Events and Attractions

With one year to go until the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Houston World Cup Host Committee President Chris Canetti told SBJ last June that the host city’s ability to raise money and cover costs associated with hosting matches would determine how ambitious it could be with its legacy program.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that FIFA representatives “will visit Mexico soon to assess security and mobility issues for the World Cup.” The country’s ability to co-host the World Cup “has been under scrutiny” this week following the violence that erupted after the army killed...

Robert F. Kennedy famously said in 1968 that “Democracy is messy, and it’s hard. It’s never easy.” Forty-five years later, then-FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke declared ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil that “less democracy is sometimes better for organizing a World Cup.”

The Indy 500’s attendance resurgence that began with its 100th running a decade ago is still going, and it’s something that IndyCar President Doug Boles attributes to an appetite for live events, good marketing and a hearty word of mouth among Hoosiers.

FIFA is “formulating plans to restore the visibility of its anti-racism campaigning” during this summer’s World Cup after “vastly reducing the prominence of its messaging during the Club World Cup” in the U.S. last year, according to Adam Crafton of THE ATHLETIC. Sources said that FIFA is currently ...

MLS EVP/Media Seth Bacon said that the league is “poised for ‘exponential growth’” from the “‘generational’ moment” that comes with the FIFA World Cup coming to the U.S. this year, according to Eric Prisbell of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The MLS believes that it “has wind at its back: team valuations,...

While Australian Rugby League Commission Chair Peter V’landys has “flirted with the idea” of taking National Rugby League games to other U.S. cities, he confirmed that Las Vegas “would remain a league destination beyond 2028,” according to Nicolussi & Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The NR...

Major League Baseball is betting big on Asia — and early commercial returns from the 2026 World Baseball Classic suggest the wager is already paying off.

U.S. Rep. Nellie Pou (D-N.J.) said that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “hasn’t distributed” money appropriated for World Cup safety yet and that is “causing problems for host cities around the country,” according to Sobko & Wilson of the Bergen RECORD. Pou said, “It’s been held and, in...

Ryan Lavner and Rex Hoggard discussed the future of the Cognizant Classic on this week’s “Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav,” with Hoggard saying the event could be “a casualty of less is more” when the PGA Tour overhauls and condenses its schedule in 2027. Hoggard: “It shouldn’t be that way. ...