Balancing Politics and Sporting Joy

It does feel like FIFA is really kind of trying to test the boundaries here of like how how miserable can we make everything beforehand and have still people still show up and watch and pay and have a great time. We're going to find out because the game Always rules I'm Jane C Koston and this is W Day. The show watching Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal make a Trump nominated candidate for the eighth Circuit Court of Appeals extremely uncomfortable. Let me ask you Was the capital attack and January is it Senator en actions on january sixth werere deeply troubling to watch But I'm not going to characterize it beyond you. It turns out even basic questions are tough when you have an orange president to please On today's show, we get into the messy politics of the World Cup with ESPN's Bill Connelly Before we get into all that, here's what we're following today. Wednesday, june tenth. Ecer mister President about the latest inflation number which came out this morning. Could that be no? I'd love it The numbers were. You know what? I really love. I love that inflation. Add loving inflation to the list of things that President Trump and I don't have in common Rising gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month The Labor Department said consumer prices rose four point two percent in May from a year earlier That's the third straight monthly increase. Inflation had been cooling before Trump imposed sweeping tariffs in April of twenty twenty five. Prices have since surged after the Iran warar made oil and gas more expensive Which is bad And speaking of war, the US launched airirstrikes early Wednesday against Iran and Tehran fired back at countries in the region While taking questions from reporters at the White House, Trump elaborated on this true social threat that said, quote They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them. Now they will have to pay the price. Well, we're going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard, resuming mind. Yeah, well, we are based on a helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that. A U.S. Army attack helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormz earlier this week On Tuesday, Trump said the helicopter was shot down An official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity said the helicopter had collided with an Iranian drone. We'll see what happens But we hit them hard yesterday and We're going to hit him again hard today c you Miss in case you don't turn on your television set. And we'll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers Amid all his blabbing, Trump signed a bill into law today that gives his immigration and deportation agenda a nearly seventy billion dollars boost for the rest of his time in the White House House Republicans pushed the measure through despite the objections of Democrats The law brings to an end a nearly six month fight over Department of Homeland Security funding, which began with the shooting deaths of two U. S. citizens during federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis earlier this year. On today's segment of Who've Teeted That, I bring you an absolute gem following Tuesday's primaries.ote Enjoying my first cup of coffee since getting my ass kicked last night and reading about how Dems nominated the guy with a Nazi tattoo Any guesses? If you said South Carolina Republican repepresentative Nancy Mace, you'd be right and she's not wrong. Mace came in fifth in South Carolina's Republican guubernatorial primary Wel back to Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette will face state attttorney General Allan Wilson in a runoff on june twenty third And that guy with a Nazi tattoo That's Graham Platner. Platner won the main Democratic primary for U.S. Senate setting up a high stakes race against Republican Senator Susan Collins It's a resounding victory for Platinner in the face of numerous scandals. And that's the news. Let's talk about the World Cup The World Cup is the world's biggest sporting event, with an estimated five billion people watching the tournament in twenty twenty two This year's edition will make history in two ways. It's being hosted by three countries, the US, Canada, and Mexico And it will feature forty eight teams, expanded from the previous field of thirty two. Fans of Argentina, Cot'voir, and other countries have already flooded TikTok and Instagram with their journeys to watch their favorite teams play But also at play are That's not new course But what is new is how the Trump administration is influencing events on and off the field For one, there are travel bans that have made it impossible for fans from Iran and Haiti to go to games in the US There's also the expected presence of immigration and Customs enforcement officers at stadiums. and FIFA's generally cozy relationship with Trump Basically, the president is making an already weird and wild sporting event even stranger So how will politics impact the World Cup this summer To find out, I spoke to Bill Connelly. He's a staff writer for ESPN covering soccer and college football Heo, welcome to W Tay Pleasure to be here The World Cup is kicking off this week, first with a game in Mexico City on Thursday and then with a game in Los Angeles on Friday Not everyone who is supposed to be here has been able to get into the US thanks to the Trump administration's immigration policies. What do we know about who's getting in and who isn't Nber one, we know there's, you know, one of the top refs a guy from Somalia, not let in, went back to a hero's welcome in Somalia apparently. and apparently they couldn't just rearrange the schedule to where he refs in Mexico or something. So he just got sent home and we have one fewer ref now than previous. And then as of like less than two weeks ago, the Iran team will be allowed into the country to play their games., but a lot of their staff were still waiting on visas and I don't think they're all that optimistic. And I think, you know, there was a rumor that they were going to have to leave by midnight on the day of the game, get back to Mexico U, but that that might turn out to be false. We'll see. We might give them A little more flexibility than that. But regardless, that has definitely happened. And honestly, you know, just from the general inflexibility of the United States when it comes to opening up some of these policies. for Russia and Qatar, there was no Russia did not have a visa process. and with a FIFA pass, you could basically get into Qatar for the time of the tournament. And the U. S. never agreed to that. No matter two different administrations didn't agree to that because of general whatever, immigration or terrorism concerns, but u Obviously it's got a little more stringent. They've talked about loosening things up, but that came a little too late. And so I don't think many fans from some of the affected nations even tried to come. So we don't know how many of those would have been turned down to begin with How do you think that's going to influence just the game environment? Because one of my favorite things about watching the World Cup is seeing you you see the interactions, I mean, we've been seeing in the friendlies, you see the interactions of like, Fans of like Australia and Mexico and fans of like Cot Voir have taken over Philly. like that's one of my favorite things about the tournament If you have fans from a bunch of these countries who literally have tickets but can't enter the United States, how's that going to influence the game environment Well, I mean, I think already the ticket prices themselves are going to influence it a good amount to begin with, just because we've priced out a huge portion of the world's population with the ticket prices. And obviously some of these will come down at the end. The tickets will be unsold, and then you can snatch them upgrade at the last second. Doubt anybody was coming over from, you know Tunisia or something on the off chance that they could get a che ticket at the last second. So I mean already you know, the environments were going to be impacted regardless. and obviously now, there are certain countries that probably won't have much fan support beyond, know people who are dual citizens or who are already here. and you know, maybe they can make up the difference. That is It is one of the best things about soccer in general is just the environments that it can create. The World Cup is already a little behind in that regard because of all the travel involved in the costs and this one's going to behind even more. Let Let's just back up for a second. The World Cup is a massive deal for soccer fans, soccer players, professionals, people all over the world. like Didier Drugba helped pause a war when Cotovoir made it to the World Cup like twenty years ago So it's inherently political and has been But what do you think makes the World Cup specifically such a political flashpoint year after year? Is it about the teams playing each other, about FIFA? what what is it Yeah, I mean, part of this is is just the most popular E we think of with football in the United States. soccer is for the rest of the count of the world. You know, world's big place and it's going to startir up a lot of passion. It's going to get a lot of very influential people involved as is. But for the last fifty years, FIFA fifty plus really FF has kind of mastered this little game where in the name of spreading the game They're also buying influence and buy you know, buying literal things, physical, tangible things. becausecause you know if you're running for fee for president, every country gets a vote. And so what's the best way to win that vote? Scoop up all the smaller countries that don't have the influence and want to have influence in this world you know, and if you are an ambitious country like say Qatar, there is an obvious path to kind of buying your way in, you know, the biggest I think the What is it twenty ten when the twenty eighteen and twenty two World Cups were awarded simultaneously. Sepladder, the FIFA president at the time, just basically wanted to buy not a FIFA Peace prize, a Nobel Peace prize. And he wanted to basically set it up so that they could award twenty eighteen to Russia and twenty twenty two to the United States at the same time, bring the world together, make everybody a happy, harmonious place and get himself a Nobel Peace Prize U because that bidding happened the way it did and because they were basically working so far out into the future, everybody who was on that council who who voted on the World Cup sites Basically realized this is their chance for one last score. and that opened the door for somebody to usurp the United States, kind of cut in line a little bit. and it ended up being awarded to Russia and Qatar at the same time, which then massive corruption charges, you know heads rolled, so to speak, and they kind of cleared up the leadership and Gianni Infantino came in with the lesson that basically our problem was we were corrupt in private as opposed to just being openly welcoming of all money of any kind out in the open, and he's takaking things to a new level, it seems like We'll get back to my conversation with Bill Conolly in a moment. No stoppage time or VAR required. If you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. This episode is sponsored by Better Help For some, summer is their favorite season. Travel picks up, kids are out of school, and adventure is a focus For others, juggling it all can be tough and can lead to overwhelm and counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school. And many worry they're wasting the days of sunshine Therapy can better help you understand your needs, feel more confident setting boundaries, and create a version of summer that actually feels good With over thirty thousand therapists, BetterHel is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over six million people globally. 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Named number one by Wirecutter, you can save now by visiting aurarames. com For limited time, listeners can get thirty five dollars off of select frames with Code Wad That's aRa frrames. com promo code Wat. Support the show by mentioning us a checkout. Terms and conditions apply Let's get back to my conversation with ESPNs, Bill Connolly So the World Cup always puts its host country' problems in the spotlight. Qutar, it was having Migrants build all your stadiums in three hundred degree weather. And here in the US, in twenty twenty six, that means immigration So as we discussed, some people aren't being allowed to enter the country, whether they're referees or fans. but also the Trump administration has confirmed that IC will be present at the US. World Cup games for quote National security, what do we know about what IC will be doing at those games U We're all very curious to find out. It is going to be I mean, the details have obviously been very sparse but part of anybody covering the World Cup for YSPN and everybody else, that's right at the top of the list of things to to watch for because yeah, they haven't really hidden any of this. And you talk about things that are going to impact the crowd, the level of the crowd, the intensity and fun in the festivities. This is supposed to be the most fun event in the world. Obviously FIFA tried to, you know, well, they won't be, you know, you know people can still get in and everything, but they clearly do not have any say in how this is going to go. I think we're all very, very curious once the matches start, especially with the United States match in Los Angeles on Friday We're going see. We don't really know yet because they haven't said anything beyond there will be Iice presence and we're very excited to see what that means. So despite all of the politics that show up everyvery time The World Cup is still at its core. like the meecca for soccer lovers. But I was thinking about for this World Cup where I was going into it feeling so negative. And then you start seeing videos of people like traveling across the country and going to Bck' for the first time. Yeah. O you see f, you know, Morocco fans like celebrating in the streets because their team is here. You've got fans from Norway taking over parts of New York. Do you think that this World Cup will be remembered differently because of the politics or do you think that the power of the sport can overcome the politics Again. It does feel like FIFA is really kind of trying to test the boundaries here of like how miserable can we make everything beforehand and have still people still show up and watch and pay and have a great time We're going to find out because the game Always rules. it just it's unavoidable for all the talk about Qatar and all the build upp to that World Cup. We got a France Argentina final that might have been the best final in the history of the World Cup. It was just a magnificent match And, you know, especially with the expanded field, granted, that makes this thing last about a year and a half. It's just going to be the most exhausting tournament ever. But then also you get almost every star that you can think of in this sport is going to be in the United States or Canada or Mexico playing in this event. You're going to have all the star power. You're going to have all the, you know, the countries who can make it, you know, I I'm covering a match in Kansas City. get to see the Netherlands, the orrange arrmy of fans very excited about it. We're going to see the social videoos I think we do the right left thing. Oh that's going to be so They better. I'm going to have to, you know, if they don't, I'm going to have to get everybody back outside the lineup and do it so I can see it. But for those who are not aware, the fans of the Netherlands do this Line dancing where they all yell like right and left and it's if you've ever watched like ten thousand people all doing something while looking like they're having the best time, it's it rolls. No, it's going to be the power of this event and the power of the sport, the fact that so much of the world is obsessed over it and so many fanbes are just so fun to be around while this is all going on It's going to be fun. and it's just a question of whether the off the pitch stuff pitch, by the way, pitch Yeah pitch pitch you know, it's how much of a distraction that really provides, you know, with the ice presence and all these other things. It's been so conflicting trying to prepare everything that we're going to prepare for this for covering this tournament because there are these horrible annoying things and also It's going to be great. There are going to be great matches and that's going to overpower a lot of it Bill. Thank you so much for joining me and enjoy the games. Absolutely That was my conversation with Bill Conneolly. He writes about soccer and college football for ESPN. 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