stadium

Isaac Martinez has been as a cook at SoFi Stadium for four years. He’s worked dozens of NFL games, a Super Bowl, Taylor Swift concerts, Wrestlemania and the college football national championship game, among dozens of other events.

And he’s never been afraid to come to work. Until now.

He’s not alone. With the World Cup kicking off at the Inglewood venue next month, Martinez says he and many of the people who work in food services and other jobs at the stadium won’t feel safe if federal immigration agents are present during the tournament.

“Most of the workers are afraid. They fear for their safety,” Martinez said in Spanish. “This is also about the fans. People come from everywhere, even from Iran. So we’re concerned about their safety.”

Workers and activists begin their march from MacArthur Park to downtown Los Angeles on Friday in recognition of May Day. The group stopped at the FIFA local organizing offices to protest ICE’s presence at World Cup matches.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

So concerned, Unite Here Local 11, the hospitality union that represents Martinez and about 2,000 others who are working at SoFi without a contract, said it may strike ahead of the World Cup if ICE agents aren’t kept away from the stadium.

Last month Unite Here Local 11 filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging Legends Hospitality, which operates the premium food, beverage and retail services at SoFi; Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, owner of the stadium; and FIFA, organizer of the World Cup, with creating an unsafe work environment by refusing to restrict the presence of ICE officials at the eight World Cup games to be played in Inglewood.

“We are concerned about the safety of guests and workers,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Local 11. “ICE has become more and more out of control and violent. We saw what happened in the killings in Minnesota. So I don’t think anyone is safe when ICE is around.”

A spokesperson for FIFA, organizer of the World Cup, declined to comment on the record about the union’s complaint and Legends Hospitality, did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment. The union, meanwhile, joined Friday with faith and labor leaders and members of the Fair Games Coalition to press their point at a May Day rally outside the FIFA host committee offices in downtown Los Angeles.

It’s unclear what role, if any, federal authorities will play at the World Cup but Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, has said his agency will have a “key part” in security at tournament venues. And that ambiguous statement has raised alarms not just with workers but also with human rights groups such as Amnesty International, which issued a World Cup travel advisory for visitors planning on attending the tournament.

Petersen said the union, along with more than 100 human rights groups, has asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to make a direct request to President Trump for a moratorium on ICE raids in U.S. — especially at World Cup venues — during the 38-day tournament.

“FIFA could tell the Trump administration ‘keep ICE out of the games. We don’t need them to run a soccer tournament,’” Petersen said. “So that is the demand that we’re continuing to insist on. And if we don’t get that, then we’re prepared to do everything up to a strike heading into the World Cup.”

Amnesty International’s concerns are far broader than those of Petersen’s union. The group said it is worried about “the deteriorating human rights situation in the United States” and “the absence of meaningful action and concrete guarantees from FIFA, host cities, or the U.S. government” to address that.

Amy Fischer, director for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA, warned that “there is a real risk for people traveling to these games because of the aggressive immigration enforcement tactics that we’ve seen from this administration.”

“I think there is a high likelihood of some chaos. Because that is what this administration thrives off of and it’s what they love to create,” she added. “At Amnesty we are really hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.”

The travel advisory the group issued claims visitors may be arbitrarily denied entry to the country, detained in “inhumane” conditions or subjected to invasive phone and social media searches. It also cites aggressive immigration surges in cities including Los Angeles that led to accusations of racial profiling and the violent suppression of protests.

“We know at the games there will be immigrant fans, there will be immigrant workers,” Fischer said. “Nobody is safe in that environment with this lawless agency that is consistently violating the law and violating people’s human rights. It could make any game turn into a disaster.”

Anxiety is high among stadium workers, who are concerned about the threat of ICE detainment, regardless of their immigration status.

“We are asking FIFA to take care of this and now allow ICE to be present in the stadium,” Martinez said. “We’ve seen the violence isn’t limited to one particular group. The violence is widespread. People have been killed in Minneapolis, in Chicago even here in Los Angeles.

“We’ve seen everything that’s happened with ICE and that’s where the fear comes from for all of us.”

Theories abound, but one is fun: Mickey Mouse had hunger pangs and strayed from Disneyland to nearby Angel Stadium where he discreetly raided a forlorn concession stand in a nosebleed section adjacent to the right-field foul pole.

That concession stand — high up in View Level Section 42 — was the only one out of about 160 at Angel Stadium to be flagged by Orange County health inspectors Wednesday for “rodent infestation.”

Not a bad batting average, but with apologies to Mickey, no exceptions are allowed when it comes to rodent infestation and food.

The Angels have been on a road trip all week but a team spokesman said Tuesday that the stand has been cleaned and will be reinspected ahead of a homestand that begins Friday against the New York Mets.

“After receiving guidance from the health department, we acted promptly with our concession partner to resolve the issues at the single stand and expect it to pass inspection and reopen in time for the upcoming homestand,” the Angels said in a statement.

The Orange County Register publishes a weekly list of restaurants and other food vendors ordered to close and allowed to reopen by county health inspectors. Eleven establishments were closed from April 16 to 23, nine for rodent or cockroach infestations, one for insufficient hot water and one for unapproved remodeling. Angel Stadium concessions were on the list.

The team spokesman said rodent activity was not found in any food preparation areas, that it occurred underneath a storage rack and next to a water heater.

The county health services inspection report said that for the stand to reopen, rodent activity must be eliminated and equipment surfaces, food containers, shelves and floors must be cleaned and sanitized. Also, crevices larger than a quarter-inch must be sealed “to prevent vermin harborage.”

The offending stand had most recently passed inspection in June. Rodent issues at Angel Stadium had ceased since a 2007 report in The Times that the stadium had been cited 118 times for vermin violations in the previous two years. Major citations were issued in 33 instances in which rodents or other pests were detected where food was stored, prepared or served.

The Angels blamed the presence of vermin on the stadium’s open-air design and proximity to the Santa Ana River. They said that in 2005 heavy rains drove rats into the stadium and contributed to a high number of citations.

The Angels went to bat against the rats, announcing that cleaning crews would get to work an hour after each game instead of waiting until the next morning.

“The garbage had been sitting in the seating bowl area after games, and that problem is going to be eliminated as of tonight,” said Tim Mead, the Angels spokesman at the time.

By 2009, the team had eliminated the problem.

Until last week, that is.

“The Angels take great pride in delivering a high-quality fan experience at Angel Stadium,” the team said in the statement Tuesday, “including maintaining the cleanliness of our nearly 160 concession locations.”

Ireland’s Nations Championship fixture against Japan will take place at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, Australia on 11 July (11:00 BST).

Andy Farrell’s side open the inaugural tournament against Australia in Sydney on 4 July and will face the Brave Blossoms before travelling to New Zealand to take on the All Blacks at Auckland’s Eden Park on 18 July.

Ireland have won 10 out of 11 Tests with Japan, the sole defeat coming at the 2019 Rugby World Cup at Shizuoka Stadium. Ireland won the last meeting 41-10 in Dublin last November.

After July’s fixtures, Ireland will host Argentina, Fiji and South Africa in November at Aviva Stadium.

The biennial 12-team Nations Championship comprises six rounds of matches across the summer and autumn Test windows before a ‘finals weekend’ on 27-29 November at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

After each team has played the other six from the opposing hemisphere once, they are ranked within their own hemisphere.

The finals weekend in London will start with the sixth-placed northern hemisphere side taking on their southern hemisphere equivalent, and culminate in the two group winners taking each other on for the title.

The results on the finals weekend will also contribute to a north v south overall score and title.

Ireland’s fixtures (times BST)

4 July

Australia v Ireland, Allianz Stadium, 11:00

11 July

Japan v Ireland, McDonald Jones Stadium, 11:00

18 July

New Zealand v Ireland, 08:10

6 November

Ireland v Argentina, Aviva Stadium

14 November

Ireland v Fiji, Aviva Stadium

21 November

Ireland v South Africa, Aviva Stadium

Finals weekend

27 November

Sixth-place North v Sixth-place South

Third-place North v Third-place South

28 November

Fifth-place North v Fifth-place South

Second-place North v Second-place South

29 November

Fourth-place North v Fourth-place South

First-place North v First-place South

Karol G is taking her 2025 album, “Tropicoqueta,” worldwide.

After wrapping two bombastic headlining sets at Coachella this year, the Colombian superstar announced a stadium world tour on Instagram Tuesday morning.

The “Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour” will kick off July 24 at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The “Provenza” artist will then head out to Las Vegas on Aug. 7 before making a stop at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Aug. 14. She’ll grace California with one more performance on Aug. 21 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

The 35-year-old singer will wrap up the U.S. leg of her tour with a performance in Dallas on Oct. 15 before commencing the international section of the tour in Monterrey, Mexico, on Nov. 6. This string of shows is scheduled to finish exactly a year after commencing, with a July 24, 2027, set in Milan, Italy.

Karol G was the first Latina to headline Coachella in the desert fest’s 27-year history. She was only the second Latin music artist to get top billing at the event, with Bad Bunny being the first to ever do it with his 2023 headlining performances.

“This is for my Latinos that have been struggling in this country lately,” she told her fans during her history-making performance. “We stand for them. I stand for my Latina community. I am very proud because this brings out the best in us: unity, resilience and a strong spirit. We do this because we want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, so I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from.”

During her Coachella shows, which took place across two weekends in April, she brought out a cavalcade of guest performers — including L.A.’s own Becky G, the Colombian reggaeton revivalist J Balvin and Greg Gonzalez from Cigarettes After Sex.

The “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” artist first teased that she’d be embarking on a tour at the end of her set during the second weekend of Coachella. Text reading “Nos Vamos de Tour” (We’re going on tour) was displayed as she played her final song.

Ramón Laureano and Fernando Tatis Jr. each drove in two runs apiece, Germán Márquez threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a strong start and the San Diego Padres beat the Angels 4-1 on Saturday night.

Adrian Morejon (2-0) struck out two in 1 1/3 scoreless relief innings for the win and Mason Miller earned his seventh save despite giving up a single and a walk in the ninth.

Miller, who has allowed two hits, walked two and struck out 25 in 10 1/3 innings this season, extended his scoreless streak to 31 2/3 innings dating to last Aug. 6.

The teams were in a scoreless tie when Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth opened the eighth with four-pitch walks off Ryan Zeferjahn (1-1). Laureano chopped an RBI single through the middle for a 1-0 lead, snapping San Diego’s 16-inning scoreless streak. Tatis followed with an RBI hit-and-run dribbler through a vacated second-base spot for a 2-0 lead.

The Angels trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Logan O’Hoppe and Adam Frazier singled off Jason Adam and Nolan Schanuel hit a two-out RBI single. But Jo Adell grounded out to end the inning.

San Diego pushed the lead to 4-1 in the ninth on Laureano’s sacrifice fly and Tatis’ RBI single.

Márquez gave up two hits, struck out five — all in the fourth and fifth innings — and walked two.

Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked one in six innings.

Jackson Merrill robbed Yoán Moncada of a solo homer with a leaping catch at the right-center-field wall in the second, holding onto the ball as he collided with Tatis.

The game was twice delayed for several minutes. In the second, O’Hoppe, the Angels’ catcher, took a foul tip off his neck. In the fifth a 96-mph fastball from Kikuchi grazed Cronenworth’s chin. Both players remained in the game.

Up next

Padres RHP Michael King (2-1, 2.78 ERA) will face Angels LHP Reid Detmers (1-1, 3.57 ERA) in Sunday’s series finale.