Spain's Win Caps Big World Cup for Media; Seattle Sounders CMO Ro Vega

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2:02This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Larm. I'm Vanessa Perdomo-Maglione. And I'm Randall Williams. The World Cup is over. Don't faint over there, Vanessa. Vanessa, all 104 games have officially been played, and we have a new world champion in Spain. Vanessa, how are you doing? Well, I'm not doing well, Michael. I'm not doing well. I feel like it actually hasn't sunk in yet, that everything's already over, and we won't have another World Cup until next year, which still feels too long. Randall and I went to the final on Sunday and were able to record our initial thoughts right after the last whistle, but I think we still have some thoughts left.

2:40Well, now we know some of the projected revenue numbers and are able to see the momentum going into the MLS All-Star Game next week, which, speaking of, we had the chance to sit down with the chief marketing officer at the Seattle Sounders before the World Cup was over to get his take on how Seattle did as a host city and how they hope to carry the attention into the MLS and NWSL seasons. We also check in with Bloomberg News media reporter Hannah Miller about her thoughts on the future broadcasting rights of the World Cup, along with a conversation she had with IMG President Adam Kelly. All that is coming up.

3:13But first, let's run to get our last thoughts on the World Cup, Vanessa. I know you've got a lot to say. I feel like this World Cup, as we sit and we now get to sit with it for a little bit, I will say that it was probably one of the most exciting World Cups I can remember just through everything. And I do feel like even though it was here and I didn't necessarily go to all the different cities and I didn't get to experience everything in person, there was some element that even through social media, seeing the excitement from around the U.S. felt like even closer, even though it could have been anywhere else.

3:54It was a truly beautiful time over the course of the sports summer. And I'll miss the cultures. I'll miss just the Norwegians that I saw in the timeout market. I'll miss like even walking into the stadium, Argentina's fans were the loudest I had heard the entire tournament. Just seeing MetLife before you even enter was just beautiful. And then, of course, there were journalists singing in the press box, singing their national anthem. I've never seen anything like that. No, not not like that. But even the press box experience was unique. Going to games, you never hear the press cheer. You hear them gasp.

4:28You hear them say like, but you never hear anybody like talk junk in the press box. Oh, man, there was a hard, fast rule. I've talked about this before. No cheering in the press box. I mean, they would give me the look, you know, unless somebody, like, got really jacked up on the football field or something like that. But other than that, man, it was relatively quiet. So I'll miss that. I'll just miss the excitement around the summer. This is normally the time period that the World Cup took place in. It's normally a quieter period in sports. The NBA Finals ends. The WNBA season continues. Then we have MLB All-Star.

5:02But those things are not in the MLS All-Star. Vanessa is saying to me and the NBA Summer League, there's a lot of events, but none of them have the peak of the World Cup. And so I'll miss it. Yeah, I think that apart from all, you know, everything we're going to miss from it, it is going to be interesting as we take a look throughout the next few weeks, throughout the next few months, what really this is going to do to the U.S. soccer market. After the U.S. fell out of the tournament, I really thought it was it was going to be nothing. I thought, OK, well, this is over. Everyone was expecting them to get to the quarterfinal and that was going to change everything.

5:40And now that they didn't, nothing's going to change. But I actually think I might have to revisit that and think I do believe that soccer is still going to boom in the country. I think we'll see a lot more viewership. I don't know if it'll be MLS viewership. I think it might still be international soccer viewership, Premier League, Champions League. But I do think that will grow in the US. I do, too. I think the sports popularity here domestically is going to grow. But I'm not so sure just about the MLS. I think because of the fact that the best players play overseas and there's a lot of international players that still play here.

6:17But how many that played in the World Cup are going to be recognizable to fans who are just tuning in regularly to the MLS? I'm not so sure about. However, I do think that this event is going to inspire the next generation of soccer players. It's just about are they going to be able to stay here? Will the MLS be able to advance forward enough so that Joe Schmo, who's nine years old right now, when he's 18 or 19 and he's a global phenomenon, that he does not go and play for PSG? By the way, fun fact, 62 million people watched the final of the World Cup. And that's doing something between Fox and Telemundo.

6:57Yep. Man, that's really doing something. Yeah, it shows the growth of the sport. Who could ever imagine that a World Cup final here in America would outdraw a good portion of NFL games that are not the Super Bowl? The Super Bowl, of course, is close to double that. But in terms of the NFC and AFC championship games, it's pretty far along. That's incredible. Now, again, we'll compare those numbers in four years from now with Spain, Portugal, and Morocco hosting. I don't think that time difference is quite that big to where people won't be able to tune in. But it's a time difference nonetheless.

7:27less. And so we'll find out what the momentum looks like going forward. I think as we look ahead to MLS All-Star game, that's the MLS All-Star game next week. I think one of the interesting things there is what we were talking about is how MLS teams are going to be thinking about this. And I've been doing some reporting around it. And one of the things I found the most interesting, actually, and when I was having conversations with teams was that just because some of the players, the best players in the world don't play here now, doesn't mean they can't and they won't, not necessarily because the MLS is going to get better, but because the MLS calendar is changing, which means they're going to be allowed to do loans with other teams.

8:04And I didn't think that's something I heard very often, and I think that's something that actually might be real. Like, maybe Lamin-Yemal or Erlen Holling, they don't want to come here for years, but I could see Man City loaning Erlen Holling to NYCFC, especially considering they're under the same ownership for a season. Why not? I know we're running out of time, but I got to give a shout out. WNBA, the all-star weekend is upon us. Your thoughts? I think I'm interested to see Kathy Engelbert, the WNBA commissioner, pressured once again. It's been a tumultuous season despite the success, despite the CBA increasing player pay.

8:45There's just been a lot of things happening that just aren't really about basketball itself. We have the flagrant fouls. We have players getting injured. We have players speaking out. And Kathy Engelbert, although she has been defensive over the players, she just hasn't been loud. And so when she gets to the podium, I assume that someone is going to ask her not only about the fouls and about Caitlin Clark, but also about her future. She has not said that she is going to stay on long term. I asked Adam Silver if he had had any conversations with the WNBA Board of Governors and the NBA Board of Governors about Kathy Engelbert's future.

9:17He said that he would leave that to her. And so I'm looking forward to see what she has to say. And I think that she'll deflect. And, you know, when the season is over and some time passes, Bloomberg has previously reported that she began having conversations about leaving that role. And I expect that to happen. I think it's interesting because I think even though they didn't have a work stoppage, as we might have thought that they would because of the CBA, I think because of all the other issues that you had just mentioned, Randall, I think there was still some, you know, drop off of excitement around the WNBA.

9:50So I'm hoping if she answers the questions and all of that and it kind of picks back up this pace for the WNBA and hopefully just the hype of the All-Star game can do that for the WNBA. Yeah, I think the last thing that I'd say on this is that for such a pivotal moment, for such a monumental moment for the WNBA, after we celebrated the CBA, it has felt like a struggle to climb up the hill in terms of popularity. Like in terms just the conversations that we're having are almost never about basketball. That's a problem. And I think the commissioner's period should be at the forefront of driving narrative.

10:24Roger Goodell has league meetings and he goes to the podium and says what he says and he does interviews. And Adam Silver is no different. Rob Manfred is no different. I believe the NWSL's commissioner, she does a lot of media. Kathy Engelberg doesn't. And I think that hurts the league. Yeah, I agree. So more on that, and we'll see what happens with that this weekend. So I think that with the WNBA, I just feel like is the reason why the hype around it because of all the issues surrounding Kaitlin Clark and all of that really, it's overshadowing the basketball, like you said. And I don't know if it's also because the teams that came in this season, they're not making as big of a splash as the Valkyries did as well.

11:08No, I don't think so. I think expansion is hard. But the conversation and Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have always been lightning rods, even going back years when they were in college. But we don't talk about them on the court. We just don't. We don't say Caitlin Clark is playing incredibly well or Angel Reese. Michael, see, I want to go back. I'm going old school. I'm from a native Detroiter here and we had the bad boys with the Detroit Pistons and even if you tried to go up the lane and Bill Lambir was there to stop you we still talked about basketball and you bring up a very good point why aren't we talking about what's happening on the court right and but I think it's because of the fact that the some of the refereeing that we're seeing is so egregious and the players are complaining so loud about it but yet it does not seem like anything is being done.

11:58The foul on Caitlin Clark should have been a flagrant foul. It was assessed afterwards, and it was the right decision. But there was a report that came out from the Sports Business Journal that Adam Silver was the person who pushed for Cathy to do that. And I do think that leagues have a responsibility of protecting stars. That does not mean showing favoritism. But in terms of pushing the WNBA to the next generation, the stars are not going to get any smaller. We still have Asia Wilson, who is the greatest WNBA player of all time. We still have, of course, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Nafisa Collier, who has not played, and so many others who have a dominant presence in this league.

12:38But if they are constantly off the floor because of the physical nature of this game, then you might need to shift the rules. You might need to do better refereeing so that you can protect players and keep stars on the floor. Yeah, I also agree with that. And I think one of the other things that the WNBA might be running into is you can't continue that climb forever. You know, they were on such a such a high when Cailin Clark and Angel Reese and that round of rookies entered the WNBA. And then last year we had Paige Beckers enter the WNBA at a huge to huge excitement. So I just feel like because of the CBA had all these conversations, we were looking to see if they were going to get on the court at all.

13:17And then they did. And then it was like, all right, like, cool. They did it. Happy for them. Maybe after that, you don't it's just hard to continue that excitement. And, you know, now they're just like at a level maybe that they're going to stay at until they can do something else to get that excitement again. Last thing that I have to say is that Olivia Miles is electric. I don't know if she's going to win the WNBA MVP because Asia Wilson is still the GOAT. But man, Olivia Miles has a bright future ahead of her. I can't wait to watch her in future games and seasons to come. Well, more on soccer next because I did tell you that we aren't going to shut up about the World Cup.

13:58At least I won't. We will be talking to the Seattle Sounders CMO about how they plan to capitalize on soccer more. That's straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. For Vanessa Perdomo-Naglione and Randall Williams, I'm Michael Barr. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports, Bloomberg Radio around the world. The 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.

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16:55I'm Michael Barr. I'm Vanessa Perdomo-Magmione. And I'm Miranda Williams. The World Cup may be over. Sniff. But what we are going to be paying attention to in the coming weeks and months is the latest impact the tournament has had on its host cities. and the MLS and NWSL teams that are still in the market. Right before the World Cup closed out, we spoke with the Chief Marketing Officer of the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign, Ro Vega, about how the team activated during the tournament and how they worked to grow soccer in the Seattle market. Let's take a listen to our conversation with Ro Vega, Chief Marketing Officer of the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign.

17:32Ro, thank you so much for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. And I want to talk about Seattle, long viewed as one of America's premier soccer cities. What makes this market different from others? I think what makes it is the rich history. You know, I think soccer in this country still seems a little bit nascent or at least has for the last 10, 15 years. But, you know, we've been around as an organization for 52 years. So going back to 1974. So we've been around for a long, long time. And we really take pride in being one of those long-history soccer markets. And the fans show up in such a special way because of it.

18:14So I think that's something that really sets us apart. Ro, obviously, I don't want to touch too much on it, but we have to talk about the fact that the U.S. was there in Seattle and played their last game in the market. But obviously, they did show up. Fans did show up. Can you tell us a little bit about having the U.S. game there and then also like what you guys were doing like with the Sounders and the Reign to capitalize on the U.S. being there and just like with the whole World Cup being in the market as well? Yeah, no, I mean, it was we were incredibly fortunate. You know, I think we had the U.S.

18:47play in market here in Seattle twice. So we had their second game on June 19th against Australia. And the way that the country and the state and the city of Seattle showed up for that game was incredible. And so having, you know, going back to the planning stages, we knew from the from the jump that that date was circled on the calendar because the eyes of the entire sport in this country were going to be on Seattle at the stadium, but also in how we show up as a community, you know, because we are such a strong, strong soccer community. And I think that's it was pretty incredible to see how, you know, thousands and thousands of fans flooded the streets going to the stadium, but also every single watch party.

19:36I want to say we had at least 10 ,000 people at our Seattle soccer celebration, just flooding the pier, the barge and the Salish steps. So it is incredible to see how much energy this men's national team was able to to rally in soccer fans and kind of these newer fans. They're new people to the sport. So it's awesome to have the U.S. team here in June and then fortunate enough to have them again in July against Belgium. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way. But again, the city showed up and showed out in a spectacular way. And so the World Cup is happening so quickly. It feels like just yesterday that it was beginning.

20:17And now tomorrow it feels like it's ending. I wonder from your perspective, how do you keep this high going? How do you, you know, the event is eventually going to end, but the energy behind the global sport of football, how do you keep that going? I mean, that's the challenge. You know, I think this is the work that we've been doing. I've been in and around soccer for the last 20 plus years. And this was always the moment that we were waiting for, right? What was that going to be that catalystic moment to really accelerate the growth of the game in this country the way it did in 94? So it's all about taking that momentum, taking that casual viewer, reminding them that, hey, you have world class soccer at a world class facility in your backyard.

21:00This doesn't have to stop. The World Cup may leave, but soccer culture and world class soccer is here to stay. And it's something we're super proud of. And so we have different mechanisms in place, different programs to invite old fans, current fans and new fans into into our communities, both on the Sounders side and the Reign side. We're talking with Ro Vega, Chief Marketing Officer of the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign. And this is something for you guys. It's really unique. Seattle, only one of the few cities with both an MLS and NWSL club operating under one business organization. Can you talk to us about how that's an advantage for you when it comes to the ownership group?

21:47Yeah. I mean, I think it's a tremendous advantage, right? we get to talk to two very different consumers and bring them closer together. You know, if you're interested in the men's game, you know, there's a really incredible product on the women's side just next door, literally in the same building. But, you know, the proximity allows us to talk to one massive soccer community and get really specific in terms of tailoring messaging, one versus the other, and also bring those communities closer together. This hasn't always been the case. You know, we took on and bought the rain as part of the Sounders organization just about two years ago.

22:28So there are some, you know, there's a little bit of a learning curve, but we're figuring it out. And I think the ability to talk to one broad soccer community and bring them into two different expressions of that is really the biggest advantage. I think that's really interesting. And I want to get a little bit into that in a second. But I do want to just ask, you know, from your perspective, like you said, you know, the MLS and the NWSL and you guys in Seattle particularly have put in place, you know, been looking to this moment as a catalyst, right, to grow soccer again like we did after 94.

23:04But does the men exiting in the quarterfinal again have, you know, any impact on that, do you think, especially as the way they exited was so defeating? You know, do you think that there's still going to be that same boom and same appetite that you guys were expecting? I think so. I think for the city of Seattle, you know, what we were able to do as as an organization, as a city. I hope you guys have seen the pictures, the videos of what this city, how this city showed up. But like I said before, thousands and thousands of people showing up to our activation at Pier 62 in the waterfront. Yeah, the floating barge with the floating pitch.

23:42I mean, it was just incredible to see. And I think it's a great reminder as much as the U.S. men's exit was unfortunate and probably not the best representation of how we want to remember the team itself. I think what is going to survive beyond maybe, you know, this tournament is the spirit of soccer and the ability to create community and our ability to cut, like the ability of soccer specifically as a sport to bring people together. you know there's the it's not the best time in in history and we're not everyone's not you know super happy you're prosperous etc but this game and this tournament has reminded us of the beauty of this sport and its ability to bring people together and so as much as you know hey if if the u.s men's team would have kept going would have been awesome right yeah and historic it's already been a pretty historic World Cup and a great reminder of what the sport can do for community, what it can do in Seattle and how we show up.

24:47And so I think it's, you know, the job is now, right? The work starts now in terms of taking all that energy from the from the waterfront, from the floating pitch on the barge. There is still this incredible 52 year storied community that plays in their backyard week in and week out. I wonder what you've learned from this event. And the reason that I ask is there are several huge FIFA events, whether it be the Club World Cup, the Women's World Cup next year, and then it eventually will be hosted here as well. What have you learned that you're going to take with you to capitalize on another moment like this when there's going to be a surge of energy around the global sport of soccer?

25:26You know, so I'm new-ish to Seattle. So I've been here eight, nine months, And I've seen the ability, you know, my first day here was the Leagues Cup win over Miami. You know, incredible win, 3-0, Sounders, you know, 70 ,000 people at Lumen Field. So I've seen what the sport can do in the stadium and how it brings the city together. But honestly, you know, I had no idea how crazy this entire World Cup was going to be in terms of the amount of people and the amount of community that showed up for each other. You know, we had Bosnia, thousands and thousands of Bosnians from the state of Washington marching to the pitch.

26:11Every single Mexico game, we had seven to ten thousand spectators and fans coming with just crazy energy. Same for the U.S., same for Belgium. And so I think we forget, at least for me, or it's a brand new learning about Seattle as a city and how crazy they are for sport, how insanely passionate they are about this game. So for me, taking it to next year in the Women's World Cup and hopefully when we host games here in 2031, it's that acknowledgement that the people are here and everything in between, really. The people are here. The people want this high level of quality game. The people want to come together in the spirit of community.