Trump Travel Ban: Rubio Gets To Decide Which Athletes Get Exempted
Trump's travel ban for 12 countries has a key carve out for international athletes traveling to the U.S. for sports events like the World Cup and Olympics—but exceptions are at the discretion of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has yet to provide a full list of events that qualify.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will decide which sports events get a carve out from President ... More Trump's travel ban. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski)
President Trump's executive order banning travel from 12 countries includes an exception for 'any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.'
Sports tourism accounts for 10% of global tourism spending, according to UN Tourism, with a projected growth rate of 17.5% between 2023-2030.
In 2024, sports tourism generated $114.4 billion in the United States and supported nearly 665,000 jobs, according to a study from Sports ETA—but upcoming major soccer tournaments are expected to boost those numbers for 2025 and 2026.
International sports events further on the U.S. horizon include the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, men's and women's Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033, and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Beyond the World Cup and the Olympics, it's unclear which sports events will get a carve out from Trump's travel ban. For example, it is assumed but not specified that the 'World Cup' mentioned in the executive order applies to both the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, in which the world's top professional club teams are slated to play in U.S. venues this year, and the FIFA World Cup 2026, in which national teams compete next year.
Dozens of Major League Baseball players hail from Cuba and Venezuela—two countries on the banned list. The State Department did not respond to Forbes' request for a full list of sports events that qualify for the exception.
This year's FIFA Club World Cup 2025 and next year's FIFA World Cup 2026 are projected to drive a combined $71.8 billion in economic output across both years in the U.S., according to analyses from FIFA and OpenEconomics (OE). But those forecasts assume several million international tourists will come to the U.S. to watch the events in person both years. In March, when Trump created a White House task force for the World Cup, the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) projected the events could potentially draw 8 million visitors 'if we build the right processes for both the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 and the FIFA World Cup 26.' But tourism experts say the Trump administration has hamstrung the U.S. with unwelcoming messaging and policies. President Trump's tariffs, imperialistic rhetoric and viral headlines of foreigners with legal tourist visas and green cards being detained by U.S. immigration officials are 'stacking up as significant hurdles for the U.S. travel industry' and 'setting international travel back several years,' Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, a nonpartisan Oxford Economics company tracking tourism statistics, told Forbes in March. Since Trump took office, the U.S. has experienced a dramatic downturn in inbound international tourism, with a projected 8.7% drop in U.S. international arrivals for 2025, according to the latest forecast from Tourism Economics. Visits from Canada (-20.2%) and Western Europe (-5.8%) show the sharpest declines. Airline bookings for international travel to the U.S.—a key forward-looking indicator—through July were down 10.8% as of April. Many experts see these as unforced errors that are harmful to the economy. The travel ban will not change the narrative, regardless of carve outs for athletes.
'I think increasingly, whether there's validity to it or not, we have to acknowledge these headlines around the world of people being detained, of their devices being searched, stories of deportation—it's causing a degree of fear,' Geoff Freeman, CEO of the USTA, told Forbes in April. 'And in the absence of effective communication to explain what CBP is doing, what US policy is the fact that we want you to come we've allowed this negative publicity to run rampant.'
FIFA president Gianni Infantino was a guest at Trump's inauguration in January, has attended White House meetings and has been a vocal supporter of the president. Infantino's coziness with Trump has drawn criticism from international soccer organizations. Earlier this month, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) excoriated Infantino for arriving late to the FIFA Congress in order to meet with Trump during his tour of the Middle East, accusing the FIFA chief of putting 'private political interests' ahead of his commitment to soccer.
Trump Bans Travel From 12 Countries—Here's What We Know (Forbes)
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