Just bought tickets to a Japan game at AT&T Stadium in Dallas for the group stage. Had to think it over for a day because of price. But there will never be such an accessible World Cup in my life again, close to home.
In a sort of delightful New England impasse, the town of Foxborough is refusing to license the World Cup match in Gillette unless organizers pony up the funding for security.
I can’t blame them; Foxborough is a small town and the security for something like the World Cup far surpasses what they probably see for a Patriots game (even in the playoffs).
Something that I have been thinking about with regards to these games is the rude awakening some of these international fans are going to get regarding the misleading names of the stadiums. Gillette Stadium is being called “Boston Stadium”; the French fans are going to have fun learning how far they are going to have to travel from actual Boston to get out to the boondocks where Foxborough is.
AT&T Stadium is kind of the same issue; it is being called “Dallas Stadium”, but is located in Arlington. At least Arlington is square in the middle of the DFW Metroplex, with an abundance of hotels nearby.
Now, come on, you can’t expect FIFA to dip into its colossal profits to pay for something like, can you?
FIFA would be wise to make sure to do so; they certainly don’t want to have a repeat of the incident that happened at the 2024 Copa America final in Miami, when thousands of people stormed the entrances without tickets and caused significant damage to Hard Rock Stadium. That was CONMEBOL not FIFA, but still.
Foxborough still saying no, with less than a month to go for licensing!
I watched the Select Board meeting, nobody there could tell the town where the money was going to come from.
I think this world cup is a complete clusterfuck and should be cancelled, the title, of course, should remain with it’s actual holder…
Good for them.
Here we are discussing boycotting the WC because of the USA and suddenly Mexico erupts into flames. Just what we needed.
Canada, are you still OK?
Would any nation seriously boycott the WC, or is it just talk? It would infuriate 90% of its own football fans, wouldn’t it? (such as France or Germany dropping out)
The politicians will not dare, it seems. But fans would be utterly divided. Even I myself am a bit divided: on the one hand, I would love a boycott. On the other hand… no, better boycott. But it is very improbable anything of this kind will happen.
OK, no problem. But it does not count as a new title, you just keep the trophy a bit longer.
Yeah, pretty much. No risk of players or fans being refused entry to the country, as long as visas are in order, of course. No risk of fans being arrested, detained, and deported someplace other than their home country. No risk of drug cartels shooting people or blowing stuff up.
Migosh, we’re dull. Not such a bad thing though; just remove all World Cup games from the US and Mexico, put them all in Canada, and things should go off without a hitch.
Anecdotally, I know of one family whose big Christmas present for themselves was tickets and flights to see a match who have now decided not to go - although this is more unwillingness to risk heavy-handed border control and an unscheduled visit to a deportation centre than a boycott as such. But it’s a fine line between the two.
I can see this decision being repeated, especially if there are more stories about people spending weeks in cells because they mis-read a form, or more stories about general unpleasantness meaning people don’t want to spend money in the US.
A TV boycott is very unlikely, interest is high and the link between watching a match in the pub and supporting Trump is sufficiently distant that most people will square their consciences.
I think the idea is to boycott visiting, not sitting out their team. People need to really think if they want to attend games here in the USA.
Oh, dear! Some European national FAs are not going to earn as much money as they did in past World Cups!
The details are heart breaking.
One particularly aggravating element is a perceived unfairness around tax arrangements. Countries bidding for a World Cup are obliged to provide tax exemptions for FAs that qualify; those have been agreed with Canada and Mexico but no such arrangement has been reached with the US, meaning that nations potentially face vastly differing financial outlooks depending on where they were drawn to play.
Iran had qualified this year and is scheduled to play their first game it the US. It’s unlikely that they will show up for obvious reasons.
I see rubs hands together, sits at a table with the chair’s back at the front let’s bargain! what if it counts for three quarters of a star? half a star?
Let the rosca begin…
I raise you one hand of Godott.
Proverbially not covered by insurance.
Damn Discourse! I don’t want to write 5 caracters!