$16 million of Secret Service's $2.9 billion budget includes security measures for tournament
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup on American soil, President Biden’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget includes millions for the U.S. Secret Service to begin security preparations for the matches to come.
The release of the budget plan came Monday as the U.S. national debt continues to climb at a soaring pace. As of last week, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, increased to $34,461,406,559,733, per the latest numbers published by the Treasury Department on March 8.
Within the budget was $2.9 billion being allocated to the Secret Service.
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MetLife Stadium displays its record attendance for a soccer game of 82,262 during the summer friendly match between Arsenal and Manchester United on July 22, 2023, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Matthew Ashton/AMA/Getty Images)
"The Budget includes $2.9 billion for the Secret Service, including funds to meet both protective and investigative mission requirements," the budget reads. "Of this amount, the Budget includes $79 million for security related to the 2024 Presidential Campaign and inauguration and $16 million to begin security preparations for the 2026 World Cup."
How exactly the $16 million will be spent was not disclosed, but security measures have changed since the last time the World Cup was in the States in 1994.
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The tournament will be held across North America, with matches in Canada and Mexico as well as the United States.
Group stage matches will be held in several U.S. locations, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas and East Rutherford, N.J., where MetLife Stadium will be home to the World Cup Final on July 19, 2026.
This view shows AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, before the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal match between Panama and Qatar on July 8, 2023, in Arlington, Texas. (Matthew Ashton/AMA/Getty Images)
FIFA announced in February the final will be held at MetLife Stadium, while the beginning of the tournament will be in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca.
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, will be the home of one quarterfinal, as will SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Dallas’ AT&T Stadium and Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be home to the semifinal matches.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held across North America, with matches in Canada and Mexico as well as the United States. (Visionhaus/Getty Images)
With all the major matches to be played in the U.S. – 78 of the 104 matches are to be on U.S. soil – security needs to be at peak performance for a global tournament of such scale.
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Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.
