FIFA World Cup in North America Kicks Off

0:00Hisense started as a small radio factory and now supports the greatest football tournament on Earth. Find out more later in this podcast. Hisense, official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026. This sports spotlight is brought to you by Capital One Venture X Card, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Did you know that the largest crowd ever to witness a women's sporting event was in 2023 at the University of Nebraska? 92 ,003 fans filled the home of Nebraska football, Memorial Stadium, to watch Nebraska volleyball defeat Omaha 3-0. With Venture X, enjoy easy-to-use premium benefits like a$300 annual Capital One travel credit.

0:39Plus, you can earn unlimited double miles on every purchase. Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com for details. So there's a lot of noise about AI, but time's too tight for more promises. So let's talk about results. At IBM, we work with our employees to integrate technology right into the systems they need. Now, a global workforce of 300 ,000 can use AI to fill their HR questions, resolving 94 % of common questions. Not noise. Proof of how we can help companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business. IBM. Bloomberg Audio Studios.

1:20Podcasts. Radio. News. This is the business of sports. Our aim is always to leverage the global appeal of football. Having representation in college sports is even more important than pro.

1:33Vanessa Perdomo:10 % of Americans now claim soccer to be their favorite sport. We estimate the youth sports audience has$3 trillion in spending power. The nature of baseball is it is worldwide and it is global. I'm very happy for the WNBA and how the NBA has embraced them. Sportsbooks are not going anywhere and sports betting is only growing. We have a super team running this league, and this league is here, and it's here to stay. Bloomberg Business of Sports, from Bloomberg Radio. Hello, this is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr. I'm Vanessa Perdomo-Maglione.

2:10And I'm Miranda Williams. Man, oh man, it is finally here. The FIFA 26 World Cup kicks off this week. I'm way too excited. We've been talking about this nonstop for the last year, and the week is finally here. I truly cannot believe it. Now, I don't know if any of us are quite as geeked as Vanessa, but it's a great time when everyone on Earth is tuned in to one event. The tournament is kicking off across 16 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and we are going to be checking on various host cities throughout the tournament to catch the vibes in different arenas. Vanessa's hair is standing up and her nostrils are flurring.

2:48I see it right here. Today, we are starting off by speaking to Bloomberg's Gonzalo Soto out of Mexico City, who is going to tell us everything we need to know about Mexico preparing to host the tournament for a record-breaking third time. Gonzalo, welcome back to the Bloomberg Business of Sports, and I can tell you how people are excited already. President of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, she has issued a decree ordering federal workers in the capital to work from home and oh she has suspended school classes to ease traffic during the FIFA World Cup opening event.

3:27Vanessa Perdomo:Hey thank you thank you for having me here again and yes basically President Sheinbaum answered to millions of kids prayers and best wishes to not having to go to school during the first game of Mexico's participation in the World Cup. Lots of excitement lots of excitement going Now that the tournament has begun, there was a lot of tension in the days prior, lots of protests here in the city, lots of expectation of what was going to happen with the teachers union that was disrupting the city and disrupting with protests nationwide. But, you know, finally, when the ball kicked in, when the referee began the first match against South Africa, things started to change and people started to relax.

4:15Vanessa Perdomo:Because, yes, as you said, Mexico's hosting for the third time a World Cup, a record third time. And, you know, out of the three countries. And I mean, I don't want to sound dismissive to the U.S. and to Canadian fans, but definitely soccer has a much different feeling here in Mexico. This is a soccer-matte country. And now that the ball is actually in play, I think there's a lot of expectation of what's going to happen with the Mexican national team going forward in the tournament. The brackets are very, very complicated for every team. But I think there's a lot of expectation for Mexican fans of how far can the team go.

4:55Gonzalo, I've been trying everything in my power to get down there for a game, and I haven't been able to make it happen. But I just know, I mean, you're right. Mexican fans are just so, so passionate about soccer. But you did actually do a story recently about how this World Cup is feeling a little bit different for fans than previously. Tell us about that.

5:16Vanessa Perdomo:Yeah, I mean, of course. I mean, when I said the thing here is prices were or prices are extremely high for the average Mexican fan. I mean, I know this has been a discussion in the United States and in Canada, of course. But when you compare the average income from Mexican worker to the rest of North America, there is a huge difference. And of course, the average Mexican fan, you know, believes that this is something that's unpayable. I mean, in some cases, some tickets went as far as 300 ,000 pesos, which is basically mortgage down payment money. I mean, for some fans, it was the decision between buying a car or buying a World Cup ticket, one World Cup ticket.

6:03Vanessa Perdomo:So that put off a lot of fans going into the World Cup. Also, there was this feeling that out of the 100 plus games that this World Cup is going to have, Mexico only has 13 matches happening here in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and in Monterrey, the host cities. So that also put off a lot of people thinking that, well, maybe we're not really official hosts. Maybe we're just, you know, we're being treated as a, I don't know, like a footnote in saying this World Cup. which, of course, that started to change as the tournament was approaching. But, you know, basically it was prices and it was the amount of games that Mexico was going to host that was, you know, putting off a lot of fans.

6:55Vanessa Perdomo:Going back to the prices, I mean, I know affordability is a conversation in the U.S. So is in Mexico, especially in cities like Mexico City, where gentrification has been an issue, where rising prices for every type of service and goods has been also on the rise. And now when the World Cup came, things started to change. And then public works. You know, every city is hosting a tournament or an event of this size and this scope begins doing a lot of, you know, renovation and public works construction. But in Mexico's case, all these works were postponed to the very last minute and people were just, you know, frustrated by it.

7:42Vanessa Perdomo:Several weekends before the World Cup, people couldn't use the subway, which is a vile transportation form here in the city. So that was very complicated, that complicated life of a lot of fans and non-fans here in the city. And, you know, that grew frustrations. But now, I mean, I think things are starting to change. So let me ask you this. I wonder from Mexico's perspective and your perspective, do you expect any of these stadiums to be potentially half full because fans are being priced out? We're having a lot of conversations in the U.S. and even from Canada's perspective about whether the countries who may not be able to travel as much if they will show up in these stadiums.

8:26Is that of the same concern in Mexico?

8:29Vanessa Perdomo:Well, you know, Mexico's games, the Mexican national team's games are sold out. The rest of the games, although we don't have like big marquee games, with the exception of Spain versus Uruguay, Guadalajara, most of the games are not really, you know, that interesting or that exciting compared to other types of matches. But since Mexico has so few games, I mean, as I said, 13 games, most of the people have tried to find tickets and just lived the experience of being in a World Cup. So I think that unlike in the U.S., games in Mexico are going to be more packed. And I mean, also, Mexico doesn't require visa for most countries that are going to play in the World Cup.

9:17Vanessa Perdomo:And therefore, that could also be a boost for fans that, you know, they're trying to look for a way to follow their team. Mexico, I think it's much easier to travel to. We are talking with Bloomberg's Gonzalo Soto out of Mexico City. And when I read this, I had no idea this was a controversy. And I know I'm going to mess this name up. It's the water monster. It's the, for the World Cup, it is a salamander and it's pronounced Ajo Loto. And it's the, I guess you would call it the, what, the mascot for the World Cup. But it has caused a bit of a problem. What is the controversy? Yeah, well, your pronunciation was kind of spot on.

10:06Vanessa Perdomo:So no worries about that. In Spanish, it's, you know, I think it sounds nice. where it's ajolote and it's an endemic amphibious animal from Mexico. You should just Google it. It's really beautiful. It's a really interesting animal. But the controversy has been that Mexico City's major, it's obsessed with it. Like, absolutely obsessed. And Major Clara Brugada decided to paint the city purple out of, you know, maybe it's her favorite color. And also she decided to paint the Jolotes everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere, on the walls, on the streets, everywhere. And she also decided at some point to paint, for example, some traffic signals, traffic signs that she decided to paint those purple, which, of course, goes against traffic rules because they have to be in a color that you can actually see at night.

11:09Vanessa Perdomo:Whereas, you know, purple you can see at night. And she had to repaint those yellow. And there's this huge controversy. Where did the money come from? How did they pay for it? Why did they decide to paint so many ajolotes everywhere in the city? There was this meme that, you know, went viral or this image that went viral. Mexico City has a flood problem. Several, you know, it rains a lot here during the summer. And there are some places, you know, some underpasses particularly that tend to flood very frequently. And there was this image that, you know, in an underpass that flooded. And above the water level that reached several feet high, there was this ajo like trying to plunge into the water.

12:02Vanessa Perdomo:And I think that was the perfect example of everything that was going bad for local government with the construction works, with everything that they postponed and everything that they didn't do to get the city ready on time. So, yeah, I mean, that was a big controversy. And it will continue to be a controversy because the local opposition has filed for a complaint for an investigation or a probe into why Mexico City's major decided to do all this. And where did the money come from? That's interesting. And speaking of money and speaking of how funds are allocated throughout Mexico, how has security been handled in the different cities across?

12:49I know a couple of months ago, Guadalajara had some problems with security and it raised questions if they're ready to host. I know you're going to be heading there soon as well, right? So how is security being handled in all the different cities?

13:03Vanessa Perdomo:Well, the Mexican government has really gone out of their way to make the city safe. Tens of thousands of police officers, Navy personnel, Army personnel have been deployed across all the whole cities. and National Guard personnel also will be protecting and guarding the areas around the stadiums, you know, in order to avoid some of the scenes that, you know, basically went viral in late February when the Mexican security forces killed this notorious drug lord, you know, nicknamed El Mencho. And, you know, so far everything has gone smoothly and just let's hope that that continues that way. That was Bloomberg's economic and government reporter Gonzalo Soto out of Mexico City Up next we'll check in with a man Who facilitated the U.S.'s First World Cup Alan Roffenberg That is straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports For Vanessa Perdomo, Magleone And Randall Williams, I'm Michael Barr You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world

14:14The world first experienced football through sound. A crackle, a voice from afar, carrying the hopes of millions. Football traveled by frequency and imagination did the rest. But technology never stood still. It evolved frame by frame. With Hisense, the game steps into a new light. Flickering black and white unfolded into color distant heroes moved at the speed of sight we feel every pass every strike every second that stops time sharp emotion richer color hat trick technology behind every unforgettable moment from radio factory to immersive display the beautiful game is for everyone Hisense, tuned to the game.

15:10Hisense, official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026. This sports spotlight is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One offers no fees or minimums on checking accounts. Did you know that Toni Stone is considered the female Jackie Robinson? The first woman to play big league pro baseball, Stone signed with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League in 1953 to play second base. Hank Aaron played second for the team before her. Capital One, what's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash BankGuy for details. Capital One, N-A, member FDIC. The thing about AI for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works.

15:50At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across HR, IT, and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slash repetitive tasks, and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business, IBM. This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr. I'm Vanessa Perdomo-Maglione. And I'm Miranda Williams. Joining us now is Alan Rothenberg.

16:32He was the president of U.S. soccer during the 1994 World Cup and author of The Big Bounce. At the time the U.S. was given the World Cup in 1994, it came with a stipulation that we had to create a domestic professional league because the North American Soccer League had folded 10 years prior. Allen had a very hard task of helping owners set up a viable professional league while also introducing the sport of soccer to Americans who didn't really know it on a large scale yet. Oh, and let's not forget, he also played a pivotal role in making the 1999 Women's World Cup become the major success that it was as the greatest U.S.

17:08team in history. Doggone skippy. Let's welcome Alan to the show. Alan Rothenberg, former president of U.S. soccer and author of The Big Bounce. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. And you know what? I'm going to start with our own poll for Bloomberg that was taken in, I think, late May. Now, obviously, the World Cup, people are excited about it. But if you ask baby boomers like me, we have displayed the least excitement. Three-fourths of the cohort said that we're not into soccer. And now this is the part I don't get. About half of them never heard of megastar Lionel Messi. So, Alan, I got to start.

17:56We both know Lionel Messi. What are we going to do to get the baby boomers like me more interested in soccer? Well, first of all, if you compare the percentage of people that are interested in soccer in the United States today to what it was back before we did the 1994 World Cup, the number would be exponentially higher. So it's a generational thing. It keeps growing. and I'm surprised that, frankly, the messy thing, because I just saw a report that, granted it's worldwide, he has 500 million Instagram followers. Yeah, and you're right. Gen Zers are the members that they have shown the most enthusiasm about it.

18:44And boomers came on the scene growing up, and that's really where you get your interest and passion for sports. Growing up, there was very little soccer in the United States. So you missed out, frankly. And each new generation is growing up with the sport. Today is the number one participant sport. Today, there was a poll, I forgot who did it, but it was a legitimate pollster that added as the third most popular sport in the country right now after football and basketball. average attendance at MLS matches last year were greater than average attendance at NBA and NHL games and we're pretty darn close to baseball so a lot of it I think is frankly your generation missed out on it I mean it is like you said a generational thing and how different it is from even the 30 years ago from the 1994 World Cup Alan can you set the scene for us then about how we won the bid and how you at the time were educating people on really what the World Cup was for the U.S.

20:01Well, we won the bid in an uncontested competition, effectively, because I think the only other bidder was Teheran, was Iran at that time. So, you know, and it was a time when FIFA absolutely coveted coming to the rich U.S. market. What happened was in 1984, we had the Olympics in L.A. I was commissioner of soccer in 84. We blew past track and field with attendance. We led the Olympics in attendance. I sold out the Rose Bowl twice for the semifinal and the final. And that's when FIFA felt that it would still be a risk, but they could take the chance on bringing the World Cup to the United States.

20:51When I took over running the World Cup in 1990, I did not assume there were enough core soccer fans that they could fully support the World Cup. But I knew that America loves a big event. And so what we did is we set about making this a big event. We did things that had never been done before. lots of celebrity activities, lots of concerts and entertainment activities surrounding the World Cup. You know, in all prior World Cups, they were in soccer-mad countries. So they didn't do anything except, okay, let's play soccer. We really revolutionized it, and so many of the things that we did have now been commonplace.

21:37For example, the Olympics always had a torch relay. what we decided is well we don't have a torch but we do have a World Cup trophy and so we did a World Cup trophy tour and travel throughout the United States going into city after city and creating an event around it for the final draw which really matches up who's going to play whom and in the past it really was just a technical operation we had a big gala the night before with James Brown and Smokey Robinson and in an unforgettable presentation, Robin Williams was the emcee at the draw. People still go to YouTube to see his amazing performance for the opening.

22:23Previously, again, there'd be an announcement by the president of whatever country was hosting it and then start playing. Well, we did a pre-kickoff presentation presentation with Oprah Winfrey emceeing it, John Ciccata performing, and Diana Ross performing. And on and on, those weren't the only ones, and we did tons of things. So it was really to generate the feeling that this is an event you've got to go see, which worked. You know, we sold out basically 100 % of the tournament, set all kinds of records for attendance, for financial net benefit. So I do wonder from your perspective, I'm at NFL league meetings all the time where I see Bob Kraft and Clark Hunt, but you go back 30 years, I do wonder what the conversations were like with them back then.

23:21Clark had not yet emerged as the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs that he is today. So what were the conversations like around these sports business Titans now that weren't quite Titans then. Well, you start with this. Lamar Hunt, Clark's father, probably was the biggest sports Titan in many ways in modern history. He named the Super Bowl. But he has been a soccer fan from day one. He actually, when he was in his 20s, was the owner of the Dallas Tornado of the original North American Soccer League. And when that league began to crumble, for several years, he basically kept it alive financially.

24:04So he was there from the beginning. He was on our World Cup board. When I prepared the first draft of the MLS business plan, the first person I showed it to was Lamar, got his input. So he was in there from day one. The other two key people from the beginning were Phil Anschutz. and Phil got his introduction. This is a great story. I have it in my book. But he was a client of my law firm. And so we, the partner that was really closest to him, sent him our investment book. And Phil took an interest in starting with MLS Soccer. But his real introduction was we had given him free tickets to the Brazil-Italy final in 1994.

24:58When he ultimately built the first stadium for the Galaxy here in Los Angeles, he had a big party, and he came to me and he said, Alan, you know those free tickets you gave me to the World Cup final? I said, yes. He said, so far they've cost me$300 million. And believe me, he put more behind that. Now, Bob Kraft was interesting because he really didn't have the same involvement as Lamar and Phil. But he got taken because, you know, we played matches at Foxborough Stadium. And that really was his introduction to international soccer. And so he took a flyer on it, if you will. So again, on that one, Lamar was crucial to him acting.

25:52You know, Lamar was so respected by these other people, you know, because of his longstanding NFL as well as soccer background, that they really respected his views. So that's really how that core group of owners came together. And they're still with the league 30-something years later. We're talking with Alan Rothenberg, former president of U.S. soccer and author of The Big Bounce. And you brought it up. You were also part, as you said, of the North American Soccer League, folded in 1984, I believe. And I don't understand why, because I thought it was a great idea. What happened in that to where it ended?

26:34Well, first of all, there really still was a growing base of soccer support. So it was, you know, growing but still small, if you will. In many ways, they expanded too fast. They were so determined to get a national television contract, they felt they had to have a national footprint. And they expanded too fast, which cost them two things. One is a dilution of talent that was incredible. And the other was a disparity of wealth of the owners. And then in its heyday, you had the New York Cosmos. And it was great. They filled what is now MetLife Stadium. They brought in Pele Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Quinalia.

27:22You know, really caught the world on fire. But the problem was they were owned by Warner Communication. And then throughout the league, you didn't have people with anywhere near the kind of capital to spend on it as they did. And here in Los Angeles, a group of us put a partnership together. We brought the LA Aztecs. We went and got Johan Cruyff, who at that time was the best player in the world. But we were a bunch of working stiffs. And the capital calls kept coming. And we decided, you know, it's just over our heads. So we sold the team. The combination of all those things, I think. and then the killer really was a corporate transaction in Warner's.

28:08They bought Atari. I don't know if you remember all that. Oh, yeah. For gaming companies. And it was a financial disaster. So suddenly they started taking a look at, you know, the things that the company was doing that were outside their core business. And obviously soccer was one of those. And so suddenly they pulled back. And so that big anchor for the league suddenly disappeared. So all those things came together. And, you know, the basic underlying factor was there just weren't enough core soccer fans in the country yet to sustain it. That was former U.S. soccer president Alan Rothenberg. Up next, we are sticking with the history of the 1994 World Cup, where we are joined by one of the stars of the team, Alexi Lalas.

29:00That is straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. I'm Michael Barr with Vanessa Perdomo-Megleon and Randall Williams. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports, Bloomberg Radio around the world. This sports spotlight is brought to you by Capital One Venture X Card, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Did you know that the largest crowd ever to witness a women's sporting event was in 2023 at the University of Nebraska, 92 ,003 fans filled the home of Nebraska football, Memorial Stadium, to watch Nebraska volleyball defeat Omaha 3-0. With Venture X, enjoy easy-to-use premium benefits like a$300 annual Capital One travel credit.