Analise Pugh
PhD student in Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. Her work examines migration, citizenship, and empire through soccer.
Email: apugh@uoregon.edu
Dr. Courtney M. Cox
Associate Professor at the University of Oregon in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies. Her work examines labor, identity, and technology through sport. She is the author of Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball (2025).
Email: cmcox@uoregon.edu
In a country notorious for its suburban sprawl and car dependency, the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup represents an important site of public transportation possibility for not only the thousands of tourists flocking to stadiums across the United States but for everyday commuters maneuvering across their respective cities. FIFA requires host cities to provide public transportation but doesn’t pick up the bill. Media outlets reported on these sudden public transit capabilities, with one Vox headline declaring, “The Most Surprising Winner of the World Cup was American Public Transit” with a subheading suggesting that, “America is having a soccer awakening. Can it have a transit one too?”
While it is perhaps unsurprising that getting to matches via trains and buses in cities with established public transportation cultures (such as New Jersey and Boston) remained relatively easy, other sites required significantly more effort. Atlanta’s “Let MARTA Drive You” campaign urged riders away from traffic and parking fees. Fans heading to Dallas Stadium (in Arlington, Texas) could take free shuttles from the existing bus lines to the stadium from downtown Dallas and Arlington. Kansas City built an entirely new public transportation system, ConnectKC26, solely for the World Cup. Like other transportation expansions and heightened service schedules, Kansas City’s emphasis on public transportation was geared towards easy travel for tourists, not a broader investment in public infrastructure for locals. In fact, after FIFA head Gianni Infantino rolls his mega-sport event out of the city, Kansas City will lose the ConnectKC26 system while the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority will cut over 25% of its weekday routes and restrict hours due to a lack of funding. In a zine published by Sunrise Movement Kansas City, they write, “For 33 days this summer, KC’s public transit will bloom; granting more routes and greater frequency to tourists and visitors, all things that Kansas Citians deserve everyday. Long-term investments in our city’s transit should not be sacrificed to accommodate any single event – no matter how ‘monumental.’”
Los Angeles and LA Metro, as a practice run for the 2028 Summer Olympics, have taken the World Cup tournament as an opportunity to permanently expand bus and train routes with new stations and increased service frequency. The LA Metro has used the World Cup as a moment to rebrand public transit, from their cheeky “Ride the D” campaign to their vivid “This is how LA moves” PSA. Through their role as host city for several upcoming mega-sport events (including the 2027 NFL Super Bowl, and LA28), the LA Metro expansion attempts to cement Los Angeles as a global city with public infrastructure akin to New York or London. LA Metro’s expansion included the opening of three new stations, a tap-to-pay payment system, an increase in security measures, and public transit representatives at stations to guide fans with and increased hours of service and buses in service.
TikTok and Instagram influencers have highlighted the ease of getting to Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium using LA Metro, emphasizing the speed of the commute and easy navigation. This seemingly points to how the city could imagine something different for Angelenos permanently, not just under the clock and pressure of FIFA’s tournament. Instead, Los Angeles ultimately also represents the limits to this terminable focus on accessible transit. After the Iran vs. New Zealand match at SoFi, Inglewood residents found their movement restricted to allow for easier movement of the buses in and out of the area. In a video posted online, Samhyra Sosa records an interaction with a police officer who tells her to turn her car around, to which she responds, “but we live here.” She pleads as the officer repeatedly tells her to turn around, explaining how she’s followed previous traffic enforcement directions to enter her street, and her home which she points to from the car. The entire interaction demonstrates how claims to space, and contestations to place, are amplified through global sporting events like the World Cup. It also reflects larger questions of gentrification in Inglewood, a historically Black neighborhood in the south of Los Angeles, where residents initially worried that the building of the stadium would displace locals through evictions, rent increases, and higher property taxes. The scene between Sosa and the sheriff represents the impacts of SoFi on Inglewood: prioritizing the massive sporting event over those living in its shadows. After explaining that they couldn’t park and walk home due to her mother’s disability, the officer responds, “I don’t care,” and tells them to turn back once again. Here, we can see how the car-free vision of public transportation to the World Cup both mobilizes and restricts access. As local activists feared, mega-sport events like the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup bring an increased police presence to ostensibly promote public safety, but also allow for the continued legacy of policing and restriction of movement of Black and Brown residents in LA. While the LA Metro website boasts a “hat trick” for the World Cup in the form of “enhanced service,” “affordable parking,” and a “celebratory customer experience,” many might feel closer to Samhrya Sosa, where the temporary transit investment failed to accommodate those who remain long after the final goal is scored.
