II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1218
To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide assistance for cities
hosting international sporting events taking place in the United States,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
Mr. M
ORAN(for himself and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide assistance
for cities hosting international sporting events taking
place in the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transportation Assist-4
ance for Olympic and World Cup Cities Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION ASSISTANCE FOR INTER-1
NATIONAL SPORTING EVENTS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 55 of title 49, United 3
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 5501 4
the following: 5
‘‘§ 5502. Transportation assistance for international 6
sporting events 7
‘‘(a) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 8
support State, Tribal, and local efforts on transportation 9
issues necessary to obtain the national recognition and 10
economic benefits of hosting international sporting events 11
in the United States. 12
‘‘(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
‘‘(1) C
OVERED EVENT.— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘covered 15
event’ means an Olympic event, Paralympic 16
event, Special Olympics event, FIFA Men’s 17
World Cup event, or FIFA Women’s World Cup 18
event that is held at a site within the United 19
States (including any territory of the United 20
States) that has been selected by the Inter-21
national Olympic Committee or the Inter-22
national Federation of Association Football to 23
hold such event. 24
‘‘(B) G
ROUPING.—Multiple events de-25
scribed in subparagraph (A) occurring in the 26
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same stadium, city, metropolitan planning area 1
(as defined in section 134(b) of title 23), or 2
metropolitan statistical area (as designated by 3
the Director of the Office of Management and 4
Budget) as part of the same overall competi-5
tion, sporting event, or grouping of competi-6
tions or sporting events shall be considered to 7
be 1 covered event. 8
‘‘(C) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘covered 9
event’ does not include activities relating to pre-10
paring or submitting a bid to be selected to 11
hold an event described in subparagraph (A). 12
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-13
tity’ means— 14
‘‘(A) a State, Indian Tribe, or unit of local 15
government (including a port authority or tran-16
sit agency) hosting a covered event; 17
‘‘(B) a State, Indian Tribe, or unit of local 18
government (including a port authority or tran-19
sit agency) that— 20
‘‘(i) is supporting a covered event; and 21
‘‘(ii) owns a transportation facility or 22
provides a transportation service that is lo-23
cated not more than 100 miles from the lo-24
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cation in which the applicable covered 1
event is or will be held; 2
‘‘(C) a metropolitan planning organization 3
that serves an area that— 4
‘‘(i) is under the jurisdiction of a 5
State, Indian Tribe, or unit of local gov-6
ernment described in subparagraph (A) or 7
(B); and 8
‘‘(ii) is located not more than 100 9
miles from the location in which the appli-10
cable covered event is or will be held; 11
‘‘(D) an entity eligible to receive a grant 12
under section 5339 for services provided within 13
100 miles of the location in which the applica-14
ble covered event is or will be held; or 15
‘‘(E) a nonprofit entity established for exe-16
cution of a covered event. 17
‘‘(3) H
OST METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANI -18
ZATION.—The term ‘host metropolitan planning or-19
ganization’ means a metropolitan planning organiza-20
tion for an urbanized area (as defined in section 21
134(b) of title 23) within which a covered event is 22
or will be held. 23
‘‘(4) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 24
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 25
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Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 1
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 2
‘‘(5) M
ETROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZA -3
TION.—The term ‘metropolitan planning organiza-4
tion’ has the meaning given the term in section 5
134(b) of title 23. 6
‘‘(6) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 7
the Secretary of Transportation. 8
‘‘(c) G
RANTS FORTRANSPORTATION PROJECTSRE-9
LATING TOINTERNATIONALGAMES.— 10
‘‘(1) A
LLOCATION OF FUNDS .—For each fiscal 11
year, the Secretary shall allocate the amounts made 12
available to the Secretary to carry out this sub-13
section as follows: 14
‘‘(A) First, the Secretary shall allocate 15
those amounts equally among the host metro-16
politan planning organizations for the most im-17
minent covered event and any other covered 18
events occurring during the same fiscal year, 19
subject to the condition that a host metropoli-20
tan planning organization may not receive more 21
than $10,000,000 under this subparagraph for 22
a single covered event. 23
‘‘(B) Once the host metropolitan planning 24
organizations described in subparagraph (A) 25
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have each been allocated a total of $10,000,000 1
under this subsection for each covered event de-2
scribed in that subparagraph, including any 3
amounts for previous fiscal years allocated for 4
the same covered event, the Secretary shall allo-5
cate any remaining amounts— 6
‘‘(i) first, equally among all host met-7
ropolitan planning organizations eligible to 8
receive assistance under this subsection for 9
a covered event not described in subpara-10
graph (A), subject to the condition that a 11
host metropolitan planning organization 12
may not receive more than $10,000,000 13
under this clause for a single covered 14
event; and 15
‘‘(ii) once the host metropolitan plan-16
ning organizations described in clause (i) 17
have each been allocated a total of 18
$10,000,000 under this subsection for each 19
covered event described in that clause, in-20
cluding any amounts for previous fiscal 21
years allocated for the same covered event, 22
equally among all host metropolitan plan-23
ning organizations eligible to receive assist-24
ance under this subsection. 25
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‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.— 1
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A host metropolitan 2
planning organization receiving amounts under 3
paragraph (1) may use the amounts to provide 4
funding to eligible entities to carry out projects 5
described in subparagraph (B) that— 6
‘‘(i) are located not more than 100 7
miles from the location in which the appli-8
cable covered event is or will be held; and 9
‘‘(ii) in the determination of the host 10
metropolitan planning organization, are 11
not temporary infrastructure needed for 12
hosting the covered event. 13
‘‘(B) P
ROJECT DESCRIBED.—A project re-14
ferred to in subparagraph (A) is any of the fol-15
lowing: 16
‘‘(i) A transportation project that— 17
‘‘(I) is eligible for assistance 18
under any provision of this title or 19
title 23; and 20
‘‘(II) in the determination of the 21
host metropolitan planning organiza-22
tion, will assist with the movement of 23
people or goods related to the applica-24
ble covered event. 25
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‘‘(ii) A transportation planning activ-1
ity that, in the determination of the host 2
metropolitan planning organization, will 3
assist with the movement of people and 4
goods for the applicable covered event. 5
‘‘(3) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The requirements de-6
scribed in section 6701 (n) shall apply to a project 7
described in paragraph (2) that is funded by a grant 8
under this subsection. 9
‘‘(4) L
IMITATIONS.— 10
‘‘(A) A
LLOCATIONS.—For purposes of the 11
allocation of amounts under paragraph (1), a 12
host metropolitan planning organization is eligi-13
ble to receive assistance under this subsection 14
only during the period beginning on the date 15
that is 5 years before the date on which a cov-16
ered event begins and ending on the date that 17
is 30 days after the date on which the covered 18
event ends. 19
‘‘(B) R
EIMBURSEMENTS.—Notwith-20
standing subparagraph (A), but subject to sub-21
paragraph (C), the Secretary shall provide, 22
from amounts allocated to the applicable host 23
metropolitan planning organization under para-24
graph (1), reimbursements for activities de-25
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scribed in paragraph (2) that are carried out 1
during the period described in subparagraph 2
(A). 3
‘‘(C) R
ELEASE OF FUNDS .—Any amounts 4
allocated under paragraph (1) that are not ex-5
pended by the date that is 1 year after the date 6
on which the applicable covered event ends shall 7
be reallocated in accordance with paragraph 8
(1). 9
‘‘(5) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 10
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-11
retary to carry out this subsection $50,000,000 for 12
each fiscal year, to remain available until expended. 13
‘‘(d) T
RANSPORTATIONPLANNINGACTIVITIES.— 14
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary, on request, 15
shall provide technical and planning assistance to el-16
igible entities, including— 17
‘‘(A) by providing technical assistance for 18
planning activities of States, Indian Tribes, 19
units of local government, and metropolitan 20
planning organizations under sections 134 and 21
135 of title 23 and sections 5303, 5304, and 22
5305 of this title for transportation projects re-23
lating to a covered event; 24
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‘‘(B) by assisting States, Indian Tribes, 1
units of local government, and metropolitan 2
planning organizations with the development of 3
intermodal transportation plans; 4
‘‘(C) by facilitating programs or providing 5
incentives to temporarily pool and share, for the 6
duration of a covered event, buses and related 7
equipment among— 8
‘‘(i) States, Indian Tribes, and units 9
of local government hosting or supporting 10
a covered event; and 11
‘‘(ii) States, Indian Tribes, and units 12
of local government not hosting or sup-13
porting a covered event; 14
‘‘(D) by expediting review and comment of 15
any required submissions to the Secretary relat-16
ing to a covered event; 17
‘‘(E) by assisting with the coordination of 18
transportation planning efforts between govern-19
ments or the private sector; and 20
‘‘(F) by providing any other technical or 21
planning assistance the Secretary determines to 22
be necessary for advancing the purpose of this 23
section described in subsection (a). 24
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‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall provide 1
assistance under this subsection for a covered event 2
only during the period beginning on the date that is 3
5 years before the date on which the covered event 4
begins and ending on the date that is 30 days after 5
the date on which the covered event ends.’’. 6
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap-7
ter 55 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by in-8
serting after the item relating to section 5501 the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘5502. Transportation assistance for international sporting events.’’.
SEC. 3. STUDIES ON THE EFFECTS OF HOSTING THE OLYM-
11
PICS AND WORLD CUP ON THE TRAVEL AND 12
TOURISM INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. 13
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
(1) L
OCAL PLANNING COMMITTEES .—The term 15
‘‘Local Planning Committees’’ means the World Cup 16
planning committees specific to each World Cup host 17
city. 18
(2) O
LYMPICS.—The term ‘‘Olympics’’ means 19
the 2028 Summer Olympics and 2028 Paralympics, 20
both hosted by Los Angeles, California. 21
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22
the Secretary of Commerce. 23
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(4) TRAVEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY .—The 1
term ‘‘travel and tourism industry’’ means the travel 2
and tourism industry in the United States. 3
(5) W
ORLD CUP.—The term ‘‘World Cup’’ 4
means the 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup, hosted by 5
the United States, Mexico, and Canada. 6
(b) D
EPARTMENT OF COMMERCESTUDY ANDRE-7
PORT ON EFFECTS ON TRAVEL AND TOURISM OF 8
H
OSTING THEOLYMPICS.— 9
(1) S
TUDY.—Not later than 90 days after the 10
date of enactment of this Act and after consultation 11
with the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory 12
Board and the United States Olympic Planning 13
Committee, the Secretary shall, subject to the avail-14
ability of appropriations, commence a study to exam-15
ine the impact of the Olympics on the travel and 16
tourism industry, including— 17
(A) changes in the frequency of inter-18
national travel to the United States; 19
(B) changes in the frequency of domestic 20
travel within the United States; 21
(C) changes in the revenues of businesses 22
in the travel and tourism industry; and 23
(D) changes in employment rates in the 24
travel and tourism industry. 25
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(2) REPORT.— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 2
days after the conclusion of the Olympics, the 3
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 4
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 5
Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com-6
merce of the House of Representatives a report 7
containing the results of the study conducted 8
under paragraph (1). 9
(B) A
VAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall 10
make the report described in subparagraph (A) 11
publicly available on the website of the Depart-12
ment of Commerce. 13
(c) D
EPARTMENT OF COMMERCESTUDY ANDRE-14
PORT ON EFFECTS ON TRAVEL AND TOURISM OF 15
H
OSTING THEWORLDCUP.— 16
(1) S
TUDY.—Not later than 90 days after the 17
date of enactment of this Act and after consultation 18
with the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory 19
Board and Local Planning Committees, the Sec-20
retary shall, subject to the availability of appropria-21
tions, commence a study to examine the impact of 22
the World Cup on the travel and tourism industry, 23
including— 24
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(A) changes in the frequency of inter-1
national travel to the United States; 2
(B) changes in the frequency of domestic 3
travel within the United States; 4
(C) changes in the revenues of businesses 5
in the travel and tourism industry; and 6
(D) changes in employment rates in the 7
travel and tourism industry. 8
(2) R
EPORT.— 9
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 10
days after the conclusion of the World Cup, the 11
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 12
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 13
Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com-14
merce of the House of Representatives a report 15
containing the results of the study conducted 16
under paragraph (1). 17
(B) A
VAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall 18
make the report described in subparagraph (A) 19
publicly available on the website of the Depart-20
ment of Commerce. 21
Æ
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