The countdown to the world’s largest soccer tournament has begun. This week, the United States takes center stage for the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw, where the opening round of matchups will be set. With 48 nations vying for soccer’s ultimate prize—up from 32 countries in 2022—FIFA26 will be the largest in World Cup history.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is just one of the major international sporting competitions the U.S. is hosting over the next 10 years, including the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2031 Men’s and 2033 Women’s Rugby World Cup, and the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. These events are a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the U.S. to deliver lasting economic benefits to communities nationwide while shining bright on the world stage.
The truest measure of a sporting event’s success is a stadium filled with fans from around the world. Yet, as the United States gears up for what is being called the “American Decade of Sports,” a bureaucratic hurdle risks upending our success: delays in issuing traveler visas.
As bipartisan members of Congress from California, the state poised to host the most international sporting events in the coming decade, we cannot overstate the unprecedented economic potential these games bring—or the colossal mistake it would be to let this opportunity slip through our fingers.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, both domestic and international tourism accounted for an estimated 3 percent of all U.S. gross domestic product in 2023. We have the chance to surpass that during the American Decade of Sports.
The 2026 World Cup is projected to deliver a staggering $30.5 billion in gross economic output across 11 host cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco/Bay Area and Seattle. The tournament is also set to support more than 185,000 full-time equivalent jobs and contribute over $3.4 billion to government coffers.
Just two years later, the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles are expected to generate $18.3 billion in output. The LA28 Games are anticipated to create upwards of 100,000 full-time equivalent jobs, along with more than $7 billion in wages and $1.5 billion in federal tax revenue. These economic impacts go far beyond LA city limits. Already, the Netherlands Olympic Committee has selected Mission Viejo as its primary pre-games training site, and Anaheim will be home to Olympic volleyball.
Combined, these two events alone are expected to generate more economic output than Vermont’s total GDP in 2023.
The key driver of this surge in economic activity is the striking disparity in spending between domestic and international travelers. According to the U.S. Travel Association, overseas visitors spend an average of $4,000 per trip in the United States—over eight times more than domestic travelers.
Securing these benefits for our communities depends on our ability to welcome international fans to host cities. So, you can imagine our alarm when we discovered that our visa system is not equipped for these games to succeed.
Currently, there are major delays in issuing visas for visitors from the 151 countries whose citizens require a visa to enter the United States. Due to high visa demand and limited resources at U.S. embassies abroad—where each applicant must be interviewed and evaluated—visa appointment wait times can extend to several months or over a year.
The scale of this challenge is staggering: An estimated 6 million fans will travel to the U.S. for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, followed by another 15 million visitors for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Of the 42 qualifying nations so far, fans in Algeria, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and Paraguay who wish to travel to the U.S. to cheer on their nations’ teams face visa wait times longer than six months, which is the amount of time remaining before the first 2026 World Cup match. Others who don’t plan their travels months in advance could face similar delays.
The Trump Administration has begun taking important steps toward confronting this challenge. Following a bipartisan letter we led to the administration in May, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a federal Olympics Task Force to streamline credentialing and visa processing ahead of LA28. The administration has also launched FIFA PASS to fast-track World Cup visa appointments and cut wait times.
These actions are essential to improving capacity and getting ahead of demand, but we can’t take our foot off the gas.
Approaching the next 10 years as if it were business as usual would be a costly mistake. We risk self-sabotage and failure on the international stage if the State Department cannot manage the surge in visa processing needed to ensure our communities receive the benefits they have worked hard for and were promised.
Tackling this ticking time bomb requires swift and decisive action—the kind America excels at.
The first step is to ensure that our overseas diplomatic missions are adequately resourced to reflect our top priority: encouraging international participation in the World Cup, Olympics and beyond.
The next step is to implement innovative solutions that streamline the visa process. In our May letter, we proposed several key measures: reduce duplicative visa requirements for accredited attendees, expand processing capacity at U.S. consulates in countries with high fan demand and allocate dedicated diplomatic personnel to handle sporting event-related visa applications.
The first 2026 FIFA World Cup game on U.S. soil is just under 200 days away. Whether we’re capable of welcoming the world depends on our next steps.
As lawmakers committed to unlocking the full potential of the American Decade of Sports, we’re ready to work with President Donald Trump, Secretary Marco Rubio and colleagues across the aisle to ensure these historic games are a resounding success. The time for urgent and coordinated action is now. Let’s get to work.
Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove is in her second term representing California’s 37th District, which includes South Los Angeles and Culver City. In Congress, she serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees and as whip of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Congresswoman Young Kim represents California’s 40th District, spanning parts of Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. She chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific and serves on the House Financial Services Committee and the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
The views expressed in this article are the writers’ own.
