S. 1218 — Transportation Assistance for Olympic and World Cup Cities Act of 2025

This section establishes a Department of Transportation grant program to support transportation projects and planning related to hosting covered international sporting events (i.e., Olympic, Paralympic, Special Olympics, or FIFA Men’s or Women’s World Cup events held in the United States). For each fiscal year, the Secretary of Transportation allocates available funds first equally among host metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) for the most imminent covered event and any others occurring in the same fiscal year (up to $10 million per host MPO per event, including prior-year allocations), then equally among host MPOs for other covered events (up to $10 million per host MPO per event), with any remainder allocated equally among all eligible host MPOs. Host MPOs may subaward funds to eligible entities—including states, Indian tribes (as defined in 25 U.S.C. 5304), local governments, transit agencies, certain other MPOs, section 5339 grantees, and event nonprofits—for eligible projects or planning activities within 100 miles of the event location that assist movement of people or goods (and are eligible under title 23 or 49), excluding temporary event infrastructure.

This section directs the Secretary of Commerce, subject to the availability of appropriations, to conduct two studies on the impacts of major sporting events on the U.S. travel and tourism industry, including changes in the frequency of international travel to the United States, domestic travel within the United States, revenues of travel and tourism businesses, and employment rates in the industry. (1) Olympics study.—Not later than 90 days after enactment and after consulting the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and U.S. Olympic Planning Committee, the Secretary must commence a study on the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics hosted by Los Angeles, California, and submit a report on its results to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce not later than 180 days after the events' conclusion (with the report publicly available on the Department of Commerce website). (2) World Cup study.—Not later than 90 days after enactment and after consulting the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and Local Planning Committees (i.e., World Cup planning committees for each U.S. host city), the Secretary must commence a study on the 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and submit a report on its results to the specified congressional committees not later than 180 days after the event's conclusion (with the report publicly available on the Department of Commerce website).