SoFi Stadium Workers Set Strike Vote Ahead of World Cup, Leaving FIFA a "Significant" Problem

T he union that represents more than 2,000 workers at SoFi Stadium has broken off negotiations with the stadium operators and plans to hold a strike vote next week, ahead of the FIFA World Cup, The Athletic reports. UNITE HERE Local 11 represents food and beverage staff at the venue, including cooks, servers and bartenders. A strike would threaten the eight World Cup matches scheduled at SoFi, among them the first United States match of the tournament, when the USMNT plays Paraguay on June 12.

Talks broken off, vote set for next week

The previous bargaining agreement between the union and the operator, Legends Global, has expired, and several sessions at the venue have failed to reach a deal. Co-president Kurt Petersen told The Athletic the union broke off talks on Tuesday. "We felt the company were not taking the concerns and demands seriously enough," Petersen said. "At midday, the workers told the company that we intend to proceed with a strike vote. The vote is scheduled for next week over two days, on Thursday and Friday." The union confirmed the vote in a formal statement on Friday morning.

ICE, subcontractors and automation

Among its demands, the union has asked FIFA to publicly commit that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will not be permitted at World Cup venues during the tournament, a commitment it says has not been forthcoming and which it frames as a worker-safety issue. In a set of demands made to FIFA and stadium owner Kroenke Sports & Entertainment in April, the union also wants limits on the use of subcontractors at SoFi, and asks that FIFA not permit artificial intelligence or automation at the arena that could eliminate union jobs.

A transparency complaint

Petersen said Legends has been unable to show the union its contract with OnLocation, FIFA's hospitality provider. "This means they cannot tell us what time people will start work, how long the shifts would be, how service charge will be allocated or how tips will be distributed," he said. On pay, he said the company has offered "an extra 25 cents here or there, rather than movement in dollars," and argued that SoFi is "the most profitable stadium in Los Angeles," so operators "need to get serious in sharing how this revenue is distributed to the workers."

A union with a strike record

UNITE HERE Local 11 represents more than 30,000 workers across hotels, airports and sports arenas in Los Angeles and Southern California, and has a track record of acting on its threats. Its hotel workers in Los Angeles, Orange County and Arizona went on strike more than 175 times between July 2023 and July 2024 over wages that had not kept pace with housing costs. The union has also escalated through the courts: it filed a privacy complaint with California attorney general Rob Bonta, co-signed by the ACLU of Southern California and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and a separate complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Legends, KSE, FIFA and OnLocation.

Why a strike would hurt FIFA

Petersen argued that replacement staff could not simply be brought in. "If we were to strike, then FIFA has a significant problem because other workers may not be accredited, which is a whole process for them requiring background checks a while in advance and would not be straightforward to rush through," he said. The union also alleges its members were "duped" by accreditation forms into providing excessive personal data, which it says could expose them to ICE.

The responses

A Legends Global spokesperson told The Athletic the company "has enjoyed a strong relationship with Unite Here Local 11 for more than a decade and remains committed to reaching a fair agreement through good faith negotiations," and that it looked forward to delivering hospitality at the World Cup matches at SoFi. Representatives for KSE declined to comment, FIFA did not respond, and the Los Angeles World Cup organizing committee said it could not comment, including on how the games might be affected.

The ICE backdrop

The role of ICE at the tournament remains unclear. Acting director Todd Lyons has said the agency would play a "key part" in security, centered on Homeland Security investigations, though members of Congress have warned its involvement could extend to immigration-enforcement raids near World Cup events. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin told CBS in May that ICE would focus on counterfeit goods such as tickets and clothing, and that "when they're at these sporting events, we're not out there doing immigration enforcement." Pressed further, he added: "ICE always says immigration enforcement. We're always going to do that. But we're not there for solely that purpose."

Reporting: Adam Crafton, The Athletic, May 29, 2026.