The question on everybody’s lips is are these attendances just because fans do not really care about this revamped Club World Cup – or could this apathy continue into the actual World Cup in 2026?
BBC Sport spoke to two American journalists to get their thoughts.
Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution thinks there were several factors, but “it’s not because people here don’t care about soccer”.
“The people aren’t here because it’s Monday at 3pm,” he said. “Frankly I am surprised there are as many as there are.
“It’s a tournament that doesn’t mean a lot to people in the US because it’s new. I would imagine paying to come to a tournament you don’t know didn’t appeal, because the World Cup is coming next year and people are trying to save money for that.
“If I were Fifa, for the World Cup I would have game times where more people could come. It is something to think about – and the ticket prices were ridiculous.”
Jonathan Tannenwald, chief soccer correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer, says Fifa’s marketing is to blame.
“When you come here you have to do a lot of marketing,” he said. “You can’t just expect people to turn up.
“There was no true local organising committee in the US because Fifa were doing it all in-house.
“We will all show up for the World Cup next summer, but for the Club World Cup they needed to market it to explain.
“Will people show up in the knockout stages? Probably. Will they show up for Chelsea v LAFC in the group stage when tickets are too expensive and the game is in Atlanta? No. They are smarter than that. That is on Fifa.”
BBC Sport chief football writer Phil McNulty said “the sight of 50,000 empty seats will come as an early embarrassment for Fifa”.
“There have been long-held fears that this latest supposedly showpiece tournament, shoehorned into an already over-crowded calendar after a gruelling season, would struggle to capture the public imagination,” he said.
“The sea of empty red seats as Chelsea beat Los Angeles FC provided grim confirmation.
“A kick-off at 3pm US time on a Monday may have been a contributory factor, while Chelsea and Los Angeles may also struggle to attract local interest, but the lack of supporters will surely have felt uncomfortable for Fifa’s top brass, including maybe even its ultra-confident president Gianni Infantino.
“It is perhaps also an early warning for Fifa that ticket pricing should be realistic, and within reasonable reach, for games played in the United States at next summer’s World Cup.
“Fifa’s latest project is in its infancy, but this was a very bad look so early in the tournament that it has set so much store by.”
President Trump on Monday took a swipe at former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has in recent days been critical of Trump’s handling of the burgeoning conflict between Israel and Iran.
“I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen,” Trump told reporters when asked about Carlson’s comments during a meeting with the British prime minister at the Group of Seven (G7) summit.
Carlson has been an outspoken critic of any U.S. involvement in a potential war in the Middle East, and he voiced frustrations after Israel late last week launched missile strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and killed multiple top Iranian military officials.
Carlson wrote that Trump was “complicit in the act of war” and said what occurs next in the region “will define Donald Trump’s presidency.”
In a post on X last week, Carlson called out “warmongers” who he said were calling on Trump to demand “direct US military involvement in a war with Iran.” He specifically cited former Fox News colleagues Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, among others.
Trump has danced around the question of potential U.S. involvement moving forward. The administration said Israel’s strikes on Iran were unilateral, but the U.S. assisted Israel with intercepting retaliatory Iranian strikes.
Carlson, who left Fox News in 2022, has been a longtime media ally of the president. Carlson spoke at the Republican National Convention last summer and hosted Trump as part of a speaking tour during the 2024 campaign.
The former Fox News host’s opposition to U.S. involvement in any conflict in the Middle East underscores a looming divide among parts of Trump’s base over how to proceed toward Iran.
Nexus Mods, a website known for hosting mods for thousands of PC games, has been handed over to new ownership, according to former owner Robin “Dark0ne” Scott.
“After months of meetings, face-to-face talks, and a whole lot of soul searching, I am thrilled to say that I truly believe I have found the exact right people for the task,” Scott says in a post published on Monday.
Scott, who launched the project in 2001, says that the site “has been my entire adult life” and that “the strain of being responsible for the behemoth I created” had taken a toll. He realized he had been burning out and that he needed to bring in new leadership.
Scott didn’t specify who the new owner or owners are, and the company didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment sent to its support email address. However, users will be seeing more of two people, who Scott identifies as “Foledinho (Victor)” and “Rapsak (Marinus),” as they have “come on board to lead this next chapter,” Scott says. “They’ve got deep roots in gaming, tech, and most importantly, they give a damn; about the site, the community, and the future we’re trying to build here.”
While the site has changed hands, Scott says that “this isn’t some corporate ‘exit’ or a backroom deal.” Instead, “this is me doing something I probably should’ve done years ago: taking care of myself. Reclaiming some headspace. And finally letting go of the idea that I have to do everything and be responsible for everything myself.”
Scott will also still be a presence. “I’ll still be annoying people on the Mod Author Discord, lurking on the forums, and sticking my nose into community matters when I can’t help myself,” he says. And he’ll work with the team to “help guide the overall direction of the site.”
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers have a chance to win their second straight Stanley Cup if they defeat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 on Tuesday night. But closing out opponents in elimination games has been one of their few postseason flaws over the past two years.
“There’s no secret that the Cup’s in the building. It’s going to be the toughest test, biggest game,” said winger Matthew Tkachuk, whose Panthers hold a 3-2 series lead over the Oilers. “We have to treat this as a Game 7.”
The Panthers infamously squandered three chances to eliminate the Oilers in last year’s Stanley Cup Final before winning the Cup in Game 7. This postseason, Florida was shut out in losses in Game 6 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes with a chance to close out each series before advancing with a win in the following game.
Under coach Paul Maurice (since 2023 playoffs), the Panthers are 10-8 in potential series-clinching games.
“We figured out a way to end those series. You put yourself in a position to eliminate the other team, but it’s not guaranteed because the other team is pretty darn good,” said Maurice. “So there’s nothing where you say, ‘OK, now we’ve figured it out.’ Because if you figured that out, next year you win 16 straight, right? Doesn’t work like that.”
The Panthers said their experience in these situations will be an asset on Tuesday night.
“We played one Game 7, so maybe we have a tiny advantage with knowing the desperation that they’re going to come out with,” said Tkachuk. “We have to match that desperation.”
Winger Evan Rodrigues said the Panthers will be able to approach this game with more emotional balance than in last year’s Stanley Cup Final.
“Just stick to our game. Not try to make the moment bigger than what it is,” he said. “It’s just another hockey game. You just got to do what’s made you successful in the past. Just stay in the moment and do your job.”
Florida took a 3-2 series lead with a 5-2 victory in Edmonton on Saturday night, on the strength of two Brad Marchand goals and a suffocating defensive effort. Once again, the Panthers were propelled by their strong start: They’ve outscored the Oilers 11-4 in the first period, including 7-0 in the first period over the past three games.
But Maurice said scoring first doesn’t guarantee anything.
“I think it’s been a great challenge, actually. We’ve had leads in games and we’ve had them evaporate. They’re built to attack,” said Maurice. “When they’re down a goal or two, they’re incredibly hard to handle and it’s in the style of game they’re very, very good at [playing].”
Tkachuk said the Panthers know closing out the Oilers in Game 6 will be a challenge — especially with star center Connor McDavid trying to avoid a second straight Stanley Cup Final elimination at the hands of Florida.
“He’s desperate to win the Cup. So are we. But he’s obviously a talent like nobody else in the league. It’s so hard to shut him down. I don’t think you can shut him down. You can just try to limit as much as you can,” said Tkachuk of McDavid, who has one goal and five assists in the series. “They’re obviously one of the best, if not the best, team that I’ve played in my career and in the playoffs. So I’m sure [Game 6] is going to be a very tough one.”
Jonas Brothers Return to Disney+ With New Christmas Movie—Yes, in the Year 2025
The Jonas Brothersare asking fans to hold on as they make some last-minute changes to their tour.
Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, and Kevin Jonas confirmed June 13 that six of their Jonas20: Living the Dream Tour concerts were being moved from baseball stadiums to smaller scale locations.
“We’re so excited to get out and be with you for our 20th anniversary tour,” the brothers said in a June 13 statement on social media. “Every decision we make is with you in mind. Ensuring the best experience for our incredible fans. We’re making some venue changes, but rest assured all performances are still happening on the same dates and in the same cities.”
“We’re pouring our hearts into making this the best tour we’re ever done,” they continued. “We love performing for you and sharing this journey together.”
For the six shows, fans’ tickets were automatically refunded, with them having exclusive priority access to the June 18 pre-sale for the new venues.
Watch: Cooper says “words not enough” for victims of grooming gangs
The ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs has been “shied away from” by authorities, according to a new report by Baroness Louise Casey.
The finding comes after the peer was tasked with producing an audit on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse in England and Wales.
The report said ethnicity data is not recorded for two-thirds of grooming gang perpetrators, meaning it is not robust enough to support conclusions about offenders at a national level.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper apologised to victims as she presented the findings to MPs and announced a new national inquiry into grooming gangs.
In the report, Baroness Casey said: “We as a society owe these women a debt.
“They should never have been allowed to have suffered the appalling abuse and violence they went through as children,” she added.
On the question of ethnicity, the report said: “We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data”.
However, it added that at a local level for three police forces – Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire – there was enough evidence to show a “disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation”.
Cooper said: “Ignoring the issues, not examining and exposing them to the light, allows the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities.”
In a later interview, Lady Casey said the data should be investigated as it was “only helping the bad people” not to give a full picture of the situation, adding: “You’re doing a disservice to two sets of population, the Pakistani and Asian heritage community, and victims.”
The report concluded that ignorance and a fear of being seen as racist meant organisations tasked with protecting children turned a blind eye to abuse.
“We found many examples of organisations avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems,” the report said.
The audit criticised the “failure” of the authorities to “understand” the nature and scale of the problem to date.
“If we’d got this right years ago – seeing these girls as children raped rather than ‘wayward teenagers’ or collaborators in their abuse, collecting ethnicity data, and acknowledging as a system that we did not do a good enough job – then I doubt we’d be in this place now,” the report stated.
Watch: Grooming gang victim Fiona Goddard reacts to report findings
Cooper told the Commons the government would follow all 12 of the report’s recommendations, including suggestions to:
Ensure adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 “face the most serious charge of rape” instead of lesser charges
Launch a new national criminal operation overseen by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to tackle grooming gangs and hold a national inquiry that co-ordinates targeted local investigations into abuse
Review the criminal convictions of victims of child sexual exploitation and quashing any convictions where the government finds victims were criminalised instead of protected
Make the collection of ethnicity and nationality data for all suspects in child sexual abuse and criminal exploitation cases mandatory
Commission research into the drivers for group-based child sexual exploitation, including the role of social media, cultural factors and group dynamics
Bring in more rigorous standards for the licensing and regulation of taxi drivers following cases of them being used to traffic victims
Cooper said: “To the victims and survivors of sexual exploitation and grooming gangs, on behalf of this and past governments, and the many public authorities who let you down, I want to reiterate an unequivocal apology for the unimaginable pain and suffering that you have suffered, and the failure of our country’s institutions through decades to prevent that harm and keep you safe.”
She added: “Baroness Casey’s first recommendation is we must see children as children. She concludes too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13 to 15-year-old is perceived to have been in love with or had consented to sex with the perpetrator.”
The report is focused on “group-based child exploitation” by grooming gangs, a crime which is defined as involving “multiple perpetrators coercing, manipulating and deceiving children into sex, to create an illusion of consent”.
Baroness Louise Casey led the audit, which has prompted a national inquiry into grooming gangs
The “grooming gangs model” of abuse is outlined in Casey’s audit, which typically involves “a man targeting a vulnerable adolescent child – often those in care, or children with learning or physical disabilities” and “grooming them into thinking they are their ‘boyfriend’.
“Subsequently, they pass them to other men for sex, using drugs and alcohol to make children compliant, often turning to violence and coercion to control them,” the report said.
Taxis were often used by grooming gangs to transport vulnerable children around, it said.
“Girls went missing frequently… for days at a time”, Casey noted, adding: “Several victims had children by the perpetrators of their abuse.”
The audit is “the latest in a long line” of initiatives and measures looking into child sexual exploitation, Casey’s report said.
While many children did not report their abuse at the time, the report stated, many children who did report have been “ignored, treated like criminals and often arrested themselves.”
Fiona Goddard, a survivor of a grooming gang that operated in the Bradford area, told BBC News the “vast majority” of those who abused her “were Pakistani men”.
She said: “I do not believe it was just a misunderstanding and not understanding the crime or the victims.
“I think that the crime was allowed to happen, one, because of the race of the perpetrators, and two, because of who the victims were.”
Before the publication of the report, the Home Office confirmed that a nationwide policing operation to bring grooming gang members to justice would be led by the NCA.
According to the Home Office, the NCA will work in partnership with police forces to investigate cases that “were not progressed through the criminal justice system” in the past.
A national statutory inquiry is an investigation set up by the government to respond to events of major public concern – in this case grooming gangs – that has legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence.
The Senate’s version of a bill to enact President Trump’s agenda goes further than a House-passed bill to reduce Medicaid spending, according to GOP aides familiar with the legislation.
GOP aides say it will go further to tighten Medicaid eligibility requirements and to restrict states from using health care provider taxes to draw down more federal Medicaid funding.
“It’s still f’d up,” said a GOP aide about the Senate’s Medicaid legislation, which does nothing to alleviate the concerns of several Senate Republicans who raised objections to the Medicaid language in the House-passed bill.
At least four Republican senators have publicly raised concerns that Medicaid spending cuts passed by the House could hurt their constituents: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Josh Hawley (R), Jerry Moran (Kan.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).
Senate GOP leaders can afford to lose only three votes and still pass the party-line bill.
A broad range of GOP senators, including Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Rick Scott (Fla.) had called for more deficit reduction in the bill, which is expected to spend roughly $150 billion on border security and immigration enforcement and increase defense spending by another $150 billion.
Patreon has announced an update to its pricing, consolidating its Pro and Premium plans into a single offering starting August 5th. The new plan will take 10 percent of creators’ earnings, rather than the current eight percent for Pro and 12 percent for Premium users. That will mean a price increase for many new users, though existing users won’t see any increase, nor will anyone who signs up before the change takes effect. And for access to all the features from the old Premium tier, you’ll need an add-on that tacks an extra three percent onto the default take.
Currently, Patreon’s more expensive Premium plan adds access to coaching and support staff, team accounts, and merchandise options. From August all of those features except merch will be rolled into the new standard plan, fixed at 10 percent of creators’ earnings on the platform. There’ll be an optional add-on for merch, which will add three percent to your overall rate, so in effect there are still two plans available. As before, payment processing, currency conversion, and payout fees will still sit on top of that.
Existing Patreon creators on the Pro tier will continue paying eight percent, as will anyone who launches a Pro creator page on or before August 4th. The Pro plan will be upgraded to include all the same features as the new standard plan.
Creators currently on the 12 percent Premium rate will actually save money, migrating to an 11 percent rate that includes all their current features. They’ll have the option to drop the merch add-on and move to an eight percent rate, matching legacy Pro users.
Patreon’s last pricing update was to sunset its five percent Lite tier in 2023; the Pro and Premium prices were set back in 2019. Explaining this year’s increase, Patreon says in a statement that since 2019 it has “expanded beyond just payments to include media hosting, community, and discovery,” and that the increased prices are in the name of “continuing to invest in the platform creators are building their businesses on.”
Later this summer Patreon will also update pricing for video, which remains in early access despite launching in 2022. Patreon’s video tools launched with 500 free lifetime hours for creators, which was then reduced to 100 hours, but soon eligible creators will instead receive 100 free hours of video per month.
