ARLINGTON – Of America’s 11 World Cup host sites, North Texas on Thursday became the 10th to be visited by the FIFA tournament’s White House Task Force and its executive director, Andrew Giuliani.
The more flattering explanation would have been that Giuliani was saving the best stop for near-last, but the truth is the task force’s planned October visit was postponed by the government shutdown. No money, no travel.
Nonetheless, North Texas and its Monica Paul-led FIFA World Cup organizing committee received ample flowers from Giuliani during a 20-minute media availability at AT&T Stadium.
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“When I took the job with President Trump to run the White House task force, one of the things we discussed was showing off American exceptionalism over our country’s 250th birthday,” he said. “There being no larger platform than the World Cup to do that.
“There’s no better example of a stadium in this country than right here. And of American exceptionalism.”
AT&T Stadium, which FIFA is calling “Dallas Stadium” due to the organization’s rules against corporate naming, will host a World Cup-high nine matches in June and July.
As Giuliani noted, North Texas also has the largest geographic footprint of the American World Cup hubs.
That includes the six-week fan festival at Fair Park; hosting 2,000 journalists and technicians for six months at the International Broadcast Center in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center; and the undetermined number of team training camps that will occur around the region.
Logistically, that entails wider-scope planning and potentially larger concerns in components like security and transportation, with an estimated 3.8 million fans projected to visit North Texas.
“We’ve got our hands full,” Giuliani said. “But we’re going to make sure that we rely on our state and local partners and give the federal assistance, so we can make sure it’s going to be a successful World Cup.”
Among the facets of last October’s passing of “One Big Beautiful Bill” was the allocation of $625 million in grant funding through FEMA for security to be distributed among the American host cities.
North Texas’ portion of the funds is unclear, but the local World Cup Organizing committee has incorporated them while planning in areas like enhanced security for venues, cybersecurity, drone defense and other infrastructure costs.
“I would like to thank the Trump administration, as well as Mr. Giuliani and the White House task force,” Paul said. “We meet with them on a weekly basis to focus on safety-security issues.
“They are our federal conduit to assisting us in being successful for World Cup. We have been working over probably two years, to identify not only what are the safety security challenges, but what are those costs associated with?”
More than 500 million fans submitted requests in the World Cup ticket lottery, with many fans voicing displeasure about exorbitant ticket prices and concerns about Trump administration-instituted travel restrictions for foreign nationals.
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The latest tightening came Wednesday, when the administration announced it is indefinitely shutting down immigrant visa processing for 75 countries, including Brazil, Iran, Russia and Somalia.
Not surprisingly, many of the questions Giuliani fielded on Thursday related to those ticket-price and travel concerns.
Previous travel restrictions and those announced Wednesday, Giuliani said, “have no effect on B1 and B2 visas, which is what the fans will be coming here on.”
He added that, if anything, restrictions on other visa applications will streamline the process and wait time for those who are planning to come on B1 and B2 visas.
“I would just also point to how visa wait times have been reduced significantly for appointments in, let’s say, like Brazil and Argentina,” Giuliani said, noting that Argentina is scheduled to play at least two games in “Dallas Stadium.”
“As of two years ago, wait times in both of those countries were over a year just to get your appointment. They’re now down to less than two months in both Argentina and Brazil.”
Giuliani also reminded that the announced “FIFA Pass” portal will be online by the end of January, enabling fans who have World Cup tickets to move to the front of the queue to apply for necessary visas.
Still, as one reporter noted to Giuliani, many World Cup fans are skittish about coming to the United States, especially after seeing daily news accounts of ICE agents out in force, hunting for illegal immigrants in cities across the country.
“If you’ve come here legally, you have nothing to be concerned about,” Giuliani said. “If you apply legally, you have nothing to be concerned about. If you haven’t, then I know that DHS [Homeland Security] has set up a program where you can self-check in. Then that way you can self-deport.
“The most important thing for us is to make sure that fans can go back safely and with an incredible story to tell about how amazing North Texas is – or if you’re going to other areas of the country, how amazing the rest of the United States of America is and how well they host.”
Giuliani was asked whether ICE agents will be present at all 104 matches. He declined to be specific about stadium security measures, but noted that ICE agents and other security were present at every Club World Cup match in the United States last summer.
“I know that [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem and President Trump don’t take anything off the table when it comes to that,” he said.
“I’m not going to comment on what the security footprint is going to look like. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure the venues are safe, while making sure those people that have purchased tickets that are here legally … have an unbelievable experience.”
As for the high ticket prices, Giuliani cited the fact that 500 million fans still applied for them – supply and demand.
“I think it’s another example of people wanting to be here in the United States to consume what’s going to be an unbelievable event,” he said.
Though the task force’s North Texas visit occurred three months later than planned, the timing turned out well, coming one day after $20 million in buildout began in the convention center’s A, B, and C halls to host broadcast journalists.
That of course will mean extra security in downtown Dallas, as well as means of transportation for those journalists to experience North Texas.
“Our plan still is to utilize the rail system on match days,” Paul said, adding that DART bus routes also will be incorporated to help fans get to the stadium.
Paul said the organizing committee is hopeful of announcing fan festival plans in early February. The committee is considering modifying the original planned number of 39 days, perhaps by incorporating “rest” days.
Also, she said, sometime in February the committee should have a clearer picture of which national teams will use North Texas as their base training camp site. Those sites and team attachments probably won’t be publicly announced until March.
“I’m excited for the international football community to be able to see one of the greatest venues in the world right here in Arlington,” Giuliani said. “And then, obviously, to be able to experience one of the greatest cities in the greatest country in the world, Dallas.”
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The United States is co-hosting the June 11-July 19 tournament with Canada and Mexico.
Find more World Cup coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.