Emergency Management
Preparing a Major Metro for the World Cup Under a Global Spotlight
Brief #
OB-2026-4
Date Prepared
On Period
2025–2026
Status
Active
Population
2.9 Million
Event
FIFA World Cup 2026
Matches Hosted
7 at Hard Rock Stadium
Credentials
FEMA MEP, EMAP Assessor
Applicable to
Emergency Management
Fire Departments
Law Enforcement
Public Health
Healthcare
"I ask that you just take a look at this as an opportunity to have a really skilled intern at your fingertips to help support you in your plan development."
Dr. Jesse Spearo
Assistant Director, Miami-Dade County Department of Emergency Management
Mission Outcomes
EM1 is supporting Miami-Dade County across the full preparedness lifecycle for the largest sporting event in history:
Exercise Design at Scale
Indexes past AARs and improvement plans to generate tailored exercise injects for each partner audience.
Exercise Series
4 Operations Delivered
Plan Deconfliction
Synthesizes plans across the entire South Florida region to identify gaps and contradictions before match day.
Regional Coordination
Multi-Agency Alignment
Real-Time EOC Products
Generates daily situation reports, event action plans, and intelligence material for state and federal partners.
Information Delivery
Seconds, Not Hours
1
Situation
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest global sporting event in history: 48 nations, 104 matches, three host countries. Miami-Dade County will host seven of those matches at Hard Rock Stadium, including some of the most anticipated fixtures of the entire tournament. For Dr. Jesse Spearo, Assistant Director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Emergency Management, the mandate is clear: prepare a region of nearly 6.5 million residents for an influx of international visitors, multi-agency coordination demands, and a threat landscape that spans everything from extreme heat to mass casualty scenarios.
The Scale of the Challenge
Seven FIFA World Cup matches. Nearly 2.9 million residents. Dozens of partner agencies across South Florida. And a department facing staffing shortages and budget constraints that demanded an innovative solution.
But even a department with deep experience faces resource limits. "We're trying to fill a gap between our staffing shortages and our budget shortfalls to ensure that we have an innovative solution to help support us in those planning efforts," Spearo explains. The county needed a force multiplier, something that could compress planning timelines, synthesize years of operational documentation, and generate exercise and briefing materials at a pace no human team could match alone.
2
Exercise Design & Plan Deconfliction
Miami-Dade adopted EM1 to help deconflict plans across the entire South Florida region and build a rigorous exercise program tied directly to World Cup preparedness. The department has already executed a full series of exercises under its "Operation Ted Lasso" umbrella, including Operations Nutmeg, Yellow Card, and Red Card. Each exercise targets different operational aspects with distinct objectives and partner agencies.
From AARs to Action
EM1 ingests years of after action reports, improvement plans, and exercise materials, then generates tailored injects and scenarios specific to each audience and objective.
"Utilizing EM1, we've been able to index and collate all of the other past after action reports and improvement plans," Spearo notes. The platform generates tailored injects and scenarios specific to the audience and objectives of each exercise. "That has made us very successful in the exercise space."
Plan Deconfliction
AAR Indexing
Exercise Inject Generation
Multi-Agency Coordination
3
Match Day Operations
On match days, EM1 will move from the planning environment into the EOC itself. Spearo's team anticipates using the platform to support the development of a Regional Event Action Plan (R-EAP) in coordination with local, state, and federal partners across South Florida. The outputs are concrete: daily situation reports, event action plans, and intelligence products shared with partners to maintain a common operating picture.
From Planning to the EOC
EM1 transitions from a preparedness tool to a real-time operational asset, generating daily situation reports and intelligence products for dozens of partner agencies.
Event Action Plans
Daily Situation Reports
Intelligence Products
Common Operating Picture
4
The Case for AI in Emergency Management
Spearo frames EM1 not as a replacement for professional judgment but as the most capable research assistant an emergency manager could ask for. "I ask that you just take a look at this as an opportunity to have a really skilled intern at your fingertips to help support you in your plan development," he says. For managers new to AI, the value proposition is straightforward: it flattens the learning curve on processing information, understanding what exists across an organization's entire planning library, and rapidly producing deliverables for elected officials and senior leadership during incidents.
A Skilled Intern at Your Fingertips
Spearo positions AI as a force multiplier that compresses the time between question and answer, helping emergency managers process information and produce deliverables at speed.
"By having EM1 and other technologies, we can ensure that we can be best prepared for any event that occurs down here for matches for FIFA World Cup."
5
Assessment
Miami-Dade County's adoption of EM1 represents something broader than a single platform deployment. It is a proof of concept for AI-assisted preparedness at the highest-stakes level of special event planning in the world. From exercise design to match-day EOC operations, the platform is embedded across the entire preparedness lifecycle for the largest sporting event the globe has ever seen.
Proof of Concept at Global Scale
If EM1 can support preparedness for the FIFA World Cup, the largest sporting event in history, it can support preparedness anywhere.
Spearo's endorsement carries weight: he brings nearly 25 years of public safety experience, plus numerous credentials including a PhD in the field, Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), Florida Master Instructor (FMI), FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner, and graduate of FEMA's Advanced and Executive Academies, and serves as an EMAP Assessor. His closing message to the profession is direct: "I invite all of you to take the opportunity to look at new and innovative solutions such as EM1 and other platforms to ensure that you are ready for the challenges of tomorrow."
Fall 2025
EM1 Deployment
Platform adopted for World Cup preparedness
April 2026
FIFA Exercise Series
4-part FIFA exercise series completed
June 2026
Match Day Operations Begin
EM1 active in EOC for first Miami match
July 2026
Tournament Concludes
Bronze Final at Hard Rock Stadium
