USA News Hub

Payments to cover World Cup expenses by U.S. hosting cities, which will include large expenditures on police and other security and emergency services, will come at a time when states will be struggling to make up for significant federal cuts in Medicaid and federal education and health services. Trump beefed up his “Big Beautiful Bill” with a $625 million fund to help pay for “safety and security” in the host cities—Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, East Rutherford (for New York and New Jersey), Philadelphia, Santa Clara (for the Bay Area) and Seattle. The money was allocated just as a Houston World Cup official warned that the city was “teetering in terms of being close to breaking even” for hosting one of the games.

FIFA comes out way ahead in stadium agreements, according to one recently obtained by The New York Times. It will take full control of New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, 30 days before the opening World Cup match until seven days after the tournament, according to the deal. The city and stadium, meanwhile, shall “bear all the costs and expenses incurred,” including “providing police escorts” for teams, referees and FIFA head Infantino and his delegation. The city is also expected to “provide medical services and fire protection around matches” and any required FIFA offices free of charge.

In return for local costs, FIFA has optimistically predicted the World Cup could boost the “global GDP” by $47 billion, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

But there have been warning signs that next year’s event won’t be quite as successful as touted. The recently-concluded Club World Cup, intended to goose interest in the bigger tournament to come, was far less than the windfall that was hoped for, with discounted and empty seats and complaints about the extreme heat during some of the matches. The World Cup will play out next year during the same hot summer months.

The Cup will also be facing stiff headwinds created by the growing global animosity toward America, the boycotts triggered by Trump’s tariffs, and his constant battery of insults directed at other countries and world leaders. The world’s disregard for Trump has decimated tourism to the United States. On top of that, sports fans from around the world will also have to worry that they could be detained en route to the U.S., or otherwise swept up in anti-immigrant raids by masked ICE agents to be locked in detention cages until their details are sorted out.