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5 min readCan World Cup mania grow MLS in the U.S.?
The scene was improbable: a commercial shipping container barge transformed into a beer garden, floating somewhere in Seattle, with a toddler kicking a soccer ball on artificial turf while a massive screen showed Uruguay versus Cape Verde. This was Cape Verde's first ever World Cup match, and when they scored their first goal in tournament history, the barge shook. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan was there, and she called Planet Money because she had stumbled onto something bigger: a real-time business experiment playing out across the country. Major League Soccer faces what the hosts call a "problem-tunity." The problem: soccer is not America's favorite sport, and even when it is, MLS is often not the preferred version of it. The opportunity: the World Cup is happening on home soil, and every MLS team is scrambling to capture some of that attention for themselves.
The field of dreams strategy
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:01) **World Cup mania meets MLS reality** - Reporter Kenny Malone describes a surreal World Cup watch party on a barge in Seattle, hosted by the city's MLS team, the Sounders.
- 2 (03:47) **The Problem-tunity: can MLS bottle World Cup energy?** - The episode's central question is framed: how can MLS teams convert temporary World Cup fever into lasting fandom for their own league?
- 3 (05:36) **History lesson: 1994 and the birth of MLS** - The 1994 World Cup is credited with launching MLS, but the league has already done the obvious growth steps (30 teams, full TV coverage).
- 4 (07:27) **Strategy #1: The Field of Dreams** - Brian Bilello, president of the New England Revolution, bets that hosting World Cup matches in Boston will convert casual sports fans into passionate soccer fans.
- 5 (11:53) **Strategy #2: The Costco Sampling Strategy** - Chicago, a non-host city, cannot rely on local World Cup matches. The Chicago Fire instead spent $2-3 million on a giant watch party.
- 6 (16:23) **The network effect of sports fandom** - The party strategy leverages a key insight: sports are more valuable when enjoyed with others. The watch party sells the community, not just the game.
- 7 (17:47) **Does it actually work? The mixed evidence** - Academic studies show hosting a World Cup has unpredictable effects on domestic leagues. Some countries see a bump, others (like Italy in 1990) see a decline.
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Show Notes
In between World Cup matches, NPR Sports Correspondent Becky Sullivan has been following Major League Soccer executives as they try to figure out how best to get a foot in the door with sports fans in the U.S.
In this episode, we tag along to see if U.S. and Canadian professional soccer can harness 2026 for the mythical World Cup bump in soccer interest. What strategies are teams using? And does it stand a chance to work?
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This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Becky Sullivan and Kenny Malone. It was produced by James Sneed with an assist from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Annlie Huang. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.
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