Miami-Dade might be off the hook for half of planned $46M subsidy for World Cup

Miami-Dade County admin June 17, 2026 0 Comments

Miami-Dade might be off the hook for half of planned $46M subsidy for World Cup

Miami-Dade County may be off the hook for part of its promised $46 million World Cup subsidy for the global soccer tournament.

Last year, Miami-Dade approved spending about $25 million on free government services for World Cup — with the bulk of that to cover overtime by Sheriff’s Office deputies providing security for the seven matches being played in June and July at Hard Rock Stadium.

Now, federal grant dollars are expected to cover most Sheriff’s Office expenses related to World Cup, and the Sheriff’s Office says it plans to ask the county for only a fraction of the original budget for the matches.

Argemis “AC” Colome, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO), said about $3 million of the agency’s expenses aren’t eligible for the $28 million in federal security grants that were secured by the local Host Committee, which FIFA uses to manage logistics for the monthlong soccer event in Miami-Dade.

“MDSO will be requesting reimbursement from the County for such items,” Colome said of the $3 million in ineligible expenses. “Any other expenses incurred that are disallowed by the grant will also be requested to be reimbursed by the County; however, we cannot estimate that at this time.”

The math remains a little fuzzy in part because Miami-Dade has not released a detailed breakdown of its World Cup budget.

But Colome’s statement suggests the county could see its expenses for the sporting event drop significantly. In addition to federal dollars covering most of Miami-Dade’s security costs, the county itself will receive nearly $4 million to cover other donated government expenses related to World Cup, such as transportation and emergency management staff, according to Miami-Dade’s Budget Office. Separately, Miami-Dade received another $7 million in federal dollars just for World Cup transportation costs — an expense that has crept higher in the two years since the Host Committee originally floated the $46 million subsidy package for Miami-Dade to cover World Cup security and logistics.

Even so, Miami-Dade still is on track for a large expenditure related to World Cup.

So far, event organizers say federal dollars won’t be covering the $21 million in cash Miami-Dade has already paid to the Host Committee. Most of that $21 million is paying for the free monthlong Fan Festival underway in Miami’s Bayfront Park, which includes viewing parties for World Cup matches across North America.

On Tuesday, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved legislation to seek more federal money to reduce the county’s World Cup tab. The resolution by Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins instructs Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to pursue clawing back money from the Host Committee if the county can determine federal dollars are now paying for expenses that Miami-Dade agreed to cover with its $21 million allocation.

Rodney Barreto, the chair of the local Host Committee, told the Miami Herald that his group does not have control of the $74 million in available federal grant money, which is being routed through Florida’s Division of Emergency Management. The federal dollars for World Cup were included in the 2025 federal spending and tax legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” after lobbying from organizers in the 11 host cities in the United States.

Barreto said Miami-Dade should not expect any rebate from the $21 million cash it already paid to the Host Committee because the federal grant dollars won’t cover those expenses.

Barreto said Miami-Dade’s expenditures on World Cup are justified by the influx of visitors for the matches and by the global attention that comes with being a host city.

“Twenty-one million dollars for seven World Cup games is a bargain,” he said. “The amount of exposure that Miami-Dade has already received — and we’ve only played one game — is absolutely worth that investment.”

He also said the federal dollars are assigned to World Cup costs from various local governments throughout the region, not just Miami-Dade County.

When county commissioners approved the $46 million funding package for the 2026 World Cup in 2024 and 2025, the decisions drew criticism for heavy spending on a sports event as Miami-Dade faced a budget crunch. The fiscal picture hasn’t gotten any rosier since then, with a budget deficit of $117 million projected for 2027. That has county officials eager to see the county’s World Cup expenses go down.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Budget Director Ray Baker told commissioners that a lower World Cup payment to the Sheriff’s Office would free up dollars that the county could spend on core services like police, parks and transit.

“We theoretically should have up to $25 million in additional funding that we don’t have to spend on the sheriff” and other expenses, Baker said during a discussion about how much federal money Miami-Dade could receive for the soccer matches. “Meaning we would have it to hopefully plug the hole we have going into the ‘26-’27 budget.”