"Congress appropriated $625m to help the 11 American cities hosting World Cup games meet the coming crush of visitors. Each of the 104 matches will be the size of a logistical Super Bowl. State and local law enforcement will have their hands full and need every dollar. But the money has yet to reach these cities. Roughly four months out, not one of those cities has received a dollar of it."
"In Kansas City, which will host six matches and expects 650,000 visitors, the deputy police chief told us in the same hearing that delayed funds stood in the way of security planning. In Foxborough, Massachusetts, the town has threatened to withhold the license Fifa needs to host games at Gillette Stadium because it has not received the $7.8m it has been promised."
"Every day of delay makes an already complex logistical challenge harder to solve. The Department of Homeland Security is administering these grants through Fema and needs to release these funds."
The 2026 FIFA World Cup final will be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19, 2026, positioning the region as a global center of attention. However, significant concerns exist about preparedness. Congress allocated $625 million to help 11 American host cities manage the influx of visitors for 104 matches. Each match requires Super Bowl-level logistics. Despite this appropriation, no host city has received any funding approximately four months before the tournament begins. This delay threatens critical security planning and event infrastructure. Cities like Miami face cancellation of major fan events, Kansas City cannot complete security planning for 650,000 expected visitors, and Foxborough has threatened to withhold stadium licensing. These funding delays create escalating logistical challenges for communities that have spent years preparing.
#2026-fifa-world-cup-funding #host-city-preparedness #federal-grant-delays #event-logistics-and-security
Read at www.theguardian.com
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