World Cup Fan Fests may feature ‘Freedom’ trucks celebrating U.S.’s 250th anniversary

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A White House task force facilitated a proposal for World Cup host cities in the United States to house vast ‘Freedom’ trailer-trucks with United States flags at official Fan Festivals in celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary.

The Trump administration established the ‘FIFA World Cup 2026 Task Force’ in March. It is chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump and vice-chaired by his vice-president, J.D. Vance. Trump appointed Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, to run its day-to-day operations as executive director. The task force’s primary role is to lead and coordinate federal efforts in support of the tournament, notably across safety and security concerns.

The task force holds regular weekly calls with the 11 American host city committees, which are effectively subsidiaries of FIFA’s U.S. operations. At one recent meeting, the task force invited a pitch from organizers of America’s 250th birthday celebrations, which falls on July 4, 2026, at the start of the World Cup’s round of 16. The ‘Freedom’ trucks were proposed to the host cities as a way to align the World Cup with America’s Semiquincentennial, marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The World Cup draw (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

Major FIFA Fan Fests have already been announced by several host cities across the United States, such as Liberty State Park in Jersey City, and a 25,000-person capacity Fan Fest at the National WW1 Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. Others, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, are considering a reduced slate of Fan Fests amid the major financial burden FIFA has transferred onto cities.

Since his January inauguration, Trump has taken several steps to ramp up celebrations for ‘America 250.’ This included the establishment of the White House Task Force 250, which is also chaired by President Trump and includes representation from cabinet members. This month, Trump launched Freedom 250. He further announced that between June 25 and July 10, the U.S. will hold a Great American State Fair on the National Mall, “celebrating America’s exceptional history and culture.”

He also announced a national prayer event, “to rededicate (America) as one nation under God”, as well as a UFC event at the White House and the inaugural Patriot Games — a four-day athletic event involving one male and one female high school athlete from each U.S. state and territory. The Freedom 250 organization is described on its website as “the national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of America’s 250th birthday” — it says it is the official public-private partnership to amplify presidential moments of the anniversary year.

Previously, another organization, named America250, was created by Congress in 2016, charged with organizing the national commemoration, and this has bipartisan representation from Congress, as well as honorary presidency positions for former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, and First Ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush. However, the New York Times has reported that the organization has taken on a “different direction” since Trump returned to the White House. The Atlantic reported that America250 had launched a partnership with Moms For Liberty, a conservative group, while also securing sponsorships with companies such as Palantir, UFC, Coinbase and Oracle, whose executives have financially supported Trump.

On the call with host city executives, it was explained that the large trailer trucks will be touring the United States in 2026, adorned with U.S. flags and the word Freedom. According to four people with knowledge of the call, all of whom wished to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, these were described as mobile museum freedom trucks and airstream trailers, which would tell the story of America’s history and independence. Two people said they expected the trucks to be 18-wheelers, but the size was not confirmed by the task force.

In September, the Institute of Museum and Library Services announced it had awarded America250, the organization established in 2016, six mobile “Freedom Trucks” to share the story of the nation’s founding, which it said directly supported Trump’s presidential executive order, “Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday.” The director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services also has a seat on Trump’s White House Task Force for America 250.

The news release added: “At a time when 64 percent of Americans cannot pass the citizenship test, these key exhibits aim to make our nation’s history more accessible and reinforce patriotism among Americans of all ages.”

The World Cup task force declined to comment, but senior sources with knowledge of the presentation confirmed the offer was true, while saying it is an offering rather than an obligation for host cities. Other offers included the provision of U.S. swag and tourism guides. The task force did not confirm which specific 250-themed entity set out the offer at the World Cup meeting, but indicated there is internal government involvement, as well as public/private partnerships working across America 250 initiatives.

In a recent interview with The Athletic, Giuliani described the World Cup as “an incredible opportunity to show off” America’s first 250 years.

He added: “President Trump, more than anything, represents the fact that, as Americans, we don’t have to apologize anymore for whatever imperfections may exist in our country’s history. We can look at the overall work of the last 250 years and what America has done for Western civilization, and truly celebrate that American greatness.”

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the Trump Administration is “committed to working with and providing resources and opportunities with all of our partners, including the FIFA World Cup 2026, to deliver one of the most iconic sporting experiences in history for Americans and the world to enjoy.”

FIFA declined to comment, referring questions to Giuliani’s task force, while the America250 group that was launched nine years ago did not respond to outreach from The Athletic.

FIFA has already demonstrated willingness to promote Trump’s agenda, most famously when awarding the U.S. president its inaugural Peace Prize this month. FIFA president Gianni Infantino attended Trump’s pre-inauguration rally and his inauguration, as well as joining the U.S. president on visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia in May.

Some World Cup host city executives, however, told The Athletic they were unsure whether ‘Freedom’ trucks would be relevant or appropriate at Fan Fests during a global soccer tournament, indicating they may not take up the offer.

They also have an awareness that the word “freedom” has come to be interpreted in differing ways across the United States, according to one’s political leanings. The non-profit group Turning Point USA, co-founded by Charlie Kirk, has the mission, according to its website, of building the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country. Turning Point sells merchandise, including T-shirts, hoodies, baseball caps and flags, with the word ‘Freedom.’ But the group’s view of what constitutes ‘freedom’ has sometimes contrasted with the interpretation of liberals, or left-leaning groupings.

Michele Goodwin, a professor at Georgetown University Law Centre, explains the nuance: “History and origin stories are critically important. We must learn exactly who are the people that make up the space that is the United States. The challenge we’ve had in the United States is, ‘Who gets to tell the story?’ Whoever gets to tell the story dominates a narrative and there are very different narratives.

“There can be a narrative that excludes indigenous people or paints indigenous people as savage. That was the framework for centuries in the United States, that indigenous people were scalpers, that they were people who wanted to do harm to white Europeans and then had to be moved off to reservations. That’s one version of a story.

“Another version of a story is that the lands were occupied for thousands of years, and the indigenous people were marched off their lands. There’s the retelling of American enslavement, where there were boys, girls, babies, men and women being regularly sold by people.

The second largest auction block in the United States was where Wall Street is today. Is that part of the freedom story? Which stories will be told? Is it all of the stories, or is it some stories included and other stories being left out? Who is curating the story makes a difference.”

Race heats up for base camps

Now that the World Cup draw and schedule have been confirmed, qualified nations are figuring out where exactly they should base themselves for a tournament that spans three countries and several time zones.

The good news is that FIFA has, to a certain extent, clustered group stage matches within regions of North America, but that does not discount a vast amount of travel for many teams. England, for example, will begin against Croatia in Dallas before heading to Boston and New Jersey to face Ghana and Panama. England’s logistics team had been very keen on basing the squad in Kansas City during the tournament due to its central location and the qualities of Sporting Kansas City’s facilities.

But nations must follow FIFA’s process to secure their favored base. FIFA has published a brochure, available to peruse on its website, in which national teams’ executives can study training base options, as well as nearby hotels across North America. They can filter their hotel search to find golf hotels, beach hotels, countryside hotels, business hotels, resorts or suburban options, as well as filtering for the hotels that include pools, spas, tennis courts, gyms and walking trails.

They can also narrow their searches to find the travel time from training bases to hotels, and from airports to hotels. The nations’ decision-makers can also look at venues outside the brochure. Brazil, for example, have looked closely at the New York Red Bulls’ training facility.

New York Red Bulls’ training facility is being considered by Brazil (Charly Triballeau / Getty Images)

However, even if a national federation has a preference, it is not guaranteed to receive its first choice. Various criteria will be applied. If a nation has two games, compared to one game, located close to the training site, then this team will be given preference.

If multiple teams have requested the same base as their first choice, then preference will be given based on a team’s world ranking, with the higher-ranked nation earning the place. That is according to Giuliani, the World Cup Task Force director, speaking recently to The Athletic, and confirmed by other sources who wished to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak on the matter. FIFA declined to comment.

Should England miss out on their preferred Kansas City base, they have previously looked at Charlotte FC’s training base in North Carolina, while they are also assessing options in New York and New Jersey, where the FIFA brochure lists options including the Pingry School, Rutgers University, Stockton University and Columbia Park Training Facility.

Los Angeles police boss wants more officers for the World Cup

Preparations are continuing across host cities for the anticipated footfall, global attention and associated security threats posed by the World Cup and this month, Los Angeles Police Department chief Jim McDonnell sounded a note of concern six months out from the tournament.

Los Angeles will host eight matches at the World Cup, including two group-stage games at SoFi Stadium for the USMNT, and two games involving Iran, all of which are likely to require enhanced security provisions. Los Angeles has seen protests against the U.S. government following raids by immigration and customs enforcement officials, while President Trump also sent in the National Guard.

City Council members, including Katy Yaroslavsky, have warned their responsibility is to keep Los Angeles “solvent” as well as safe. In response to a recent request from Mayor Karen Bass to increase funding by $4.4m to employ a further 410 officers by July, she told LAist:“I want to grow the police department, but I have yet to see a proposal that identifies an ongoing funding source to pay for more officers.” The City Council then approved $1.8million to fund training from January for up to 40 new LAPD officers.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass wants to grow the city’s police department for the World Cup (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)

Asked if the City Council is doing enough to prepare his police force, the police chief told the Snapchat political show Good Luck America: “Absolutely not. When we’re fully deployed at 10,000 officers, we have half the officer-to-population ratio as New York and less than half of what Chicago deploys per capita. We’re a very lean organization to begin with. We’re down 1,400 officers. I was given budget approval to hire 240 new officers this year. We have done that. But even at that, this year, I’m going to lose 500-600 officers due to attrition, retirement or other reasons.

“Even if we were to get what we’re asking for, we’re still probably negative 150-200 two and a half years out from the Olympics. That is not the place any city would want to find themselves. But moving forward, my hope is that the City Council takes a fresh look at this issue and realize that the eyes of the world are going to be on Los Angeles several months from now with the World Cup, but the largest Olympics in history will be here. It is a tremendous opportunity for Los Angeles to be able to showcase what we have. But if you if you don’t do it appropriately, then it could be a different outcome.”

This news was originally published on this post .

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