PBS Previews World Cup By Comparing U.S. To Russia And Qatar

Alex Christy
June 10th, 2026 12:55 PM

Text to Speech

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PBS welcomed hard-left professor and former Team USA U-23 player Jules Boykoff to the Tuesday edition of Amanpour and Company to preview the upcoming World Cup. Co-anchor Hari Sreenivasan wasn’t interested in who was going to win but rather in comparing the U.S. under President Trump to previous hosts Russia and Qatar with Boykoff, who claimed the U.S.-hosted tournament is actually worse than Qatar because, at least, Qatar being a small country meant its carbon emissions would be lower.

Sreenivasan began by rhetorically asking, “Each World Cup we have a conversation somewhat similar to this. We talked before the last World Cup in Qatar about the challenges, about labor violations, what Qatar had to do to get that World Cup on. Before that, it was Vladimir Putin. And, you know, what does it mean to have this on Russian soil, so to speak?”

 

 

Amanpour and Company originally airs on CNN International, and Sreenivasan is not the first CNN reporter to compare the U.S. to Russia and Qatar ahead of the World Cup.

As it was, Sreenivasan then quoted something Boykoff wrote in The Guardian and wondered, “And I wonder now, in this context, you write that ‘The 2026 World Cup is not only the most politically combustible tournament in modern history, also on track to be the most polluting. Let's talk about the political combustion right now. What makes you say that?”

Boykoff began by mourning, “Well, I would say the through line between those three tournaments that you just mentioned, Russia World Cup in 2018, Qatar in 2022, and the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2026, is the idea of sportswashing. When political leaders use sports to their political advantage in order to make themselves look important or legitimate on the world stage while deflecting attention from chronic social problems at home and setting up opportunities for political and economic and diplomatic advancement.”

He added, “And that term was used a lot, sportswashing, when people were talking about Russia and Qatar. And for good reasons, they were trying to use that event to deflect attention and make political and economic gain. But that's definitely what's happening in the United States as well.”

According to Boykoff, Trump being president sucks any fun out of the tournament, “I mean, President Trump has made it clear, he said it many times in public, that the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles are crucial to his legacy. And so, I think when you have someone like that, who is set on using sport to his political advantage in charge, and I think it must be said, I mean, he's a highly erratic individual, he can be impulsive at times, and he loves attention. That really sets up a recipe that could create problems, you know, for this event. Normally, people turn their attention to the sport at hand once the event finally starts, and we put those problems behind us. I'm not so sure that's going to happen this time around.”

Boykoff would go on to suggest, without evidence, that ICE will harass fans and tourists because they have “been marauding through neighborhood after neighborhood in the United States. Masked up, they've actually killed people who are U.S. citizens.”

When that inevitably fails to happen, PBS almost certainly won’t issue a correction.

As for the second part of Boykoff’s Guardian article, Sreenivasan later lamented, “One of your concerns has also been about the carbon footprint of these games versus previous ones. FIFA, they say they want to be net zero by 2040, but researchers are saying that this particular tournament is going to generate more than 9 million tons of CO2, nearly double what recent World Cups have.”

 

 

Earlier, it was mentioned that there are more teams at this World Cup, but repeating that context here would have been helpful. Instead, Sreenivasan continued, “Just kind of put that in perspective for us. I mean, I know that we've got games now that are in Canada and Mexico and the United States, and there's people flying from all over to these different countries and flying back and forth in between the games.”

Because the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are three big countries, Boykoff decried that, “fans need to travel over vast geographical expanse to attend matches in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Also, the United States just simply doesn't have a strong train system, and so people are going to be flying from match to match, thereby jacking up the emissions.”

After accusing FIFA of “greenwashing,” Boykoff returned to the previous host, “What you can say about Qatar is that once you got there, you could go around to the different matches on the metro and by car and have your emissions be relatively low. That's not the case here. So, while we have stadiums that were built, thereby keeping the carbon emissions low, people's travel budgets are going to be really high.”

Ironically, Boykoff’s book that formed the genesis of this segment is entitled Red Card, but this whole segment was a red card. There is no credible comparison to be made between the United States on one hand and the authoritarianism in Russia and Qatar on the other.

Here is a transcript for the June 9 show:

PBS Amanpour and Company

6/9/2026

HARI SREENIVASAN: Each World Cup we have a conversation somewhat similar to this. We talked before the last World Cup in Qatar about the challenges, about labor violations, what Qatar had to do to get that World Cup on. Before that, it was Vladimir Putin. And, you know, what does it mean to have this on Russian soil, so to speak?

And I wonder now, in this context, you write that “The 2026 World Cup is not only the most politically combustible tournament in modern history, also on track to be the most polluting.” Let's talk about the political combustion right now. What makes you say that?

JULES BOYKOFF: Well, I would say the through line between those three tournaments that you just mentioned, Russia World Cup in 2018, Qatar in 2022, and the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2026, is the idea of sportswashing. When political leaders use sports to their political advantage in order to make themselves look important or legitimate on the world stage while deflecting attention from chronic social problems at home and setting up opportunities for political and economic and diplomatic advancement.

And that term was used a lot, sportswashing, when people were talking about Russia and Qatar. And for good reasons, they were trying to use that event to deflect attention and make political and economic gain. But that's definitely what's happening in the United States as well.

I mean, President Trump has made it clear, he said it many times in public, that the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles are crucial to his legacy. And so, I think when you have someone like that, who is set on using sport to his political advantage in charge, and I think it must be said, I mean, he's a highly erratic individual, he can be impulsive at times, and he loves attention. That really sets up a recipe that could create problems, you know, for this event.

Normally, people turn their attention to the sport at hand once the event finally starts, and we put those problems behind us. I'm not so sure that's going to happen this time around.

…

SREENIVASAN: One of your concerns has also been about the carbon footprint of these games versus previous ones. FIFA, they say they want to be net zero by 2040, but researchers are saying that this particular tournament is going to generate more than 9 million tons of CO2, nearly double what recent World Cups have.

Just kind of put that in perspective for us. I mean, I know that we've got games now that are in Canada and Mexico and the United States, and there's people flying from all over to these different countries and flying back and forth in between the games.

BOYKOFF: The reason why you're seeing scientists jumping up and down about those jaw-dropping emissions numbers that you mentioned is because fans need to travel over vast geographical expanse to attend matches in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Also, the United States just simply doesn't have a strong train system, and so people are going to be flying from match to match, thereby jacking up the emissions.

But in the bigger picture, FIFA has a real problem with greenwashing, which is to say talking a big green sustainability game but not actually following through on the ground. We saw this in Qatar where they said they were going to be the sustainable game, carbon neutral game. That definitely didn't happen.

What you can say about Qatar is that once you got there, you could go around to the different matches on the metro and by car and have your emissions be relatively low. That's not the case here. So, while we have stadiums that were built, thereby keeping the carbon emissions low, people's travel budgets are going to be really high.

So, I think this is another example, though, of FIFA saying one thing and doing another, and I think people in the United States, Canada, Mexico have seen numerous examples of this in the lead-in to the tournament.

 

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