AUBURN, Ala. Leo Messi has dazzled audiences around the world with his loping, graceful brilliance, inspiring and thrilling literally billions of soccer fans with feats that might never be equaled. But rarely has he ever entered a stadium where any magic spell he could possibly cast would be, at best, the fields second-most-legendary kick.Right there on the same Jordan-Hare field where Bo Jackson and Cam Newton led the Tigers to glory, where Chris Davis ran past 11 Alabama defenders and into history, Messi and Argentina challenged Iceland Tuesday night in a World Cup friendly. It seemed strange it was strange but it was also phenomenal, in a cross-cultural kind of way.And when Messi did, in fact, score a goal, well a thrilling night turned perfect. Who cared if this was just an exhibition? Argentina won this friendly by a final score of 3-0, but that wasnt the point; the sense of joy and community that pervaded Jordan-Hare was.College football has always been the closest American equivalent to international soccer football and ftbol, you might say since both boast tribal, borderline fanatical fanbases that stretch back generations. Sure, there are some superficial differences Argentina fans chant, Auburn fans tailgate but the same basic sense of devotion and community runs through the bloodstreams of both fanbases.Play 2026 Soccer Pick 'Em with FOX One and make your picks for the world's biggest soccer tournamentPlus, Americas top football universities possess mammoth stadiums tailor-made to host massive crowds. College football stadiums may not have all the FIFA-required amenities and infrastructure to host an actual World Cup event, but for a friendly like this one, theyre ideal and an ideal opportunity to introduce two disparate sporting crowds to each others traditions.The origins of this friendly date back more than a year and a half. One factor or, more specifically, three letters helped bring Messi to The Plains: NIL. The ever-escalating costs of college athletics mean schools have to get more creative in summoning up great reserves of cash. And a soccer match featuring the defending World Cup champion and its traveling fanbase fits that need quite nicely.How do you find a way to drive revenues, grow department revenues, without taxing your fans? Auburn athletics chief revenue officer Rhett Hobart told Yahoo Sports recently. You could say the easiest way to drive revenues is to increase ticket price, increase costs for our events, but we don't want to do that. We're trying to find ways to bring events to the city, help the city, but also bring revenue to the department without increasing the cost on our fans for watching Auburn play.Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates after scoring the team's second goal during the international friendly match between Argentina and Iceland at Jordan-Hare Stadium on June 09, 2026 in Auburn, Alabama.Omar Vega via Getty ImagesAuburn began working with Unified Events and Florida Citrus Sports, two event-planning organizations, to land a friendly in the days leading up to the World Cup. After a few false starts, Auburn snagged the big prize: the defending champs and the GOAT. Quite the haul for the Loveliest Little Village on the Plains.In the year of the World Cup, we wanted to look at underserved communities that don't typically get (games), Molly Pendleton, SVP of Unified Events, told Yahoo Sports recently. We're an hour and a half, for Auburn, outside of Atlanta and Atlanta's getting a ton of soccer, and it usually gets soccer every year for international friendlies. But these schools that have great fan bases that want to have more content in their buildings, we really focused our efforts there.One key element working in Auburns favor: the dramatic, cinematic pregame flight of the War Eagle. Yes, its a football tradition, but as of Tuesday, its a soccer one too.When you have an event like this in Jordan-Hare, your mind immediately goes to making sure that you have all the event uniqueness right, Hobart said. Celebrating soccer the way that soccer is celebrated across the world with walkouts, with all the pregame festivities. But then how do you give it a uniquely Auburn flair? So for us, the first thing we pitched was, How would you feel about an eagle flight pregame? And they were all about it from the very beginning of the conversation.To prepare for the specifics of the friendly, an Auburn contingent traveled to Gillette Stadium for an October friendly to ask questions; an Argentina contingent journeyed to Jordan-Hare recently to check on the condition of the grass and the field. Everyone shook hands and went away satisfied, and now, here we are.The Argentina friendly was part of a growing trend where universities welcome in revenue-driving behemoths that might otherwise seek out bigger cities. Last year, Jordan-Hare welcomed the Savannah Bananas, and this fall, Zach Bryan will play a concert in the enormous stadium. But neither of those events, while massive, rivals the level of security, logistics, planning and investment that a traveling team just days from the World Cup requires. Hotel rooms, workout facilities, police escorts the list of needs for a FIFA-level World Cup team is virtually endless, and Auburn and its promoters had to deliver it all.The university hasnt yet disclosed how much it expects to make from this game, but according to a Memorandum of Understanding between the university and Unified Events LLC, obtained by al.com earlier this week, Auburn will receive 60 percent of the net event revenue, which includes ticket sales, merch sales, parking and other sources of income.Auburn, meanwhile, was required to provide a pristine playing surface at no cost, along with all personnel and operations necessary to provide a college football gameday-esque environment. (Argentina will earn $2.4 million for appearing, while Iceland will receive $325,000.)With less than a week to go prior to the game, Hobart indicated that fewer than 4,000 tickets remained available. (In sharp contrast to FIFAs gouging, many tickets initially went on sale at the reasonable cost of $45, and as late as game day, $78 tickets were still available.) Hobart added that he expects a $10 million economic impact on the surrounding Auburn-Opelika community, which is a nice boost in the usually quiet summer.Even after all the hope and planning, Mother Nature had a brief say in the proceedings. Torrential rain on Tuesday afternoon dimmed much of the pre-match enthusiasm, as blue-and-white-garbed Argentina fans needed to take refuge in Auburns campus buildings, parking decks and archways. Still, the line for the famous Toomers Lemonade ran down the block. You cant come this far and not sample some of Auburns finest wares, after all.The rain and lightning rolled out about an hour before the match began, and the sunset turned the clouds an appropriately Auburn orange. In deference to the visiting crowd, the stadium pumped out club hits and bangers like Mentirosa by Argentinas own Rfaga. Auburns usual pregame fare, like Crazy Train and Welcome to the Jungle, didnt appear, nor did the Auburn marching band or the schools War Eagle fight song, which was a bit of a shame.In the concourses, eager Argentina fans lined up for hot dogs, drinks and event merch. Out on Pat Dye Field, a crew of workers squeegeed out the last of the rain as an army of leafblowers blew the grass dry. A field that had been soaked to puddling just an hour before was now ready for the worlds greatest player and his mates.Shortly before the game, the eagle did indeed fly, soaring into the twilight with a grace and majesty that both amazed and confused the matchs international visitors:The events Memorandum of Understanding mandated that Messi at least make the trip to Auburn or risk a $250,000 fine. He did indeed travel to Auburn, practicing with the team on Tuesday.As he walked onto the field sorry, pitch at Jordan-Hare roughly 30 minutes before the match began, Messi lifted a hand to the surrounding crowd. That was enough to send the tens of thousands of Messi fans in attendance into cheering fits. They greeted his appearance on Jordan-Hares massive screens with similar joy.From a technical perspective, the match was, well, less than thrilling. Argentinas Valentin Barco scored in the eighth minute, the first halfs only goal. Argentina seemed content to treat this as a glorified practice session, while Iceland which didnt even make the World Cup draw tried desperately to keep pace.After a halftime that featured a ragged version of the Swag Surf, a new Auburn tradition it was very obvious whod been to a football game here before, and who hadnt the Jordan-Hare crowd got an unexpected treat: a Messi sideline sighting in the 47th minute. The legend ran some gentle wind sprints along the back line.And then, in the 70th minute, it happened Leo Messi stepped onto the field at Jordan-Hare to deafening cheers. When he drilled a penalty kick just a few seconds later, well the noise didnt quite reach Auburns gonna win the football game levels, but the grandstands rocked all the same.Oh, and in a nice bit of historical symmetry, Messi took the penalty kick just a few steps away from where Auburns Chris Davis caught that fatefully short kick in the 2013 Iron Bowl and ran straight into college football legend.After the Messi goal, Argentina stopped playing with its food and wrapped up the match with efficiency. La Albiceleste has a date with Algeria next Tuesday in Kansas City, meaning its time now to focus on bigger game.As the teams left the pitch, the 88,000-plus fans at Jordan-Hare made their way to the exits, cheering and chanting. They didnt roll the Toomers Oaks, which was Argentinas only miscue of the entire evening. Other than that, this was as close to a perfect crossover of sports and culture as youre likely to find this summer.The eagle flew. The lemonade flowed. The crowd swag-surfed. And there are now a whole lot of new Argentina fans in Auburn, and a whole lot of new Auburn fans in Argentina.War Damn Messi.

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Fans who hear the whirring sound of a drone over a stadium might see it as a nuisance but law enforcement has long viewed those aircraft as a potential weapon of mass destruction.With the World Cup about to kick off, security is heightened and theres a zero-tolerance policy for drones over or near stadiums during the 78 matches in 11 U.S. cities.Authorities have ratcheted up counter-drone measures used at the Super Bowl and other major events, while Congress has given law enforcement broader authority to electronically disable drones or shoot them down.The war in Ukraine has become a real-world testing ground for drone technology, and if there is one threat that keeps me up at night, it is from drones, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Taking the threat seriouslyCongress just gave state and local law enforcement the green light to take control of a threatening drone or even shoot them down if needed in December, though the first option will be to disable them electronically and land them safely. Key federal agencies already had that power.The Federal Aviation Administration will restrict the airspace around and over crowded stadiums for World Cup games and fan events much like it has done for years around NFL and Major League Baseball games. Violators can face fines up to $100,000, see their drones confiscated and even face criminal charges for flying within three miles of one of the games. But those penalties likely wouldnt deter a determined terrorist.The FBI has spent the last seven years building up its capability to deal with drones by investing in the technology needed to quickly identify drones and take control of them, and authorities have been using that already at major events. The bureau also provided counter drone technology training this year to law enforcement in all World Cup host cities that taught them how to recognize dangerous drones and respond. The military has also developed counter drone lasers like the ones used along the Mexican border earlier this year and other systems to shoot down drones, but the FBI is not planning to do that during the World Cup because of the dangers involved with the wreckage of a drone falling over a major city.If the drone is intercepted and it no longer flies, its going to fall. And as we say, no matter what you do, you cant change the law of gravity, said national security expert Hal Kempfer, who estimates that he has trained more than 30,000 law enforcement officers on counter-terrorism techniques.Everybodys a little behind'The government has invested heavily in systems that should allow officers to take control of suspicious drones and land them safely or jam their signals, including handing out $250 million to help states prepare to protect World Cup matches and the big public events planned this summer to honor America's 250th birthday.Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Congress at a recent hearing that federal officers have successfully dealt with drones over several recent events, including bringing down eight drones over a Formula 1 race in Miami and 12 that entered the no fly zone over the Masters golf tournament, but everybody's a little behind the rapidly evolving technology.Biggest concern I have is honestly with drones, Mullin said. I wouldnt say a vulnerability, but it is, it is one of the areas that we are struggling with every single day.Drones are scary in the wrong handsThe FBI is taking a zero-tolerance approach to protecting the airspace around World Cup events. Devin Kowalski, an FBI assistant director in charge of the bureaus Critical Incident Response Group, said the agency plans to treat all drones like they could be a real-deal threat. Other federal agencies, including Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard, will take the lead at several stadiums while the FBI protects three of them.When that drone comes into the TFR (Temporary Flight Restricted area), were handling it as if its something that could hurt people, and were aggressively locating its operator and conducting the logical investigation to determine the nature of the situation as well as to hold that person accountable, Kowalksi said in an interview with The Associated Press.ATF Director Rob Cekada said in an interview that the focus now is on protecting the World Cup, but the America 250 events, World Series, Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics arent far behind. Then think about all the events in every communityin the country high school and college games that are a concern for our state and local partners. So we want to do what we can to help them as best as possible, he said. Derek Reisfield, who is the former president of one of the companies providing counter-drone technology to the host cities, said this technology in the wrong hands is very scary. and there are many around the globe who want to harm America.We have to assume that theres somebody in Iran whos spending every day thinking about how they can attack the United States on our home turf, said Reisfield, who used to lead Ondas and now serves on the board of a Ukranian company called Swarmer that makes software that allows one person to control hundreds of drones.Early detection could be key to stopping dronesSome of the technology could allow authorities to detect drones up to 25 miles out, which would provide more time to mitigate the threat, according to Matt Sloane, the co-founder of SkyfireAI. But it's possible that someone could sneak a drone up close to a stadium and launch it from less than mile away, which would leave little time to act.And the systems designed to jam the signal from an operator or take control of a drone might not be effective if it is preprogrammed to crash into a stadium full of fans while carrying an explosive payload or if it is controlled over a fiber optic line.The battlefield tactic that might pose the greatest threat would be sending a swarm of multiple drones to attack at the same time. Even with the best defenses, a few drones might sneak through to the target as Iran has been able to do with large numbers of its Shaheed drones. The U.S. military has an assortment of weapons to knock drones out of the sky, but Iran has still be able to hit targets across the Middle East.But Sloane he feels like the government is doing what it can to be ready.The threat is real, certainly. But I do think that theres a lot being done to prepare for it. To educate about it, said Sloane, whose company has helped protect Super Bowls in the past. And then we just need to tell everybody whos just trying to take pretty pictures Hey this is not the time. Keep your drone in the box.___Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.

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