How the geopolitical landscape and war in Iran are making sports fandom even more expensive

When the U.S. men’s national flag football team walloped a group of NFLers in a mid-March tournament at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles last month, the outcome was a surprise but not a plot twist. 

As 11-on-11 tackle football players, these guys might have peaked years ago, but without pads and collisions football is a different sport. Younger NFL stars haven’t played no-contact football for stakes since high school 7-on-7 leagues and guys Tom Brady’s age have only ever played that way in practice. The national teamers have been treating it like a full-time job this whole time, and we all figured it out watching the U.S. national team win the Flag Football Classic on March 22.

The setting — sunny Los Angeles and not sunny Saudi Arabia — represented a late game change of plans, but shouldn’t have shocked anyone. Not since U.S.-led military attacks on Iran, which began Feb. 28, triggered retaliatory strikes across the Middle East. One target — the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian city originally slated to host the football jamboree.

Before the first U.S. missiles hit Tehran, maybe you couldn’t have located the Strait of Hormuz on a map. But five weeks later you can draw a straight line from there to your bank account, which is likely feeling the effects as Iran restricts traffic on the critical shipping route, raising the price of petroleum and all its derivatives.

As for celebrity flag football, the spectre of Iranian attacks made hosting it in Riyadh a non-starter. So the games landed in Los Angeles, where people interested in watching in person could do so for the cost of tickets, parking and time spent battling Southern California traffic.

Otherwise, according to a search on Skyscanner.ca, a round-trip flight from