Is the U.S. Ready for the World Cup?

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1:24congratulations you made the varsity the podcast my name is john arand and i'm puck sports correspondent and the host of this pod and today dan helfridge is our guest dan is coo of u.s soccer and i wanted to get him on the pod today because believe it or not we're less than two weeks away from the start of the world cup here in north america but before we get to dan today is sunday May 31st, and here's what I'm watching. I'm focused on cord cutting, and guess what? There just may be some good news on that front. For the last decade, well more actually, probably 12 years or so, cable companies have seen subscribers flee at an incredible rate.

2:06They cut the cord. And here we are in 2026, and it's still happening. My friends over at Moffitt Nathanson estimated that the overall pay TV business lost more than 2 million subscribers in the first quarter. But there's actually good news out of that for the cable business. And that's with Charter, the cable operator that runs the Spectrum systems in various markets like Los Angeles, Charlotte, San Antonio. I'll let Craig Moffitt say it. Charter, he wrote, has put the bundle back together. Its video business is, quote, single-handedly rolling back the clock. And that's because Charter has recreated the bundle in a way that makes most of the streaming services available for one price.

2:50Services like ESPN, HBO Max, Paramount +, Peacock, Fox One. Charter subscribers don't have to wonder if a particular streaming service has a specific show that's worth watching. It's all there. The numbers, again from Craig Moffitt, show that this strategy is working because less than two years ago, Charter was losing video subscribers by 10 % each year. Today, well, it's still losing subscribers, but the rate is right around 1%. Now I talk all the time about the floor. How low will the cable subscriber base go? And it's possible, possible that we're there or at least close to it. Okay. Now let's get to U.S.

3:32soccer's Dan Helfrich. Dan, first of all, thank you for joining the pod. I want to have you on here. The point of this pod is really to talk about the business behind sports. We really don't care about the play on the field. However, we're less than two weeks away from the opening of the the world cup and the headlines on the u.s team i need you to talk me off the ledge here dan because the gm left you know a month ago the coach is flirting with uh with ac milan apparently um it talk me off the ledge what's going on with us soccer are we going to do well what's happening good to be with you john and uh you and the rest of the folks should be feeling confident as I am.

4:28And I obviously get the benefit of seeing inside the team room and inside the walls. And inside that team room is a group with a really positive energy, a team where the relationship between the coach and the players is extremely tight knit. And as far as I'm concerned, That sets the stage for a fun few weeks that I hope turns into a fun few months in the weeks to come. But the team arrived in Atlanta at our new home, the National Training Center, just outside in Fayetteville, Georgia. And since the team arrived there, it's been all business and all focus. And that includes the coaches, the players, and all of us trying to support them.

5:23All right. I'm still on the ledge, Dan. I'm still on the ledge, but looking forward to it. Always fun. This is the first World Cup that's been held in the U.S., of course, since the great team in 1994.

5:41And we've had a long time to prepare for this. What has surprised you in the run up to to the World Cup in North America? What what what what has been sort of unique that you weren't expecting? Well, I think, first of all, a three nation hosting World Cup is by definition unique. And it's been actually great to see the excitement building in all three countries. And, you know, here, I think the most exciting thing and interesting thing is seeing the unique set of players coming together. And, you know, we had a big moment over the last week where we all found out the roster. And it is this tapestry of amazing stories, people from all over the country, people from all over the world excited to wear the, you know, the stars and stripes.

6:45And that, again, puts us in a good position to be ready to go on June 12th. You know, anybody who reads my column or regular listeners to this podcast know that, you know, before any big event, there's always a bunch of negative stories and negative press. And you saw it in Rio for the Olympics. You certainly saw it in Qatar before the World Cup there and Russia before the World Cup there. And sure enough, you know, ticket prices and I don't even know what's going on with New Jersey transit. Is it when you see these stories come out, certainly you were expecting them, I would think, because it's happened in every other market.

7:32What happens inside U.S. soccer when these come out? Is it let's fix this right now or is it something that you, you know, kind of were expecting and are expecting it to blow over? We're definitely more in the latter category. Look, great organizations in the industry, but certainly in sports, as you get ready for a big stage, you ought to be doing lots of scenario planning. And that scenario planning includes what types of things are going to capture the public's attention, neutral, negative, positive. And if you go through the rhythm of preparing, then when things happen, then calm is the operative word.

8:20And so, sure, we're playing at the elite level of global football, global soccer. the notion that there's going to be stories developing about our players, about our coaches. We expect that. That's the nature of this sport at the highest level. And so inside the walls, I would say you would see the opposite of what one might expect. There's nobody sprinting around saying, gosh, let's all get in a conference room together because the story just came out that we don't like. We've talked about this before. Let's make sure that our message is clear and let's not let this narrative that may be taking shape outside our walls actually impact our preparation.

9:09And so calm would legitimately be the word I would use to describe our reaction to all of the things percolating outside. I would imagine that there'd be like, I'll use it like DEFCON 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, like New Jersey Transit. They're going to figure something out with New York. That's sort of a border war of sorts. Ticket prices, that's something that maybe we should act on. Do you triage these stories? When they happen, how do you react to them? Well, I would say we triage topics, not stories. If we were in the business of triaging, you know, individual stories, tell me, tell me you triage your stories.

10:02So, sure. And, and, and of course, certain of the topics are things that we have direct ownership and control of. Certain of them we have zero ownership and control of. And so there's different scenarios for all of that. The key is transparency within the building, preparation for the scenarios. And there has not been a single thing that has reached anywhere near the high end of the scale that you just articulated. And so do we spend a lot of time on things like how do we create in the ways that we can influence, how do we create the conditions where tens, if not hundreds of people inside the country that have declared themselves soccer fans?

10:56You've probably seen the data, John, that we're well over 100 million people in the US who identify as soccer fans. we are laser focused on all the different ways that we can help those people experience the world cup and that may be through community fests that are happening in 300 cities around the country it may be at our free for entrance soccer house on venice beach which i i hope you join us there's gonna be a lot of cool programming there there's a lot of fun things and watch parties in host cities. We play pre-World Cup matches in Charlotte against Senegal and in Chicago against Germany.

11:38We've been really intentional about the ticketing availability, including tens of thousands of tickets available for under$50. So we're trying to create the conditions that, you know, this creates the moment that so many more people can enjoy this once or twice in a generation situation. And, you know, that gets a lot of our time and attention. You know, one of the things about the World Cup to me in the U.S. market in 2026 is that it is a very crowded sports market where you go through the Super Bowl and the NFL, and then you have the right now in the middle of the NBA playoffs and the Knicks are in the playoffs and and so that the attention of the sporting fan you know i think in in international markets you know that they get set for the world cup months ahead of time but in and here it seems like there's a like a a you know to me like a two-week run-up for the casual fan or or or you know give or take a week on on either side um Um, do you, how is, how is, how is the, uh, you, the North American hosting of the World Cup different than other, uh, other markets?

12:58I mean, do you subscribe to that? Well, yes and no. Um, the landscape of sporting events that captured the, uh, the public's attention in the U.S. in the spring leading up to a World Cup is a different set of sports and a different set of events. But if you're in England or Scotland, you've spent the last few weeks glued to your chair watching the Scottish or English Premier League title race and promotion relegation battles. And so I think the eyes of the world, both in other markets around the world and in the U.S., are turning at a relatively similar time to the excitement of this. Everyone is releasing their rosters.

13:52Teams are flying into the United States. So I actually think in North America, the attention is pretty similar. And just like in the rest of the world, it'll crescendo in the next few weeks. And so we feel the excitement. I was at the airport last night, as I often am, and happened to be wearing a U.S. soccer crested outfit and got stopped five or six times by strangers in a 10-minute period of time. You know, a mix of encouragement, a little mix of, hey, should I be worried? And a lot of, hey, can you find me a ticket? So I actually, in public spaces, feel the energy. And I'll tell you, John, when June 12th rolls around and the ball is at the center of the pitch at SoFi and we're about to kick off against Paraguay, I believe what the data will tell you afterwards is that there will be an extraordinary number of eyes, including an extraordinary number of American eyes, trained on that pitch.

15:07And then as the momentum builds in the two group stage matches that follow and in the knockout rounds that we hope we go a long way in, I believe there's no stronger feeling in any sport in the United States when a team gets on a run than when a U.S. men's or women's national team gets on a run. And I remember being in a bar in Capitol Hill near D.C. when the U.S. won a big game against Algeria a few World Cups ago, Landon Donovan's famous goal. And I've never been in an environment in any sport, around any sport with that level of passion. I had my son who was a four or five year old with me.

15:54He was getting passed around the bar as people were going crazy. Like other sports don't create those moments. And we're about to have a lot of them here in the next couple months. Come on, Dan, you're talking to a DC native here. You gotta identify the bar. Hawk and Dove? It might've been Hawk and Dove. There were a lot of fun people there, I can tell you, who believed that any hour is a good hour to have a beverage and, you know, eggs and sausage.

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17:39The power of the World Cup in the United States, I think, is undeniable. You go back to 1994, it birthed an entire league, Major League Soccer. that is now celebrating its 30th year, hard to believe.

18:00In 2026, we have a league now. We didn't in 1994, but we have a league. You have a ton of stats talking about the number of soccer fans. where five years from now, like what, what, what, what do you, what do you hope the legacy or what do you expect the legacy of this world cup to be in the United States? Um, love, love the question and, you know, my edit to it and then I'll answer it is, I actually think the combination of the power of 94, 96 and 99, referencing a men's World Cup, a domestic Olympics and a women's World Cup. It was actually the combination of those things that created a bunch of the legacy we see today.

18:55And we stand on the precipice of a similar set of moments with this, with an Olympics in L.A. in 28 and then with hopefully a Women's World Cup in 20 in 2031. And so, look, my job, our job is to create a catalyst for change through the legacy of this World Cup and the and the ones to come. And I would agree with you that if you were to point to one legacy of 94, you'd point to the creation of a domestic men's Division I league that has grown and is thriving. And, you know, we're really proud of our partnership with MLS and the work they're doing. I'd want people to start thinking about the legacy of this World Cup is actually about building the system and the architecture for the sport in the country, starting at the community recreation level at the youngest ages, tackling the things that we know need to happen around accessibility and affordability of the sport.

20:08the difficulty that our parents and families have to find the right level for their child, to understand in the alphabet soup of leagues that occur what the best place for their child is, and then to afford it in a way that allows their son or daughter to experience the game at the highest level they have the potential to. And so the legacy of this World Cup has to be about building the system and the infrastructure for the next phase of soccer in the country, not in a way that's just for the professionals or the elite. We have the benefit now of having a foundation there. And now we can attack the system to make it better for all the, you know, hundreds of millions of people who who care about the sport.

21:03And, you know, we are by most data and depending on the age, et cetera, the first or second most played sport in the country already. but that doesn't exist in every community in America. And so when we articulate our goals, you know, becoming in the next five years, getting on the path to being the number one played sport in every community in America is really important to us. And this World Cup has to be an instigator, a catalyst, an accelerant for that happening. What does that system look like? Like if you use – is there anything else out there that you're using as a blueprint? Like there's – in the U.S., you have college football, college basketball.

21:52You have sort of that farm system that goes there. You have the minor leagues in baseball. Or you go over to a European country. Arsenal has their youth – each team has their youth programs. what what uh what's the best way forward for the for soccer in the u.s well look i think um one of the things you do when you're thinking about a system is you're humble enough to look at other systems and are there dimensions of those and aspects of those that can benefit you and as your question implies, we think that there's things to understand from other soccer countries and their infrastructure and systems around the world.

22:37And there's things to learn from other sports, in particular Olympic sports in the US. And so we might borrow a few things from how USA Hockey thinks about its models in local communities and understand that and say, how might that apply to a future we're developing? At the same point, I'm spending and we're spending a lot of time with FIFA's technical development experts to push on what system creates the conditions in country A or country B that help them develop, you know, the best players. And then you come back, though, and you look at all that and you say, that's really valuable. But the sport is soccer and the country is the United States of America.

23:28And we have tons of advantages and tons of complexities that don't exist. And so you can't take the blueprint for hockey or basketball, nor can you take the blueprint from Belgium or Spain or Argentina and apply it here. And so you won't see the system that we build look like an exact facsimile of something else, but you will see it be shaped by other people's ideas because I think that's the way you push yourself to be better. You're big into college soccer. the play-by-play voice of Georgetown women soccer as well. I want to give voice to my worry for the sport of soccer in college. All the money is going to the big revenue sports, you know, basketball, football, the Olympic sports.

24:29And I would tie college soccer in with the Olympic sports. There seems that at some point with the way the college sports are headed, there's going to be a lack of money. There's not going to be as much money devoted to it. Is that a potential problem to you? Is that something that soccer has to sort of figure out? Well, first of all, I have done a lot of college soccer broadcasting and continue to do so. I've done more Georgetown men than women, for the record. But college soccer is not only personally interesting to me as someone who played, someone who coached, someone who broadcasts, someone that hired hundreds of former college soccer athletes to join teams I led in business.

25:24and someone who's a parent of one former player, two current college players, and one soon-to-be college player. The sport is extraordinarily important. And as we know, John, the critical period of human development that happens between the ages of 17 and 22 happens to match what most soccer experts would say is the most fundamental and important part of soccer development in those ages. And so we think college soccer is among the most important institutions in the U.S. And I think what history would tell you is on the women's side of the sport, the number one characteristic of U.S. soccer that has contributed to us being unambiguously over the last several decades, the best side and the best program in the world, it's actually college soccer, Title IX, the investments in infrastructure, the extraordinary coaches who have and still do walk the sidelines of the women's game.

26:36And when you talk about youth soccer and why parents and athletes in the United States choose to spend so much of their time and treasure on soccer. Much of it is, for many people, the opportunity to play in college. And so we need in the U.S. college soccer to remain an incredibly important place. And that's why at U.S. Soccer, we've spent a bunch of our time, I've spent a bunch of my personal time on the future of college soccer. I've spent time with commissioners, university presidents, athletics directors, coaches, conference leaders. And I will tell you that I do not see any pullback from the belief in the future of the sport.

27:34I actually see the inverse. And as you and some of your viewers, John, may have seen, the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Oversight Committee just passed a rule that needs to get ratified that will change the men's college soccer season to a full two-semester season with a national championship in the spring. The business case for that is both better player development, better well-being for the players because there'll be less match congestion, more time for recovery and training, and the ability to create a bigger time, more visible platform for the sport during championship season in the spring.

28:19There's no way, in my view, that would have passed if there wasn't enthusiastic support for soccer, not just in the niche soccer community, but actually in the places that make decisions about the future of college sports. Can college soccer be a minor league of sorts for – I'm going to use MLS, but really for professional soccer? Well, actually, let me let me re-ask that. I make it a two part question. Is it today? And could it be? Well, in I won't get the data exactly right, because it's it's a year ago. But if you look at NWSL players, I believe 70 ish percent of the NWSL players played in college.

29:15And in the MLS, it was still in the 30%, 40 % range. So college still is – Wow, that's surprisingly low to me. College is still an important platform for players to develop. And on the women's part of the game, it's more of the mainstream path to the pros and to our national team. And with the men, it's more of a place for later developers in terms of their pathway to the professional team and our national team. But it already is. It already has those attributes. But we need to continue to do things both to create more visibility for the athletes, which generates revenue and other benefits. and we need to create the conditions in the schedule, like I just talked about for the men, that make it a better development experience for people on the field.

30:19So it's here to stay, but it needs modernization. And I'm feeling the momentum of that. And look, it's interesting. Most people wouldn't see this, but if you look at the roster of the men's World Cup team that will be competing this summer. It's not just one or two players who competed in college. And so it's still a really important part of the pathway. And two of our three goalies played in college, one at Harvard, one at Fairfield, as an example. And you see that up and down every position on the roster.

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