Business of Soccer: LA Is Preparing To Be Major World Cup Hub

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1:21Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. This is the business of soccer. The appetite for soccer in this country is here to stay. The Global World Cup of 26 will bring just that, the globe, to the United States. Every four years, you know, there's this moment where the world wakes up to the incredible athletes that we have on the U.S. women's national team. There are more soccer games available to watch on television in the U.S. than any other country in the world. Soccer, or as I would call it, living in the U.K., football, is the biggest sport in the world. There's a gap in the market around women's soccer, and we're here to fill that gap.

1:59Bloomberg Business of Soccer, from Bloomberg Radio. Welcome to a special edition of the Bloomberg Business of Sports, The Business of Soccer, as we count down to the FIFA World Cup just over two months away. Today, I'm joined by the president and CEO of the Los Angeles Host Committee, Catherine Schultzman. We're going to discuss what L.A. has to offer as one of the major hosts of the tournament, the fact that they're the home of the U.S. men's national team, including hosting their first match of the tournament on June 12th, as well as discussing security concerns with potentially hosting Iran.

2:32Catherine, thanks so much for joining the Bloomberg Business of Soccer. I'm really excited to talk to you. The World Cup is coming. It is right around the corner now. I'm curious, obviously for you, you're planning these things for years, really. But when things finally come around the way they're around the corner, the way they are now, do you feel like you wish you had more time almost?

2:55Kathryn Schloessman:Yeah, you know, it's interesting. We started this in 2017 and it seems so far off. And even a couple of years ago, you know, it seemed far off. And now to be, you know, 70, I forget what it is, 73, 74 days out. Yes. I mean, I feel like the clock is ticking right over our head. And yes, I wish we had more time because there's so much we want to do, but it's coming and there's nothing I could do to change that. And what are those last few things, you know, you're hoping to get accomplished before first kickoff? Well, it's not a few things. There's a lot. So a lot of our there's a lot on a lot of different levels.

3:31Kathryn Schloessman:So number one on all of our community programs, we still have several community events happening to again. And the whole purpose of bringing World Cup here is to, number one, showcase our community to the world. But number two is give an opportunity for the locals to engage. And so we have a community day coming up, our second community day, Road to World Cup Community Day presented by AMG on May 9th, where we're bringing community members together with local artists at a local school to help paint murals that will help welcome the fans that are coming to SoFi Stadium. So that's one. And we wish we had a little bit more time to do some more.

4:10Kathryn Schloessman:But we have a community day coming. We have another Grow the Game clinic because, again, it's about what is the spotlight that is being put on soccer and giving people a chance to participate. So we have a youth clinic, a coach's clinic, and an official's clinic coming up on May 2nd. We have a bus tour, a mobile bus tour, Kick It With Us, that is traveling around the region and making different stops at all the events that are happening. And it kind of rolls up and then it rolls out with a clinic and all kinds of different soccer experiences for the people to participate in. And so really just I think our biggest concern is making sure everybody in the community knows it's coming and knows what the opportunities are where they can participate.

4:55And how is L.A. as a soccer market? Would you describe?

4:59Kathryn Schloessman:I think L.A. is definitely a soccer market with three professional soccer teams. But more importantly, L.A. is a big event market. L.A. loves the big events and we know how to put on the big events and we're used to putting on the big events. So World Cup is the, you know, single largest, largest single sport event in the world. And it is a big time event. The opening U.S. men's national team opening up for the U.S. is a big time event. And L.A. knows how to do it right. And so we are putting the finishing touches on everything we're doing during the opening week of activities and then the other activities going on for the rest of the 39 day tournament.

5:40I want to talk a little bit about the teams that are going to be in market. And those finally all came together just recently, right? The last few teams, Turkey and Bosnia finally, you know, coming together for those last few games. Tell me about how you're planning on welcoming those specific teams into market and how you're planning on engaging with their fans. So we've already starting last fall, we have already had conversations with our consulates that are here and talking to them and making sure those consulates have all the information about what's happening here so they can push it out to their communities.

6:18Kathryn Schloessman:They're the best. They're the best connected to do that. And so we're doing that. We've got some media promotion going in some of the different markets we are partnered with. And one of our host city supporters is Los Angeles Tourism. And LA Tourism, that's all they do is market in international markets to bring visitors to Los Angeles. So we're working very closely with them to help tell the story and everything I told you about what all the attractions are here to tell people, please start your World Cup journey in LA. That's been our tagline all along because of having the opening US match is start your World Cup journey in LA.

6:52Kathryn Schloessman:And then the second part of our message that we've been trying to get out is everyone is welcome in Los Angeles. It's very important for us to get that out there. And so in partnership with Los Angeles Tourism, we're able to do that. We have a bigger microphone internationally. How impactful is it, you know, knowing those final teams and knowing just exactly who's going to be in market, like you said, so you can speak directly to them? Hugely helpful. It was a big day for us yesterday. And it's interesting. I was on Instagram last night and watching the Bosnia community literally just go nuts.

7:30Kathryn Schloessman:I don't know if you saw any of the posts of how excited they are and how they rated their coaches press conference. The players did. I mean, they were going crazy. And it's just it's so nice to see that passion and fandom and something positive like that. I mean, positive news stories are great these days and that that to see people that excited to be an official part of World Cup and then playing here. And so now knowing who we're marketing to, what the fan base is, because remember that we're not just marketing out of market. We're marketing in market because Los Angeles is host to all these communities.

8:05Kathryn Schloessman:I mean, we've always said that every team is playing a home match in Los Angeles because of the community that they already have living here. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the other thing, too, with L.A., obviously, as it's so large and such a diverse market, even with the teams who aren't going to be there, at least right now that you know of for the group stages, you have games, you know, throughout the tournament. Like you said, you're going to be host to eight matches. So how are you doing that with all the other teams that are going to be in the tournament that aren't going to be in the tournament, but fans that are going to be coming, even if you're not sure if their team is going to be playing in L.A.

8:40yet?

8:40Kathryn Schloessman:Right. And that's a good point. So we have two matches around the 32 that we have, you know, technically four teams and we don't know who's playing in those. That's four other countries that could be here. Argentina, Mexico, you know, just anybody. And then, of course, we have the quarterfinal. So we have a lot of opportunity for a lot of countries to play here. So our marketing pitch has always been to everybody, but with some, you know, more specific focuses to the consulates to make sure they're getting the information because they're here sooner. and so but we continue to pitch to everybody because there's people there's a lot the majority of the visitors that are coming just want to be part of world cup and so a lot of people come you know while they're from someplace and they have a country in mind they may just want to come to los angeles camp out here go to some matches be part of this world-class event watch their country from a watch party here but we've always you know we want everybody to come here and and spend their you know as much of their world cup journey here as they can is there a large diaspora of like a certain country that is participating that you might not have in a game in market right now, but that you still are engaging with because there's just so many there are so many people from that country or, you know, originally from that country in L.A.?

9:54Kathryn Schloessman:That's a great question. I know, you know, we have a huge Croatian population here. We have a huge Mexican, you know, Hispanic population that's following Mexico. Huge, huge. I mean, We have a Mexico game here. It just goes nuts. It's so five. So there's a there's a lot of them. But we're not we're not specifically targeting anyone. We're more general of, hey, we just want people here enjoying the matches, enjoying the watch parties that are happening in the market and participating. We're just like I said, we're ready to welcome the world here. But it's a great question. You know, L.A. is basically the home for the U.S.

10:33men's national team. Like you said, they have their first game there. They have another group stage match there. And there will also be their team base camp is in California as well. Tell me about having them in market and how impactful that is for you guys.

10:45Kathryn Schloessman:I think it's it's very exciting to have them here. Again, it just brings having, especially in this time in our lives, to be opening with the U.S. men's national team for this major event. It just is a great moment of pride. And we're very excited. We've been building a lot of our marketing plans around that opening match. And like you said, they are playing a second match as well. But having the home opener of the tournament, of the World Cup that we've been working eight years to bring here, to be opening for the whole United States is a major source of pride for Los Angeles. And that's what we're building a lot of our marketing around.

11:28So like we were saying before, L.A. is a massive soccer market. The 1994 World Cup was also held in L.A. The final was held there. Can you tell me what you're doing to kind of bridge, you know, the history of the 1994 World Cup to this one? Since it's the first time we've held a World Cup in the U.S. since then.

11:49Kathryn Schloessman:Right. It's been a lot of our story. And interestingly, the person who chaired that whole effort, Alan Rothenberg, is on our board. He was part of the original bid. So we have a lot of that history of being, it's been part of our story all along that we are a soccer city. You asked earlier, you know, are we a soccer city? Yes, we have three teams here, but we also hosted the 1994 men's. We hosted the 1999 women's, you know, so we have had that history of hosting that here. I do think that, you know, 32 years later from that, which is crazy. I'm sorry. Yeah, 26. Yeah, 32. I'm sure my math is correct.

12:24Kathryn Schloessman:32 years later. It's a totally different tournament. I mean, with, you know, 104 matches, 48 teams, it's just, it's a much bigger tournament on a much bigger platform. And I also think that when it was here in 1994, which is interesting talking to people at that time, that soccer, you know, MLS wasn't around. And soccer was a little bit of an unknown. You know, obviously soccer, everybody knows soccer for their kids playing soccer. But we did not have MLS teams. And I think there was a lot of question of how successful it would be. And we all know that 1994 was incredibly successful. And the excitement in the market and people at the Rose Bowl and a sold-out event, etc.

13:02Kathryn Schloessman:So that was very, very exciting then. I think since that time, obviously, there's a lot more interest in soccer. MLS has grown. There's a lot of interest in people owning teams. And so from a business perspective, soccer has grown so tremendously. And so so so we've included in the history, but we think that this one obviously is going to surpass everything that was done in 1994. for. Yeah. And what do you do with the I'm curious how you work with the teams in the market, the MLS teams and the NWSL team that is in market? How often are you speaking with them in terms of trying to engage with the community and grow the game of soccer, especially in the L.A.

13:43market?

13:43Kathryn Schloessman:So we engage a lot. So our two co-chairs, one of them is the CEO of LAFC and the other is the former president of the L.A. Galaxy and also a former U.S. Men's National Team player. So he's been really great Chris Klein in the history and bringing in the players and so that's been a big part of it but yes to your point it can't this is this is a tourism play for for most cities it's twofold it's a tourism play and using soft using the world cup this major event to bring people to your city to spend money but it's the second piece of it is is how do we use the spotlight and the excitement around something that is so big to get people interested and drawn into playing soccer.

14:26Kathryn Schloessman:And so that's why our legacy program is built around the Grow the Game of Soccer Clinics, because we're doing 26 free clinics in market that are World Cup branded to get people, you know, use the excitement of World Cup to get people to come on out and try it, or if they've already tried soccer, to play it a little bit more. But just, again, to get people involved in a sport that really does a lot of good in the community. Is there a certain number that you're looking for in terms of youth participation, numbers growing in the region or in California as a whole or anything like that that you're hoping comes from having the tournament there?

15:06Kathryn Schloessman:Don't have a specific number. Just hope that we have made a lot more people aware of the opportunity to participate. Now, one of the other things that goes along with community impact is the economic impact as well. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how much of an economic impact you're expecting? Yes, we did an economic impact report. I think it was$892 million of economic impact. And again, what we did on our economic impact report was make sure we were super conservative. And then when you add in the media value that we have, we're estimating over a billion dollars of impact. That's actually lower than most of the other city economic impact reports.

15:49Kathryn Schloessman:And again, it was just us trying to be conservative. But I always remind people that the economic impact, it's definitely there, you know, the hotel business, those people coming to your market and spending money. But the really important part is the visibility or the future. So the spotlight that is on our city for 30, we're 31 days of the 39-day tournament. So 31 days during the tournament, but really more importantly, over the last several months and really now coming at us hard is a ton of media attention about L.A., about L.A. as a host city that we did not we would not have gotten unless the World Cup was here.

16:28Kathryn Schloessman:I mean, L.A. always gets media attention. Don't get me wrong, but there's just much more of it on L.A. What like the questions you ask, what is there to do? Where can we go? How are we going to, you know, and using that up? That's the thing that keeps me up at night. How are we using that media attention to show showcase and show the best story about our city to the world? When you're planning out a tournament like the World Cup, I can imagine, obviously, like you'd said, you're L.A. is not new to hosting big events, but it is different in terms of how global it is and how everything like that works.

17:05So can you tell us a little bit about how you have to work across, you know, infrastructure, security, safety, all of those other things to ensure a successful World Cup? Right.

17:17Kathryn Schloessman:No, it is. It's definitely different than everything. It's it having having it over, you know, 31 days. So you're not just having a one like a Super Bowl is a one event in one week. this one because it's it's so international and it's so different and so much political attention on it makes it a little bit trickier and more complicated so it's been I'll use an example of one thing that's different than other events that we have are in the world cup they have fan marches so the the fans that have a ticket to the match get together at some designated place and march over to the stadium together.

17:58Kathryn Schloessman:That was new to us because we didn't have that in some of most of the other sporting events that are here. I haven't seen it before. So just trying to plan again, they march peacefully. It's all about, you know, fandom and they're excited and, you know, to go march up to, you know, watch their team play and it's a show of support. So, but the logistics of that operationally and where are they going to gather? How are they going to march and not impede traffic? How are they going to march and not impede all the other people that are going to the matches? Just adds another layer of difficulty in planning that I'm happy to do it, excited that they want to do that, but just adds, it's another layer that goes into your operational planning.

18:45Kathryn Schloessman:So it's been a, the coordination that's required of doing this, because we're not a standalone of any. There were one of 16 cities and we're one of 11 cities in the US. There's been a lot of, what's also been different this time is that the 11 US cities have worked very closely together to plan and coordinate things. Now, every city is doing something a little differently. Every city has different challenges, different ways are laid out. But it was really important to all the 11 CEOs of the host cities to collaborate as much as we could because we know if something goes wrong in Philadelphia or Kansas City or Miami, any of the other cities, it impacts all of our cities.

19:26Kathryn Schloessman:And so there's a lot of communication that needs to take place. And every city operates differently. Every city is set up a little bit different governmentally on how they do it in jurisdictions, et cetera. Every city is not just one city. Some cities, in our case, we're hosting it in LA, but the stadiums in Englewood, the same thing in Dallas, and same thing in a couple of the other cities. So it's there's just been a lot more challenges that way. And I think the other thing that's been different and unique about this tournament that makes it much more challenging is FIFA. The organizing entity is used to hosting an event in one country with one governing group.

20:08Kathryn Schloessman:They're hosting literally 16 different events with 16 different governments. So the level of detail and the logistics that go on hosting 16 different mini World Cups takes it to a whole other level. Yeah, that is something that is right, especially different in this World Cup as opposed to just the last one we had in 2022, which was all very, very condensed in Qatar. Can you tell me a little bit more about how that worked? I mean, like for you in those conversations when you're when you're spread across the entire country, when you're spread across all of North America, what are those conversations like logistically?

20:48What are those conversations like in terms of, wow, were you at all surprised at how intense it was and how actually kind of hard it was to plan something across such a big landscape? Yeah.

21:03Kathryn Schloessman:And can I go back to the other question too? You asked me something about 1994 too, that kind of ties into what I was just telling you. In 1994, when they did World Cup, Alan Rothenberg and his team were in charge of all the host cities. So it was one structure. So they essentially were what FIFA is playing the role of now. So they made the decisions across. So it was really kind of one company that had, you know, some different, I won't even call them franchises because they worked at different offices in different cities. And this one is is completely different. So that's that's what makes it so difficult.

21:35Having to be one entity like they were in 1994 and then now it being across 16, across FIFA, across the U.S., you know, federal government, across everything like that. I mean, was that at all more challenging than you feel like you thought it would be working across every entity that you have to?

21:55Kathryn Schloessman:100 % more challenging than I thought it was going to be. This has turned into, because there are multiple cities, because it hasn't been done before, the model was being built as they were flying it. And so that makes it challenging versus when we did the Super Bowl in 2022. The NFL has now, of course, the NFL hadn't been in L.A. for 29 years. So similar situation. But the NFL did it the year before and the year before that. And they had a model. And, you know, so, of course, they're open to changing things up to be in a particular city. But they had a model of how it's done. You could look to other, you know, you could look to how it's been done over the last couple of years.