by Mark McDermott
The Manhattan Beach City Council voted 4-1 at its March 3 meeting to hang FIFA World Cup street pole banners throughout the city this summer, embracing the most ambitious of four deployment options presented by staff and authorizing between 100 and 120 banners at an estimated cost of up to $14,880.
The vote authorizes the full Tier 4 program, which extends banners from the city’s primary commercial corridors — Sepulveda Boulevard, Rosecrans Avenue, downtown, and North Manhattan Beach — to the Westdrift Manhattan Beach Hotel area, Polliwog and Live Oak parks, and the soccer fields at Marine Avenue Park and Manhattan Village Fields. Banners are required to be installed by June 1 and may remain through July 20, the end of the tournament.The FIFA World Cup runs June 12 through July 19.
Council also authorized the future sale of the banners after the World Cup concludes, with proceeds offsetting general fund expenditures.
The decision was straightforward for most council members. Manhattan Beach is already on the international map for the tournament — the Westdrift hotel has been booked to house competing national teams, and FIFA matches will be played at SoFi Stadium in nearby Inglewood. FIFA’s Public Engagement Program provides the artwork at no cost to participating cities; the city’s tab covers only printing, hardware, and installation at $124 per banner.
“This is a once-in-a-generation event,” said Council Member Nina Tarnay, who made the motion for Tier 4. “The last time the World Cup came to Los Angeles, I was 20 years old. That was 32 years ago.”
Council Member Amy Howorth said the banners represented something larger than logistics. She recalled being in a restaurant when Italy won a previous World Cup and watching the owner run into the street in celebration.
“It’s contagious joy,” she said. “And it’s what this world needs.”
Mayor David Lesser questioned the city’s longstanding skepticism toward pole banners, noted that the artwork hadn’t yet been finalized, and worried about precedent. Mayor Pro Tem Joe Franklin expressed concern that the city will already be shouldering significant costs for additional security policing and ultimately said it was too soon to make a decision.
“It’s also a decision that can be delayed,” he said, “because people are going to come no matter what.”
Those costs are real and unsettled. Police Chief Rachel Johnson told the council her department is planning for more than 30 officers on game days to handle security at the Westdrift, where fans will be permitted to gather outside and along the street to see teams arrive and depart. FIFA, she noted, actively encourages that kind of fan access — a different model than the typical professional team hotel stay.
“We want to make sure that our personnel are able to refresh themselves in some fashion,” Johnson said, explaining why the department recommended against city-organized watch parties. “We want to concentrate our resources where we know that they will need to be.”
The department has applied to the California Office of Emergency Services for grant funding to cover staffing costs and has submitted a security proposal that FIFA representatives described as a model for other South Bay cities. Lt. Kelly Benjamin, the department’s special events manager, said she has attended more than 20 FIFA planning meetings, including sessions covering drone countermeasures.
Private businesses, however, may host their own watch parties under the municipal code with appropriate permits from the Planning Division.
Kelly Stroman, executive director of the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business Association, told the council the business community was fully behind the banner program. If cost became an obstacle, she said, the association would fund its own banners — and expected strong demand when the city sells them after the tournament.
“The world is coming here,” Stroman said. “We need to welcome them, and there’s no better way to show our spirit than to embrace the marketing efforts of FIFA.”
“When you go to a city, when you travel and you see banners saying ‘Welcome to Paris, welcome to wherever’ — you know, it’s something that just gives you a little bit of a feel-good moment,” Stroman said.
The council also briefly discussed coordinating the FIFA banners with America 250 celebrations around the Fourth of July, which will overlap with the tournament’s final weeks. Communications Manager Alexandria Latragna said the placements would be handled strategically, leaving room on the city’s 248 identified pole locations for both programs. Mayor Pro Tem Franklin separately requested the formation of an America 250 subcommittee for future agenda consideration. ER
