FIFA faces new crisis as SoFi Stadium workers in LA threaten strike action

Share full articleWith just over 60 days before the World Cup begins, FIFA has a new crisis on its hands: strike threats from thousands of workers at SoFi Stadium, the tournament’s host venue in Los Angeles and the site of the opening USMNT game during the tournament. SoFi Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Rams in the suburb of Inglewood, is scheduled to stage eight World Cup matches: five in the group stage, two round-of-32 games and a quarter-final. Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT will play two of their three group games, against Paraguay and Turkey, at the 70,000-capacity, $5.5billion (£4.1bn at current rates) venue. Opened in 2020, it is owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which also owns Premier League leaders Arsenal among a string of other U.S. sports franchises. The threat has come from UNITE HERE Local 11, a union that represents 2,000 SoFi Stadium workers, including cooks, servers and bartenders. The union says major concerns remain for its members about the potential presence of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) around World Cup cities and venues this June and July. The previous bargaining agreement between the union and the stadium’s operator Legends Global has now expired. Two extensive bargaining sessions, held at the venue, have failed to reach agreements, leaving FIFA at risk of a strike, with the union’s co-president Kurt Peterson this week telling The Athletic that FIFA has not been receptive to his body’s concerns. The union, in a series of demands made to FIFA and the Kroenkes this week, is also sounding the alarm about the use of subcontractors operating at SoFi Stadium, while also demanding that FIFA does not permit any artificial intelligence or automation at the arena, which may eliminate union jobs. The union is also asking FIFA to use a portion of the profits from the World Cup to support affordable local housing, with FIFA president Gianni Infantino forecasting over $11billion in revenues from a spend of around $3.5bn on this tournament — at which 75 per cent of the 104 games will be played in the U.S. and the remaining 25 per cent will be shared between co-hosts Canada and Mexico. The union is also requesting a regional moratorium on short-term rentals by Airbnb, now also a FIFA sponsor, which the union argues displaces local workers in an already thin Los Angeles housing market. The union represent over 30,000 workers across hotels, airports and sports arenas in LA and broader Southern California. In an interview with The Athletic in downtown Los Angeles this week, Peterson warned it is prepared to strike unless FIFA, the Kroenkes and Legends Global meet its demands. “We represent workers who make food, both inside the airport and for the planes that you get on as passengers, as well as workers at most of the hotels, and workers at the stadiums who cook and make the food, serve the beer and handle all the food concessions,” says Peterson. “Our view is these games ought to be, but rarely are, something that moves the needle forward for working people. But instead, they show up, they leave and then the city and the working people often are left in worse conditions than when they came.” So is a strike before the World Cup really on the table, or is such talk just posturing? “At this point, it is pretty realistic,” Peterson insists. “The contract has expired. So we have the ability to do whatever we want, including striking. “Working people are barely getting by. Most of our members work two jobs. They’re the backbone of the industry that’s going to make FIFA prosperous. FIFA, despite our attempts to engage with them, have basically ignored our demands.” The United States’ game against Paraguay at the stadium on June 12 will be the first match of the tournament on U.S. soil and the eyes of the world will be on the venue. Under all that pressure, where fans have paid premiums on tickets and hotels, and with a White House administration that has made this World Cup a priority issue, is the union braced for the heat which may come its way? “There’s going to be a lot of pressure to make sure the games are successful,” Peterson acknowledges. “But successful for us means that games succeed for everyone, not just for Airbnb, the FIFA president and (U.S. President) Donald Trump. Right now, that’s where it’s headed. Somebody needs to stand up and say, ‘No, that’s not how the World Cup should be done’. “Our members, the people who cook the food, pour the beer and prepare the suites, are the ones who are willing to say, ‘Enough is enough. We think we deserve more’. People believe that these mega-events, like the World Cup, are not here to benefit normal people. If it’s food service workers at SoFi leading the charge, we think people will get behind us. “In our world, the owner of the building is the one who has the power, whether it’s a hotel or a stadium. That’s why it went to the Kroenkes as well.” FIFA has been approached for comment, along with Legends Global and SoFi Stadium. Hollywood Park, the Kroenke-owner entity which encompasses SoFi Stadium, declined to comment. The union does have a history of following through on strike threats, with hotel workers in Los Angeles, nearby Orange County and the neighboring state of Arizona going on strike more than 175 times between July 2023 and July 2024, due to complaints that their wages did not rise in line with housing costs. Peterson and Local 11’s communications executive Maria Hernandez both say that the presence of ICE is a priority for the union’s members. They say they want FIFA to demand that ICE and Customs And Border Protection play “no role in the World Cup”. ICE acting director Todd Lyons previously said that the organization would play a “key part” in ensuring security during the World Cup. He said ICE’s primary role, as is common at sporting events, would center on Homeland Security investigations, but members of the U.S. Congress have flagged concerns that the involvement of ICE may extend to immigration-enforcement raids close to World Cup events. FIFA was alerted to human rights complaints by fans during the Club World Cup last summer, which included alleged sightings of CBP and ICE officials at stadiums during the tournament. In a statement to The Athletic in September, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson denied that ICE and CPB conducted enforcement, describing it as “another case of fear-mongering.” Last summer, masked ICE officers executed immigration raids across Southern California, with counter-protests and opposition by Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and California’s governor Gavin Newsom then prompting president Trump to send in the National Guard and U.S. Marines. “We want ICE out of the games,” says Peterson. “This means the government should not send in ICE to ‘protect’ the games. We saw them come last June. It was a horror show. They went to Minneapolis. They killed people. ICE has said they’re going to be part of the World Cup. Whatever that means, that’s bad. Bad for our members. Bad for the guests. Bad for the city. So we’re like, ‘Get out, we don’t need you here’. “We sent a letter to our employers last week saying that if ICE shows up, then we would invoke our health and safety language and our members could stop working. ICE did show up at a hotel right after we sent that letter, and our members walked off the job and went home. The workers were crying in the cafeteria because they were afraid.” The letter, seen by The Athletic, was sent to stadiums, airports, event centers and hotels. The union wrote that, under the terms of their contract, workers “have a right to refuse to work under conditions that would subject them to unusually dangerous conditions” and that the presence of ICE or border patrol personnel creates “safety risks”. “We want to be clear,” the letter continued, looking ahead to the World Cup. “If ICE or similar enforcement agents are present at or near your property, workers must be allowed to leave or refuse to report to work without reprisal.” What would the union’s response be to those who say that individuals who are in the United States legally need not worry? Peterson counters: “I would say that some of those who are legally here, but look like an immigrant, have been scooped up, intimidated and threatened. “The first item that our workers wanted to talk about in bargaining sessions was the presence of ICE. We had a white worker, a black worker, a brown worker all say this is bad for all of us, and we’re standing together and we’re not going to tolerate having ICE in our stadium. One said, ‘It’s not just us; it’s also our guests and clients. It’s people coming to the games. It’s the players’. “It would be a good thing if FIFA came out and said that. It’s hard to imagine, given that (Infantino) handed Trump a peace prize while he’s going to war. People are nervous. Our members are saying, ‘We’re not going to work if ICE are around, because they could scoop us up’.” The union also says it was not informed when FIFA hired OnLocation to be its official hospitality partner, operating food and beverage during games at the tournament, which means a new corporate entity has been inserted into the employment relationship. Peterson says FIFA and stadium operator Legends Global have so far failed to provide the labour contracts with OnLocation for the union to review, with FIFA telling the union they are not yet signed — just two months before the tournament begins. The union also want commitments that Mashgins, an AI-based automated check-out service, will not replace jobs for its members during the World Cup. “Companies are moving at extraordinary speed to implement these things and get rid of workers,” Peterson says. The union also has concerns about FIFA’s potential for data sharing under the terms and conditions for those receiving accreditation to work at the tournament. Those T&Cs, seen by The Athletic, state “personal data submitted by the applicant… will be shared where deemed necessary with law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies, other departments of host cities and international partner agencies”. “It’s bad,” Peterson says. “It basically says they’re allowed to share it with whomever and you have no rights.” Neither FIFA nor Legends responded to queries from The Athletic. In one of their more ambitious demands, the union is asking FIFA to spend some of its billions of profits from the World Cup to help fund housing in the area. Airbnb is attempting to incentivise new hosts to provide short-term rentals during the tournament, offering $750 welcome bonuses to hosts who rent out a property for the first time, while claiming an “average host earning” during the World Cup would be $5,100 in Los Angeles. The city of LA currently forbids its residents from renting out second homes for Airbnb, but the company has been pushing for changes to these regulations ahead of this World Cup, the NFL’s Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in February next year and the LA-hosted Olympic Games in 2028. Peterson, however, says this would worsen the area’s housing challenges by taking away units from the long-term rentals market, as landlords may find shorter deals more lucrative. With only a couple of months to go until the World Cup, negotiations will continue. Peterson says: “So far, the indications are that they’re not showing much interest to move on a number of the things we put on the table.” Peterson says that his union operates “democratically”, with an elected leadership and committee leaders from the shop floor, all of whom are present for bargaining sessions. “If we don’t get what we want, then we take steps with actions such as publicizing what we might do, then leafleting, then picketing,” he adds. “The ultimate action that we would take is a strike, which would be preceded by a strike vote (ahead of that opening match at the stadium on June 12). If the majority voted in favor, that’s where we’re headed.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Adam Crafton is a British journalist based in New York City, having relocated from London in 2024. He primarily covers soccer for The Athletic. In 2024, he was named the Sports Writer of the Year by the Sports' Journalist Association, after winning the Young Sports Writer of the Year award in 2018. Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamCrafton_