Anyone who has worked on major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, MLS Cup, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup, Olympics or Paralympic Games knows well the pent-up angst that precedes the opening whistle or cauldron lighting. It’s a gnawing, pit-of-the-stomach aching that at any moment something unwanted is about to throw shade on the proceedings.

Think back to concerns about venue construction delays for the 2004 Athens Games, or feverish discussions about human rights, women’s rights, anti-LGBT policies and corruption prior to Russia’s World Cup 2018 or Qatar’s in 2022. In fact, early media coverage about Brazil’s World Cup 2014 and 2016 Summer Olympics, focusing on costs and construction safety, made many experts worry whether either would actually stage.

The hard truth? Every global mega-event held during the last three decades has experienced intense pre-event scrutiny derived from welcoming the world and billions of eyeballs.

Remember stray dogs in Athens, body parts awash on the famed Copacabana Beach in Rio or last-minute preparations for Milan’s Olympic hockey arena earlier this year?

In offering up that journalistic overture, it’s only right to investigate North America’s upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 and ask one simple question: “Will everything be OK?” That is to say, once the first kickoff happens in Mexico City on June 11, will everyone’s various concerns go away and successfully allow fans to focus on........

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