LA Issues Routine Air Quality Advisory After May Wildfires as FIFA Prepares for World Cup Matches at SoFi Stadium

Wildfire smoke plumes spread across Canada and North America in June 2023, prompting postponements by several leagues. The Air Quality Index ranges from 0 to 300+, with unhealthy levels starting at 101. H.

Chan School of Public Health, said wildfire smoke often causes spikes that could produce a burning throat, cough, and headache, with children, older individuals, and people with respiratory conditions such as asthma particularly sensitive. Nicholas Watanabe, a professor of sport and entertainment management at the University of South Carolina, said FIFA has almost done nothing and is lagging behind even minor leagues in North America.

He called it ridiculous that the biggest sporting event in the world does not have a minimum AQI threshold for canceling matches.

Dominik Kulakowski, a geographer who studies wildfires at Clark University, said warning time for smoke events can sometimes be as short as a matter of hours and that it would make sense for FIFA to implement air quality standards that would trigger decisions about whether to play.

John Quindry, a professor of physiology at the University of Montana, said organizers should be prepared and could mitigate risk by playing at times of day when air quality tends to be better or by postponing or relocating matches. He compared the need for a decision tree and algorithm to protocols for lightning.

Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta has modern filtration systems and is an enclosed venue; Atlanta experienced bad air quality due to wildfire smoke in 2026. Many other venues, including those in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver, cannot be closed. James Garrow, a spokesperson for the public health department in Philadelphia, another 2026 World Cup site, said there are no specific AQI levels that would automatically trigger suspension of FIFA events.

The city would monitor air quality and consider possible recommendations. The National Interagency Fire Center projects that large swaths of the West will be at an elevated risk of wildfire this summer after a warm winter and with a potentially record-breaking El Niño incoming.