They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
Chargers Clips
Veteran edge rusher Joey Bosa is one of the top players remaining on the free agent market.
The question is: Does he want to continue his career? If he does, Bosa will have options.
His brother, 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa, seems to have doubts about how much Joey Bosa wants to play an 11th season.
“I think he’s working on his golf game right now,” Nick Bosa said Thursday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “So, I don’t think he’s thinking too much about football.”
The 49ers finished with an NFL-low 20 sacks last season, with Nick Bosa tearing the ACL in his right knee in Week 3. Nick Bosa is back, and Kyle Shanahan addressed whether Joey Bosa might join his brother in San Francisco this season.
“I look at our team as kind of we have our team, and anyone else that we can figure out to bring, especially someone like that, that would be awesome,” Shanahan said. “But that stuff’s not always possible.”
Joey Bosa, who turns 31 in July, has not had a double-digit sack season since 2021. The five-time Pro Bowler has only 19 across the past four seasons, including five in 2025.
Chargers safety Derwin James has reason to celebrate this week, but it’s not the kind of celebration that he’s most interested in experiencing at this point in his career.
James signed a three-year extension this week that makes him the highest-paid safety in the league. That contract reflects James’s many individual accomplishments since joining the Chargers as a 2018 first-round pick, but his versatile contributions to the team’s defense have not resulted in great team success.
The Chargers have made the playoffs four times since James entered the league and they’ve won one playoff game. During a Wednesday press conference, James pivoted from discussing his new deal to discussing his desire to change that record.
“Honestly, I want to win, win the Super Bowl so bad, man, so coming out here and just working, working, working hard as I can every day, and I feel like that’s what I’m so focused on,” James said, via Dan Greenspan of the Associated Press. “The money’s good, yeah, it’s good, but I can’t get my thoughts off being the last team playing.”
The Chargers obviously think James can help them achieve their own goal of winning a championship and they’ll now have at least three years beyond 2026 to try to make it happen.
The Chargers have given safety Derwin James another new contract. And he has absolutely earned it.
A first-round pick in 2018, James was entering the last year of his second deal. He was due to make $17.5 million. That money gets added to the three new years, for a four-year contract that runs through 2029.
Here are the full details of the contract, per a source with knowledge of the terms.
1. Signing bonus: $12 million.
2. 2026 90-man roster bonus: $3 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 base salary: $11.5 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2027 base salary: $17.5 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2028 base salary: $24.6 million, $13.5 million of which is guaranteed for injury at signing. That amount becomes fully guaranteed in March 2027.
6. 2029 90-man roster bonus: $3 million.
7. 2029 base salary: $21.5 million.
It’s a simple, clean deal. The first two years — at a payout of $44 million — are fully guaranteed at signing. The $13.5 million guarantee in 2028 is fully guaranteed as a practical matter, given the very low chance that the Chargers would cut James after one year and a total obligation of $44 million.
The new money average of the three new years is $25.2 million. The total average of the four-year package from signing is $23.275 million.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s absence from the last couple of weeks of the team’s offseason program came with a seal of approval from head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Herbert was back for Wednesday’s workout and Harbaugh said that the quarterback missed time in order to accompany his girlfriend Madison Beer on her concert tour. Harbaugh said he was “so excited” to have Herbert back and that he supported the quarterback’s decision to make time for his relationship because of how committed he has been to the team throughout their time together.
“I was happy he went to support Madison on her music tour,” Harbaugh said, via Gilberto Manzano of SI.com. “Madison supports him at the football games. He told me he wasn’t gonna be here for those two weeks and my first reaction was, ‘do you need a ride to the airport?’ He’s just been somebody that’s just here all the time. There’s times I’ve wanted to shoo him out of the building. He’s at every voluntary, every non-voluntary workout. The same guy that broke his hand and he was here the next day practicing. The next game, stiff-arming guys. Yeah, I was happy. Happy. Good balance.”
As Harbaugh noted, the work at this stage of the offseason is voluntary and Herbert’s absence from a portion of it wasn’t the cause of any alarm for the Chargers.
The Chargers think they’ll have both of their starting offensive tackles on the field when training camp opens this summer.
Left tackle Rashawn Slater tore his patellar tendon last August and missed the entire season. Joe Alt moved from the right side to fill in for Slater, but multiple injuries limited him to six games before he landed on injured reserve for the remainder of the season.
On Wednesday, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said at a press conference, via multiple reporters, that the team expects both players to be ready for camp.
“It looks that way,” Harbaugh said.
The Chargers’ offensive line woes contributed to their latest first-round exit from the playoffs, so they’ll be hoping that Alt and Slater can both be around for all of a longer run during the 2026 season.
Chargers General Manager Joe Hortiz said last week that keeping safety Derwin James in the organization for his entire career was a high priority and that became a likelier outcome on Tuesday.
According to multiple reports, James has agreed to a three-year contract extension with the team. The deal is reportedly worth $75.6 million with $57.5 million in guaranteed money.
The $25.2 million average annual salary during the extension is the most at the safety position.
James was a first-round pick in 2018 and he has started every game he’s played since joining the Chargers. He was named a second-team All-Pro for the third time after posting 94 tackles, three interceptions, two sacks, and a forced fumble last season.
Safety Derwin James has been with the Chargers since entering the NFL in 2018 and the team would like to see him continue to wear their uniform through the end of his playing days.
James is moving into the final year of his current contract and General Manager Joe Hortiz said last month that he anticipated an acceleration of talks about a new deal after the draft. It’s almost June now and Hortiz said on Up & Adams that getting something done remains at the top of his list of priorities.
“It’s high, it’s high,” Hortiz said. “I’ve told the story, in Baltimore we had Derwin up there as the number one player on our board in that draft, you know, the No. 1 player available when we were picking. And we took a trade back and he got picked. I said to him when I first met him, I’m like, ‘Gosh, you should’ve been a Raven. We traded away from you, but I’m glad you’re not because I’m here now.’ He’s such a special, special leader and person. Like Justin [Herbert], the talent is real and it’s there, but the leader and motivator and energy he gives to everybody within the organization, throughout the entire building, it’s so unique. One of the best I’ve ever been around in terms of leadership, talent and character.”
James has been both productive and durable over recent seasons and he’ll get a chance to continue to do both for the Chargers as long as all goes well at the negotiating table.
The Chargers have announced a handful of promotions on their coaching staff.
On the offensive side of the ball, Shane Day will be the offensive passing game coordinator along with his previous title of quarterbacks coach while Josh Hammond is now an assistant wide receivers and special teams coach.
Defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale will be the defensive passing game coordinator and defensive line coach Mike Elston will be the defensive run game coordinator. Mike Hiestand will have the title of defensive run game specialist.
The Chargers also announced that Jarrod James, Jimmy Thompson and Beau Snuggs have been named the team’s Alex G. Spanos Coaching Fellows for the 2026 season.
Wide receiver Keenan Allen’s return to the Chargers may not wind up being one year and done.
Allen spent 11 seasons with the Chargers and then returned to the team on a one-year deal in 2025 after spending a season with the Bears. Allen had 81 catches for 777 yards and four touchdowns to help the Chargers make the playoffs, but has not landed a job for the coming season yet.
That job could wind up being back in Los Angeles. Chargers General Manager Joe Hortiz said on Up & Adams that he’s remained in contact with Allen and that the team is open to a possible return.
“Right now we’re in a spot where we’re looking at the roster and we’re letting these young guys get a chance,” Hortiz said. “I’ve had some communications with Keenan’s representation and we talk. Right now, the guys that we have here, we’re letting them grow and develop. Nothing but love for Keenan and that door is not closed.”
Fourth-round pick Brenen Thompson was the only notable offseason addition to the receiving corps this offseason. Quentin Johnston, Ladd McConkey, Tre’ Harris, Derius Davis, and KeAndre Lambert-Smith all return after having been drafted in the last four years.
