Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / U.S. Soccer CEO on Pochettino, Crocker & the Future of Soccer in America

Transcript

U.S. Soccer CEO on Pochettino, Crocker & the Future of Soccer in America · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

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  Speaker 1: I would expect an evolution in terms of how we're
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: structured from a soccer standpoint. Expect us to continue to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: insert more and more American soccer DNA and key roles
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  Speaker 1: as we go forward.
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  Speaker 2: What's going on? Everybody?
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  Speaker 3: Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am us M
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  Speaker 3: and T insider Tom Bogert, joined as always by US
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  Speaker 3: national team legend Tabrowmos and today we've got a third
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  Speaker 3: voice and we are very very lucky to be joined
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  Speaker 3: by our guest for this special episode. It's JT Batson,
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  Speaker 3: the CEO and Secretary General of the US Soccer Federation.
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  Speaker 3: JT joined US Soccer in September of twenty twenty two,
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  Speaker 3: just ahead of the last World Cup. He has overseen
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  Speaker 3: everything within the program, to a new training facility that
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  Speaker 3: just opened up ahead of this World Cup, to Mauricio
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  Speaker 3: Pochettina and Emma Hayes hired all of that in between. JT,
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  Speaker 3: thank you so much for joining us, and I want
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  Speaker 3: to start here. Can you give us your soccer background?
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  Speaker 1: Well, my soccer background obviously not as illustrious as some
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  Speaker 1: on the podcast. I grew up playing soccer and Augusta,
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  Speaker 1: Georgia started at the YMCA, you know, playing Rex soccer
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  Speaker 1: like so many and then you know, got sucked in
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  Speaker 1: and played on a club team called the Augusta Arsenal
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  Speaker 1: for years and years all around the Southeast, and some
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  Speaker 1: of those players went on two greater things. I went
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  Speaker 1: on to college and ultimately into the tech world, but
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  Speaker 1: was always trying to find a way to get back
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  Speaker 1: involved with soccer. And for a while that was as
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  Speaker 1: a referee, actually refereed at a fairly high level for
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  Speaker 1: a while.
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  Speaker 2: And then when I got tired of being yelled at,
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  Speaker 2: I ended up.
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  Speaker 1: Getting involved with the US Operations a volunteer. So I
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  Speaker 1: met Saniel Golatti on an Amtrak station years and years ago,
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  Speaker 1: and I learned that US Soccer was one a nonprofit
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  Speaker 1: and two didn't do any fundraising, and so I put
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  Speaker 1: together a plan to help start the fundraising program for
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  Speaker 1: US Soccer more than a decade ago, and that was
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  Speaker 1: how it got involved.
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  Speaker 2: And here we are now. JT.
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  Speaker 3: You had any free time, which I know that you
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  Speaker 3: don't given this encompassing role. If you had free time
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  Speaker 3: for love of the game, would you be like a
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  Speaker 3: men's league referee, or maybe an occasional college referee or
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  Speaker 3: you know, too much being yelled at and you'd rather
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  Speaker 3: spend your time elsewhere.
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  Speaker 1: Well well, actually, the first national team game at the
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  Speaker 1: new Arthur and blank US Soccer Training Center is Thursday,
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  Speaker 1: and I am the fourth official.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm back. All right, So got certified again. I'm
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  Speaker 2: ready to go.
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  Speaker 1: I got to make sure I understand the substitution rules
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  Speaker 1: for CP men's soccer. But I've got the uniform, I've
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  Speaker 1: got the cleats. Of course they're night and we're ready
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  Speaker 1: to go.
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  Speaker 2: So so JT.
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  Speaker 4: First of all, thank you for coming on. Really appreciate that.
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  Speaker 4: I know we haven't formally met, but it's great to
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  Speaker 4: have you on. I know all the responsibility you have.
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  Speaker 4: It's not easy to get through all the things you've
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  Speaker 4: had to get through. As a side note, I would
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  Speaker 4: say when I started playing for the national team, the
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  Speaker 4: first national team I was ever on was the under
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  Speaker 4: twenty back when I was sixteen, and my first coach
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  Speaker 4: was Angus mccobine, who was from Atlanta. I don't know,
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  Speaker 4: do you know Angus?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so I do, yeah, so wow wow, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so legend.
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  Speaker 4: He of course he is, and he started I think
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  Speaker 4: he was coming at the time. I don't know, you know,
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  Speaker 4: this goes way back, but and I was obviously very
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  Speaker 4: young at the time, but it's coming. He was coaching
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  Speaker 4: the Atlanta Chiefs back in yeah.
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  Speaker 2: That was like, oh yeah, seventies.
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  Speaker 4: So a lot of the people listening to this show
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  Speaker 4: will have no idea what we're talking about.
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  Speaker 1: But I love it. Oh, I'm like overcome with emotion.
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  Speaker 1: This is like flashback Central. So we're very close to
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  Speaker 1: an old indoor soccer arena here that was called the
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  Speaker 1: Soccer Center. And I met Angus through a couple of
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  Speaker 1: his sort of colleagues from the chief days working at
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  Speaker 1: indoor soccer tournaments in the nineties of the Soccer Center
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  Speaker 1: and so like, I haven't thought of Angus and forev like,
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  Speaker 1: but that was like such a formative part of my
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  Speaker 1: childhood was being around all these guys who were legends
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  Speaker 1: in the game and sort of building soccer what it
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  Speaker 1: is today. And sort of it gets me to think
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  Speaker 1: about they never could have dreamed. I look out and
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  Speaker 1: look at these fields and they never could have dreamed
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  Speaker 1: of that for America, much less to be in Atlanta.
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  Speaker 1: It's so it's so cool to think about and sort
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  Speaker 1: of Angus, Wow, I love that love it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's that, there's that great connection there. And then
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  Speaker 4: obviously Atlanta with the clubs like Data Graphics, it's where if.
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  Speaker 2: You remember as that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so Atlanta has actually played a much bigger part
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  Speaker 4: over the last few decades than I think most people
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  Speaker 4: will give it credit for, although now it's sort of
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  Speaker 4: the pinnacle right of of all of the things that
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  Speaker 4: we're doing.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely and the Yeah, my day, it was sort of
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  Speaker 1: Stone Mountain AFC lightning a lot of a lot of
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  Speaker 1: great players who came out of Atlanta. My time when
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  Speaker 1: I realized my playing days were numbered, were actually a
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  Speaker 1: soccer complex not far from here. I was guarding Ricardo
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  Speaker 1: Clark and we're probably thirty thirty five yards out from
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  Speaker 1: the goal. He sort of fakes one way, goes the other.
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  Speaker 1: We've all seen it many times and just lashes the
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  Speaker 1: ball in the top corner and I was like, I'm
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  Speaker 1: a study harder.
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  Speaker 2: And so much ended up being a good move.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it worked out. So now as CEO of US Soccer,
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  Speaker 3: to bring it back to today, I think a lot
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  Speaker 3: of people don't know exactly what that entails. I know
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  Speaker 3: that you're across a lot of things, So what does
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  Speaker 3: a typical day look like.
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  Speaker 1: Well, US Soccer has a whole bunch of things that
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  Speaker 1: were up to Obviously we're most known for the men's
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  Speaker 1: and women's national teams, but we actually have twenty seven
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  Speaker 1: national teams. We have our youth teams, we have our
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  Speaker 1: beach and futsal teams. We also have our disability national teams,
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  Speaker 1: where the world leader and Disability soccer. We of course
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  Speaker 1: are focused on how do we support the growth of
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  Speaker 1: soccer broadly, so all forms of soccer, whether it's recreational,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's competitive soccer, college soccer, pro soccer. We also
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  Speaker 1: have a commercial business, so we have media partners, we
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  Speaker 1: have sponsors, We sell a whole lot of tickets and merchandise,
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  Speaker 1: We raise a lot of money. We now have facilities,
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  Speaker 1: we've got real estate that we're into. And then of
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  Speaker 1: course we are engaged around CONKA, CAF and FIFA, around
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  Speaker 1: the future of the game regionally and globally. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: US Soccer has gone through a journey over the past
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  Speaker 1: few years. I think one of the most important things
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  Speaker 1: we've done is embraced that our mission to be in
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  Speaker 1: service to soccer. Our job is to support those who
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  Speaker 1: are bringing soccer life in communities all across the country,
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  Speaker 1: and bringing that service mentality to how we support literally everyone,
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  Speaker 1: I think is at the heart of our culture and
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  Speaker 1: how we're ultimately going to be able to win.
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  Speaker 4: It's really important actually you know that you're out here
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  Speaker 4: and you're getting the message across because you know Tom's
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  Speaker 4: question about Okay, what is it.
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  Speaker 2: That you do.
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  Speaker 4: I know that you know when you're at US Soccer
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  Speaker 4: the number one thing that they will always connect you
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  Speaker 4: to is whether the national team wins or loses. Right,
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  Speaker 4: if they win, you're doing a good job. If they
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  Speaker 4: don't win, you're not doing a good job. But I
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  Speaker 4: think it's important to know that you know, at the
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  Speaker 4: end of the day, the senior national team is like
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  Speaker 4: such a small part of everything that happens, and I
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  Speaker 4: think in general most fans will not know that.
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  Speaker 1: I agree, and I think actually that's on us. So
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  Speaker 1: it's our job to educate our fans on what ultimately
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  Speaker 1: drives the outcomes they care about. And I think one
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  Speaker 1: of the big realizations that has sort of really come
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  Speaker 1: through to all of us is we're a soccer country.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: There are well over one hundred million people who are
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  Speaker 1: soccer fans. There's a recent poll that twenty percent of
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  Speaker 1: Americans described themselves as obsessed soccer fans. And so I
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  Speaker 1: think one of our shifts is, hey, we're big. People
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  Speaker 1: love soccer. There are lots of fans, and we have
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  Speaker 1: very sophisticated soccer fans in this country. We as US
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  Speaker 1: Soccer need to embrace them as sophisticated fans and level
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  Speaker 1: with them and be transparent. And here's what we're doing,
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  Speaker 1: the good, bad and the ugly, and here are the
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  Speaker 1: things that we all should be focused on if we
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  Speaker 1: want to win World Cups, if we want to make
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  Speaker 1: it to where soccer is the most plays for in
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  Speaker 1: the country, and so so, tab, you're one hundred percent
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  Speaker 1: right that most folks don't know that, and I would
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  Speaker 1: have put myself in those in that same bucket x
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  Speaker 1: years ago. And that's on us to fix that. And
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  Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why we're here, and we're
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  Speaker 1: excited for the conversation.
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  Speaker 3: I appreciate that, JT and all of those are very
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  Speaker 3: important points and a tough transition to I'm going to
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  Speaker 3: ask some questions about the senior men's national team right now,
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  Speaker 3: and get of course, get pretty specific. So I just
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  Speaker 3: want to start with Matt Crocker, the sporting director, abruptly
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  Speaker 3: left the program last month, I believe, just a couple
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  Speaker 3: months before of a home World Cup. So question's twofold one.
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  Speaker 3: Can you take me back to some of those days
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  Speaker 3: and what your emotions are processing all that information and
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  Speaker 3: what were the conversations like with Matt Crocker.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think what's really important is to think about
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  Speaker 1: the journey we've been on broadly. And you know, when
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  Speaker 1: I joined, we had fewer than two hundred people. We're
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  Speaker 1: now six hundred people. We were losing tens of millions
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  Speaker 1: of dollars a year. We just will be public with
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  Speaker 1: this soon, but we'll have our third straight year of profitability,
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  Speaker 1: first time ever in our more than one hundred year
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  Speaker 1: history of three years in a row of put money back.
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  Speaker 2: In the bank.
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  Speaker 1: And it's not just the fact that we have more people.
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  Speaker 1: We have lots of great people now. It's not just
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  Speaker 1: that we are profitable. We're investing more in our soccer
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  Speaker 1: than we ever have in our history, by virtue of
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  Speaker 1: the great work. And we have a clearly articulated strategy,
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  Speaker 1: part of which Matt helped develop. And I think the
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  Speaker 1: biggest impact Matt had on our organization is one of
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  Speaker 1: our culture of getting our soccer people in particular, but
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the organization to embrace that our success
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  Speaker 1: in US Soccer, for our men's team and our women's
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  Speaker 1: team is ultimately based on the quality of our ecosystem
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  Speaker 1: and our role as US Soccer is to service them.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the fact that that organizational culture has
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  Speaker 1: evolved to that and our overall strategy is one of
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  Speaker 1: rather than thinking of ourselves as on high that we're
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: in charge, that ultimately we're here to support and that
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  Speaker 1: flip is one that will pay off for years and
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  Speaker 1: years and years to come. And I give a lot
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a lot of credit for that. And you know, you
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  Speaker 1: know one thing, and I'm sure we'll talk about head
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  Speaker 1: coaches and succession planning around that. One of the cultural
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: things that we've done as an organization is we actually
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: have monthly succession planning sessions for key roles where we
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: go through what are replacements, what are interims, what are renewals,
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  Speaker 1: what does that look like to make sure that no
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: matter what happens, we're not in a position where we're
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  Speaker 1: caught flat footed.
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  Speaker 2: And so.
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  Speaker 1: You know, this is something that's sort of a natural
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  Speaker 1: part of business, and you know, we're now well set
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  Speaker 1: up for that. But I give Matt a lot of
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  Speaker 1: credit for that bigultural journey, uh that we went on,
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  Speaker 1: and you now have an employee group at US Soccer
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  Speaker 1: who fully believes that our success is dependent on how
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  Speaker 1: well we support our ecosystem and ultimately how healthy and successful.
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  Speaker 3: It is just really quickly to follow up. Were you
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  Speaker 3: surprised by that departure in the timing of it?
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  Speaker 1: Matt and I have a very transparent relationship from day one.
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  Speaker 1: Uh and uh, so you know, Matt was transparent around
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  Speaker 1: the outreach.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: And it was also transparent. They had no interest initially,
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  Speaker 1: uh and uh as they came back, the interest evolved.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, the I'm a big believer in uh
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  Speaker 1: supporting your teammates, and when people have amazing opportunities, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you want to be able to support them doing that.
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  Speaker 1: Uh And uh you know, I'm excited for him and
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  Speaker 1: his family and and but I absolutely was trans through
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the whole process and and uh, uh you know, I
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  Speaker 1: obviously of course appreciate that.
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  Speaker 4: So uh, you know, digging a little bit more into this, uh,
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  Speaker 4: this sporting director role. So as you as you look
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  Speaker 4: into the future now, and you you look into the
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  Speaker 4: you know, potential successor, and and you know, I'm wondering
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  Speaker 4: what would be some of the broad requirements that you
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: think would be important for this position. And the reason
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  Speaker 4: the reason I'm asking this is because I have a
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  Speaker 4: follow up to that, which you know, I might as
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  Speaker 4: well say it now, but and.
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  Speaker 2: I'd like for you to know.
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  Speaker 4: I'd like for you to to let us know if
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  Speaker 4: you feel like Matt Crocker had a full understanding of
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: of and by the way, I know, super spark guy,
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: all of those things, I get it, But I know
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: that the American landscape is so complicated. It's still complicated
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  Speaker 4: for me. And I've been involved, like in the youth sport.
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  Speaker 2: For all those years.
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  Speaker 4: So sure, So do you think what are some of
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  Speaker 4: the broad requirements that you're looking for for and do
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  Speaker 4: you think that that job potentially could once again go
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: to someone for a foreign from a foreign country that
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: hasn't necessarily lived here.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think the you know, as I shared, and
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  Speaker 1: part of the reason why I shared, you know, we've
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  Speaker 1: gone from fewer than two hundred people to six hundred people.
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  Speaker 1: We've tripled in terms of our our revenue. We have
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: this new facility, we have more teams, we have you know,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: we're we're a very different organization than we were three
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: years ago. And so as a part of any natural
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: long term you know, talent, strategy, planning roles will evolve,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: and so our sporting and soccer organization more broadly was
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: was going to evolve whether or not Matt is here
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: or whether or not is not here. And of course,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: with you know, Matt uh uh moving overseas, that creates
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: an opportunity for us to conceivably accelerate some of that evolution.
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  Speaker 1: And I think at its heart, we now are in
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  Speaker 1: a position where we have a strategy. We also have
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: an ecosystem where we had some trust to rebuild.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we had some real trust issues broadly, and
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: we had a lot of work to do there and
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: by no means will be perfect, and we got some
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: more more areas to continue to improve. But we have
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: a strategy, We have an ecosystem that believes it's better
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: working together versus separate. Uh, And we also are in
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a position where everyone is embraced. The men's and women's
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: ecosystems are different and we also have an organization and
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I think a broader ecosystem that have embraced that soccer
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: is really big here and we are a sophisticated soccer country,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and we have a lot of great talent here and
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: that ultimately for us to be successful. You know, one
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: of the things that I often like to say is
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: soccer is the challenger sport in our country, and we're
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the challenger country in our sport. So we can't copy
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: some other country, We can't copy some other sport. We
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: got to outthink, we got out work, and ultimately we
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: got to outwork together. And so I would expect an
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: evolution in terms of how we're structured from a soccer standpoint,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: based on our great learning, our great thinking.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: And how we've evolved.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: And I wouldn't expect us to continue to insert more
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: and more American soccer DNA and key roles as we
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: go forward. And I think that's part of our maturity
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: is a soccer country, and it's a part of our
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: maturity is as an organization to where we're in a
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: position to do that.
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  Speaker 5: Anything that on that top, no, I would I would say,
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  Speaker 5: you know, obviously, it's it's it's too early to ask anyway,
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  Speaker 5: but the only follow up would be, of course we
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: have to wait until the World Cup to get through
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: the World Cup and see what happens after that and
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: what the process would be in terms of the timing,
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: you know, for a successor in that role, because obviously
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: maybe you know, just looking from the outside, obviously thinking
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: that potentially it's like, that's really important role for taking
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: the next steps in terms of finding the next coach
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: and you know everything that comes next.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: So actually, I'm glad you asked the follow up, so
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: that process has already started and so and actually it
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: actually started even before Matt told us he was going
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to Saudi Arabia. So you know, we had a board
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: meeting in February under AGM and we did succession planning
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and talent planning. Overall, we now have three generational ambitions
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: of US Soccer success US Soccer everywhere in US Soccer
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: is yours and articulated twenty thirty two goals around where
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: we're trying to take everything that puts us on a
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: path to make sure that we're in that position and
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: a good organization. You say, okay, well where are you
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: now and where do you need to be to go
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: get there, and as a part of that, no organization
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: is perfect, and so there are some gaps or some tweaks,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and so we started that work in February, and actually
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: my first meeting bright and early this morning was specifically
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: around the next steps of what we're doing here and so,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: and I would not want anyone to leave this podcast
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: thinking the structure will look exactly like it did before.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I would be very very, very very surprised if we
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: have a one sporting director who's responsible for everything. We're
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: in a position where we've evolved, we've matured, we have
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: more resources than we did before, and it will allow
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: us to bring in or build up talent who's focused
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: on the men's and women's ecosystems. And you know, we
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: are designing these roles in a way where it vastly
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: increases the chances that we're able to have Americans and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: or people who are deeply rooted in the American soccer
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: ecosystem lead us continue to lead us going forward.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: I think that is extremely exciting and very very insightful.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: We don't have you for a ton longer, so we're
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: going to take a very quick break, and then we're
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: going to talk about the World Cup, recal Pochatino's current
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: status in future, and a lot much more with J. C. Batson.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: Please rate, view, and subscribe in South American Soccer. Wherever
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: you get the pipe, welcome back to in South American Soccer.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Sabin.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: I are joined by JT. Bats and JT. It's here
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: the World Cup, the Men's World Cup is here. What
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: would be a realistic best case scenario for the United
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: States and what does this event mean for the future
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: of soccer in this country.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I think let's start with the as we think
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: about the goal, and there of course are lots of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: broad goals which we'll come to. But as we think
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: about the team. You know, so I was talking about earlier.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: We have a large sophisticated fan base who some of
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: them are newer to our sport or newer to our team.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Others like this crew who's been around for a while
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: and has seared in our brains moments of sort of
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: US men's national team past and US Women's team pass
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: that bring us great pride and great joy and sometimes
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: great heartache. But to me, the measure of success is
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: are those tens of millions of Americans who care who
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: really give a shit. Are they proud? And that can
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: take a lot of different forms. And if they're proud
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: of how we've performed, how we left it on the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: field and everything we did to go sort of run
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: as far as we can run, then we've won. And
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I know the coaching staff believes that. I know, obviously
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: we'll know shortly who the players are, and I know
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: you know they will believe that, And I think that's exciting.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: And I think obviously there's lots of great historical examples
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: of host countries and or let's go with Morocco guitar
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: adjacent host countries who've gone on great runs with great
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: home support, great energy, And of course we want to
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: go do that, and we want to make sure our
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: team is put in the best position to be successful
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: to do that, and I think broadly, we also want
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: to ensure that one every American who wants to be
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: a part of this World Cup can do so. So
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: we've got over three hundred soccer forward fests and communities
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: all across the country. We've got twenty five dollars tickets
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: to our Germany and Senegal games. We've got a free
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: roster revealed party in New York City, a Peer seventeen.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: You know, May twenty six. We've got merchandise all price points,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: all ages, and stores everywhere. If you go to a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: grocery store, you go to a CBS, you go at
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: costco US. Soccer stuff is everywhere, and that's intentional. We
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: want to make sure that everyone can can truly be
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: a part of this. And third is, we want our
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: team to be in the best spaci to be successful.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: We want everyone to be a part of this World Cup.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And third is we want to make sure that we're
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: using this World Cup. We're using LA twenty eight, We're
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: using the twenty thirty one World Cup bid to get
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: everyone to take the big leaps forward, to take the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: steps to make sure that we have the best system
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: in the world to win and to make sure that
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: everyone who wants to play the sport can do so.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: And so whether that's school districts putting soccer in schools,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: whether it's parks departments making big investments and facilities. So
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: one of the you know, the great things that I've
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: learned recently is thanks to a lot of great work
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: in the City of LA and then some support we've
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: provided and others from LAFC and Angel City and the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Galaxy Number one played sport for the first time in
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: history in El city of La soccer and it's now
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: grown so much that the city of La is ripping
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: out baseball fields to put in soccer fields. Think about
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: that city of La which has this incredible history of baseball,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: basketball and football. For the first time their rec program,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: soccer is by far the most played. And so as
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: we think about these examples, these are the big things
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: that are going to lead us to, you know, achieving
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: all that we've all dreamed of.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: And I'm excited about it.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: And the man leading us at this tournament is Marico Pochatino,
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: so JT I'll just as directly, here's contracts up after
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: the World Cup. Do you speak with Mauricio about his
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: future and will he stay?
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: So you know, from the moment we met in Barcelona
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to today, everything he said he would do, he's done
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: and has approached it in the exact way that one
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: would come to expect as you get to know him,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: and you know, Marizio and Jesus from moment one, we're
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: excited about our long term vision. It's part of the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: reason I came here. They believe that the opportunity here
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: is incredible and they want to play a role in that.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: They also knew from the outset that everyone's focus was
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: going to be this summer and that we need to
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: make sure that, you know, we're putting the team and
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: putting them in the best position to be able to
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: do that. And so while we all had, you know,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: long term hopes, we know that we needed to be
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: focused on the summer. And so that's been true from
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: very get go, and that has been true to today.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: We of course have had conversations around, well, how's it going,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: what's going well, what's not going well, what can we
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: all do better? And how should we think about the future.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: And I think the exact thing that was true at
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the start is true now, which is they're excited about
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the long term vision, they're excited about what we're doing,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and they of course know that the summer is really important.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: And so you know, we'll keep both of those things
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: in mind as we go through the summer, and obviously
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: we'll be in a position to make longer term decisions.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Then.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: You know, one of the things I would add to that, JT.
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: As you're mentioning this, you know, of course people are
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: always going to think that we depend on the results
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: of the team, but not realizing that the sport's going
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: to move ahead regardless of whether the team loses all
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: three games or we win the World Cup, right, so
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: we're moving forward. I can tell you that there's nothing
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: that comes to the generation of guys that I come from,
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: and that's starting in nineteen ninety through the early two thousands.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: There's nothing that has made more of an impact than
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: that nineteen ninety four World Cup because of not just
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: had nothing to do with what happened on the field,
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: though was really exciting, you know, some good results. It
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: had to do with the fact that so many people
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: continue to come to guys like myself to say, hey,
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: I started to play when I saw that, or I
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: went to my first games during that time, and I
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: think it's just good for someone like myself to hear
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: from sort of the outside now that there's this whole
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: preparation of all of the other things that have really
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: nothing to do with the actual results of the games,
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: because the impact that this next month is going to
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: have on soccer in this country will be going on
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: for the next two, three four decades.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Completely agree with that. I mean, I distinctly should think
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: about ninety four. I distinctly remember being at the Mark
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Burson University of South Carolina soccer watching, you know, of course,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the infamous game at Stanford Stadium against Brazil, with all
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: of the people who are there for the men's soccer
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: camp or the boy soccer camp and the cheerleading camp.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: And so they.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: And you know, you think about, you know, the poll
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: that ninety four had on you know, generations, because there
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: were young kids like me, and then there are of
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: course folks who are are generations older who you know,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: that was the moment they fell in love, that was
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the moment they got hooked. And you know, as I've
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: traveled around over the last four years, the number of
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: people who talk about their ninety four experience, whether watching
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: on television at home, you know, at a shared space
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: like a soccer camp, or of course being in a
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: stadium was so impactful.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: And I think the for us, the you know, the.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: You know, in the end, it's all of the other
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: things that we do to make sure that everyone can
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: benefit from this that can be a part of this,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: that's ultimately going to be the legacy of this and
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of course we want to win. Yeah, and no matter
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: how we perform, we're going to evaluate how do you
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: do better? Like of course, but ultimately for us to win.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: And this is back to the early part of the
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: conversation of we need to do as US Soccer need
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: to do a better job of helping educate everyone of
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: here the things that are going to lead to us winning.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: One of the big ways is people fall in love
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: in our sport and they want to play and they're
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: playing constantly. And also governments in school districts and pro
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: clubs and all the other parts of the ecosystem are
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: leaning in a way where we're winning together and we're
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: all lining in a way where you know, we're producing
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: the best pathways in the world to ultimately go win.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: We know we have work to do there and we
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: want to be able to use big moments like this
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: to galvanize the support so that we actually go do it.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: JT last one before we let you go, a little
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: bit of change of topics. US Open Cup MLS has
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: has kind of restricted taking teams out. It's a watered
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: down version from MLS in terms of particip basion. What
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: is your view of the Open Cup and do you
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: want it to have full participation from MLS clubs.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Well, I think you know, the Open Cup is a well,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: first of all, Open Cup is awesome. It is a
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: celebration of what's great about American soccer. And so when
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: you think about the stories in the past as well
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: as the stories in the present, it's just awesome. And
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I think, what you know, someone who didn't grow up
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: in a big city and is someone whose first pro
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: soccer experiences were the Charleston Battery of the Atlanta silver
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Backs indoor soccer pro indoor soccer, and you think about
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: the sort of importance of soccer in those communities and
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: having you know, aspirational soccer and more communities in this country.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: That's ultimately how we're going to win. We need more
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: people in this country to be able to touch and
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: feel soccer in their communities in a way where you
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: just get hooked. And of course you can watch on
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: television the best players in the world and or the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: best teams in the world, but having that in your
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: community is important because they become the coaches, they become
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: the mentors. That creates the job opportunities for that young
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: coach or for that young referee or for the person
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: who wants to work their way up. And so you know,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: for for me and for us at US Soccer, hugely
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: important that there's more soccer and more communities, and of
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: course the Open Cup is a celebration of that, and
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: so so let's start there. So that sort of spiritually
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and strategically, I think it's so so important. It's also
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: a good recognition of you know, we have underinvested in
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: many critical parts of our let's called it infrastructure of
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: US Soccer, and I mean US Soccer broadly, not just
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the the organization of US Soccer. That if we want
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to win, we have to get that investment right. And
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: it's not just US Soccer doing the investment, it's how
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: all of us are investing in the right ways to
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: make sure this is set up for success. I think
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: as we sit here right now at our new National
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Training Center, that's an example of that. And and one
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: of the big AHAs for me early in this was
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: it actually is profitable for us to build our most
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: expensive investment in history. Think about that by spending more money,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: we're actually going to end up having more money to
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: invest back in the things that matter and get a
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: key piece of infrastructure, and as you think about the
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Open Cup our building over the next couple of years,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: to think longer term, to get the right investments into
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the sporting side as well as the commercial side, so
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: that we ultimately can make this a winner on the
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: field as well as a winner commercially is so important.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: So one of the things that US Soccer hasn't done
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: enough talking about and we'll start now learned long ago.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: No margin, no mission. So if we want to go
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: do all the things we want to go do, we
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: have to grow revenue. It takes revenue to have great coaches,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: it takes revenues to have great players. It takes revenue
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: to make it to where our pathways are affordable. It's
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: too expensive for kids to play soccer, for sure, and
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: if we're going to do that, there are things we
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: can do to help reduce costs. There are things we
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: can do to make things more efficient, but ultimately we
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: got to grow the market. We have to be in
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: a position where the transfer market is something that a
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: cruise value to player development in this country. We have
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: to figure out ways to have local governments in school
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: districts invest in youth soccer and the way they invest
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: in high school football. Think about how much money spent
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: on high school football in this country, how many people
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: play football relative to soccer.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: None, but that I just talked about. I just had
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: that on the last show.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead, No, But so to me that there's
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: so much upside here. But I think one of the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: things we have to do better about is leveling with
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: people that this costs resources.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: And to do that, we have to get the investments right.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: We have to get the alignment right, and we all
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: got to lean in and it's all in Brasil that
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: we have a role to play and ultimately helping us win.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: So to me, the Open Cup is a great symbol
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: of our history but also a great opportunity to celebrate
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: what's so awesome about our sport going forward.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: Heymen, so that listen, Jat, we took you a little
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: bit longer than we promised. Thank you so very much
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: for your time, Thank you for humoring all of our questions,
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: and good luck this summer and we look forward.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: To watching good luck to y'all too. Thank you very much.