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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The Executive Management Committee of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved the draft Memorandum of Understanding with the LA28 organizing committee, which will be forwarded to the full Metro Board for approval.
Seleta Reynolds, Metro’s Chief Innovation Officer, noted that the document clearly defines what Metro’s roles are:
“Baseline services are the services that we have in play every day for the riders that we move around in this county. Enhanced services would be anything different or extra that we would do specifically to serve the event in 2028.
“It also does not obligate Metro to provide any enhanced services absent outside funding. It’s very clear that we are not providing these services on the backs of our existing riders, at the expense of our baseline services.”
The Memorandum does not yet include three annexes to be negotiated on security and other matters.
The Metro staff noted that it is continuing to pursue $379 million in State funding related to the 2028 Games, as well as Federal funding. Metro will receive $9.6 million in Federal funds to support its 2026 FIFA World Cup transit efforts.
● Paralympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● NBC said it had a strong audience for the 2026 Winter Paralympics, with 22.7 million total viewers:
“The record 22.7 million total viewers for Milan Cortina 2026 is up 90% vs. Beijing 2022 (11.9 million) and up 47% vs. the Summer Games in Paris in 2024 (15.4 million).
“Milan Cortina Paralympic viewership on NBC and Peacock averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.1 million viewers, up 24% vs. Beijing.
“Primetime coverage on NBC and Peacock on Saturday, March 7, from 8-10 p.m. ET, averaged 1.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched Winter Paralympics telecast on record. The program included highlights of the Opening Ceremony and the first day of competition.”
And as expected, the sled hockey final between the Americans and Canada was also a big draw:
“Team USA’s 6-2 win over Canada in the sled hockey gold medal game on March 15 averaged a TAD of 1.2 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and CNBC (11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET), making it the most-watched sled hockey game on record, surpassing the prior record of 869,000 viewers set at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games when Team USA defeated Russia, 1-0, in the gold medal game on NBC (12 p.m.-2:20 p.m. ET).”
● AAU Sullivan Award ● The nominees for the 96th AAU Sullivan Award are down to nine:
● Olivia Babcock, volleyball (Pittsburgh)
● Azzi Fudd, basketball (Connecticut)
● Blake Horvath, football (Navy)
● Alysa Liu, figure skating (2025 World Champion)
● Tatyana McFadden, para track & field (2025 NYC Marathon runner-up)
● Fernando Mendoza, football (Indiana)
● Mikaela Shiffrin, alpine skiing (2025 Team Combined World Champion)
● Braden Smith, basketball (Purdue)
● Zahid Valencia, wrestling (2025 World 86 kg Champion)
The list has three Olympic athletes and one Paralympian; the winner will be announced on 7 April at the New York Athletic Club.
● Athletics ● The World Athletics World Indoor Championships will commence on Friday in Torun (POL), with 674 athletes from 118 federations set to take part. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) was enthused at Thursday’s news conference and also had news about the future:
“This is the 21st edition of the World Indoor Championships and the pinnacle of our global indoor season.
“I’m delighted to announce right here that the World Athletics Council this morning awarded the next two editions to Odisha in India in 2028 and Astana, Kazakhstan in 2030. So the future of the World Athletics Indoor Championships is looking bright and assured.”
One of the heavy favorites in indoor women’s 800 m world-record holder Keely Hodgkinson (GBR), who explained, “This is the one medal I don’t have, so it would be really great to box that one off. I will be happy to make the start line this time but until I cross the finish line I’m not going to jinx anything.”
American Anna Hall, the 2025 World Champion in the heptathlon is also looking for a first indoor title:
“These will be my first World Indoor Championships and I am so excited to be here. I have wanted to do these championships for a very long time.
“When you are chasing a first gold [in 2025], you think that when you win a world title you are going to be this crazy, different person. It didn’t change much at all, although I now get great introductions. But I definitely still feel unsatisfied and I have many things I want to chase.”
The meet takes place over three days and will be shown in the U.S. on NBC’s Peacock streaming service and the revived NBCSN channel, where available.
● Boxing ● World Boxing announced Executive Board approval of nine more national federations, bringing the total to 168. The new federations are in Belarus, Cyprus, Mozambique, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Tanzania, Tonga and Zambia. Regarding Russia and Belarus:
“World Boxing will seek guidance from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the conditions for participation in its competitions. It is expected these will follow the AIN procedure – ‘Athlètes Individuels Neutres’ (Individual Neutral Athletes) – deployed by the IOC for Russian and Belarusian athletes that competed at the recent 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan Cortina.
“Adopting the AIN procedure would mean that boxers from Russia and Belarus will participate as individual athletes without a flag or national anthem. World Boxing will also conduct a series of checks to ensure that Russian and Belarusian boxers who want to participate in its competitions do not have a history of supporting the war in Ukraine and are not members of clubs linked to the army or police force.”
There are now 44 federations which have Executive Board approval, but still must be confirmed by the World Boxing Congress, later this year.
● Curling ● The World Curling women’s World Championship is continuing in Calgary (CAN), with the top six of 13 teams moving on to the playoffs. Through nine matches so far in the round-robin, Switzerland – skipped by Xenia Schwaller – and Canada (two-time Worlds medalist Rachel Einarson) are both 8-1, followed by Japan (Satsuki Fujiwara: 6-2) and Sweden (Isabella Wrana) and South Korea (Eun-ji Gim) at 6-3.
The U.S. team, skipped by Delaney Strouse, is at 1-8, with three matches left.
● Football ● The FIFA Council confirmed that the 2026 World Cup should be played as planned, including Iran’s matches in Inglewood, California and Seattle, Washington, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) explaining:
“FIFA is looking forward to all teams participating at the FIFA World Cup to compete in a spirit of fair play and mutual respect. We have a schedule. We will soon have the 48 competing teams confirmed, and we want the FIFA World Cup to go ahead as scheduled.”
Bids for the 2031 and 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup for Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and the U.S. (2031), and England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (2035), will be voted on at an Extraordinary Congress before the end of 2026.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Wednesday that it has “awarded $625 million to empower all 11 cities hosting FIFA World Cup 2026 matches to bolster security preparations ahead of the tournament, in close coordination with the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026.”
The money is primarily for security purposes, although it can also be used “to pay for increased police and emergency response at FIFA venues, hotels and transportation hubs.”
Not every host region received the same amount; shares were based on the number of matches and size of the stadia involved. FEMA also recently distributed $250 million to support host-area defenses “to detect, identify, track or mitigate the unlawful use” of drones.
Both allocations came from the 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
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The FIFA Council announced a decision on the request to exclude or punish Israel for allowing club play in territory claimed by the Palestinian Football Association:
“FIFA should take no action given that, in the context of the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes, the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law.
“FIFA should continue to promote dialogue and offer mediation between the Palestine Football Association and The Israel Football Association at an operational level. In this context, FIFA will continue to facilitate structured engagement and monitor developments.”
On a distinct matter, a filing against Israel by the Palestinian association for racist conduct at matches held in Israel was upheld by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and the Israeli Football Association was fined CHF 150,000, but has the right to appeal.
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