Story @theathleticfc.bsky.social
McDonald’s decline to take up option as fifa sponsor to sell products at World Cup Fan Fest
Sources cite concerns about expected footfall/return on investment. McDonald’s deny, say “focusing efforts where can make biggest impact”
www.nytimes.com/athletic/702...
NEW @theathleticfc.bsky.social :
Emails reveal Epstein twice arranged meetings in 2011 with Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly - three years after Epstein jailed for sex offenses - to discuss business deals.
Boehly, part owner of LA Dodgers and Lakers, declines comment
www.nytimes.com/athletic/701...
NEW: Premier League to launch new LGBTQ initiative in Feb to replace Rainbow Laces
“With Pride” to ask less of individual players - no rainbow armbands - & PL exploring Pride-themed football (logic being players can’t refuse to use a ball)
www.nytimes.com/athletic/698... l
Interesting to see whether PL’s new approach - which will have pride-themed furniture (big screens/LEDS etc/ball) but ask so little of individual players - is seen as a pragmatic way forward or a partial dilution.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...
Premier League has terminated tie-in with Stonewall, favoring in-house initiative but partnering with Switchboard to train player care teams. Break with Stonewall partially attributed to SW’s reduced sports engagement in recent years.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...
NEW: Premier League to launch new LGBTQ initiative in Feb to replace Rainbow Laces
“With Pride” to ask less of individual players - no rainbow armbands - & PL exploring Pride-themed football (logic being players can’t refuse to use a ball)
www.nytimes.com/athletic/698... l
New @TheAthleticFC
Casemiro leaving Manchester United at the end of the season. Club not activating extension.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...
Exclusive @theathleticfc.bsky.social
Manchester United agree multi-million deal with production company Lionsgate to explore dramatized retelling of club’s storied history, similar in concept to The Crown.
Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio involved in talks
Story: www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...
Fans of four nations who have qualified for the World Cup - Senegal, Ivory Coast, Iran and Haiti - are currently banned from travel to the U.S.
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani wants President Trump to change that before the World Cup.
More from @adamcrafton.bsky.social
bit.ly/3ZiDfLJ
Quite good!
Exclusive:
NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani tells @theathleticfc.bsky.social he intends to raise travel bans with President Trump, saying he would like changes ahead of World Cup.
“We have to allow the world to be here in order to fully experience the world,” he says
www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...
NEW:
Host cities for World Cup received a proposal recently during call with White House FIFA task force….
Huge “Freedom” trailer trucks with US flags at FIFA fan fests to align World Cup with Trump’s 250th celebrations of USA to promote American patriotism
www.nytimes.com/athletic/691...
NEW @theathleticfc.bsky.social
The 2026 FIFA World Cup host committee in San Francisco Bay Area is considering a vastly reduced Fan Fest, which may even see no Fan Fest on game day, after being allocated games short of leading nations or marketable star names.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/690...
New @theathleticfc.bsky.social
New travel bans by Trump administration threaten to exclude fans of Senegal and Ivory Coast from World Cup next summer, with each team having two games in the U.S.
Up to four qualified nations impacted now along with Haiti & Iran.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/689...
🎙️🚨 Two emojis as it’s a NEW pod! Well, it’s a new idea for a regular episode of our main pod in which me & @adamcrafton.bsky.social chat about World Cup matters. Will we have this much to discuss every week? 🤷 But pre-WC stories seem subject to rampant inflation, too.
pod.fo/e/365b0a
Thanks!
Column:
FIFA’s pricing strategy for World Cup is not only terrible for foreigners who want to travel, it also treats U.S. sports fans as FIFA’s personal ATM and excludes many domestically from a sport which is still in a growth phrase in the U.S.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/688...
That’s true but there are far more guardrails globally than in us
Column:
FIFA’s pricing strategy for World Cup is not only terrible for foreigners who want to travel, it also treats U.S. sports fans as FIFA’s personal ATM and excludes many domestically from a sport which is still in a growth phrase in the U.S.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/688...
Story: @theathletic.com
Grand Slam Track files bankruptcy: $0-$50,000 in assets, $10m-50m in liabilities.
Vendors & athletes owed millions.
Michael Johnson’s GST bafflingly still say it wants to continue.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/688...
Interview with Andrew Giuliani, director of White House fifa task force.
🏆 He says Peace Prize idea was all FIFA, not White House
🏟️ Says nothing ruled out amid Trump threat to relocate games
👮♂️ ICE at WC? Says reassurance only for those “legally” in US
www.nytimes.com/athletic/687...
Sorry we say SF as that’s what fifa say. But the hotels selected are in San Jose mostly
NEW:
Hotels across US, Canada & Mexico hiked prices during the FIFA World Cup in 2026, with an analysis by The Athletic revealing average increase of over 300 per cent per night around opening matches in the 16 host cities.
Report: nytimes.com/athletic/68757…
Pretty remarkable statement from Slavia Prague, who say this is "a logical step based on respect for the space reserved for visiting fans, just as Slavia fans outside the visiting section respect the rules of not wearing our club colours or symbols.”
www.nytimes.com/athletic/687...
NEW @theathleticfc.bsky.social :
The LGBTQ+ pride flag at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is to be relocated away from usual space close to visiting fans for Champions League tie against Slavia Prague following a request from the Czech club on "security grounds."
www.nytimes.com/athletic/687...
NEWS:
Official complaint received by FIFA Ethics Committee, alleges “repeated breaches” of FIFA’s duty of political neutrality by Gianni Infantino, all in relation to President Trump. It also requests investigation into internal process behind Trump’s Peace Prize
www.nytimes.com/athletic/687...
NEW HANG UP AND LISTEN
@adamcrafton.bsky.social on the WC draw
Me and pals on the CFP selections
Jordan Bianchi joins to tell us about a reallllllllly big sports case that's at trial right now: Michael Jordan essentially trying to burn down NASCAR as it's existed forever www.slate.com/hangup
What?
Most of our global football coverage is by Europeans. Content aimed largely at Americans is in U.S. English
Davis Ingle, a White House Spokesman, said: “The USA has never been more respected or successful than it is under President Trump’s historic leadership. America is the hottest country in the world right now, which makes us the perfect country to host one of the greatest sporting events in history”
