As the bus full of World Cup officials last fall was making its way to FedEx Field from a downtown D.C. hotel, someone among the entourage, a U.S. Soccer official confided to me, remarked how unpleasantly surprised they were that the trip to a potential 2026 men’s World Cup site was taking so long.
Upon finally arriving at the stadium in suburban Maryland where the local NFL team plays, officials were shown repairs of a pipe that burst during a game a few weeks earlier, showering a dwindled Washington football team fan base in a dozen seats or so with liquid that team executives swore was not sewage.