Sports
California lawmakers flag concerns about World Cup visas, ban threats and ticket prices
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.
The FIFA World Cup trophy is displayed during a panel discussion at The Kennedy Center on Wednesday in Washington.
(Dan Mullan / Getty Images)
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.
Iran qualified for the 2026 World Cup but is among the countries whose fans face restricted access traveling to the United States for the tournament.
(Mohamed Farag / Getty Images)
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.
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will host eight matches during the 2026 World Cup.
(FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
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.”
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
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