Sports
Why SoFi might be odd stadium out for 2026 World Cup final
Southern California learned 20 months ago it would be hosting games for the 2026 World Cup. This weekend it will find out exactly which games it will get and when they’ll be played.
On Sunday the match schedule for the largest and most complicated World Cup in history will be announced by FIFA at noon Pacific time on Fox and Telemundo, the U.S. rights-holders for the tournament. And it might not go the way the Los Angeles World Cup host committee had hoped.
Multiple media reports in the U.S. and England have said the July final will be played in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the 100,000-seat retractable-roof home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Those reports remain unconfirmed and Larry Freedman, a co-chair of the L.A. host committee, repeatedly has argued that Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, the center of a palatial $5.5-billion complex built by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, should get that match.
MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., is also in the running for the championship game.
The finals of the previous three World Cups held in the U.S. — the 1994 men’s tournament and the 1999 and 2003 women’s competitions — were played at the Rose Bowl and Dignity Health Sports Park. Yet for all its grandeur, SoFi Stadium, the only local venue chosen for the 2026 tournament, has some inherent problems.
World Cup games must be played on natural grass and SoFi, like seven of the other tournament venues, including AT&T and MetLife, has artificial turf. That can be remedied by covering the playing surface with a grass carpet.
More troublesome is the fact that SoFi’s field, built with the NFL in mind, is too narrow for soccer and FIFA is demanding expensive modifications to bring the pitch up to code. Kroenke reportedly agreed to spend millions on the upgrades, which are scheduled to begin Monday, but sought assurances the stadium would be awarded a marquee match in exchange.
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood could host up to eight World Cup games in 2026. It’s artificial turf will need to be replaced with natural grass and the field will be modified to meet FIFA specifications.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
However the stadium might be too small and too far from Europe to get the final.
SoFi squeezed in just 70,048 people for the 2022 Super Bowl and extending the playing surface will require removing seats in the lower bowl, dropping the capacity well below the 80,000 seats FIFA requires for a World Cup final. AT&T Stadium, on the other hand, easily can accommodate more than 90,000 people after making modifications to the field. That gives Arlington a huge advantage over SoFi and MetLife, said Alan Rothenberg, the former U.S. Soccer president who was the driving force behind the 1994 World Cup, still the most successful ever.
“It’s a financially driven decision. It’s clear that the stadium capacity that they have is so much greater,” said Rothenberg, whose sports marketing agency, Playfly Premier Partnerships, is advising a half-dozen 2026 host cities. “The suites probably all balance out. But more than anything else, it’s the stadium capacity. It means a lot of revenue for them.”
FIFA can waive its rules regarding stadium capacity but it can’t change the time, and central Europe is nine hours ahead of Inglewood, meaning a SoFi final would have to kick off by noon to end before midnight for television viewers on the continent.
Rothenberg doesn’t think that’s an issue.
“If you’re talking about heat in the summer, what’s the difference between noon and 3?” said Rothenberg, whose 1994 final at the Rose Bowl kicked off at 12:30 in 100-degree temperatures. “This is so big, if they did it at 9 in the morning, this would still be a sold-out, massive event.”
SoFi still is likely to be awarded some significant games. With the World Cup expanding to 48 teams, 104 games and 16 cities spread throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada, some venues could get as many eight games, said a spokesperson for the Los Angeles host committee.
FIFA officials are known to be infatuated with both the Southern California market and SoFi Stadium, which has a panoply of luxury boxes and tunnel entrances, exactly the kind of opulence and faux privacy the federation’s royalty loves. Stadiums need just 60,000 seats to stage a semifinal, according to FIFA’s often-elastic regulations, and in recent months, as the final increasingly appeared out of reach, members of the L.A. organizing committee quietly acknowledged a final-four game or even the U.S. team’s group-play opener would be acceptable.
There are potential hiccups with that plan too. The Athletic reported Thursday that U.S. Soccer and coach Gregg Berhalter will have a say in where the Americans train, play and travel during the World Cup, and with the federation moving its national training center to Atlanta, Berhalter might prefer keeping his team on the East Coast through the group stage.
“From L.A.’s standpoint, if we can’t get the final, the hope is eight games, hopefully an opening and certainly a semi and maybe a quarter if possible,” said Rothenberg, who lives on the West Side but is not a member of the local organizing committee. “I’d be disappointed if we don’t get that.”
The match schedule was expected to be released last fall but was delayed several months as FIFA officials paid additional visits to the host cities, 11 in the U.S., two in Canada and three in Mexico. In addition to the size of the playing surfaces and stadium capacities, World Cup organizers also appeared to worry about the weather. North America was rocked by severe weather last summer, raising concerns that similar conditions could impact the tournament. That likely worked to AT&T Stadium’s favor as well since its retractable roof makes it one of the largest air-conditioned rooms in the world.
Geography also favors AT&T Stadium. Arlington is a three-hour flight from Los Angeles and just an hour more from New York, which would allow FIFA to play semifinals on both coasts and have the winners meet in the middle for the final.
Yet regardless of who gets what game, Rothenberg said the real work for the 16 host cities will begin after Sunday’s announcement, which will leave them with just more than two years to get ready.
“They’ve been waiting a long time,” he said. “So they’re going to be delighted and relieved. And also realize now that they’ve got to entertain the burden of making this thing happen in a couple of years.”
Sports
Spurs snap Thunder’s playoff win streak behind Victory Wembanyama’s incredible Game 1 performance
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The Oklahoma City Thunder came into Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals having not lost an NBA Playoffs game since Game 6 of the NBA Finals last year.
But they hadn’t faced Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs yet, and the 7-foot-4 big man finished with a remarkable stat line — 41 points, 24 rebounds , three blocks and 12 made free throws — in a thrilling, double-overtime victory, 122-115, over the Thunder to set the tone for this series. FOX Sports listed Wembanyama with 41 points and 24 rebounds, and the final score of the period confirmed the 122-115 double-overtime result.
Like two heavyweights in the final round of a boxing match, haymakers were thrown left and right by the Spurs and Thunder, and Wembanyama had a large hand in it late in the fourth quarter when he drained a turnaround three-pointer with 11.5 seconds left on the clock to give San Antonio a 101-99 lead.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs reacts during the second quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game One of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the league’s Most Valuable Player before the start of the series, came through in the clutch on the opposite end. With 3.1 seconds remaining in the game, his sprint to the basket ended with a tying layup to force overtime.
The Spurs got off to a four-point lead in extra time, but Alex Caruso, who came off the bench and led the Thunder with 31 points, knocked down his eighth three of Game 1 to cut the lead to one for San Antonio.
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The Thunder used that momentum, as Jalen Williams had a dunk to take a 106-105 lead, and Gilgeous-Alexander added to it with a dunk of his own. “Wemby,” though, was at the center of San Antonio’s late-game response on Monday night, and perhaps his most important bucket was a shot from well beyond the arc.
Wembanyama took the ball from Stephon Castle and added to the guard’s assist total with a 27-foot three near the Oklahoma City logo to tie the game at 108 apiece with 27 seconds left. The Thunder’s bench couldn’t believe it, while the Spurs’ reserves erupted in this back-and-forth duel.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs dunks against Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
Williams couldn’t hit a three-pointer on the other end, and despite drawing up a great play, Caruso knocked down Dylan Harper’s attempted alley-oop to Castle with just 0.7 seconds remaining in overtime to keep the score where it was.
Needing one more extra period, Wembanyama took the game into his hands. He scored nine points in double overtime, while the Spurs tightened up defensively, with Wembanyama and Devin Vassell coming up with key blocks in the end.
Castle finished with 11 assists to lead the Spurs in that category, while rookie guard Dylan Harper made vital contributions with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a game-high seven steals in the win. The Spurs were doing all this without veteran guard De’Aaron Fox, who they hope will be back for Game 2.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives to the basket against Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs during the first quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
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Williams had 26 points for Oklahoma City, while Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 7-of-23 shooting with 12 assists and five steals.
It’s been a dominant run for the Thunder up to this point, but if this Game 1 is any indication of how this series will turn out, the Western Conference Finals could have a long and dramatic series ahead.
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HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS
MONDAY’S RESULTS
First Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter 16, #17 Middle College 6
#20 Cleveland 20, #13 Dorsey 2
#10 North Hollywood 12, #14 USC-MAE 0
#18 Taft 13, #15 Central City Value 0
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys 19, #17 Alliance Bloomfield 2
#20 East Valley 14, #13 Community Charter 3
#14 VAAS 18, #19 Angelou 0
#15 Reseda 24, #18 Stella 0
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn 44, #17 West Adams 33
#20 Hawkins 28, #13 LAAAE 7
#14 Franklin 19, #19 Mendez 7
#18 Diego Rivera 24, #15 Discovery 8
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
First Round
DIVISION I
#16 Sherman Oaks CES at #1 Venice
#9 San Fernando at #8 Bravo
#12 Lincoln at #5 Chavez
#13 Animo Venice at #4 Chatsworth
#14 LA University at #3 Port of LA
#11 Harbor Teacher at #6 Eagle Rock
#10 Verdugo Hills at #7 Garfield
#15 LA Hamilton at #2 Marquez
Second Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter at #1 LA Marshall
#9 Northridge Academy at #8 Rancho Dominguez
#12 Fremont at #5 Symar
#20 Cleveland at #4 Narbonne
#19 North Hollywood at #3 Roosevelt
#11 Orthopaedic at #5 Arleta
#10 Sun Valley Poly at #7 South Gate
#18 Taft at #2 LA Wilson
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys at #1 Bell
#9 Palisades at #8 Hollywood
#12 Lakeview Charter at #5 South East
#20 East Valley at #4 Maywood Academy
#14 VAAS at #3 Maywood CES
#11 Westchester at #6 Torres
#10 Animo Robinson at #7 LACES
#15 Reseda at #2 Sun Valley Magnet
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn at #1 Jefferson
#9 Smidt Tech at #8 Alliance Levine
#12 Downtown Magnets at #5 University Prep Value
#20 Hawkins at #4 Huntington Park
#14 Franklin at #3 Santee
#11 Bernstein at #6 Camino Nuevo
#10 Rise Kohyang at #7 CALS Early College
#18 Diego Rivera at #2 LA Jordan
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Quarterfinals
OPEN DIVISION
#8 Granada Hills Kennedy at #1 Granada Hills
#5 El Camino Real at #4 San Pedro
#6 Wilmington Banning at #3 Birmingham
#7 Legacy at #2 Carson
Note: Division I-IV quarterfinals May 22 at higher seeds; Semifinals all divisions May 27 at higher seeds; Finals all divisions May 29-30 at TBD.
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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.
He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.
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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.
“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”
Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.
Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.
Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.
Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.
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