LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Sports officials from a dozen United States cities went to the heart of the Olympic family this week to show their country wants to host more world championships and top events.
Coast-to-coast member cities in the Sports Events & Tourism Association came to the Olympic home city of Lausanne to meet most governing bodies of Summer Games and Winter Games sports, which are always looking to pick host cities for their own competitions.
"If we're zooming out, it is just broader advocacy for the United States," Sports ETA president and CEO John David told The Associated Press, setting the goal to help Olympics sports "feel that warm embrace that the U.S. wants them."
The U.S. has already booked a full slate of the biggest events in the next decade: Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 and Utah in 2034 plus World Cups in men's and women's soccer next year and in 2031, respectively.
There is still scope and space for championships, like Boston did in March by hosting figure skating's worlds, that typically are awarded about three years ahead.
"This is long-term planning," David said on behalf of the Ohio-based nonprofit Sports ETA. "We know that we have to come in here and build trust."
The weeklong figure skating championships at TD Garden occupied about 17,000 room nights -- "and those are just the ones we know about," said Greg Piatelli of the Meet Boston agency.
"I think that the U.S. wants more and more international visitors because of the type of traveler they are. They want to explore more," Piatelli told the AP.
The World Cup, where 11 American cities will host men's soccer games along with three in Mexico and two in Canada in June and July, is highlighting issues of access to the U.S. for fans and team officials.
Haiti and Iran have qualified for the World Cup, yet their citizens face travel bans by the U.S. government. The Iranian soccer federation's top two officials were denied visas to attend the tournament draw Friday in Washington, D.C.
The key, Burke suggested, for hosting future international sports events is good relations with members of Congress.
"All of these cities are very well connected with their elected officials and their communities," said Burke, who also helped oversee taking the table tennis worlds to Houston in 2021.
U.S. President Donald Trump promised visas for athletes and team officials coming to the next World Cup and Olympics, though it is unclear which other championships could be classed as "major sporting events" to get exemptions.
"We are hosting world championships all the time, and we are not seeing any challenges," David said.