World Cup: Winners and Losers

World Cup: Winners and Losers

Simon Evans is joined by Andre Da Costa and Sports Business Journal's Alex Silverman for a wrap-up review of the World Cup — breaking down the tournament's biggest business winners and losers. From Erling Haaland to Cristiano Ronaldo - beer sales to hydration break revenue - it's all covered as the pod looks back on a memorable five weeks.

American Soccer's Future is 'All About Access' - Ed Foster-Simeon

Every four years the same debate resurfaces after a US World Cup exit: pay-to-play, access, and why the world's most inclusive sport still has a class problem in America. Ed Foster-Simeon, CEO of the US Soccer Foundation, has heard it all before — and argues the industry keeps asking the wrong question. Instead of fixating on elite player development, he makes the case that talent identification is a volume problem: you can't find good players in communities that don't have anywhere to play. Foster-Simeon walks through how the Foundation is closing that gap — nearly 1,000 mini-pitches built toward a 2026 target, 1.6 million youth reached through school and after-school programming, and a funding model that leans on philanthropy. We get into what actually moves the needle on access, why "sticky" community engagement matters more than chasing the next elite prospect, and what it'll take — money, policy, and a shift in how the game's value gets pitched to donors — to make soccer as culturally embedded in under-resourced communities as it already is in the suburbs.

Pay to Play Soccer: An Alternative with Amir Lowery

'Pay to Play' youth soccer is being blamed for the USMNT under-performing. But is there another way for kids to be given access to coaching? Amir Lowery is a coach and former MLS and USL player who is now head of the Open Goal Project at DCFC in Washington, DC - a free to play program. He joins Simon to explain the problems with pay-to-play and how the alternative he has built actually works.

After World Cup Humbling - Is American Soccer Getting it All Wrong?

Simon and André break down the USA's 4-1 collapse against Belgium in the Round of 16 — and why the manner of the exit, not the result itself, has triggered a wave of hot takes across social and sports media. They unpack the noise around player development, arguing that most of the criticism misses what's actually working and what is really in need of reform. They also tackle the Pulisic scapegoating narrative head-on, and shift to the business case: why one early exit won't slow MLS and USL's momentum, how corporate America's attitude toward soccer has visibly shifted, and what a 42-million-viewer Mexico-England audience signals about the ceiling for the sport in the US.

New MLS club investors, MCO moves and Bruno Costa interview

A significant, first of a kind, new investment in an MLS club. LAFC sell their Swiss club and a USL purchase are among the issues discussed in our new review before Bruno Costa, head of the international office for the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) talks to us about the World Cup magic of the yellow jersey and their North American strategy.