General Discussion

it's probably not completely within his power to determine where the World Cup matches take place.

I'm not super-familiar with the inner workings of FIFA, but let me tell you a story about the recently concluded World Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta Indonesia. Basically, the FIG (Federation Internationale de Gymnastique) had a difficult time finding a location to host in a "down" post-olympic year, but the local organizing committee from Jakarta eventually submitted a bid that was found acceptable to FIG. Visas were issued for the athletes and visiting fans and journalists. Until suddenly about two weeks before the competition, Indonesia revoked the visas of the Israeli delegation. At the last minute moving the competition, disrupting the travel/accomodation plans of so many, was deemed not feasible, so the competition went forward. (And, since FIG apparently has Cold-War era wording in its bylaws that said if any qualified participants were denied visas, their Executive Committee was required to vote on whether or not the competition would be cancelled, there is now yet another gymnastics lawsuit going through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.)

Okay, I got a little carried away with that description. But how the CAS looks at the authorities and responsibilities between FIG, the Indonesian government, and the Indonesian local organizing committee might have some similarities to FIFA's World Cup. Trump's presser was nominally to brag about some expedited visa process for World Cup tickethclders. That would be something where the federal government is working with the local organizers to facilitate the event. So his power trip (extortion?) might consist of killing that cooperation and/or any security assistance that might have played a role in the local organizing committee's arrangements to host the event. Any decision to move the event elsewhere would likely be entirely up to FIFA, I would imagine, with the fans, journalists, and teams having to adjust their arrangements accordingly.

https://komonews.com/news/local/trump-comments-on-seattle-mayor-elects-looks-questions-citys-world-cup-safety-katie-wilson-president-democratic-socialist-liberal-communist-fifa-soccer-million-tourism-exonomy-visit-crime-violence-investigation]