U.S. Rep. Larsen visits Bellingham, reflects on long World Cup fan zone planning
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen visited two World Cup Fan Zone locations Friday in Bellingham to discuss preparations for the FIFA designated locations ahead of the U.S. match against Australia at Lumen Field in Seattle.
The first World Cup match in Seattle took place Monday, June 15, and ended in a 1-1 draw between Belgium and Egypt. The United States def. Australia 2-0 on Friday at Lumen Field, the team’s second consecutive victory after a 4-1 win over Paraguay in the group play opener.
The Americans wrap up group play against Türkiye at 7 p.m. Thursday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Up to 750,000 people are expected to visit the Seattle region during the World Cup, according to King County public health staff.
Larsen, who represents Washington’s 2nd congressional district, worked with other politicians back in 2018 to create a resolution stating that congress supported the World Cup coming to the U.S.
Once the cities had been determined in 2022, Larsen began thinking of ways to bring the celebration to Washington.
“I got to thinking about my district. Where should fan zones be? And knowing Vancouver was also a city [for matches], Bellingham is sort of an obvious choice, so I encouraged Bellingham, the city, and tourism to think about how you want to do this, and then they had to decide how they wanted to do it,” Larsen told The Herald in an interview. “They went from one thing to this distributed model, where it’s a lot of found zones, which is great, because one is you can’t be a FIFA fan zone, unless you’re in a FIFA fan zone city, there are so many rules [around it].”
Including Bellingham, there are nine FIFA designated fan zones across Washington. Larsen hopes the Bellingham scenery draws in more visitors, so even if visitors are watching a match in Seattle or heading to Vancouver, they’re more likely to make the state or city a destination on their next trip.
“The point is, soccer fans want to come watch soccer and enjoy being here, and frankly, apparently, if you ask people about the games themselves, they’ve all been great,” Larsen said. “Fans are here to watch soccer and then enjoy the rest of it. We’re selling people on the region, and it’s about coming back, but also ensuring that they’re enjoying themselves when they’re here.”
Remaining matches at Seattle
- Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Qatar, noon Wednesday, June 24
- Egypt vs. the Islamic Republic of Iran at 8 p.m. Friday, June 26
- Knockout game, teams and time TBD, Wednesday, July 1
- Knockout game, teams and time TBD, Monday, July 6
Remaining matches at Vancouver
- Switzerland vs. Canada, noon Wednesday, June 24
- New Zealand vs. Belgium, 8 p.m. Friday, June 26
- Knockout game, teams and time TBD, Thursday, July 2
- Knockout game, teams and time TBD, Tuesday, July 7