KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

‘The hypocrisy of it’: Curley claims Seattle’s World Cup makeover won’t last

Jul 5, 2026, 6:42 AM

While Seattle has already hosted several FIFA World Cup matches, with one more match left to play, John Curley echoed the praise from many visitors who came to the city for the first time and witnessed how clean and secure the streets were.

Curley soon disagreed with the city’s massive makeover, which catered to out-of-town soccer fans, but asserted that Seattle would return to what it was before the tournament shortly after the visitors left.

“The hypocrisy of it is, like, ‘OK, everybody, let’s clean up because we’ve got guests coming, and let’s all put on our best behavior. Then, as soon as the guests leave, everybody just goes back to being a bunch of slobs again,” Curley said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “The guests that are coming in, they’re going to have parking, but once they leave, the homeless come back, parking isn’t available, we don’t get a chance to walk around and drink alcohol. That’s only for the people from out of state or country. That’s just wrong.

“If it’s good for the guests, why isn’t it good for the rest of us who are living here? That’s my argument,” Curley continued. “I looked up and said, ‘They’re not doing anything differently. It’s all going to go back to where it was,’ because the celebration is over, and the millions of people who came here all enjoyed themselves.”

Curley admits the World Cup delivered something special in Seattle

Curley, who stated he is not necessarily a fan of soccer, was a fan of the city and of its visitors coming together to celebrate as one, primarily by setting differing politics aside.

“I wasn’t going to bandwagon fan it, but I think overall, even if you don’t like it, just admit that hundreds of thousands of people who came here from other countries saw Seattle on beautiful days, saw everybody being kind to one another, which is essential,” Curley said. “People were open; they were all in it together, and there was no politics involved. Here it is in America, everybody loves it. I think that’s great, I’m all for that.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

John Curley on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
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John Curley

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