We're back and things got more serious.
A note on where venn-U started, where it's going, and what you're actually subscribing to.
If you’ve been here since 2024 — thank you. You showed up when this was just a sports fan with a notebook and a World Cup countdown, writing about where to eat near MetLife and why Continental Airlines Arena deserved a better legacy.
That version of venn-U was real. It’s still real.
But something changed between then and now. And I want to be upfront about it.
I spent my career in rooms where things going wrong has real consequences. Goldman Sachs. KKR. The New York Times — where part of my job was keeping journalists safe in active conflict zones.
For a long time I kept those two worlds separate. Sports on one side. Operational risk on the other.
This year I stopped doing that.
Because here’s the thing: major sporting events are some of the most operationally complex public gatherings on the planet. Hundreds of thousands of people moving through compressed infrastructure, under weather, under geopolitical pressure, with cellular networks that degrade at capacity and egress windows that are genuinely dangerous if nobody’s thought about them properly.
And most of the organizations running these events don’t have the BCM frameworks that finance and serious media figured out decades ago.
That gap is what 1-4-1 venn-U is now built to close.
What this is now
venn-U still covers venues. That hasn’t changed. The 1-4-1 format — the review, the food, the atmosphere, the access — is still here. You’ll still get the honest take on whether the beer was worth it and which gate to use.
What’s new is a second layer. The 1-4-1 Field Intelligence Series. Practitioner-grade venue risk briefs — threat landscape, infrastructure vulnerabilities, emergency contacts, and what to do when things don’t go as planned.
The first brief will be live later this week. It covers Lumen Field in Seattle — one of the FIFA World Cup 2026 host stadiums. Six sections of open-source threat intelligence, firsthand venue observation, and nine prioritized recommendations. Built on the same methodology I used at Goldman and the Times.
It comes with your paid subscription. Attached to the next post.
NEW THIS SEASON
The World Cup Watch Weekly
Every week from now until the final on July 19, I'll publish a standing update on anything from the past seven days that affects your ability to attend, travel to, or operate at the World Cup. Visa and entry policy changes. Travel advisories. Geopolitical developments tied to specific fixtures. Civil unrest forecasts. Drone threat updates. Infrastructure news at host cities.
The world is moving fast right now. Tariff tensions, immigration policy shifts, and a geopolitical environment that is making some fixtures more complicated than they look on paper. If you're going to any of these matches — or you're responsible for someone who is — this is the update you need every week.
First edition drops this week.
Who this is for
Sports fans and travelers who want to know their next stadium better than anyone in their group. Sports operations professionals who want a practitioner’s eye on venue risk. Event organizers, corporate travel security teams, and federation administrators who need intelligence that actually helps them make decisions.
And professionals in Latin America working in sports organizations where this kind of operational thinking is arriving late. I’m Peruvian. I speak Spanish. I know the market. That audience is part of this from day one.
What’s coming
A venue brief for every one of the 16 World Cup host stadiums. A parallel series in Spanish covering the Mexican host cities. A weekly World Cup Watch through July 19. And after the tournament — Champions League, Copa Libertadores, Liga MX, Rugby World Cup. The calendar of major events never stops.
Welcome back. Or welcome for the first time.