KTTH OPINION
Oct 8, 2024, 5:55 PM
Thank FIFA Club World soccer because downtown Seattle will be clean temporarily next year, Rantz writes. (Photo: Jason Rantz, KTTH)
(Photo: Jason Rantz, KTTH)
BY JASON RANTZ
AM 770 KTTH host
Hey, all you soccer haters: put your seething disdain for the world’s favorite sport on hold and thank the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup for giving us a brief glimpse of a clean, livable downtown Seattle.
Lumen Field will become one of the U.S. host sites for the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025, with global powerhouses like Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Juventus potentially gracing our streets between June 15 and July 13. This comes not just with significant economic opportunities, and some hopefully great soccer, but an added perk that’s been long overdue.
Though we won’t know how many games Seattle will get (or which teams we will host) until December, the real winners are the people who want downtown to stop resembling a post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland — at least for a few weeks.
More from Jason Rantz: In Tacoma, businesses fight for electric fences amid crime surge
If you remember MLB’s All-Star Week this past summer, you already know the drill.
Seattle’s beloved homeless encampments, the open-air drug markets and the aroma of urine that clings to your soul? Poof! Gone. Mayor Bruce Harrell suddenly found the resources and energy to clean up Downtown, SODO and Pioneer Square — for MLB’s executives. He’ll do the same for FIFA executives and the big teams. When Seattle plays host to those Harrell respects, the city suddenly works. Meanwhile, Seattleites and tourists? Yeah, we get the short end of the stick almost every other day of the year.
But hey, at least when FIFA execs roll through with their high-profile teams, we’ll get to experience the fantasy: a version of downtown Seattle that doesn’t make you question why you call such a poorly run city home. The streets will be hosed down, the fentanyl zombies will temporarily vanish and the stench of desperation will be magically lifted. You might actually feel safe walking around without having to dodge nearly lifeless bodies of homeless addicts.
It’s a sad reality, though. Once FIFA leaves, Seattle will immediately backslide into its grimy comfort zone — homeless addicts will flood back in, public spaces will again smell like a truck stop bathroom that hasn’t ever been cleaned, and Harrell will resume his “meh” approach to governance.
But hey, we’ll enjoy it while it lasts. Beggars can’t be choosers, right? It’s just too bad that we have to wait another year for it.
More from Jason Rantz: The truth behind Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell ‘endorsement’ of anti-cop socialist
Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, Instagram and Facebook.

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Thank FIFA Club World soccer for a temporarily cleaned up downtown Seattle. Too bad we have to wait until next year to enjoy it.
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