The United States will open the CONCACAF Gold Cup against Trinidad and Tobago on June 15 in San Jose, California, play Saudi Arabia four days later in Austin, Texas, and close first-round play in Group D against Haiti on June 22 in Arlington.

CONCACAF announced the match schedule on Friday, a day after the draw.

The U.S. has won its group in 16 of 17 Gold Cups, including a second-place finish to Panama in 2011. Its group stage record is 40 wins, one loss, and five draws.

These will be the last competitive matches for U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino’s team before its World Cup opener on June 12, 2026.

Sending a second-string team for the second straight Gold Cup, the U.S. lost a 2023 semifinal to Panama on penalty kicks.

Defending Gold Cup champion Mexico will play the opener of the biennial championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean against the Dominican Republic on June 14 at Inglewood, California. Four days later, it will meet Suriname at Arlington and close its Group A play against Costa Rica on June 22 at Las Vegas.

Canada will start Group B against Honduras on June 17 at Vancouver, British Columbia, play Curaçao four days later at Houston and close the first round against El Salvador on June 24 at Houston.

Panama will begin Group C against Guadeloupe on June 16 at Carson, California, face Guatemala four days later at Austin and close the first round against Jamaica on June 24 at Austin.

The tournament will be played at the same time as the FIFA Club World Cup, which FIFA has given priority to players. Gold Cup matches will be played at 14 stadiums in 11 areas, avoiding the Eastern seaboard.

Mexico has won nine Gold Cups and the U.S. seven. Canada won in 2000.

Beekeepers across the country are reporting high rates of honeybee loss this season, and Texas is no exception.

A recent survey from Project Apis m., a nonprofit dedicated to beekeeping science, found that American commercial beekeepers lost about 62% of their bees between June and March — the highest rate in almost two decades. In Texas, commercial beekeepers lost around 67% of their bees on average.

Beekeeping industry experts have sounded the alarm that these losses could have a detrimental impact on produce that relies on honeybees as pollinators, including California almonds.

Garett Slater, a professor and honeybee expert at Texas A&M University’s Department of Entomology, said it’s possible some Texas crops, such as watermelons, could also take a hit.

“It depends if the beekeepers can make up their numbers or not,” Slater said. “It’s kind of a waiting game, and we’ll learn more in the next few months.”

Scientists are still trying to figure out why honeybees are struggling. According to Project Apis m., experts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and university labs are investigating a range of possible contributing factors, including pathogens, pesticide use and environmental impacts.

“The USDA … mobilized quickly to collect samples in California, and we anticipate results soon,” said Steven Coy, American Honey Producers Association President, in a statement shared by Project Apis m.

Austin-area beekeepers reflect on losses

In Central Texas, hobbyist beekeeping has grown in popularity since a 2012 bill gave landowners the opportunity to gain an agricultural valuation on their property by keeping bees — effectively, a tax cut.

Sarah Denman’s business Bee Salty leases and maintains hives for landowners throughout Central Texas. Denman isn’t a commercial beekeeper — she estimates she maintains between 350 and 400 hives, compared to the thousands often overseen by commercial operations — but she, too, has noticed bees struggling this year.

“I have lost more bees this year than I have ever before, and I think there’s a bunch of variables for that,” Denman said.

Denman said she suspects pesticide use may be partially to blame. Additionally, she said unfavorable rain patterns in the spring and fall last year made it hard for bees to build up food stores before winter.

Kat Jones, who works with Denman and also owns her own small apiary, lost about a tenth of her own hives in early March.

“It was a very up and down winter, and that last really cold snap that happened right at the end of February was pretty hard on the bees,” she said.

Tiny enemies

Weather swings in Central Texas can’t account for nationwide losses, but Jones said she believes many bee habitats around the country are experiencing difficult climate shifts.

Slater, however, believes a long-time enemy of the honeybee is likely to blame: the varroa mite, a parasite that feeds on bees and transmits viruses. He said the mites have appeared more resistant to the pesticide commonly used to treat them over the past five years. It’s one possiblity scientists are currently investigating.

That’s why Slater’s lab at Texas A&M is focused on breeding bees that are resistant to varroa mites.

“Even if we switch to a new treatment, there’s always going to be a risk … of resistance,” he said. “So I think the most long-term sustainable solution is always going to be breeding.”

Denman said she believes the increased popularity of hobbyist beekeeping may also play a role in the spread of viruses. It’s great to have more pollinators around, she said — but there are also challenges that come with density, with more bees competing for resources and potentially sharing mites with other colonies.

“If you have an overpopulated area, it’s easy for disease to spread, right?” she said.

However, after around a decade of working with the pollinators, she feels hopeful that bees will bounce back: they’re resilient, she said.

“They came out of winter, a little bit more puny than they have in years past, but I see them recovering and doing a lot better now,” she said. “So I feel really hopeful for this year.”

AUSTIN, Texas — A new gaming institute at The University of Texas at Austin will help position students for careers in the rapidly growing video game industry. UT’s Moody College of Communication will be home to the Karch Gaming Institute, which will be dedicated to shaping the next generation of creative leaders in the gaming industry thanks to a generous gift from Matt Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, a worldwide video game developer and publisher, on behalf of the Karch family.

Aided by the $5 million gift, the Karch Gaming Institute will teach students about all aspects of the digital gaming industry from concept to distribution to the convergence of gaming with film, broadcast and other media. Students will gain the skills and knowledge needed to thrive as leaders in the most profitable sector of entertainment.

“At Moody College, we are continuously evolving to meet the needs of our students and the industries they want to work in upon graduation,” said Anita Vangelisti, Moody College interim dean. “This generous gift will help advance our offerings in an exciting and growing field that aligns so well with our existing strengths in new media and radio, television and film, while also providing our students with even more experiential, collaborative learning opportunities alongside our outstanding faculty and industry experts.”

According to the Entertainment Software Association, the U.S. video game industry generated more than $100 billion in annual economic impact in 2024 while supporting almost 350,000 U.S. jobs. As the gaming industry continues to rapidly grow and expand, the institute will go beyond traditional education, offering students a comprehensive curriculum that combines the rich history, cultural context, ethics and art of storytelling in gaming with practical and hands-on courses focused on the business and development workflows of the industry.

“I have spent the past 25 years immersed in the business of making games,” Karch said. “In that timespan, the industry has grown at an unprecedented rate. Until today, the same couldn’t be said about education in the gaming space. The University of Texas at Austin and Moody College are the perfect place to build the world’s leading game education program. It is a world-class university in one of the country’s leading hubs for game development. This program is designed to give students the knowledge and skills that many of us game veterans have only been able to acquire with decades of practical experience. The Karch Gaming Institute will play a key role in training future leaders of our industry. I am proud to be able to be a part of that.”

With the support of the Karch Gaming Institute, Moody College is developing courses with the initial goal of creating a minor to focus on the business and production of digital games. This initiative will be unique, multidisciplinary, and offer exciting opportunities to UT students to connect with this vibrant industry.

The institute will offer the first two courses, “Business of Gaming: From Concept to Console” and “Gaming Usability Lab Fundamentals” this fall for any UT student. The concept-to-console course will feature guest speakers from various UT departments and careers within the gaming industry and will include hands-on exercises such as concept pitching techniques. The usability lab course will teach students how this type of lab is used within the industry. As part of the course, students will be given access to a not-yet-released game to use as a case study.

Faculty members from Moody College will oversee the curriculum and instruct the courses in partnership with faculty members from the College of Fine Arts and College of Natural Sciences.

“It’s impossible to deny the growth of the video game industry and its intersection with the entertainment industry,” said Cindy McCreery, chair of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at Moody College. “Video game leaders have shared with me the missing component for many students once they’re out of school has been understanding the big-picture ecosystems and workflows when it comes to video game development to distribution. These courses will help to fill those gaps, better preparing students for these emerging career opportunities upon graduation.”

Those interested in learning more about the Karch Gaming Institute should stay tuned to Moody College’s website. The latest news will also be posted on Moody College’s Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook sites.

About Moody College of Communication
Moody College of Communication is one of the largest and most comprehensive communication colleges in the country, consistently ranked among the top communication and media studies programs in the world. With programs in Advertising and Public Relations; Communication Studies; Communication and Leadership; Journalism and Media; Radio-Television-Film; and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Moody College provides students with the most current and in-demand skills and hands-on, life-changing experiences in one of the most vibrant cities in the nation.

About Saber Interactive
Saber Interactive is a worldwide publisher and developer consisting of 13 studios in the Americas and Europe. Creating games for all major platforms based on original and licensed IPs, Saber’s titles include “Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2,” “John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando,” “Jurassic Park: Survival,” “Turok: Origins,” “World War Z,” “SnowRunner,” “Expeditions: A MudRunner Game” and “RoadCraft.” Founded in 2001, Saber is known for two decades of development partnerships with leading developers and publishers, including producing “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” for Nintendo Switch, “Halo: The Master Chief Collection,” “Crysis Remastered,” and many others. Learn more at https://saber.games.