US sports billionaire Arthur Blank has said he hopes that geopolitical tensions will “settle down” before next year’s football World Cup, paving the way for a successful tournament that will grow the sport in the US.
The build-up to Fifa’s World Cup, which will be held in the US for the second time in June 2026, comes as President Donald Trump’s tariffs and aggressive stance on immigration have caused some groups to question the US’s suitability to hold the tournament.
Trump has also antagonised co-hosts Mexico and Canada — even threatening to annex the latter — by accusing them of failing to stop “cartel activity and influx of lethal drugs” into the US. The US Travel Association, a trade body, has warned that slow processing of visas could hinder the success of the men’s tournament.
But Blank, the founder of Home Depot who has become one of the US’s most prominent sports bosses — owning teams in the NFL and Major League Soccer — said America would be welcoming to visitors and that Trump would be a “positive force” for the tournament.
“I’m hoping, like probably most people worldwide, that the geopolitical scene will settle down and be a little more stable and a little more predictable than we currently have,” Blank, whose whose AMB Sports + Entertainment owns one of the host venues for the event, told the Financial Times.
While Trump has declared that the men’s World Cup will be “the best-run soccer tournament the world has ever seen” and an opportunity to showcase the US’s “pride and hospitality”, Human Rights Watch has expressed “grave concerns” about the administration’s immigration policies.
Blank, who contributed to Joe Biden’s campaigns in 2020 and 2024, said that he was “quite certain the president will be a positive force for the World Cup as we begin to approach it”.
The tycoon owns the Atlanta Falcons NFL franchise, and launched MLS side Atlanta United in 2017. His teams play at the 75,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, which will host matches at the World Cup and this month’s Club World Cup.
The World Cup could boost Georgia’s economy by more than $500mn, according to local business body, Metro Atlanta Chamber. “We want to draw tourism to other parts of the state, not just Atlanta,” said Dan Corso, president of Atlanta Sports Council, part of the chamber.
Blank said the World Cup could have an even bigger impact in promoting football in the US than the 1994 tournament, which helped bring about the start of MLS two years later with 10 teams.
“The change since ’94 in Atlanta has been remarkable,” said Dietmar Exler, operations chief at AMB Sports & Entertainment.
MLS has grown to 30 teams with an average valuation of more than $700mn, according to Sportico. It has attracted players such as Argentine star Lionel Messi, who plays for Inter Miami, while the English Premier League generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year in US media rights.
Last year, Blank donated $50mn to the US Soccer Federation’s first national training centre in Atlanta to further improve coaching standards and facilities.
“The [English] Premier League is obviously the number one league in the world. MLS is probably six or seven leagues behind that but it’s probably cut that in half over the last 15 years or so,” he said.
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