Rantz: Thanks to FIFA Club World soccer, Seattle will be clean for 10 whole minutes
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)
Hey, all you soccer haters: put your seething disdain for the world鈥檚 favorite sport on hold and thank the 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鈥檛 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 鈥 at least for a few weeks.
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Will Seattle get cleaner and safer for the FIFA Club World Cup?
If you remember MLB鈥檚 All-Star Week this past summer, you already know the drill.
Seattle鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檒l get to experience the fantasy: a version of downtown Seattle that doesn鈥檛 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鈥檚 a sad reality, though. Once FIFA leaves, Seattle will immediately backslide into its grimy comfort zone 鈥 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 鈥渕eh鈥 approach to governance.
But hey, we鈥檒l enjoy it while it lasts. Beggars can鈥檛 be choosers, right? It’s just too bad that we have to wait another year for it.
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