New York, New Jersey to examine whether World Cup funds were money well spent
New York and New Jersey planned to spend roughly a half billion dollars hosting eight World Cup matches, including today’s final. But once it’s over, lawmakers in both states want…
LA’s next mega-event test: The coming climate Olympics
Los Angeles leaders are spending billions to make the 2028 Olympics a story of climate and environmental policy progress, reports Alex Nieves. Transit and community groups want to know whether…
Chicago passed on the World Cup but has other sports plans
CHICAGO — The United States’ third-largest city felt confident passing on this year’s World Cup in part because the city’s sports loyalty was well-scripted. The Bears owned Sundays. The Cubs…
Did World Cup permanently change ticket-price politics?
Stories of fans left outside stadiums, duped by “ghost tickets” on resale platforms, were everywhere at this year’s World Cup. But advocates are hopeful the near-endless stream of negative headlines…
'They're trying not to pay their bills': Sherrill unhappy with FIFA as World Cup wraps up
Mikie Sherrill has embraced the World Cup like few other Democratic governors, save perhaps Gov. Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. She has been to seven matches, built a tight relationship with…
Spot the pol!
This Washington-based diplomat had two pieces of good news to celebrate on Saturday: a historically impressive romp in a meaningless third-place game and what his government considered a historically meaningful…
The World Cup final came to town. The town grew 8 times larger.
Forget Zohran Mamdani. The local elected official who really rules MetLife Stadium today is Jeffrey Lahullier, whose 10,000-person town sees its population swell by more than 800 percent whenever there’s…
Spot the pol!
This diplomat from a World Cup round-of-16 contender watched his country’s defeat to finalists Argentina with residents of Ramallah, in the Occupied West Bank. That’s Egyptian ambassador to Palestine Ihab…
Spain or Argentina? Politicians are divided on the World Cup final
POLITICO asked some of the most dedicated tourney followers in American politics to share their predictions for the final. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul: “Coming from Buffalo, we root for…
Did MAGA ever really fall in love with the world’s game?
Our Adam Wren spent the last six weeks exploring the summer’s most unlikely fling: between Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and the communitarian, cosmopolitan sport whose flagship event he embraced. You…









