Because when your incredibly distressed child needs an explanation for the horrors they just saw on their screen, you suddenly feel more willing to accept a much higher level of dire conditions to shield your child from experiencing war.

Because psyop.

Which isn’t to say that there aren’t genuine participants; only that it is notable that XR, JustStopOil, InsulateBritain, et al all materialised at the same time, seemingly from nothing, with expensive publicity campaigns, and performing actions guaranteed to be alienating at best.

Outside of the US, soccer fixtures are the biggest sporting events (certainly in Europe & Russia).

Due to a long history of violent football hooliganism, there is already elevated security around these events & international intelligence coordination preceding them.

Additionally, it is usually very difficult to obtain tickets unless you have connections to a club.

These factors would make them trickier targets than lesser sporting events or concerts.

Differences in transport access to sporting stadia & theatres in different countries may also play a role. Terrorists naturally take logistics into account.

And maybe the US just picks up more chatter about sporting events & not much about theatres?

But yeah, broadly either type of target is possible anywhere.

On the other hand, can be useful to have a moderator in a totally different time zone to the rest of the team.

Lack of history seems more relevant, though not as much as a candidate’s personality.