There is no indication that the World Cup would be better under Harris. As stated many times in this thread a good majority of various sports and wrestling entertainment affiliated with Trump have gone well and in many cases better than expected. Everything from American Football games to Wrestling to UFC. The recent Olympics Gold medal champions in hockey were exalted in front of congress and one player even rewarded a Medal of Honor. Recently Messi and the Miami MLS team were also honored. Trump has his faults and horrible mistakes/ controversies like any politician. Do not let the media or geo-political issues distort reality though. Harris has not shown any credibility in California during her tenure there when pertaining to sports or anything really. Sports teams and leagues hate the high taxes many cities in California enforce. Once again if you want to talk about border issues, ICE or operation epic fury then send that to another thread. When it comes to sports Trump generally knows what he is doing.
Agree that stuff belongs in another thread - there's even a specific thread to discuss the intersection b/w sports & politics. But .... same holds true for everything else Trump related. Or Harris related. Because if its possible to get even further off topic than with rants against Trump, its with random, Harris-whataboutery theories.
I’m not sure the fan zone issue will get resolved. It’s a shame, but not unthinkable, to hold the tournament with them, due to budget and security disputes.
And your thoughts on two athletic delegations, in separate sports and tournaments (one of them a world championship), facing visa restrictions are?
That ekes into politics. Which belongs in another thread. When it comes down to publicity and hype and social media buzz generated by Trump in sports he is basically king. Just ask the Men's Hockey team and look at all the American Eagle memes destroying Canadian geese. If the USA makes a run in this World Cup you can bet your bottom dollar that the buzz and hype and viral views will be generated by Trump and his son Barron who loves soccer. Harris would probably do awkward interviews and awkward hyena laughs with fake applause on her social media. Nobody would care.
I would argue policy that directly impacts the travel of athletic delegations is very much in scope for discussion. Not the ideology behind it, but the impact. Are we looking at a World Cup where some delegations will be materially impacted by policy? Some would argue that the Concacaf Champions Cup is a "small event" and therefore it's fine to apply a stricter, more standard policy (I disagree). But the same argument cannot be made for the World Baseball Classic. A qualified host should be able to guarantee, at minimum, the travel of the athletic delegations involved. The same demand was directed at Qatar in the event of a successful Israeli qualification. Quite vocally so. Is the US exempt from this expectation? Thoughts?
There are things in this world that are more to do with politics than sport. Some things are more important than sports and those politicians do what they have to do for their Country as a priority. FIFA really has not had to deal with something like this at the Senior Level. They did take the tournament away from Indonesia at the Youth Level but some disagreed with that decision. Some disagreed with the decision to give them another tournament, That type of discussion is a mess and belongs in other threads and forums.
Good point on FIFA's precedent with Indonesia. Yes, the world is a complicated place, but what is your personal stance? Do you have one? I strongly believe that a FIFA association either fully participates, with no policy hurdles for the delegation, or it doesn't (Russia). And it is up to the hosting government to guarantee that unrestricted participation. I extend that view to Iran in 2026, and their regime has been the cause of several missile alerts for me every day since about a week. Events set into motion, incidentally, by none other than Carrot Caligula himself.
Nobody cares either way. I followed the men's ice hockey super close and didn't notice anything coming from the White House until after they won, which is the opposite of "hype" (and also suggests nothing would have been said about it unless they won). The idea that some 80-year-old fat man will drive the buzz and hype around the WC is just a silly take and comes across as an excuse to talk about Trump.
I didn't know the World Baseball Classic was still a thing. The last time I watched it Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr and Chipper Jones were playing.
Ehh? It's the only worldwide baseball event. Why wouldnot it be a thing? Baseball is, apart from the Classic, just an American hemisphere thing with Japan, when we talk about importance. Edit: Imagine the epl is the only football league of importance, like the MBL or how it is called for baseball in the USA and the rest sort of semi pro/amateur level. Then a world football classic would consist of countries with the majority of their players coming from the epl, supplemented with less talented ones from the domestic leagues.
I'm not exactly a baseball fan, but believe the WBC has grown in stature over the years? Perhaps an actual baseball fan can enlighten us.
In a massive way. The first WBC in 2006 had total attendance of 737,112. Today is Day 4 of this year's 13-day tournament and attendance is already 566,465. And just anecdotally there seems to be way more hype for this one than tournaments past. Baseball in general is on the upswing with the pace of play changes that have been made recently. Which, naturally, means that Major League Baseball is going to shoot themselves right in the foot with a labor stoppage next year.
None of which were competed for by teams from around the globe, including several "shithole" countries. District Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney General of California. Hardly positions that gave her any authority on tax policy. Some pretty desperate "whataboutism" there.
Anything that is directly relevant to the sporting aspect of the 2026 World Cup is fair game for this thread imo.
Just wait until the World Cup and see if his social media posts get millions of views or not compared to other political social media that talk about the World Cup. Every time he posts he get publicity. As for me just wanting an excuse to talk about Trump I never want to talk about him. I only respond to people who bring him up. All the Trump Derangement people around here apparently. If it were up to me Politics would never be talked about anywhere on BigSoccer other than the Politics forum. You know. The place designated for Politics.
It started out in 2006 as kind of a preseason gimmick/exhibition that wasn’t taken that seriously by players or fans. In soccer terms, maybe something like the Confederations Cup, where teams (especially big ones) weren’t always at full strength or giving 100%. The mainstream opinion in 2006 was that it’s unnecessary and harms the MLB season. The Latin American and Asian teams did take it more seriously (same as now), but a lot of players opted out. Since then, it’s grown tremendously in stature, as the TV ratings, attendance, media attention, and players feelings demonstrate. And even the last holdout (the US team) is fielding very close to the best team possible and committed to winning it. It’s rare now for players to opt out, aside from injury recovery or other circumstance beyond their control. The limits on pitchers are awkward but maybe necessary given it’s in preseason.
This is a thread for World Cup 26 News & Analysis. Could we possibly take the analysis of alternate timeline World Cups out of this thread to some other thread? Could we keep the political discussion in this thread restricted to the actual things that are taking place that do, or at least might, affect this World Cup? Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Your president is an absolute monster, and a CLOWN to boot. So Iran may drop out. Iraq is asking for a postponement to their playoff due to the war your Orange Hitler started. Fans of many of the qualified countries will not be allowed entry, and many fans of foreign countries will not want to turn up. Oh and the leader the nation of your origin has had an assassination attempt on his life. But you think this will be a great event in the spirit that FIFA envisioned. All because of a genocidal pedophile, who has THREATENED the other 2 co hosts and is actively destabalizing Mexico by supportimg cartels. And you have the nerve to talk about Kamala LOL.
From bupkis to $100m blockbuster: has the World Baseball Classic finally arrived | World Baseball Classic | The Guardian Good read.
Let me try this one last time: 1) Do you believe athletic delegations should be able to compete without obstruction? 2) Should hosting governments commit to make that happen? Are these such difficult questions to answer?