As Trump ascends, sports leaders line up to kiss the ring
Sports leaders from FIFA, the Olympics, the UFC, WWE, and Saudi Arabia are orbiting Trump, eager to kiss the ring.
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As devastating fires burned through parts of Southern California, destroying entire neighbourhoods and displacing thousands, the lead organizer of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles visited Mar-a-Lago for a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump.
Casey Wasserman, the controversial media mogul and chairman of the LA28 organizing committee, met with Trump on Wednesday in attempt to gain assurances from the incoming president to continue with plans to host the prestigious event in LA.
“These are America’s Olympics,” Trump told Wasserman, according to Axios. “These are more important than ever to L.A. and I’m going to be supportive in every way possible to make them the greatest Games.”
Trump first met with LA28 officials during his initial term in office, shortly after Los Angeles was announced as the host city in 2017, marking its first Olympics since the 1984 Summer Games. The 2028 Games will occur during the final months of his second term.
Wasserman’s arrival at Ma-a-Lago came months after a bombshell Daily Mail story revealed that the LA Olympics chairman is a “serial cheater” who has a “chronic condition of sleeping with people who work for him.” The report cited a history of alleged affairs, including former secretary and chief of staff Patricia Feau, who now serves as the VP of host city relations at the LA28 Olympic nonprofit. He also allegedly slept with a human resources employee and the former flight attendant on his private jet, who is now his girlfriend.
Two weeks after the allegations surfaced, Billie Eilish dropped Wasserman as her live booking representation. However, he has since refused to step down as LA Olympic chief, saying he is the “one who’s got the most invested” in the Games. Meeting with Trump not only helped him secure the incoming president’s backing for the LA Games in the wake of the fires, but it also served as an act of defiance amid the mogul’s escalating controversies.
Wasserman is one of many sports leaders currently orbiting Trump, eager to kiss the ring. Two days after the LA chief’s meeting with Trump, FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with the president-elect. He later shared a photo of himself and Trump, both giving a thumbs-up gesture.
“Thank you Mr President for your time and for supporting FIFA over the coming months,” Infantino wrote in the caption that accompanied the post on Instagram. “America welcomes the World and Football Unites The World!”
During his first presidency, Trump hosted Infantino — also freshly elected as FIFA President — at the White House on numerous occasions, where they developed a clear bond. They also co-headlined at Davos, Switzerland, in January 2020 in an event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. This was in sharp contrast to Obama’s administration, which held power when the FBI investigation into FIFA reached its peak in 2015. This thawing of tensions is partly why the US is set to host the FIFA Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which it will co-host with Canada and Mexico.
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