The soccer-loving mayor who's ready to host the USA
U.S. fans are making travel plans to the Bay Area after their team clinched first place in Group D following a victory over Australia and Turkey's defeat to Paraguay.
Ready to welcome them will be San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who has personally attended five World Cups. He is also an investor in 49ers Enterprises, which purchased the venerable Leeds United soccer team in 2023.
We spoke with Lurie yesterday via FaceTime from a city command center, where he drew a parallel to his English club’s own turnaround this season: Newly promoted and expected to go straight back down, Leeds instead finished safely mid-table. Lurie is trying to engineer a similar revival in San Francisco, using major events like the World Cup and February’s Super Bowl to project competence and attract visitors and families.
Matches including the July 1 encounter between the U.S. and an as-yet undetermined opponent are played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, 40 miles from downtown San Francisco and much closer to San Jose. Lurie is nevetheless eager to claim the so-called "San Francisco Bay Area" venue as his city's own.
“It’ll be incredible,” Lurie, a moderate Democrat who presents himself as a technocrat, told POLITICO. “It’ll be a thrilling moment for San Francisco, and for our region.”
Read our full interview with Lurie here.
