NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2026--
With millions of travelers set to explore new cities across North America this summer, Men in Blazers Media Network (MiBMN) and Visa today announced a new collaboration designed to celebrate the cities, cultures, and small businesses that give the global game its local heartbeat.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260520687174/en/
As part of this effort, Visa and MiBMN are launching Men in Blazers City Guides, presented by Visa, a fan-powered travel companion for this summer and beyond, fueled by soccer-fan-curated recommendations and video reviews. City Guides were built to offer the authentic, local soccer fan’s perspective in helping global traveling supporters discover where to eat, drink, watch, and explore around the 13 cities across the U.S. and Canada, while driving visibility and commerce to local businesses during one of the world’s most anticipated sporting moments.
The City Guides bring together Visa’s commitment to small businesses and MiBMN’s deep connection to soccer fans, using fan insight and storytelling to turn match-day travel into meaningful, locally rooted experiences.
“The game of soccer lives far beyond the stadium,” said Roger Bennett, Founder and CEO of Men in Blazers Media Network. “When the whole world arrives on our shores this summer, we want travelers to truly feel and absorb the distinct and beautiful wonder of each city. To do that, we wanted to take on the burden of sourcing the local favorites, so they can focus more on the joys of the experience and less on the planning of it. Working together with Visa allows us to elevate those local institutions and help supporters experience these cities through the lens of the people who know them best.”
The inaugural City Guides are designed to help travelers navigate each destination with intention. Powered by more than 25,000 fan recommendations collected through a nationwide survey, the guides spotlight 25+ destinations per city across four categories.
This collaboration builds on Visa & Main, Visa’s program dedicated to supporting small businesses at the intersection of commerce and community. Through Visa & Main, Visa works to connect small businesses with customers, tools, and opportunities—making the City Guides a natural extension of that commitment during a global moment when local discovery matters.
“This initiative is about capitalizing on the moment and directing fans toward the small businesses and local institutions that shape the character of each city,” said Kyndra Russell, Chief Marketing Officer, North America at Visa. “By working with Men in Blazers and its incredibly passionate fan community—and building on our broader commitment through Visa & Main—we’re connecting global fandom with local commerce in ways that meaningfully support small businesses this summer and beyond.”
The City Guides serve as the flagship expression of Traveling Support, a new travel-focused storytelling platform designed to help fans experience soccer culture wherever the game is played. Additionally, MiBMN will release a series of short-form videos filmed at fan-recommended locations, featuring Roger Bennett and network talent alongside local creators. The content will appear across Men in Blazers’ social channels and extended digital platforms, highlighting the people and places where soccer culture thrives.
Fans can explore the City Guides, presented by Visa by visiting https://www.meninblazers.com/city-guides and start planning their journeys today.
About Men in Blazers Media Network
The Men in Blazers Media Network (MiBMN) is the largest soccer dedicated media company in North America, entertaining the most passionate and expansive fan base on the continent with comprehensive coverage of the global game across the men’s and women’s landscape. MiBMN has grown over the last decade from a single podcast to 360° coverage, including verticals offering authentic storytelling and analysis specifically tailored to superfans of the women’s game through The Women’s Game platform (TWG) and the hyper-passionate Hispanic American soccer community through the VAMOS platform. Through trusted partnerships with iconic brands and unparalleled relationships with the biggest names in entertainment, sports, and world football, MiBMN leads the conversation on the global game in North America with meaningful, genuine storytelling. The MiBMN ecosystem produces over a thousand shows a year, with millions of followers and billions of views across platforms. MiBMN has partnered with many of the most recognizable brands in sports including Anheuser Busch InBev, Coca-Cola, New Balance and Verizon amongst others.
About Visa
Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.
Men in Blazers City Guides, presented by Visa
WASHINGTON (AP) — The YOLO caucus is in session.
In a Republican-led Congress defined by deference to President Donald Trump, there's a small but steadily growing cohort who have found themselves more willing to break with the White House. Although the president maintains a firm grip on Republican voters, the expanding club could hinder his agenda on everything from the Iran war to immigration funding at a moment when his party holds a tenuous majority on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is the newest member of the club. Just days after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Cassidy on Tuesday reversed himself on legislation involving the war in Iran and voted with Democrats to rein in U.S. military action.
“The way our Constitution is set up, Congress should hold the executive branch accountable,” he told reporters the day before.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas could be next after Trump endorsed Ken Paxton, Cornyn's rival for the Republican nomination in next week's runoff.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is perhaps a founding member of the YOLO caucus, having frustrated Trump since the president's first term, and his status was solidified after losing his primary on Tuesday to a Trump-backed challenger. Massie has enraged Trump by voting against his signature tax and spending bill and by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
He hinted there's more to come before he leaves office.
“I got seven months left in Congress,” Massie said with a grin during his concession speech as the crowd erupted.
Other similarly situated Republicans include Sen. Thom Tillis, who was a fierce critic of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and has more recently turned his attention to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. There’s also Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who joined Democrats last week in a bid to curb Trump’s war powers in Iran. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have voted against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks. And in the House, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska has pushed to reclaim congressional power over tariffs.
“If the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king,” Massie said in his concession speech Tuesday.
This hardly amounts to a revival of the Never Trump movement that some Republicans unsuccessfully hoped would curb the president's excesses during his first term or block him from returning to office. Many in the party, including Trump's occasional detractors, have either stood by or been unable to block the president as he launched the war in Iran and presided over an aggressive immigration enforcement operation and the dismantling of the federal workforce.
Today's unencumbered Republicans don't fit into an ideological box. But they are united by a sense of emboldening that can only be attained in a few ways in Trump's Washington.
Many, like Tillis, McConnell and Bacon, have decided to retire and can cast votes knowing they'll never again have to face Republican primary voters. Others like Collins and Murkowski have more leeway because they represent states that tend to reward political independence. And some like Massie banked on the idea that voters could support both Trump and someone who occasionally crossed him.
It's a paradox for Trump. As he demands total loyalty and pushes out Republican dissenters, he's left with a growing cohort who, for one reason or another, owe Trump nothing.
That could be a problem for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who are already governing with threadbare majorities. Shifting loyalties of even a few Republican lawmakers could dramatically complicate the ability for either chamber to pass substantial legislation ahead of the November midterm elections.
Thune called Cornyn a “principled conservative” and “very effective senator” on Tuesday.
“None of us control what the president does,” he said.
The next tests could come later this week as Thune pushes a funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol designed to pass on a party line basis.
Democrats are eager to pounce.
Speaking at an event in Washington on Tuesday sponsored by the Center for American Progress, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would aim to drive a wedge between Republicans by using a so-called discharge petition to bring issues directly to the floor for a vote.
That tactic has been successful in securing House passage on issues ranging from the Epstein files to temporary protection of Haitian immigrants.
“When we're disciplined and when we're focused and when we put pressure in particular on the so-called swing seat Republicans, they have been breaking with us,” Jeffries said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters on Tuesday that Trump's endorsement of Cornyn's rival was a sign that his political power lies within the Republican base — not the American public at large.
“He’s showed the only influence he has, and that’s an outsize influence within the base of the party,” the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender said. “Otherwise he’s shown little to no influence with the American people.”
That leaves Republicans gaming out how they might cobble together the votes needed to pass legislation.
Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota called Cassidy a “good friend” and said the loss was “tough for him.” He said Cassidy “will always vote in line with what he thinks is best” but doubted he will become a less reliable Republican vote.
His fellow Louisianan, Sen. John Kennedy, said Cassidy deploys power “rationally and maturely” and “will continue to do the same thing.”
Cassidy repeatedly rejected the notion that he will spend his final months in Washington as a troublemaker for Trump, saying he's going to do “what's good for my country and my state.”
Yet the independent streak that ended his political career quickly resurfaced. A week after Trump visited China, Cassidy spoke of a western alliance that's “totally falling apart” and will be unable to “push back on the threat China represents.” He seemed stunned that the administration would create a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who they believe have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted.
“I just came off the campaign trail,” he said. “People are concerned about making their own ends meet, not about putting a slush fund together without a legal precedent.”
Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that the fund intended to compensate Trump allies is valued at nearly $1.8 billion, not nearly $1.8 trillion.
Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., speaks during hearing on the budget request for the EPA on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, left, confers with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, as they hear President Donald Trump's funding requests for the Army, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to the media, March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jack Myer, File)
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks to supporters during an election night watch party Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
