Scott Galloway on Football’s American Moment, the Rise of U.S. Ownership, and the Power of Shared Experiences: Men in Blazers 06/16/26

0:00For nearly two decades, almost as long as Tim Ream has been in the US Men's National Team, Allstate has backed the growth of this game in every corner of this great footballing nation. From grassroots pitches to the biggest stages, they've been here, believing in it, protecting its future, because supporting soccer, it's not just about match days. And that's why Allstate offers affordable coverage at personalised rates, so you can spend less time worrying and more time watching. Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. Visit allstate.com or call a local agent today. Allstate, you're in good hands.

0:36Potential savings vary subject to terms and availability. Allstate North America Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We are delighted to bring you the Men in Blazers City Guides presented by Visa. A joyously assembled guide to the best places to eat, drink and explore and watch the beautiful game across the country. It's a guide aimed at helping fans experience the city as a local. It's built by you, our listeners, recommending some of the best small businesses in your communities. Like the finest Viet Cajun in Houston. Yes. The best burrito in San Francisco. Yes. Where to savour lemon pepper wet in Atlanta.

1:16Yes, yes, yes. A massive shout out to our sponsor Visa, who's made this guide possible. Visa gives local business owners the tools and support to be ready for moments exactly like this one, welcoming you to enjoy the games this summer. Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. A word from our friends at 1440. The 2022 World Cup final drew 1.5 billion viewers. It's 11 times this year's Super Bowl. To understand how football became the world's game and what drove it, listen to 1440 Explores with Financial Times journalist Simon Kuiper, who will give you the inside scoop into the depths of the tournament.

1:57Listen to 1440 Explores wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, suboptimal radio. It feels like what the UN was supposed to do, the World Cup is actually doing. So I'm a big fan.

2:18I'm delighted to be joined by a remarkable bloke, equipped with a human superpower, almost to peel back the layers of any story. He's a professor turned broadcaster. I will say the Prof G Show, it's something that I listen to on the regs to understand the world in a deeper way. He's the author of a beautiful book, 2025's Notes on Being a Man. He's become increasingly proper football through his time in London. He even co-owns a piece of the Colombian superpower in the making, Inter Bogota, with our friends Rob and Ryan. It is a joy to welcome back, live from London, it's Professor Scott Galloway.

2:54Raj, it's great to be with you. And by the way, let me just say I'm enjoying this pod immensely so far. It's all going to go downhill from here, Scott, I promise. You and I taught last World Cup. I think you just moved to London. I believe you're there with your kids now. How has the World Cup intake been this time around? Look, for me, World Cup, it's something we do as a family. I started going in 92. I went to Russia. I went to Qatar. I take my boys. And it's kind of a marker of time for me. And I'm not a big sports fan, but something we plan around is the World Cup. As soon as I get off with you, going upstairs, we're all ordering wings, and we're watching Senegal versus France.

3:36Yeah, so for me, it's about marking time with family. I don't consider myself a sports fan, but I think there's something very unique about the tournament. I'm not a huge fan of FIFA, but I'm a huge fan of the World Cup. And I think it also, to be blunt, just demonstrates kind of the best form of masculinity. When you see the Senegalese team dancing, when you see the Japanese team cleaning up in the stands, when you see, was it the Norwegian team with that row? It just feels so wholesome. The Viking rowing clap. Yeah, so before the Scotland and Morocco, me and my youngest are going to take part in a tartan march here.

4:12I just, I think it's wonderful. By the way, I love what you're saying, because I really do believe that, Scott, that ultimately the sport's most powerful gift, you and your boys, is the ability to make those cross-generational memories. Yeah, and my observation going to probably, I don't know, 30 or 40 Premier League games since I moved here, is that it feels like it's one of the few places men can be emotive. It feels like for a lot of these guys, it's the only place where they hug each other, scream, get upset, high five each other. They're affectionate. So I think it hits on a lot of levels.

4:49You're talking to someone. I always joke, but the joke has truth in it. Football is the place where I feel things, happiness, sadness, defeat, glory. The normal people feel in real life, but I feel very dead to inside. So like you are so onto it. And this World Cup is that times 100, just the seismic kind of unity. It is like a global eclipse that's sweeping the nation, making you feel it not just in the stadium or on a local level. It is hyper global. And I'm fascinated to hear how you think about it because there's nothing like it. 200 million people watch the Super Bowl. Five billion people watch the World Cup.

5:29It's almost like, and you're a marketer, so you understand it far better than I do. it's almost like the one kind of lasting global megaphone the one billboard visible from outer space the one potential unified i love that yeah i think it is it does feel like one of the few things i mean you saw some of that with the knicks it kind of brought the city together but the world cup is able to bring it feels like it does bring the world together when you see the japanese fans cleaning up in the stadium and you see the way they leave their dressing room don't you just want to go to Japan. I mean, how could any nation do anything to acquit themselves more elegantly and more gracefully and more positively than what Japan is able to do in the World Cup, right?

6:13It's just, it's such an incredible platform for cultures and for us to feel good about each other. And I love that we're seeing, I don't know if you saw, but Fenway Park, they made a big celebration. They love the Scottish fans, the Norwegian fans, and the Scottish fans. I saw this thing where they were throwing a Japanese fan into the air. It just feels really, I mean, it feels like what the UN was supposed to do, the World Cup is actually doing. So I'm a big fan. The World Cup is like the UN, apart from it works. I've lived all of this. We are living this every single second, every single. But hearing you relive it, I'm getting the tingles all over again.

6:55The Scots taking over Fenway Park, the fusion of really of both of my cultures. You know, the place I came from, coming to the place where I now live and the two fusing. It is truly, it's like a Star Wars cantina of wonder. But also the shared experience. The Cape Verde goalkeeper, a man called Vizinha, he woke up. 40. Yeah, he woke up one morning. No one knew who he was. 40, as you say, from the Portuguese second division, Scott. And within 90 minutes, number one, his life has been changed forever profoundly. But after holding Spain 0-0, his name is now known all over the world. I said to him yesterday when he came on our show, I said, you know, kids all over the world are playing football shouting, no, I'm Virginia.

7:41No, that's who I am. He's amassed 8.2 million Instagram followers. Man is now bigger than Patrick Mahomes. he's bigger than Wembley. It's incredible. Also so Yamal right everyone's been obsessed with youth and the fact that he's 17 and you know he's obviously amazing right Spain is Spain is going to live and die on the 17 year old's left foot right it's a better but quite frankly it's sort of a nice story to be talking about a 40 year old whose debut in the World Cup is just this incredible experience for the guy. I'm not worried about Yamal. I think this is much better. Yamal's got Nike contracts and supermodels and divorces in his life moving forward.

8:26He's got lots to look forward to. Yeah, he's got lots ahead of him. What would you rather have, that he had a great World Cup or this 40-year-old who's probably never going to be on the pitch again? So there'll be a bunch more of those human interest stories. And I thought that was especially also I just loved it that the favorite drew in the first game. 8.7 million Instagram followers. I mean, he's now we may never see him play as well again. He's now a human billboard. He's now a platform. He's an influencer. He's probably the biggest influencer in Cape Verde history. But I am. I'm waiting for people to write in and tell me how wrong I am that he's not even in the top 10.

9:10But I'm fascinated to hear what you think of the communications journey to this tournament. In the modern period, it feels like every single World Cup begins with just a drumroll of darkness, the tonnage of negative headlines. And they were real. I'm not in any way deriding them about the tickets, about the lack of tourism, the geopolitics. And then the second it kicks off, Scott. And by the way, again, I don't know if this is a good thing because you could say it's repression or it's just emotional dissonance. But the second Messi takes the field or Mbappe takes the field, the coverage just flips.

9:51And suddenly we're just like, oh, my God, it's amazing. Yeah, I think the sport, the product overwhelms the brand or the governing body. Or I think there were several bad decisions. And I'm curious to get your thoughts, Raj. But I don't think it was a great idea having it on a continent instead of a country. I think there's a certain magic or a feel to when it's just Germany or it's just a nation. I really enjoyed being in Moscow and St. Petersburg and getting a feel for Russian culture. And I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to go to Monterey or Dallas or Toronto. I thought that was a mistake.

10:25Like I said, order the wings. We're watching the game. What is that, Scott? Is it just like the dislocation between the rational and the emotional? And the rational has no chance in that fight. We're just all swept up in the immediate transcendent. I wouldn't call myself someone who thinks of Qatar as a nation whose values I ascribe to. I was in Doha. The game's more important to me. I want a series of experiences and to feel things. And that desire and that emotion is like a tsunami over the other bullshit. So I think you're right. The moment the game starts, all that stuff kind of melts away.

11:01I want to touch quickly on the United States. Last time we spoke, 2022, we watched the United States play Wales together. The teams have been on some journey since then. We've just watched them overwhelm Paraguay. It was an ecstatic performance. Got everybody crackling over here. But they have lived in the shadow of the American sporting consciousness. We've got to be candid. The individual players have never been better individually. But together, comparing to the brands like Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, the teams you've been to see in the Premier League, they just seem completely outgunned.

11:36They play to small crowds. This is an enormous opportunity for them. And in the U.S., many people are only paying attention once every four years to this United States team. This moment from a brand POV for the U.S. men's national team is unbelievable. It's far more than the football. Yeah, so my understanding is, you're going to forget more about this and I'm going to know, but my understanding is this is the best American talent pool that's ever been assembled and athleticism that rivals anyone. You know, deep talent playing at top European clubs. My sense is they lack the killer instinct of elite nations and that a lot of that talent gets overwhelmed by more disciplined opponents.

12:17The coach has talked about how the mentality of the American football player is weak compared to the European, the killer instinct. He's talked about how he's had to almost refashion it in his year and a half here, that the American sporting mindset within the football realm is just not where it needs to be. And the way I would equate it almost, the way people talk about U.S. football or soccer, it's the same way people talk about the Brazilian economy. And that is everyone says it's the economy or the nation of the future or the sport of the future, but it's always the future. It never seems to actually happen.

12:54And even when I went to the World Cup game, I saw the U.S. versus Brazil in 94, I think at Stanford Stadium. Everyone was saying this is the moment where – and all the demographics line up. You know, my kids played football. I think more kids play youth football than any other sport in the United States, more than baseball. But for some reason, it never seems to happen. And I don't know if it's because of TV or a component of the game or there's just more distractions here. but it's always football or soccer in the U.S. is always the little engine that just doesn't I'll be curious I mean granted you're probably figuring out I'm a glass half empty kind of guy unless I think the U.S.

13:37team could go on to overperform and I don't know if it's going to provide this sort of ignition what you do see is a lot of capital entering you see these MLS teams going for a billion dollars because when you have NFL teams going for nine billion that are mediocre, I think the Cleveland Browns just went for nine billion. But I'm somewhat sanguine or a little bit skeptical that this is going to finally provide the spark for U.S. football. Has cruel fate smashed your dreams of footballing glory during this FIFA World Cup? Fear not. You're now a sporting free agent with your choice of squads, the opportunity to pick someone new.

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15:00These are free college game day style live events taking place just before kickoff at some of the biggest games of the summer, where we'll be taking the stage with celebrity guests in front of thousands of fans. It's going to be amazing. Come and be with us in person or from afar on YouTube, but let's celebrate this some other way. It's meant to be celebrated. Just head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details. To the football, to more together courage. I mean, our joke on the show, our perpetual joke is soccer, America's sport of the future as it has been since 1972. It is, it's perpetually going to be the next big thing, but we are about to enter and you've just hit the reason why in terms of the reference to capital.

15:46We are about to hit the American century, irrespective of what the U.S. team do with this World Cup, because football is now owned in large part by American capital. It's going to get worse. Yeah, I was going to say, I'm not saying this is a great thing. I want anyone who's listening to this. I think it's really complicated, but I do need to say, since the World Cup, you've taken a step into the business of football with Bogota, the renovation of the club. It's Image, Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, Eva Longoria. Did you feel an impulse to do this because you were one of the only Americans in this nation who do not own part of a football team?

16:27You know, I think like any guy with a little bit of money in a massive midlife crisis, you dream of owning a team. But the problem is I don't have the money to own a tier one team. team. So I got contacted by Rob McElhaney and a guy at Apollo about potentially investing. And I got very excited about someday having the opportunity to take my sons and I've always wanted to spend more time in Colombia. I just thought it would be, quite frankly, I just thought it would be a lot of fun. And these things are trophy assets and despite the fact they're financial disasters on a day by day basis, they always seem to go up in value.

17:07And I want to be clear, I'm not in the same league as the people who buy the teams we talk about. I invested what for me was a lot of money, but it wasn't, you know, this, I think, and this is public, I think the team was sold for$20 million plus we put another$6 million in, and I'm a small piece of that. So we're talking$26 million, and I think Tottenham, they're talking about$5 to$7 billion. So, yeah, I'm an owner of a team, but it's like saying I have an ad at the Little League team, and I'm excited about the team. But there's football teams, and then there's football teams. But I'm just hoping.

17:44I'm hoping to get my money back. I don't see it as really an investment. I see it as consumption. I just hope that I'll have fun with friends and have a chance to take my sons and use it as an excuse to spend more time in a nation where I've always wanted to spend more time. I was only half joking about Americans, all of us, owning football teams, but we are living in an age where the biggest clubs in the world, so many of them are owned by American sports investors. Manchester United, the Glazers, Arsenal, the Cronkies, Liverpool, Fenway Sports Group, Chelsea, Todd Burley could go on and on and on.

18:18Over half the Premier League has American owners. And thanks to Rex, some speculators up and down the English League pyramid are now jumping over the Atlantic. However, the U.S. team does at this World Cup, global football is for good or bad. And you've already hinted the way you think it's going to go about to enter the American century. A hundred percent. And it's just all reverse engineers to a bunch of guys fearing mortality who have too much money. and that we're producing more of them in the U.S. than anyone else in the world. Raj, you're going to see three or four big transactions in the next two to three years from people who made billions from SpaceX, Anthropic, or OpenAI.

19:01You're about to see some of the most socially awkward football owners in the history of football. There's going to be... Because the reality is the European economy just hasn't grown. And there aren't that many new... You know, we've produced... We have 900 billionaires in the United States. That's who buys football teams, billionaires who are like, what the fuck? I'm going to be dead soon. I want to be the sexiest man in the city. And the way I do that is by buying the local sports team. And you're about to see 100 or 200 new ones in the next 12 months produced in the U.S. And they'll go shopping when they can't buy, when they find out that the Phoenix Cardinals aren't for sale, They can't buy the Buccaneers.

19:46They'll look abroad and they'll think, wow, football is more glamorous. It's a chance to spend more time in Europe. They're going to go deeper, I think, downstream. They'll start buying other teams in Brazil and Latin America. I think as an asset class, and I predicted this two or three years ago, that we were going to see a gigantic appreciation in sports teams because the demand side for sports teams is old billionaires, and we're just producing a ton of them. I think you are so right, and I always want to apologize to global football ahead of the time. This is me. In the future, remember this clip world.

20:25I am so sorry for everything that's about to occur, but you also see it. You mentioned the ticket issue running into the World Cup, price of tickets. Ultimately, it was about the World Cup organizers falling in love with something that's standard here, the culture of America's love of dynamic ticket pricing. European football has got working class roots. The fans have traveled for generations with their team. They've given up emotionally so much, financially an incredible amount. And at the same time as this ticket thing was going on and everyone was like, oh my God, the tickets for the World Cup are so expensive.

20:59No one in America blinked when the Knicks nosebleed seats broke like$15 ,000,$20 ,000. dollars. The pricing trauma is almost like a clash between American sports culture, which the World Cup is trying to buckle onto football, and the old European way. It's interesting you frame it that way. It is a clash of cultures. And the culture in the US is the idolatry of the dollar. And what is a very American thing is to try and grab every last dollar off the counter, full stop. And also, that's one of the reasons that our economy is successful. We believe in the full body contact violence of capitalism, as evidenced or one manifestation of that is dynamic pricing.

21:37Now, having said that, it's also a decision. Typically, what drives 80 % of the revenues in sports is TV rights. And to a certain extent, the fans are a prop to make the TV viewing experience seem more authentic. Because if you're watching a game and there's no one in the stands, it's not nearly as good a TV experience and you're less likely to get Bud Light as a big advertiser. And I think the decision around pricing below markets, let's say you got the hardcore fans. When I was in St. Petersburg or Moscow and I saw Croatia, I got on the Russian tube with my son at the time who was, I think, 13 or 10, excuse me.

22:18And this about 400 Croatian fans got on the same tube. it could not have been more electric and high-fiving everyone and these guys. And I just don't think those guys could have come from Croatia and spent$7 ,000 to go to the game for a ticket. So I think the question is, is grabbing every dollar off the table and potentially reducing, and we haven't seen it so far, reducing some of that emotional vibe that does come through the TV set. I think it's a strategic decision. I'm not sure it was the right decision. Everyone keeps talking about tickets are not selling, but every game I've watched, it seems to be full or near full.

23:03But it's a very American decision to say, how do we just maximize everything for shareholder value, even at the cost of some of the vibe? Because even on concert tours, what artists will do is have their fan clubs where they offer tickets first, because they realize the vibe in stadium is largely dependent upon billionaires don't paint their faces rich people don't paint their faces they just don't they don't yeah so so far it doesn't appear to be hurting them but i would have thought and this is my socialist mentality come out i would have thought that it was a bad decision to that the the addition the incremental revenue was not worth a lack of decibel volume or vibe if you will talking about america i think you amongst everyone that listened to you were pretty uniquely positioned to to talk about the complex identity of this tournament i mean it has immense scale has immense power it's got that cognitive dissonance the emotional irrational that we talked about um but it is remarkable to see what it's refracting of of our world right now in north america for so long we've we've imagined what it would look like for Brazilians to descend on Times Square by the tens of thousands?

24:16What would it look like for the orange-clad Dutch fans to bounce down the streets of Texas, for the Koreans to pour into Guadalajara and try and drink all that tequila? But nothing could have prepared me for what it looks like in reality. How do you process it all, seeing this in your backyard from afar in London? Seeing America as the backdrop for this iconic spectacle at this time. It makes me want to be there. The weird thing is, I'm curious to get your thoughts. I wonder if you ask 90 % of the world where the World Cup is right now. I think most of them would say the U.S. I feel like Canada and Mexico got a little gypped here.

24:55I think they've been overwhelmed by the sense of Americana here. maybe when we see some of the higher profile games in Monterey or Mexico City but I feel like they've probably gone through the expense and logistical complexity of hosting games and they're not getting at least so far to me this feels like America's World Cup let me put what do you think I mean it's a vast majority of games are here they were very much bolt-ons as a way to win the bid you know the sense of unity was what it was in 2018 when the decision was made it was about unity the unity of these three nations obviously the tectonic plates have shifted politically um since then but it does feel like the world is is discovering america um and that it's fascinating the america that they are finding it's it's it's not the the kind of high culture the united states is very few tourists um taking you know skyscraper uh shots and putting them down or just how the skyline of this it's Waffle House it's Bucky's it's like there's a reclamation of of something that we almost take for granted but it's blowing the mind that meme Scott the European mind cannot comprehend that's what we're watching on a daily basis I think at the time we really need it it's very very healing I love the way you say that and And it makes me feel good about it or better about it than I felt going into it.

26:21And I love the idea of the Japanese team at a food festival where they're eating fried Snickers. And you see these very American-looking people just really excited to meet the Senegalese team. And it does – look, I think I sometimes get caught in this trap of believing that Americans are really divided. And I would argue that we're actually not that divided, that there's unfortunately media and big tech trying to divide us. But I would say to anyone who wants to come to the U.S. or to any American, all you need to do to see how wonderful Americans are is get out into America. Generally speaking, I feel the same way about Europe.

27:03I can't get over how lovely people are here. But I feel the same way, distinctive of the news, distinctive of the politics, distinctive of whatever you think of our leadership's decisions over the last decade or so. Go to Kansas City, and you're just going to find the really good people, and you're going to have a great time. And I think that's on display. When I listen to you, you talk often about the loneliness epidemic. And I keep thinking about this tournament. Obviously, I'm processing it from a footballing perspective, Scott, but from a cultural perspective, from a communal perspective at an epic scale, the World Cup, people communing in public spaces, sharing the memory making, the sense of cosmic connection that it empowers.