How much did it cost to attend the 2026 World Cup? Seven fans shared itemized expenses from their trips! – a software engineer from Philadelphia who went to 16 games – a Norwegian who traveled here with 10 friends – and more! www.nytimes.com/athletic/int...
In every World Cup host city, on the nights of nearly every match and even for the high-stakes games in the coming weeks ... hotel prices are dropping (sometimes by a lot!) www.nytimes.com/athletic/int...
From @theathleticfc.bsky.social: Seven out of the 32 spots in the Round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup have been clinched. Wednesday marks the start of teams' third and final group stage matches. This is every team's possible path to the knockout rounds: nyti.ms/4veyNLP
How can your team advance to the World Cup knockout rounds with a third-place berth? It seems complicated, but this chart explains with an easy answer! If you finish third with three points, you are likely to advance unless your goal differential is worse than -2.
in honor of the U.S. having something like a 1-2% chance of winning the World Cup, a list of things in sports (and in everyday life) that happen roughly 1-2% of the time … www.nytimes.com/athletic/735...
Will the United States win the 2026 World Cup? Here’s a list of things about as likely
nytimes.com
Where does the 2026 USMNT come from? And how did they ascend from soccer-loving kids to the World Cup? Story + data viz on the many paths to the U.S. World Cup team, w/ @emilygiam.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/734...
How much does a hotel room cost during the World Cup? We tracked the prices at hundreds of hotels in host cities! Rates on game days are ~50% higher than they are at other times. And those prices are falling. Some variation from city to city but the trend is similar everywhere.
How much will it cost to attend the most expensive World Cup in history? www.nytimes.com/athletic/731...
World Cup 2026: How much will it cost to attend the most expensive tournament in history? (Gift Article)
The Athletic has built a calculator to help you tally up the three main costs — a match ticket, transportation and lodging. Try it out...
nytimes.com
I’ve joined The Athletic as a data reporter! I’m super excited to be part of a talented and ambitious data + visuals team. I feel so lucky that I’ll get to keep doing work I enjoy and learn new things!
In 2010, men's figure skaters attempted a combined 11 quad jumps in the free skate at the Olympics. The gold medalist didn't do any. That number has been increasing over the past few Olympics. And Ilia Malinin has done as many as seven in his free skate. wapo.st/4asxnVy
Which places in the U.S. give people the most opportunities to participate in Winter Olympic sports? (Spoiler: The cold places. But it's more interesting and nuanced than that!) We mapped it! And you can look up your city and see which sports are nearby. wapo.st/4qlkAKf
More jumps, more difficulty: Olympic figure skating keeps upping the stakes An analysis of every men's and women's figure skating element performed at the Olympics since 2006 — and how Ilia Malinin's free skate compares: wapo.st/4asxnVy
Do you sometimes watch the Winter Olympics and think ... who even does these sports? We analyzed the locations of more than 2,500 training facilities for Winter Olympic sports. Check to see what's near you — and which sports are hard to find. wapo.st/4qlkAKf
Explore where Winter Olympic sports are most accessible across the U.S.
See which winter sport facilities are near you and if any Winter Olympians come from your state.
wapo.st
The past eight years at The Washington Post have been a dream. I am so sad but so grateful.
The Jordan Chiles Olympic bronze medal case is going back to the Court of Arbitration for Sport: Swiss Federal Supreme Court determined "new evidence may justify a modification of the contested award" & has "referred the case back to the CAS for it to re-examine the situation."
Scott Bregman@sbregman87.bsky.social · 6mo agoMajor update on Jordan's bronze medal case today from the Swiss Federal Court. www.bger.ch/files/live/s...
Indiana football compiled a .384 winning percentage in the 25 seasons before this one. No national champion performed worse during the stretch preceding its title, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Indiana football compiled a .384 winning percentage in the 25 seasons before this one. No national champion performed worse during the stretch preceding its title, according to a Washington Post analysis.
How rare would Indiana football’s turnaround to a title be? We analyzed data, comparing Indiana to – every national champion – every team with a perfect record – every team in the history of top-level CFB The answer here, in the form of seven charts: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2026/...
Seven charts that show Indiana’s historic path from doormat to dominance
Few teams in college football history have been so bad before reaching the national title game.
washingtonpost.com
You can also use the map in the story to look up vaccination rates in your local schools! This was a HUGE data lift: we reviewed and mapped tens of thousands of individual schools’ data, assembling the most comprehensive public database. And we published this data here: github.com/washingtonpo...
Really incredible work
Caitlin Gilbert@caitlingilbert.bsky.social · 7mo agoEXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected. Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43
How happy *should* the fans of every major college football team be based on performance over the past five years? 1. Georgia 5. Oregon 38. Iowa 66. Auburn 70. Stanford Full rankings: wapo.st/49iK71p
The Washington Post (dream team of @emilygiam.bsky.social, @katiperry.bsky.social & @arturgalocha.bsky.social) has created a metric to calculate precisely how happy — or miserable — fans of each major college football program should be based on their team’s résumé. See how your school fared:
The college football happiness rankings
Should your team make you giddy or despondent? We crunched the numbers.
washingtonpost.com
How happy (or miserable) should you be about your favorite college football team? We came up with a foolproof formula (of course you'll all agree with it). Georgia fans should be ecstatic. Stanford fans? Well, you went to an excellent academic school.
The college football happiness rankings
Should your team make you giddy or despondent? We crunched the numbers.
washingtonpost.com
The preseason college football rankings were really, really wrong See how each team over or underperformed the average regular season winning percentage for teams that have earned the same preseason ranking. story w/ @jessedougherty.bsky.social: wapo.st/3XCOM7U
The preseason AP poll was really, really wrong this year, which was even more notable because the preseason AP poll is often pretty predictive. Story with @emilygiam.bsky.social, who dug up a lot of fun data on this: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
The preseason college football rankings were really, really wrong
Led by Penn State, teams in the preseason top 15 have the second-worst winning percentage for programs ranked that high in decades.
washingtonpost.com
As preseason No. 1 Texas underachieved, No. 2 Penn State flopped, and No. 9 LSU and No. 15 Florida fired their coaches ... I wondered: Has the preseason college football poll ever been *this* wrong? We figured out the answer! Gift link: wapo.st/3XCOM7U
The preseason college football rankings were really, really wrong
Led by Penn State, teams in the preseason top 15 have the second-worst winning percentage for programs ranked that high in decades.
wapo.st
Data journalist @jeremybmerrill.com analyzed 38,000 ChatGPT conversations and found AI has gotten less formal -- dropping some words and adding contractions -- while clinging to the EmDash and some cliched constructions. w/ @emmakumer.bsky.social & SzuYu Chen: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
USA Gymnastics looks to soccer executive Kyle Albrecht as its next leader He hasn't worked in gymnastics, but his background is in sports marketing and player development. In an interview with the Post, he said he wants to "elevate the profile of the sport." Story: wapo.st/3LADIFy
USA Gymnastics looks to soccer executive as its next leader
Kyle Albrecht, MLS Next general manager, takes over organization with 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon.
wapo.st
Yesterday we counted +900 flight cancellations across the US: tinyurl.com/3sddyscd –One of the most affected was Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) with 17% of its flights cancelled ✈️
