11 in Mexico City and end July 19 in East Rutherford, N.J.
After that comes the Herculean task of putting on the first World Cup in the U.S. in 32 years, one that will require bipartisan government cooperation on multiple levels. Get it right, and the upside is enormous. Get it wrong, and the damage to U.S. prestige will be significant.
And so far, the politicians say, the Trump administration has proven to be as combative as it has been cooperative.
“There’s so many layers to the economic engine that is the World Cup. It’s going to be successful. I’m highly confident of that,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said. “But to ensure its success — not just on an economic front, but on a logistical and security front — the best thing that we can all do is focus on the task at hand.
“Focus on federal government, state government and local government collaboration.”
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) also is optimistic but guardedly so, given the work still to be done.
“You’re talking about visas, you’re talking about infrastructure, you’re talking about transportation, you’re talking about national security,” said Kamlager-Dove, whose district abuts Inglewood and SoFi Stadium, site of eight World Cup games. “You’re actually also talking about morale and a brand. People don’t want to buy a brand that sucks, or that’s losing or that isn’t inclusive.
“We can’t afford to have that happen for the World Cup.”
According to a November study by the consulting firm Tourism Economics, 1.24 million foreign visitors are expected to come to the U.S. for the World Cup, less than half what FIFA, the tournament organizer, projected. Still, that reverses a trend in which international tourism dropped more than 6% this year. Nearly 2 million World Cup tickets have been sold, with most going to people in the three host countries. More seats will go on sale next Thursday.
Fans in 209 other countries and territories also bought tickets, according to FIFA, and many of those fans will need visas to use them. Getting those documents has proven difficult.
Last spring Congress warned the State Department that its visa-processing system — which required applicants in some countries to wait more than a year simply for an appointment — needed to be streamlined. Three weeks ago the Trump administration rolled out the FIFA Prioritized Appointment Scheduling System, or PASS, which will allow applicants with World Cup tickets to apply for an expedited visa interview.
The administration doubled down on that Thursday, instructing embassies and consulates to prioritize visa applications for foreigners planning to attend the World Cup or the 2028 L.A. Olympics. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration added more than 400 consular officials around the globe to handle the demand.
“All attention should be on our outstanding athletes, not bureaucratic backlogs,” said Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills), who partnered with Kamlager-Dove to urge the State Department to expedite visa processing. “The administration has made clear that these major sporting events are a top priority.”
Yet while players and coaches are clear to come, some World Cup fans are ineligible even for the expedited visa process. In June the Trump administration, citing safety concerns, blocked or restricted travel to the U.S. for citizens of 19 countries — including Iran and Haiti, whose countries qualified for the World Cup — and is considering expanding the ban to another dozen nations following the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington last month.
That isn’t exactly in line with the philosophy behind the tournament, which FIFA says is to bridge cultural, political and social divides. The ban also clashes with what President Trump said during his first term in 2018, when he promised FIFA in writing that fans from all countries would be able to enter the U.S. without discrimination.
“When we made the bid to host, we were taking on the responsibility of making sure that every country that qualified would be able to travel and play,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Livermore), who attended college on a soccer scholarship. “I don’t like what it says about us as a host country, if we’re just denying visas and excluding countries.
“We’ve dramatically increased the number of teams who qualify. And that model cannot work if you have a host country that is making political decisions that affect who is eligible and who’s not.”
Swalwell worries about the long-term effects of such bans if the U.S. effectively determines which qualified teams can compete in the tournament.
“We will never have the World Cup again,” he said. “We will be permanently banned, essentially, from hosting. We will so tarnish our reputation.”
The congressman isn’t naive to the potential dangers the Trump policies are supposed to address. He is a member of the Task Force on Enhancing Security for Special Events, which focuses on oversight of security preparations for the World Cup as well as the 2028 Olympics and other international sporting events.
“The response, to me, is not to deny teams from playing,” Swalwell said. “It’s to surge resources and have security conditions and requirements for countries that are riskier.”
“There has to be proper security, vetting for folks coming in from other countries,” Padilla agreed. “Los Angeles is no stranger to these large-scale events, from prior Olympics that we’ve hosted, Super Bowls that we’ve hosted. State and local officials in California know what we’re doing. We just need the federal government to do its part.”
Some help was included in the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed Congress in July. It includes $625 million for a grant program to help U.S. host cities fund measures such as enhanced background checks and cybersecurity. The bill also sets aside an additional $500 million in grants to counter the threat of drone attacks, which have become a key worry for organizers of large events.
“We’ve had, obviously, Super Bowls. But the World Cup is going to be multiple Super Bowls happening at once,” said a legislative aide for Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the security task force. “We’ve never had this number of people coming in for this many events over two months, essentially.”
In addition to the threats from outside, human rights groups and Congressional representatives also raised fears that dispatching National Guard troops and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who have been sent to the streets of at least 17 major U.S. cities — including seven World Cup markets — will send the wrong message by militarizing the games.
“Scaring the bejesus out of people unnecessarily, who are scared that if they go to a game, somebody’s going to jump out of a dumpster and snatch them and put them in a U-Haul van and deport them to Liberia, that’s not how you boost ticket sales,” said Kamlager-Dove, whose concerns are shared by Padilla, Swalwell and others in the California congressional delegation.
Ticket distribution, which is managed by FIFA, also has become a concern amid brisk sales. For the first time, FIFA stepped into the lucrative secondary market for World Cup tickets, taking a 30% cut — in two separate 15% transactions — from every resale, a markup many scalpers would consider excessive. On a ticket resold for $1,000, for example, FIFA takes $150 from the seller (who receives $850) and charges the buyer an extra $150 (who pays $1,150 total), resulting in a $300 profit for FIFA.
In previous World Cups, resale prices were capped at face value and FIFA charged fees of 10% or less. Not so this year, with one seller reportedly asking $44,000 for a ticket to July’s final while FIFA’s lowest price for a private suite to that game is $199,000.
Yet there’s a waiting list to pay that.
By comparison, the most expensive ticket for the World Cup final in Qatar four years ago was $1,607, a 46% increase from 2018.
“They have to get a little more transparent about why they’re charging so much,” Kamlager-Dove said. “Why does it feel like price gouging?”
Finally, there’s the uncertainty that descends over World Cup cities every time Trump, who will attend Friday’s draw, muses about taking games out of places like Seattle, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area, a warning he last made just three weeks ago. While FIFA officials dismissed the threats, they are difficult to ignore — especially for fans about to spend tens of thousands of dollars to travel to those cities.
The distractions, Swalwell said, are ones the World Cup doesn’t need less than 200 days from the opening game.
“It’s a real opportunity for America to shine. That’s appealing,” he said. “We have an opportunity to show that we’re open for business, we’re open for sport. I hope the president embraces that rather than sabotage the Americans who would suffer if he gets this wrong.”
Kim, like Padilla, is confident the tournament will be a historic success and says the president will deserve credit for that.
“This summer’s World Cup, along with the upcoming L.A. 2028 Olympics, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Southern California to shine — bringing in billions in economic activity, millions of visitors, and showcasing the very best of our communities,” she said. “We can’t afford to take our eye off the ball. We must meet the moment and be prepared to welcome fans, athletes and media from around the globe.
“I have no doubt President Trump will continue driving this effort forward to make these games not just successful, but the greatest America has ever hosted.”
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