World Cup 2026 will be hosted in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. While it's a shared World Cup, United States will have more host cities than the others, 11 out of 16 host cities, and hosting 48 of the 104 matches, including the final. And some of them, naturally, are in Democrat-controlled cities, further away from Donald Trump's influence in terms of immigration and crime initiatives.
Last month, the Republican President said that he would consider relocating World Cup matches from cities which don't cooperate with their immigration and crime policies, saying "If I think it isn't safe, we'll move it into a different city". A White House reporter mentioned two cities, San Francisco and Seattle. And last week, Trump brought the topic again, mentioning Boston.
However, despite what Trump says, that would not be possible, according to John Kristick, co-head of global events at Playfly Sports Consulting, who led the joint bid between US, Canada, and Mexico to FIFA for World Cup 2026, saying to Reuters that planning which has been underway for nearly a decade is unaffected by "political rhetoric".
"Tickets are already being sold. Hospitality packages have been sold for almost a year now", said Kristick, dismissing Trump's ideas. And FIFA previously said that they have the final say on whether to move the 2026 World Cup, leaving safety and security to governments' responsibility.