NWSL COO Sarah Jones Simmer shared a story from her days working at Bumble. She talked about how important being where your consumers are and seeing their experience, so she laughed that even though she’s married with children, she kept active dating profiles on Bumble and other dating websites to make sure she was up to date on what was going on.
Gainbridge Super League President Amanda Vandervort said the conference, with a number of colleagues present from her time in the league office, was like “an MLS class of 2013 reunion.”
Longtime MLS/SUM and sport of soccer executive Kathy Carter is one of the most well-liked and well-respected leaders of the game, and the impact she had made on others was again evident. Both Simmer and Vandervort cited Carter’s influence and shared their favorite Kathy Carter-isms onstage with her sitting in the front row. Simmer: “When I first joined the league, Kathy was presenting to us and she showed this Venn diagram that had three overlapping circles — soccer, women’s sports and changing media habits. And we talked about how we are living at the center of that. We talked about that in the context of NWSL, but we are all living that.” Vandervort: “My favorite Kathy Carter-ism is, ‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.’ And as we think about building a league, and you think about the opportunity, starting to build with taking small bites on how you build and how you build the product and get it in front of as many people as possible. So, she’s impacted many of us clearly.”
After that panel, an attendee told Vandervort that she had “Kate Hudson” energy.
U.S. Soccer Chief Commercial Officer David Wright was spotted wearing the new navy-blue Nike U.S. Soccer kit under his blazer.
Men in Blazers’ Roger Bennett shared a fun quip about his British roots: “For those who don’t know, I know my accent sounds English. I love America more than Kenny Powers loves America.” He’s now a naturalized American citizen.
The Team’s Richard Motzkin and Apple TV’s Kevin Egan engaged in a lively discussion prior to their panel about how Guinness beer tastes different in Ireland. Later, Egan was seen rushing post-conference to a nearby pub to watch the Ireland match with Bennett and Gotham FC’s Ryan Dillon.
Just after the event, U.S. Soccer was setting up a festival in Centennial Olympic Park ahead of two USMNT friendlies at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. On Friday night, there was a game against Belgium, and Tuesday, it’ll be a game against Portugal. Coca-Cola and Home Depot were among the brands that had branded activation trucks on-site.
