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Lobbing Scorchers: Rep. Rick Larsen on Trump, USMNT & the 2026 World Cup
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Lobbing Scorchers’, Noah Riffe speaks with U.S. Representative Rick Larsen from Washington's 2nd district about the World Cup and its political impacts. Rep. Larsen was involved in getting the tournament to play matches in Seattle.
Rep. Rick Larsen shared his views on how President Donald Trump and his administration have played into visa issues for the Iranian National Team and a Somali official.
The Congressman also shares his love for soccer, the Seattle Sounders, and how he thinks the United States Men's National Team will do at the World Cup.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Contact: lobbingscorchers@justoncemedia.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Special Edition Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome
Meet Representative Rick Larson
00:00:22
Speaker
to a very special edition of Lobbing Scorchers. We are joined today by a congressional representative. Why don't you introduce yourself, Representative Larson? I'm Representative Rick Larson, Washington State's second district, for those who don't know where that is. If you landed in Seattle at SeaTac and you drove to Vancouver, BC, once you left Seattle, you're essentially driving through my district. So Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom County, San Juan Islands, and and Island County, up by five.
00:00:55
Speaker
So you are, you are a representative for a lot of our listeners here and a lot of Sounders fans as well.
Rick Larson's Soccer Background
00:01:01
Speaker
And you yourself, I hear are a Sounders fan. I am a Sanders fan. i've been playing soccer since I was eight, uh, eight years old. and And that was actually two years later than a lot of my friends started playing. So, uh, we played together, um through high school. Um, and then by that time I was kind of like looking at other, doing other things. But in that time, um, I was able to play in high school, played for the Arlington Eagles, um,
00:01:25
Speaker
Got to the quarterfinals in 1982, I think it was, for in the old double Northwest double A. And then for one glorious moment was a ball boy for the Sounders as well.
00:01:37
Speaker
What year was that? Could you and Schmetzer have crossed paths perhaps? It wasn't, it was the ah old NASL days. And so it was Roger Davies and Allen Hudson, probably Jeff Stock was on that team. Yeah. um mean how was That's the AD team right here.
00:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, so it it would have been, could have been 81-82. I was in in high school. And, you know, in the days when they had ah ball boys and ball girls and standing on the sidelines at and at the end lines, and I got to touch the ball once and I rolled it to the, for a Sanders corner kick.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah. Did they score off that corner? That's the question was was my were my hands the golden goal hands. They know they did not score in that corner. Well, that's okay because your hands did help shape bringing the World Cup here to Seattle. So maybe they didn't help the Sounders score a goal, but they definitely helped bring the biggest sporting event in the entire world to Seattle. i actually just toward the stadium.
00:02:37
Speaker
Yeah. couple of hours ago. It's incredible. It is wild how much it has changed down there. And I really wanted to talk to you specifically about how this World Cup came together, what your kind of impact was on that and what all of us behind, pull the curtain back basically is what I want to know as to what you were involved with and how Seattle was able to secure this prestigious tournament.
Congressional Support for World Cup Bid
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, I only have my share of the curtain. You know, this success is many parents and failure is an orphan. And ah i might be like, um you know, a substitute parent on this a little bit. But ah in the 2000, before the selection was made for the United States, um we had to you know gather Everyone's gathering support for the for the bid for the US part of the bid. And in Congress, you know, there's a lot of interest in baseball. There's a congressional baseball game. there's a lot of interest. there's a congressional football game with the US against the US Capitol Police. There's a variety of congressional basketball games. All these are for charity efforts. There's a congressional soccer game, but not a lot of members play because not a lot of members played soccer or play soccer.
00:03:45
Speaker
And so even in 2016, 17, 18, trying to get members behind this idea, like we could bring thousands, tens of thousands of people to the United States, to your towns, your cities to spend their money and bring the world's cameras to your cities to show off what you are all about um as part of this ah part of this thing called the World Cup. And So around you know that timeframe, me and but the co-chairs of the South Caucus were developing support. So we were able to get some support ah from members of Congress for the US bid. And then got the the US bid happened, it's great, along with Mexico and Canada. And then later on, like as we got closer, it's like, okay, now we need to
00:04:29
Speaker
There are security issues, there are transit issues, there are border issues crossing between Canada and the United States, Vancouver and Seattle. I've been working a lot on that. um yeah All these little pieces that ah Congress has stepped in on to help fund ah help help fund some of the costs for cities that otherwise they couldn't carry. um And then there's you know the international security and visa issues that are continue to pop up even today as we record
Political Challenges During Trump's Presidency
00:04:56
Speaker
this. That is something that I wanted to touch on with you as well. Obviously there are political implications of any major event, but specifically the World Cup and Donald Trump being president, we've seen a crackdown in immigration across the board and a tournament bringing people from across the world to the United States
00:05:14
Speaker
There's been multiple issues with Iranian visas. And then we also saw a Somali referee who was the best referee in all of Africa, at least voted that. ah He was denied entry entry into the United States. And now you have Vancouver saying, we will let you in, come referee the games here.
00:05:31
Speaker
How much of that was talked about behind the scenes? And then additionally, what is your feelings about how this World Cup has kind of been shifted and and moved by the Trump administration?
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah, here's the thing about that. That that that is certainly, it's a real narrative. But I will say for so for soccer fans, none of you have to accept that narrative. um Tomorrow, again, we're recording this on on Wednesday, um but Mexico will kick off against South Africa, I think, to kick this whole thing off. And when that whistle blows, real true soccer fans will be annoyed by that narrative, and i will be calling ill but i will be calling offsides from my couch And red cards and cheering goals like every other great soccer fan will be doing and ignoring the rest of the noise. um Because the the the World Cup, the the soccer is going to happen, whoever's in the White House.
00:06:27
Speaker
And I want that to be really emphasized because for soccer fans, that's what they want. That's what they want to have happen. That said, yeah, there is this other narrative. um Breaking news, people, the president will be at the final in July and hand and hand over the World Cup because that's how it happens. it's Not because he forced himself onto it. is that That's how it happened. So let's you know let's not get too excited about that part of it. But I do think that the soccer narrative is going to quickly take over a lot of other narratives. I can i can talk about those other narratives as well, about visas and other things too. But the soccer the game narrative is going to be taking over quite soon.
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think I do want to just ask and push back a little bit on the question of a lot of normal fans will be looking at the soccer. I think i think that is true to an extent. I mean, even myself included, and I consider myself a very politically engaged person. i do think that there have been a lot of differences in hosting this tournament versus other tournaments based on you know restrictions that the federal government has in place for immigration whether it be fans not allowed to come here and watch their team because they have to make a massive deposit for a visa that the bond and the bond issue yeah yeah correct correct yeah so i mean i hear what you're saying and additionally i guess it is it is a bit different than a lot of these other world cups
00:07:56
Speaker
And I guess you're saying you're not feeling that or or are you feeling that? Well, I mean, you know, I would um I'm not disagreeing with you. I want to be really clear about that. I'm not disagreeing with you or anyone else. I'm ah I don't know how political you do get. I'm no fan of the president at all.
00:08:12
Speaker
I'm a fan of soccer and. And if they're interfering with the game, that that is, and when they do interfere with the game, that is a problem. There have been, um the the the Iran issue, or the Iran issues, for instance, there's an exquisite solution to that, right? They're going to have their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, all of what, four miles, five miles away from the U.S. border.
00:08:37
Speaker
There's a concern, well, they're only going to get a visa to come in and they're going to have leave immediately after the game and go back to Tijuana. But Iran also is playing in l L.A., Seattle and L.A.
00:08:47
Speaker
And they're going to be probably traveling a total amount of distance less than half the teams that are playing in in the World Cup. um they're playing they're They're traveling only a little bit farther than the US team itself in total amount. And by the way, as well, after every game, every team is going back to their base camp.
00:09:08
Speaker
right see The
Seattle's Transit Plans for the World Cup
00:09:09
Speaker
US team isn't going to stay in Seattle any longer than it takes to get on the charter to go back to base camp in LA. Same with Iran. So I think they've figured out an exquisite solution for that issue.
00:09:19
Speaker
But when it comes to fans, I've been an advocate. I can't change the law. I've been an advocate. like Fans should be able to come watch the teams play. And ah and you know so you're going to see a lot of fans who will get in. I mean i understand the Bosnian Herzegovina crowd travels real well, and there's going to a lot of BH people in Seattle um against the the Qatari game. So you're going to see that.
00:09:47
Speaker
um But it's the flip side is like all these, I don't call them one-off cases because maybe more than one, but for the sake of argument, these one-off cases where someone's going to be denied for some reason and not allowed into the United States.
00:10:03
Speaker
You know, probably worth trying to chase down the reasons why, but the timing of those games, the timing of those decisions probably won't allow that person to come in to watch the game. And I don't know what to do about it. If anybody watching has an idea about how to do that in the moment, I'm happy to hear it, but I don't know how we're going to handle that.
00:10:23
Speaker
No, I think it's undeniable that immigration as a whole is a is a big challenge. There's a reason that it's been a talking point for many elections, even before Donald Trump was president and hosting these big events. You know, a lot of countries have made a lot of different sacrifices in their restrictions based on this tournament. I think the reality is that FIFA just doesn't hold the same weight over the US federal government that they do many other institutions.
00:10:49
Speaker
Yeah, I think that, I think, you know, I think that FIFA is probably oversold. And I think the story about FIFA sort of, you know, whispering, chirping in Trump's ear is probably a little oversold when it comes to the the fans, honestly, getting into the country.
00:11:10
Speaker
I do think that Gianni is a little ah ah also too close to the president on this. The the the FIFA Peace Prize thing, that's just ridiculous, ah dumb a dumb idea.
00:11:25
Speaker
that, you know, we'll never see another FIFA Peace Prize. And if it and if we do, I hope it goes to George Weah, who deserves it. Right. People like that. But um but when it comes to immigration, like even on the Somali Ref referee issue, FIFA statement was like not our problem.
00:11:43
Speaker
not not know which When in fact, it is it is literally your problem. It is literally a FIFA's problem that the number one referee and on the African continent can't get into rough games in the United States.
00:11:56
Speaker
Yeah, well, let's let's talk a little bit about the games themselves. I appreciate you answering those questions, and I know that that' you're in a tough position. Actually, before that, let's let's talk a little bit about you. You are on the the transportation committee, which, yeah listen, yeah I'm going to be honest, one of my favorite committees, okay? I love the transportation committee. we need more rail i know you're working on uh on everything out there and we really do appreciate that but uh seattle has made massive investments going into the world cup um and you know i think that it's really cool i just spoke with mayor katie wilson uh recently and her idea was to have 80 of people come to matches through public transit so yeah I wanted to just hear kind of your take on that, the access of public transit in Washington state in your district and the ability for that to connect a lot of communities to these games and watch parties.
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah, think about think about where where Lumen Field, or now called Seattle Stadium, is located. It's right at the rail line. I can get on Linwood on light rail, park there and and take the the light rail in and then take it out. um as well as anyone else can. Tacoma, down in Tacoma or Federal Way, people can do the same thing. i think we're ideally situated like um a Lincoln Financial Field or Philadelphia Field or where they're calling it. Like that thing is right on a subway line. It is ideally situated
00:13:22
Speaker
As well, we were able to get $100 million dollars in the federal budget ah and distribute it out to host cities, including Seattle. The Puget Sound Regional Council received a little over $8.5 million dollars to help with transit planning, to help with transit. i don't know if they're renting additional buses or so on. But and obviously, FIFA is not going to do that. But Seattle and Metro and Community Transit and Pierce Transit, Kitsap, the state ferry system all need to lean into this as they have been doing and planning for it. um And I think picking whether it's 80% or if they only have 79%, I don't know what the number is gonna be, but because because of the decisions to put this field here in downtown Seattle, Minnesota, between downtown and Soto, um it it provides that opportunity. And that isn't the same. Like Foxborough, Mass, like Foxborough is not Boston and it's out there.
00:14:16
Speaker
um Kansas City, you know, Arrowhead Stadium or Kansas City Stadium, are they going to call it? it's It's not near, you know, transit's not chance is sound big in the Midwest, like and Southern Midwest like that. So We're going have some challenges, but other cities like New York or New Jersey, in this case, l LA have great opportunities to move people through transit. And
US Men's National Team and Fan Excitement
00:14:38
Speaker
we're going at Vancouver and another great city able to able move people through transit and to show how transit can move large numbers of people in a short amount of time. And so there is a, you know,
00:14:49
Speaker
hopefully some after action report looking at some the things. how did How did this work and how can we make it better? i think it's generally going to work. You have people traveling from countries who are used to transit, maybe not from the United States, but certainly from other countries who used to trans transit.
00:15:05
Speaker
So we've also worked with Amtrak and and Canada on the preclearance up at Pacific Coast Terminal in downtown Vancouver. So now when you get on the train at Amtrak in Vancouver, you have cleared customs.
00:15:20
Speaker
So they don't have to stop at the border and and and have the customs agents come through. You will cleared customs, stop and then they'll stop in Bellingham like they do. They'll stop in Mount Vernon like they do. They'll stop in Everett. They'll stop in Seattle like they do, which is going to facilitate that cross-border traffic on rail quite a bit as well.
00:15:39
Speaker
That's super exciting. I did not know about that. So that's that's actually really exciting to hear about as someone who likes to often take the train up to Vancouver. Let's just talk some soccer briefly here. The U.S. s men's national team playing their opening match in just two days.
00:15:54
Speaker
How are you feeling about the U.S. men's national team chances? I see you smiling a little bit. Where do you think? You know, after the the the Senegal game, I thought we should have like beat those guys a little more. Right. um And Germany, yeah, we lost to Germany. But except for the first two minutes, um we largely outplayed, um our art A team outplayed their a team, largely their A team for 50, 60, 70 minutes. and then And then they scored, and then there was a lot of switching out, a lot of subbing, and that's fine. But it was pretty clear that we could play with, the you know, we could play the Germanys with this team. don't know how deep we can go against a team like Germany, but in terms of the
00:16:35
Speaker
our our subs but um i felt really good and i think as a result know we should be thinking about um six points before we play turquia we should be thinking about winning um against pargway we should be thinking about beating australia And I was talking to Paul Collegury, he was on the 94 team. He played in congressional soccer game.
00:16:59
Speaker
And we came up jointly with a thing called you know the Beastquake. He was like, there should be like a Beastquake moment in Seattle. So we came up with the term the Cupquake, like a cupcake. Yeah, I love it. When the US scores its first goal, like that stadium just like vibrating from the cheering that's like and the pounding that's taking place. And I think i think that's the kind of fan base we're going to have in Seattle.
00:17:20
Speaker
And then you go back to L.A., you play Trakeia, and you got a chance to you know draw or or win Trakeia against Trakeia and win the group. And then you're on to the 32, play hopefully a team you can beat there. And then you're on a round of 16, possibly against Belgium in Seattle for a little bit of a revenge game when they whacked us 5-2 in the friendly in April. So I've got it all mapped out.
00:17:43
Speaker
i love that we need we need congressional representatives that know ball that can map out these games i will agree with you the cupcake it's possible when i saw clint dempsey score in 2016 at lumen field in copa america yeah that's the loudest i've ever seen that stadium so i am very excited hopefully those ticket prices keep coming down keep coming down you know Keep coming down because your boy would like to go as well. but It'll probably be it probably cheaper to to Qatar versus but Bosnia or maybe even Iran versus Egypt might be cheaper. but but i know i might But my point of view is like, you know what? You went to a World Cup game.
00:18:21
Speaker
Congratulations. Exactly. if i had to If I could get a $5 ticket to see Curacao play Ivory Coast and I got my World Cup shirt, I'm in. All day. And listen, Bosnia has an American, Esme Barak Tarevic, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs. So you can always go root for our dual nationals. Well, Congressional Representative Rick Larson, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. And we welcome you back anytime.
00:18:45
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. Let me know. Thanks lot.