5 days ago
What does President Trump's travel ban mean for global sporting events?
The Concacaf Gold Cup begins next week. The Little League World Series kicks off in August, and then there's the New York Marathon in November. Then, of course, come the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics, with dozens of international sporting events big and small in between. All are taking place in the United States, which just instituted a travel ban on 12 countries and visa restrictions on another seven, following President Donald Trump's order issued Wednesday.
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The banned countries include Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The restricted countries include Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. The order bars all travelers from banned countries and suspends certain visas for travelers from restricted countries.
Trump's order does include specific exemptions for the World Cup and Olympics, along with any 'other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.' The exemption allows athletes, coaches, 'immediate relatives,' and anyone 'performing a necessary support role' from banned or restricted countries to travel to the U.S.
The exemptions have some sports leaders hopeful that the effects of the ban on international events will be minimal. But this week's order adds uncertainty to massive competitions planned years in advance, to the athletes and their families planning on traveling and to local economies hosting them.
'I would say that this turned out, from a sports perspective, about as well as it could,' said Travis Murphy, who has worked as a U.S. diplomat and with the NBA in international governmental affairs.
Questions remain, however, around what constitutes a 'major sporting event,' and who is included in 'immediate relatives.'
A spokesperson for the New York Road Runners, which hosts the New York Marathon, a large event not explicitly named in the order, said the group isn't seeing any impact currently. But cities across the country host a variety of international events for sports, large and small, from the youth and amateur level up to the Olympics. Those organizers will have to work with the State Department to make sure there are no issues.
'I think there's going to be some confusion, exactly what is included and what isn't included, because of the way this was rolled out,' Murphy said. 'The answers are kind of, they're, they're coming together in real time. What is the threshold in which an event is a major sporting event versus not?'
Some of those questions have come up immediately, with the U.S. and Canada hosting the Concacaf Gold Cup beginning next week. The tournament features Haiti, a banned country. A White House spokesperson told The Athletic that the Gold Cup and Club World Cup are considered 'major events.'
'Every national governing body of Olympic sports, for example, has an international federation that governs that sport. And all those sports have world championships somewhere, age group championships, under-18 championships,' said Jason Gewirtz, the publisher of SportsTravel Magazine, an industry publication for the sports event and travel industry. 'You name a sport, they're going somewhere. A lot of those events are coming or planning to come to the United States.'
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Trump similarly instituted four versions of a travel ban during his first term, which were challenged in the courts throughout his administration. Trump has cited security concerns as his reasoning behind the bans, while some critics have called it discrimination based on ethnicity.
The new ban exempts people with visas already in the U.S. and those on visas for professional athletes. That's a positive sign for sports like Major League Baseball, which has athletes from several countries outside the U.S., including those subject to the visa restrictions like Cuba and Venezuela.
'The good news is that our efforts to publicize the impact on MLB of the rumored prior travel ban appear to have been heard by the Administration,' wrote immigration lawyer Amy Maldonado on LinkedIn.
To what extent families will be able to travel with affected athletes remains an open question. As for fans, concerns remain about how Trump's travel restrictions might affect tourism for major sporting events, not just from banned countries but from other fans reconsidering travel to the U.S. As of April 30, flight bookings from Canada have dropped sharply compared to last year, while flight bookings from other countries have held up. But tourism groups, hotel companies and airlines are warning about potential declines in international travel in the future.
State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott addressed concerns about the effects of the ban on the World Cup at a news conference on Thursday.
'We're in constant communication with countries about ways that we can see the vetting process we need to see, to have that collaboration and make sure that we're having those security concerns addressed,' Pigott said. 'This is part of what it means to host an event.'
Murphy said he thinks the ban will not affect the sports industry as much as other parts of the economy. Gewirtz said host cities and event organizers, particularly for smaller competitions, are likely concerned about the potential effects of the ban, but also that the sports travel industry has proved resilient.
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'No industry is completely immune from these things,' he said. 'But sports is a very big driver of travel and, in the past, it has tended to transcend politics.'
Meanwhile, exemptions for professional athletes and events under the travel ban do not include international student-athletes coming to the U.S. to compete at the college level. Those athletes are currently left in limbo, while the Trump administration has paused student visa interviews in order to expand scrutiny of social media accounts belonging to applicants. That order came down from Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week and has not yet been lifted.
The Trump administration is also trying to block all international students from attending Harvard, a move that is currently being litigated in the courts.
'Right now it's June, kids are getting ready to come to the States,' Murphy said. 'That's a far larger challenge, I think, for the sports-specific space… Many of them went home for the summer, thought that they were going to go home and then get their visa and come back. And now they're kind of stuck in a bit of limbo waiting to see how this unfolds, and that remains to be seen.'
Murphy sees that uncertainty as part of a larger moment, where sports are becoming increasingly globalized at a time when countries are restricting their borders. Just look at the NFL, which recently announced a whole slate of international games this year, including one in São Paulo. Just last month, Brazil reintroduced visa requirements for U.S. citizens.
'It forces leagues and entities to look at these things differently,' Murphy said. 'There's just a certain amount that I think was taken for granted about people moving around the world back and forth. I think these issues are only going to become more complicated.'
Then there's the U.S.'s efforts to bid for future international events; after the 2026 World Cup, the U.S. will co-host the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup with Mexico.
'There's two trains kind of coming toward each other here,' Murphy said. 'One is the reality is a modern immigration policy, and in particular this administration, and the other is this desire, or the realities of these events coming to our shores,' Murphy said.
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