A key storyline from the World Cup this summer will be if it can “forever change American soccer -- particularly the MLS,” according to Alex Sherman of CNBC SPORT. The U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994, and it led to the creation of MLS. After this year’s World Cup, MLS will change when it plays, shifting to a summer-to-spring season that aligns with top European leagues starting in the summer of 2027. MLS Commissioner Don Garber said, “We’ll see an attendance bump, but that’s really just a short-term energy boost. Do we have more media coverage? Do we have more social followers? Are there more fans engaging with our content? Are there more players, like [Lionel] Messi, like Antoine Griezmann coming to Orlando, that are saying Major League Soccer is my league of choice?” Growing the game in the U.S. is also “one of the big goals” for FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Infantino said, “The purpose for us to be here is to make sure that soccer becomes really one of the top, top sports in the U.S.” Garber’s MLS strategy is “designed to be long term and is rooted in the league’s decision to change the schedule.” Garber will be “rooting hard” for the USMNT to go far in this World Cup. There is “little doubt that a big American run would do wonders for the MLS” -- especially if MLS players “play a big part in the U.S. national team’s success.” Still, he said the league is “no longer dependent on the performance of the team” (CNBC SPORT, 6/11).
NOT THE SAME GAME: In Colorado Springs, Mark Kiszla wrote the “real victory of this World Cup is how far soccer has grown in the American sports consciousness.” It is “not a niche sport anymore” and it is “far from it.” Soccer is “no longer the next big thing in the USA” as it has “been fully woven into the country’s sports fabric.” Kiszla: “In 2026, the World Cup coming to our shores isn’t a colonization mission by the international futbol community. It’s a celebration of a fanbase 62.5 million strong that has a growing passion for the sport” (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 6/10). In N.Y., Mark Cannizzaro wrote though the World Cup is hosted by three nations, “make no mistake: This is very much about the U.S.” America cares a “lot more about soccer today than it ever has, even if it still lags behind countries with richer histories” (N.Y. POST, 6/10).
GAME SUSTAINED: A recent survey conducted by Morning Consult in late May for Bloomberg noted that more than “half of US adults said they’re unlikely to watch any of the 104 tournament games on TV at home.” Only 13% said that they were “absolutely certain to watch” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/10). The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Robinson & Clegg wrote if the U.S. is in a position to co-host the largest World Cup over the course of the next five weeks, it is “because of a bubbling undercurrent that has sustained the game in America for nearly a century” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/10).
