Senator Mitt Romney joined a bipartisan group of colleagues on Tuesday in calling on President Joe Biden to establish a White House task force on global sporting events.
The task force will prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 2028 and 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the 2031 Rugby World Cup, all of which will be hosted by the United States.
Romney, Republican of Utah, signed the letter to Biden, which was led by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, and Jerry Morgan, Republican of Kansas, as co-chairs of the Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus. The letter came after Salt Lake City was announced as a host of the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
“We call on the White House to establish a White House Task Force on Global Sporting Events to oversee the preparation and security of the Games, including through international visa processing, security scenario training, incident response, transportation, diplomatic security, intelligence collection and dissemination, and securing critical protective assets,” the senators wrote in the letter to Biden.
The senators said these global sporting events could both strengthen the country’s economy and demonstrate its leadership on the international stage. The 2026 World Cup is set to be the largest sporting event in U.S. history and will take place in several major cities, including Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Miami.
More than five million international visitors are expected to attend the World Cup and the event is expected to generate economic activity worth five billion US dollars.
“Similarly, the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are expected to generate an additional $5 billion in economic activity while attracting millions of visitors from around the world,” the letter said.
The letter also highlighted some areas where the country needs to prepare, such as transportation and law enforcement coordination.
“To ensure the success of these events, preparations must be made to ensure a smooth and safe journey to the United States for our international guests,” the senators said. “One challenge that must be an immediate and highest priority is reducing wait times for visitor visas. Currently, wait times for visitor visa interviews, particularly for first-time applicants, remain unacceptably high in many countries.”
The senators said those wait times need to be shortened and urged the administration to aim for wait times of less than 31 days for 80% of applicants.
They also said law enforcement at all levels would need to work together to ensure the security of the games. A White House task force could help with interagency planning, the senators said.
The letter refers to 1998, when President Bill Clinton created a White House Task Force to prepare for the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were to be held in Salt Lake City. The federal government also began preparing for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which it hosted, in June 1987, with the passage of a congressional resolution.
“We thank your government for the efforts already underway to prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 and 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and appreciate your attention to the success of these historic events,” the senators said. “We are ready to work with your government in every way to achieve our common goals.”
