Airbnb expects 11,000 World Cup guests in Kansas City
Airbnb's projections for the 2026 World Cup in Kansas City reveal a significant economic opportunity for local hosts, with thousands of visitors expected to use the platform.
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Chicago Tribune
36 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Column: There's no express route to transit cash
With summer now in full bloom, the gloom-and-doom train is pulling into the station. Will state lawmakers get on board or watch it go over the fiscal chasm? Actually, the regional mass transit system faces a fiscal abyss — an estimated $771 million shortfall for next year. That amount is only a stopgap measure; transit supporters would like to see a $1.5 billion annual investment from the state in the future. Illinois lawmakers failed to tackle the funding crisis for the CTA, Metra and Pace during the past legislative session, which ended in May. Since then, transit officials and the 3,000 workers, many of them union members who run the trains and buses that make up the umbrella Regional Transportation Authority, are predicting doomsday scenarios next year without an injection of cash. Those scary tactics include 40% cuts in service, employee layoffs, fare hikes, bus routes eliminated, and train schedules reduced. A public relations push by the RTA during the legislative session garnered about 12,000 letters to lawmakers urging full funding. Legislators can schedule a summer session or wait until the fall veto session to deal with the fiscal abyss. Regardless, any legislation will need a three-fifths majority vote, rather than a simple majority. With that differential, suburban lawmakers may hold the key to funding and governance proposals in Springfield. Transit officials and their supporters are calling any service cuts 'unprecedented.' That may be to them, but Gov. JB Pritzker, after signing his seventh state budget the other day, doesn't seem concerned. After all, he noted about mass transit funding: 'The answer is not that the state is solely responsible for filling that gap. There are lots of sources. Everybody's focusing only on the state when actually there's a whole lot to put together here.' One of the first ideas to plug the transit hole was slapping an additional 50-cent surcharge on users of the Illinois tollway system, which is mainly used by suburbanites in the collar counties. Other proposals included increasing fees on ride-shares and food deliveries. These transit 'user fees' would be on top of the millions in new Illinois taxes — on sportsbooks, Airbnb rentals and tobacco products– which are scheduled to take effect July 1. Lawmakers also skipped another plan to reorganize the RTA into a proposed Northern Illinois Transit Authority. Yet, we have heard little about raising CTA or Metra rider fares. Surprisingly, the CTA has not raised its fares since 2018. That alone should give suburbanites pause on any transit overhaul plans. While the RTA says it needs $771 million, legislators certainly haven't challenged that figure or actually done an audit on the transit agency's real needs. Suburbanites need to keep a watchful eye, especially when it comes to representation on transit boards, on what goes down in the tunnels of Springfield. One who has is William Coulson of Glenview, who has served on the RTA Board since 2007 by appointment of the Cook County Board. He is currently the senior RTA board member. He is also the only board member to vote 'no' on a Service Board (CTA, Metra, Pace) budget for the last decade. 'The RTA was established as a great compromise, and we as a board have always had insufficient powers over the three Service Boards,' Coulson said in an e-mail. His father was Waukegan Mayor Robert Coulson, who served from 1949 to 1957. He then moved into the legislature and, as a state senator in the mid-1960s, introduced the first RTA bill. That was in response to the old North Shore electric railroad's closure. The North Shore's old railbed has since been turned into bike and walking paths from Mundelein east to Lake Bluff, and from Great Lakes north to Winthrop Harbor. It took another decade, 1974, before the RTA was adopted by state lawmakers as the mass transit agency for the six-counties of Lake, Cook, DuPage, McHenry, Kane and Will counties. 'There are a lot of smart people in the legislature and I am hopeful that both transit funding and needed governance changes will be addressed in a special session this summer,' Coulson said. 'Otherwise, RTA 2026 budget planning must, by statute, begin in August, when the budget limits for CTA, Metra, and Pace will be set by the RTA based solely on existing revenue sources for 2026. 'At some point, probably by January 2026, the service boards will have to start cutting service and laying off many talented train and bus operators,' he added, 'so let's hope that something can happen this summer. 'Whatever resources may be provided, my job as an RTA Board member is to provide the best public transit system that the people of Illinois are willing to pay for,' Coulson said. That's the pivotal question: Just how much are suburbanites and their state representatives willing to chip in for mass transit service? We'll find out between now and November.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Fifa considers options for Iran at 2026 World Cup after conflict with hosts US
Iran have qualified for their fourth consecutive World Cup but face playing in the US which has imposed a travel ban on their citizens. Iran have qualified for their fourth consecutive World Cup but face playing in the US which has imposed a travel ban on their citizens. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA Fifa is facing new questions over the increasingly fraught World Cup next year, with the issue of how to treat Iran while the country is involved in a conflict with the co-host the US. There are no provisions within Fifa's regulations to prevent Iran from playing their group matches in the US, despite the country being subject to military action by the Trump administration and Iranian citizens being under a travel ban that prevents them from entering the country. The ban contains an exemption that could apply to players, staff or associated families with teams at the 2026 Fifa World Cup. Advertisement Iran, who faced USA in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, qualified in March for their fourth consecutive World Cup. Although 2026 is also being hosted by Canada and Mexico, only by being given a specific slot in group A could Iran avoid playing in the US, with their matches then taking place in Mexico. Related: Fifa again under scrutiny for World Cup's increased carbon footprint If Iran won that group they would stay in Mexico for their last-32 game and any last-16 match. Should they go further – and they have never reached a World Cup knockout game – they would then play in the US. Fifa did not respond on Monday to a request for comment from the Guardian and will likely be considering its options before the World Cup draw, which is due to take place in December. The decision will be a difficult one for its president, Gianni Infantino, who has associated himself closely with President Donald Trump, who authorised the use of US bombs on Iranian nuclear sites last weekend. Advertisement Infantino and the Fifa Council will have the final say on inclusion in the competition and the makeup of the draw, but the organising committee for Fifa competitions will be expected to have input. The committee has members from Canada, Mexico and Iran, and its chair is Uefa's president, Aleksander Ceferin. In 2022, his organisation announced that Ukraine and Belarus would be kept apart in Uefa competition draws, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and his action may provide an example for Fifa to follow. Before the World Cup draw in Qatar, the agreed draw constraints included limitations on where teams could be selected but this related only to a 'general principle' that no more than one team from each confederation (excluding Europe) should appear in a given group.
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Start making travel plans to see a historic World Cup game
This time next year, North America - mainly the United States - will be overcome with soccer fever. The world's sport, the beautiful game, football ... whatever you prefer to call it, it is returning to the States next year for the first time in more than three decades. So get ready. Check in with a travel adviser and get those trip plans in motion now before it's too late. The FIFA World Cup will kick off on June 11, 2026, with 48 nations vying for the game's ultimate title over five weeks. A champion will be crowned just outside of New York City on July 19, 2026. This tournament marks a significant shift from previous iterations, with FIFA expanding from 32 to 48 squads. That means more matches and more opportunities for travelers to experience this once-in-a-lifetime sporting event. FIFA has selected 16 host cities for the tournament, including five in Canada and Mexico. Toronto, Vancouver, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey will host World Cup clashes next year. However, the bulk of the action will take place in the U.S., with iconic 1994 hosts like Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, New York (East Rutherford, New Jersey) and Dallas returning to the mix. U.S. cities that will host World Cup action for the first time will include Kansas City, Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, Houston and Seattle. While Canada and Mexico will host 10 matches each, the U.S. will host 60, including the quarterfinals, semifinals and final. Philadelphia is anticipating more than 500,000 soccer fans and anywhere from $147 to $262 million in visitor spending, while Missouri is projecting nearly $700 million in economic activity. Propelled by the success of the NFL's Chiefs, Kansas City is poised to reach new heights when it hosts a quarterfinal clash on July 11, 2026. "You really can't put an economic number to putting KC on a world stage ... that's the best advertisement for tourism," former Missouri Sen. John Rizzo said at the time of FIFA's selection in 2022. "We don't plan on World Cups, World Series or Super Bowls, but when they happen, they're just huge economic bonuses. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that will flow back into Missouri." The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be historic for many reasons, but beyond everything else, this marks just the second time the U.S. will play host since the tournament was inaugurated nearly a century ago. For Americans in search of an excuse to travel, the World Cup must be at the top of the list. ________ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
