May 21, 2026 • 31 mins
Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos are joined by JT Batson, the CEO and Secretary General of the United States Soccer Federation, for an exclusive and revealing conversation about the future of the USMNT and U.S. Soccer.
The group discusses the fallout from Matt Crocker leaving the federation less than two months before the FIFA World Cup, and JT explains his intriguing vision for replacing the Sporting Director role and restructuring the leadership hierarchy within U.S. Soccer.
They also dive into JT’s relationship with Mauricio Pochettino, including insight into Pochettino’s plans following the World Cup and the long-term direction of the national team program.
Plus, JT gives candid answers about the future of the U.S. Open Cup and shares what he believes U.S. Soccer must become in order to continue growing the sport in America.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would expect an evolution in terms of how we're
structured from a soccer standpoint. Expect us to continue to
insert more and more American soccer DNA and key roles
as we go forward.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What's going on? Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am us M
and T insider Tom Bogert, joined as always by US
national team legend Tabrowmos and today we've got a third
voice and we are very very lucky to be joined
by our guest for this special episode. It's JT Batson,
the CEO and Secretary General of the US Soccer Federation.
JT joined US Soccer in September of twenty twenty two,
(00:37):
just ahead of the last World Cup. He has overseen
everything within the program, to a new training facility that
just opened up ahead of this World Cup, to Mauricio
Pochettina and Emma Hayes hired all of that in between. JT,
thank you so much for joining us, and I want
to start here. Can you give us your soccer background?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, my soccer background obviously not as illustrious as some
on the podcast. I grew up playing soccer and Augusta,
Georgia started at the YMCA, you know, playing Rex soccer
like so many and then you know, got sucked in
and played on a club team called the Augusta Arsenal
for years and years all around the Southeast, and some
of those players went on two greater things. I went
(01:19):
on to college and ultimately into the tech world, but
was always trying to find a way to get back
involved with soccer. And for a while that was as
a referee, actually refereed at a fairly high level for
a while.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And then when I got tired of being yelled at,
I ended up.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Getting involved with the US Operations a volunteer. So I
met Saniel Golatti on an Amtrak station years and years ago,
and I learned that US Soccer was one a nonprofit
and two didn't do any fundraising, and so I put
together a plan to help start the fundraising program for
US Soccer more than a decade ago, and that was
how it got involved.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
And here we are now. JT.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
You had any free time, which I know that you
don't given this encompassing role. If you had free time
for love of the game, would you be like a
men's league referee, or maybe an occasional college referee or
you know, too much being yelled at and you'd rather
spend your time elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well well, actually, the first national team game at the
new Arthur and blank US Soccer Training Center is Thursday,
and I am the fourth official.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So I'm back. All right, So got certified again. I'm
ready to go.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I got to make sure I understand the substitution rules
for CP men's soccer. But I've got the uniform, I've
got the cleats. Of course they're night and we're ready
to go.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So so JT.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
First of all, thank you for coming on. Really appreciate that.
I know we haven't formally met, but it's great to
have you on. I know all the responsibility you have.
It's not easy to get through all the things you've
had to get through. As a side note, I would
say when I started playing for the national team, the
first national team I was ever on was the under
twenty back when I was sixteen, and my first coach
(03:04):
was Angus mccobine, who was from Atlanta. I don't know,
do you know Angus?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yes, okay, so I do, yeah, so wow wow, yeah,
so legend.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
He of course he is, and he started I think
he was coming at the time. I don't know, you know,
this goes way back, but and I was obviously very
young at the time, but it's coming. He was coaching
the Atlanta Chiefs back in yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
That was like, oh yeah, seventies.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So a lot of the people listening to this show
will have no idea what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
But I love it. Oh, I'm like overcome with emotion.
This is like flashback Central. So we're very close to
an old indoor soccer arena here that was called the
Soccer Center. And I met Angus through a couple of
his sort of colleagues from the chief days working at
indoor soccer tournaments in the nineties of the Soccer Center
(03:54):
and so like, I haven't thought of Angus and forev like,
but that was like such a formative part of my
childhood was being around all these guys who were legends
in the game and sort of building soccer what it
is today. And sort of it gets me to think
about they never could have dreamed. I look out and
look at these fields and they never could have dreamed
of that for America, much less to be in Atlanta.
(04:15):
It's so it's so cool to think about and sort
of Angus, Wow, I love that love it.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Yeah, there's that, there's that great connection there. And then
obviously Atlanta with the clubs like Data Graphics, it's where if.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You remember as that.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, so Atlanta has actually played a much bigger part
over the last few decades than I think most people
will give it credit for, although now it's sort of
the pinnacle right of of all of the things that
we're doing.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Absolutely and the Yeah, my day, it was sort of
Stone Mountain AFC lightning a lot of a lot of
great players who came out of Atlanta. My time when
I realized my playing days were numbered, were actually a
soccer complex not far from here. I was guarding Ricardo
Clark and we're probably thirty thirty five yards out from
(05:05):
the goal. He sort of fakes one way, goes the other.
We've all seen it many times and just lashes the
ball in the top corner and I was like, I'm
a study harder.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
And so much ended up being a good move.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, it worked out. So now as CEO of US Soccer,
to bring it back to today, I think a lot
of people don't know exactly what that entails. I know
that you're across a lot of things, So what does
a typical day look like.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Well, US Soccer has a whole bunch of things that
were up to Obviously we're most known for the men's
and women's national teams, but we actually have twenty seven
national teams. We have our youth teams, we have our
beach and futsal teams. We also have our disability national teams,
where the world leader and Disability soccer. We of course
are focused on how do we support the growth of
(05:52):
soccer broadly, so all forms of soccer, whether it's recreational,
whether it's competitive soccer, college soccer, pro soccer. We also
have a commercial business, so we have media partners, we
have sponsors, We sell a whole lot of tickets and merchandise,
We raise a lot of money. We now have facilities,
we've got real estate that we're into. And then of
(06:12):
course we are engaged around CONKA, CAF and FIFA, around
the future of the game regionally and globally. So you know,
US Soccer has gone through a journey over the past
few years. I think one of the most important things
we've done is embraced that our mission to be in
service to soccer. Our job is to support those who
are bringing soccer life in communities all across the country,
(06:33):
and bringing that service mentality to how we support literally everyone,
I think is at the heart of our culture and
how we're ultimately going to be able to win.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
It's really important actually you know that you're out here
and you're getting the message across because you know Tom's
question about Okay, what is it.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
That you do.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I know that you know when you're at US Soccer
the number one thing that they will always connect you
to is whether the national team wins or loses. Right,
if they win, you're doing a good job. If they
don't win, you're not doing a good job. But I
think it's important to know that you know, at the
end of the day, the senior national team is like
such a small part of everything that happens, and I
think in general most fans will not know that.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I agree, and I think actually that's on us. So
it's our job to educate our fans on what ultimately
drives the outcomes they care about. And I think one
of the big realizations that has sort of really come
through to all of us is we're a soccer country.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
There are well over one hundred million people who are
soccer fans. There's a recent poll that twenty percent of
Americans described themselves as obsessed soccer fans. And so I
think one of our shifts is, hey, we're big. People
love soccer. There are lots of fans, and we have
very sophisticated soccer fans in this country. We as US
Soccer need to embrace them as sophisticated fans and level
(07:58):
with them and be transparent. And here's what we're doing,
the good, bad and the ugly, and here are the
things that we all should be focused on if we
want to win World Cups, if we want to make
it to where soccer is the most plays for in
the country, and so so, tab, you're one hundred percent
right that most folks don't know that, and I would
have put myself in those in that same bucket x
years ago. And that's on us to fix that. And
(08:18):
that's part of the reason why we're here, and we're
excited for the conversation.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I appreciate that, JT and all of those are very
important points and a tough transition to I'm going to
ask some questions about the senior men's national team right now,
and get of course, get pretty specific. So I just
want to start with Matt Crocker, the sporting director, abruptly
left the program last month, I believe, just a couple
months before of a home World Cup. So question's twofold one.
Can you take me back to some of those days
(08:43):
and what your emotions are processing all that information and
what were the conversations like with Matt Crocker.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Well, I think what's really important is to think about
the journey we've been on broadly. And you know, when
I joined, we had fewer than two hundred people. We're
now six hundred people. We were losing tens of millions
of dollars a year. We just will be public with
this soon, but we'll have our third straight year of profitability,
(09:15):
first time ever in our more than one hundred year
history of three years in a row of put money back.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
In the bank.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And it's not just the fact that we have more people.
We have lots of great people now. It's not just
that we are profitable. We're investing more in our soccer
than we ever have in our history, by virtue of
the great work. And we have a clearly articulated strategy,
part of which Matt helped develop. And I think the
(09:42):
biggest impact Matt had on our organization is one of
our culture of getting our soccer people in particular, but
the rest of the organization to embrace that our success
in US Soccer, for our men's team and our women's
team is ultimately based on the quality of our ecosystem
and our role as US Soccer is to service them.
(10:04):
And I think the fact that that organizational culture has
evolved to that and our overall strategy is one of
rather than thinking of ourselves as on high that we're
in charge, that ultimately we're here to support and that
flip is one that will pay off for years and
years and years to come. And I give a lot
(10:24):
a lot of credit for that. And you know, you
know one thing, and I'm sure we'll talk about head
coaches and succession planning around that. One of the cultural
things that we've done as an organization is we actually
have monthly succession planning sessions for key roles where we
go through what are replacements, what are interims, what are renewals,
what does that look like to make sure that no
(10:46):
matter what happens, we're not in a position where we're
caught flat footed.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And so.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You know, this is something that's sort of a natural
part of business, and you know, we're now well set
up for that. But I give Matt a lot of
credit for that bigultural journey, uh that we went on,
and you now have an employee group at US Soccer
who fully believes that our success is dependent on how
well we support our ecosystem and ultimately how healthy and successful.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
It is just really quickly to follow up. Were you
surprised by that departure in the timing of it?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Matt and I have a very transparent relationship from day one.
Uh and uh, so you know, Matt was transparent around
the outreach.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And it was also transparent. They had no interest initially,
uh and uh as they came back, the interest evolved.
And you know, the I'm a big believer in uh
supporting your teammates, and when people have amazing opportunities, you know,
you want to be able to support them doing that.
(11:53):
Uh And uh you know, I'm excited for him and
his family and and but I absolutely was trans through
the whole process and and uh, uh you know, I
obviously of course appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So uh, you know, digging a little bit more into this, uh,
this sporting director role. So as you as you look
into the future now, and you you look into the
you know, potential successor, and and you know, I'm wondering
what would be some of the broad requirements that you
think would be important for this position. And the reason
(12:27):
the reason I'm asking this is because I have a
follow up to that, which you know, I might as
well say it now, but and.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I'd like for you to know.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
I'd like for you to to let us know if
you feel like Matt Crocker had a full understanding of
of and by the way, I know, super spark guy,
all of those things, I get it, But I know
that the American landscape is so complicated. It's still complicated
for me. And I've been involved, like in the youth sport.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
For all those years.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
So sure, So do you think what are some of
the broad requirements that you're looking for for and do
you think that that job potentially could once again go
to someone for a foreign from a foreign country that
hasn't necessarily lived here.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Well, I think the you know, as I shared, and
part of the reason why I shared, you know, we've
gone from fewer than two hundred people to six hundred people.
We've tripled in terms of our our revenue. We have
this new facility, we have more teams, we have you know,
we're we're a very different organization than we were three
years ago. And so as a part of any natural
(13:33):
long term you know, talent, strategy, planning roles will evolve,
and so our sporting and soccer organization more broadly was
was going to evolve whether or not Matt is here
or whether or not is not here. And of course,
with you know, Matt uh uh moving overseas, that creates
(13:55):
an opportunity for us to conceivably accelerate some of that evolution.
And I think at its heart, we now are in
a position where we have a strategy. We also have
an ecosystem where we had some trust to rebuild.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
You know, we had some real trust issues broadly, and
we had a lot of work to do there and
by no means will be perfect, and we got some
more more areas to continue to improve. But we have
a strategy, We have an ecosystem that believes it's better
working together versus separate. Uh, And we also are in
a position where everyone is embraced. The men's and women's
ecosystems are different and we also have an organization and
(14:35):
I think a broader ecosystem that have embraced that soccer
is really big here and we are a sophisticated soccer country,
and we have a lot of great talent here and
that ultimately for us to be successful. You know, one
of the things that I often like to say is
soccer is the challenger sport in our country, and we're
the challenger country in our sport. So we can't copy
some other country, We can't copy some other sport. We
(14:59):
got to outthink, we got out work, and ultimately we
got to outwork together. And so I would expect an
evolution in terms of how we're structured from a soccer standpoint,
based on our great learning, our great thinking.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And how we've evolved.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And I wouldn't expect us to continue to insert more
and more American soccer DNA and key roles as we
go forward. And I think that's part of our maturity
is a soccer country, and it's a part of our
maturity is as an organization to where we're in a
position to do that.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
Anything that on that top, no, I would I would say,
you know, obviously, it's it's it's too early to ask anyway,
but the only follow up would be, of course we
have to wait until the World Cup to get through
the World Cup and see what happens after that and
what the process would be in terms of the timing,
you know, for a successor in that role, because obviously
(15:52):
maybe you know, just looking from the outside, obviously thinking
that potentially it's like, that's really important role for taking
the next steps in terms of finding the next coach
and you know everything that comes next.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
So actually, I'm glad you asked the follow up, so
that process has already started and so and actually it
actually started even before Matt told us he was going
to Saudi Arabia. So you know, we had a board
meeting in February under AGM and we did succession planning
and talent planning. Overall, we now have three generational ambitions
(16:26):
of US Soccer success US Soccer everywhere in US Soccer
is yours and articulated twenty thirty two goals around where
we're trying to take everything that puts us on a
path to make sure that we're in that position and
a good organization. You say, okay, well where are you
now and where do you need to be to go
get there, and as a part of that, no organization
is perfect, and so there are some gaps or some tweaks,
(16:47):
and so we started that work in February, and actually
my first meeting bright and early this morning was specifically
around the next steps of what we're doing here and so,
and I would not want anyone to leave this podcast
thinking the structure will look exactly like it did before.
I would be very very, very very surprised if we
(17:11):
have a one sporting director who's responsible for everything. We're
in a position where we've evolved, we've matured, we have
more resources than we did before, and it will allow
us to bring in or build up talent who's focused
on the men's and women's ecosystems. And you know, we
are designing these roles in a way where it vastly
(17:34):
increases the chances that we're able to have Americans and
or people who are deeply rooted in the American soccer
ecosystem lead us continue to lead us going forward.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I think that is extremely exciting and very very insightful.
We don't have you for a ton longer, so we're
going to take a very quick break, and then we're
going to talk about the World Cup, recal Pochatino's current
status in future, and a lot much more with J. C. Batson.
Please rate, view, and subscribe in South American Soccer. Wherever
you get the pipe, welcome back to in South American Soccer.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Sabin.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I are joined by JT. Bats and JT. It's here
the World Cup, the Men's World Cup is here. What
would be a realistic best case scenario for the United
States and what does this event mean for the future
of soccer in this country.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, I think let's start with the as we think
about the goal, and there of course are lots of
broad goals which we'll come to. But as we think
about the team. You know, so I was talking about earlier.
We have a large sophisticated fan base who some of
them are newer to our sport or newer to our team.
Others like this crew who's been around for a while
(18:53):
and has seared in our brains moments of sort of
US men's national team past and US Women's team pass
that bring us great pride and great joy and sometimes
great heartache. But to me, the measure of success is
are those tens of millions of Americans who care who
really give a shit. Are they proud? And that can
(19:15):
take a lot of different forms. And if they're proud
of how we've performed, how we left it on the
field and everything we did to go sort of run
as far as we can run, then we've won. And
I know the coaching staff believes that. I know, obviously
we'll know shortly who the players are, and I know
(19:36):
you know they will believe that, And I think that's exciting.
And I think obviously there's lots of great historical examples
of host countries and or let's go with Morocco guitar
adjacent host countries who've gone on great runs with great
home support, great energy, And of course we want to
go do that, and we want to make sure our
team is put in the best position to be successful
to do that, and I think broadly, we also want
(19:59):
to ensure that one every American who wants to be
a part of this World Cup can do so. So
we've got over three hundred soccer forward fests and communities
all across the country. We've got twenty five dollars tickets
to our Germany and Senegal games. We've got a free
roster revealed party in New York City, a Peer seventeen.
(20:19):
You know, May twenty six. We've got merchandise all price points,
all ages, and stores everywhere. If you go to a
grocery store, you go to a CBS, you go at
costco US. Soccer stuff is everywhere, and that's intentional. We
want to make sure that everyone can can truly be
a part of this. And third is, we want our
team to be in the best spaci to be successful.
(20:40):
We want everyone to be a part of this World Cup.
And third is we want to make sure that we're
using this World Cup. We're using LA twenty eight, We're
using the twenty thirty one World Cup bid to get
everyone to take the big leaps forward, to take the
steps to make sure that we have the best system
in the world to win and to make sure that
everyone who wants to play the sport can do so.
(21:02):
And so whether that's school districts putting soccer in schools,
whether it's parks departments making big investments and facilities. So
one of the you know, the great things that I've
learned recently is thanks to a lot of great work
in the City of LA and then some support we've
provided and others from LAFC and Angel City and the
Galaxy Number one played sport for the first time in
(21:24):
history in El city of La soccer and it's now
grown so much that the city of La is ripping
out baseball fields to put in soccer fields. Think about
that city of La which has this incredible history of baseball,
basketball and football. For the first time their rec program,
soccer is by far the most played. And so as
(21:46):
we think about these examples, these are the big things
that are going to lead us to, you know, achieving
all that we've all dreamed of.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
And I'm excited about it.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And the man leading us at this tournament is Marico Pochatino,
so JT I'll just as directly, here's contracts up after
the World Cup. Do you speak with Mauricio about his
future and will he stay?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So you know, from the moment we met in Barcelona
to today, everything he said he would do, he's done
and has approached it in the exact way that one
would come to expect as you get to know him,
and you know, Marizio and Jesus from moment one, we're
excited about our long term vision. It's part of the
(22:30):
reason I came here. They believe that the opportunity here
is incredible and they want to play a role in that.
They also knew from the outset that everyone's focus was
going to be this summer and that we need to
make sure that, you know, we're putting the team and
putting them in the best position to be able to
do that. And so while we all had, you know,
long term hopes, we know that we needed to be
(22:52):
focused on the summer. And so that's been true from
very get go, and that has been true to today.
We of course have had conversations around, well, how's it going,
what's going well, what's not going well, what can we
all do better? And how should we think about the future.
And I think the exact thing that was true at
the start is true now, which is they're excited about
(23:12):
the long term vision, they're excited about what we're doing,
and they of course know that the summer is really important.
And so you know, we'll keep both of those things
in mind as we go through the summer, and obviously
we'll be in a position to make longer term decisions.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Then.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You know, one of the things I would add to that, JT.
As you're mentioning this, you know, of course people are
always going to think that we depend on the results
of the team, but not realizing that the sport's going
to move ahead regardless of whether the team loses all
three games or we win the World Cup, right, so
we're moving forward. I can tell you that there's nothing
that comes to the generation of guys that I come from,
(23:52):
and that's starting in nineteen ninety through the early two thousands.
There's nothing that has made more of an impact than
that nineteen ninety four World Cup because of not just
had nothing to do with what happened on the field,
though was really exciting, you know, some good results. It
had to do with the fact that so many people
continue to come to guys like myself to say, hey,
(24:14):
I started to play when I saw that, or I
went to my first games during that time, and I
think it's just good for someone like myself to hear
from sort of the outside now that there's this whole
preparation of all of the other things that have really
nothing to do with the actual results of the games,
because the impact that this next month is going to
(24:37):
have on soccer in this country will be going on
for the next two, three four decades.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Completely agree with that. I mean, I distinctly should think
about ninety four. I distinctly remember being at the Mark
Burson University of South Carolina soccer watching, you know, of course,
the infamous game at Stanford Stadium against Brazil, with all
of the people who are there for the men's soccer
camp or the boy soccer camp and the cheerleading camp.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And so they.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And you know, you think about, you know, the poll
that ninety four had on you know, generations, because there
were young kids like me, and then there are of
course folks who are are generations older who you know,
that was the moment they fell in love, that was
the moment they got hooked. And you know, as I've
traveled around over the last four years, the number of
(25:31):
people who talk about their ninety four experience, whether watching
on television at home, you know, at a shared space
like a soccer camp, or of course being in a
stadium was so impactful.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
And I think the for us, the you know, the.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
You know, in the end, it's all of the other
things that we do to make sure that everyone can
benefit from this that can be a part of this,
that's ultimately going to be the legacy of this and
of course we want to win. Yeah, and no matter
how we perform, we're going to evaluate how do you
do better? Like of course, but ultimately for us to win.
And this is back to the early part of the
conversation of we need to do as US Soccer need
(26:10):
to do a better job of helping educate everyone of
here the things that are going to lead to us winning.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
One of the big ways is people fall in love
in our sport and they want to play and they're
playing constantly. And also governments in school districts and pro
clubs and all the other parts of the ecosystem are
leaning in a way where we're winning together and we're
all lining in a way where you know, we're producing
the best pathways in the world to ultimately go win.
(26:40):
We know we have work to do there and we
want to be able to use big moments like this
to galvanize the support so that we actually go do it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
JT last one before we let you go, a little
bit of change of topics. US Open Cup MLS has
has kind of restricted taking teams out. It's a watered
down version from MLS in terms of particip basion. What
is your view of the Open Cup and do you
want it to have full participation from MLS clubs.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Well, I think you know, the Open Cup is a well,
first of all, Open Cup is awesome. It is a
celebration of what's great about American soccer. And so when
you think about the stories in the past as well
as the stories in the present, it's just awesome. And
I think, what you know, someone who didn't grow up
in a big city and is someone whose first pro
(27:26):
soccer experiences were the Charleston Battery of the Atlanta silver
Backs indoor soccer pro indoor soccer, and you think about
the sort of importance of soccer in those communities and
having you know, aspirational soccer and more communities in this country.
That's ultimately how we're going to win. We need more
people in this country to be able to touch and
(27:47):
feel soccer in their communities in a way where you
just get hooked. And of course you can watch on
television the best players in the world and or the
best teams in the world, but having that in your
community is important because they become the coaches, they become
the mentors. That creates the job opportunities for that young
coach or for that young referee or for the person
(28:08):
who wants to work their way up. And so you know,
for for me and for us at US Soccer, hugely
important that there's more soccer and more communities, and of
course the Open Cup is a celebration of that, and
so so let's start there. So that sort of spiritually
and strategically, I think it's so so important. It's also
(28:28):
a good recognition of you know, we have underinvested in
many critical parts of our let's called it infrastructure of
US Soccer, and I mean US Soccer broadly, not just
the the organization of US Soccer. That if we want
to win, we have to get that investment right. And
it's not just US Soccer doing the investment, it's how
(28:50):
all of us are investing in the right ways to
make sure this is set up for success. I think
as we sit here right now at our new National
Training Center, that's an example of that. And and one
of the big AHAs for me early in this was
it actually is profitable for us to build our most
expensive investment in history. Think about that by spending more money,
(29:11):
we're actually going to end up having more money to
invest back in the things that matter and get a
key piece of infrastructure, and as you think about the
Open Cup our building over the next couple of years,
to think longer term, to get the right investments into
the sporting side as well as the commercial side, so
that we ultimately can make this a winner on the
(29:32):
field as well as a winner commercially is so important.
So one of the things that US Soccer hasn't done
enough talking about and we'll start now learned long ago.
No margin, no mission. So if we want to go
do all the things we want to go do, we
have to grow revenue. It takes revenue to have great coaches,
(29:53):
it takes revenues to have great players. It takes revenue
to make it to where our pathways are affordable. It's
too expensive for kids to play soccer, for sure, and
if we're going to do that, there are things we
can do to help reduce costs. There are things we
can do to make things more efficient, but ultimately we
got to grow the market. We have to be in
a position where the transfer market is something that a
cruise value to player development in this country. We have
(30:15):
to figure out ways to have local governments in school
districts invest in youth soccer and the way they invest
in high school football. Think about how much money spent
on high school football in this country, how many people
play football relative to soccer.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
None, but that I just talked about. I just had
that on the last show.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, go ahead, No, But so to me that there's
so much upside here. But I think one of the
things we have to do better about is leveling with
people that this costs resources.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
And to do that, we have to get the investments right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
We have to get the alignment right, and we all
got to lean in and it's all in Brasil that
we have a role to play and ultimately helping us win.
So to me, the Open Cup is a great symbol
of our history but also a great opportunity to celebrate
what's so awesome about our sport going forward.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Heymen, so that listen, Jat, we took you a little
bit longer than we promised. Thank you so very much
for your time, Thank you for humoring all of our questions,
and good luck this summer and we look forward.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
To watching good luck to y'all too. Thank you very much.
I would expect an evolution in terms of how we're
structured from a soccer standpoint. Expect us to continue to
insert more and more American soccer DNA and key roles
as we go forward.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What's going on? Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am us M
and T insider Tom Bogert, joined as always by US
national team legend Tabrowmos and today we've got a third
voice and we are very very lucky to be joined
by our guest for this special episode. It's JT Batson,
the CEO and Secretary General of the US Soccer Federation.
JT joined US Soccer in September of twenty twenty two,
(00:37):
just ahead of the last World Cup. He has overseen
everything within the program, to a new training facility that
just opened up ahead of this World Cup, to Mauricio
Pochettina and Emma Hayes hired all of that in between. JT,
thank you so much for joining us, and I want
to start here. Can you give us your soccer background?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, my soccer background obviously not as illustrious as some
on the podcast. I grew up playing soccer and Augusta,
Georgia started at the YMCA, you know, playing Rex soccer
like so many and then you know, got sucked in
and played on a club team called the Augusta Arsenal
for years and years all around the Southeast, and some
of those players went on two greater things. I went
(01:19):
on to college and ultimately into the tech world, but
was always trying to find a way to get back
involved with soccer. And for a while that was as
a referee, actually refereed at a fairly high level for
a while.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And then when I got tired of being yelled at,
I ended up.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Getting involved with the US Operations a volunteer. So I
met Saniel Golatti on an Amtrak station years and years ago,
and I learned that US Soccer was one a nonprofit
and two didn't do any fundraising, and so I put
together a plan to help start the fundraising program for
US Soccer more than a decade ago, and that was
how it got involved.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
And here we are now. JT.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
You had any free time, which I know that you
don't given this encompassing role. If you had free time
for love of the game, would you be like a
men's league referee, or maybe an occasional college referee or
you know, too much being yelled at and you'd rather
spend your time elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well well, actually, the first national team game at the
new Arthur and blank US Soccer Training Center is Thursday,
and I am the fourth official.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So I'm back. All right, So got certified again. I'm
ready to go.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I got to make sure I understand the substitution rules
for CP men's soccer. But I've got the uniform, I've
got the cleats. Of course they're night and we're ready
to go.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So so JT.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
First of all, thank you for coming on. Really appreciate that.
I know we haven't formally met, but it's great to
have you on. I know all the responsibility you have.
It's not easy to get through all the things you've
had to get through. As a side note, I would
say when I started playing for the national team, the
first national team I was ever on was the under
twenty back when I was sixteen, and my first coach
(03:04):
was Angus mccobine, who was from Atlanta. I don't know,
do you know Angus?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yes, okay, so I do, yeah, so wow wow, yeah,
so legend.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
He of course he is, and he started I think
he was coming at the time. I don't know, you know,
this goes way back, but and I was obviously very
young at the time, but it's coming. He was coaching
the Atlanta Chiefs back in yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
That was like, oh yeah, seventies.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So a lot of the people listening to this show
will have no idea what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
But I love it. Oh, I'm like overcome with emotion.
This is like flashback Central. So we're very close to
an old indoor soccer arena here that was called the
Soccer Center. And I met Angus through a couple of
his sort of colleagues from the chief days working at
indoor soccer tournaments in the nineties of the Soccer Center
(03:54):
and so like, I haven't thought of Angus and forev like,
but that was like such a formative part of my
childhood was being around all these guys who were legends
in the game and sort of building soccer what it
is today. And sort of it gets me to think
about they never could have dreamed. I look out and
look at these fields and they never could have dreamed
of that for America, much less to be in Atlanta.
(04:15):
It's so it's so cool to think about and sort
of Angus, Wow, I love that love it.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Yeah, there's that, there's that great connection there. And then
obviously Atlanta with the clubs like Data Graphics, it's where if.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You remember as that.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, so Atlanta has actually played a much bigger part
over the last few decades than I think most people
will give it credit for, although now it's sort of
the pinnacle right of of all of the things that
we're doing.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Absolutely and the Yeah, my day, it was sort of
Stone Mountain AFC lightning a lot of a lot of
great players who came out of Atlanta. My time when
I realized my playing days were numbered, were actually a
soccer complex not far from here. I was guarding Ricardo
Clark and we're probably thirty thirty five yards out from
(05:05):
the goal. He sort of fakes one way, goes the other.
We've all seen it many times and just lashes the
ball in the top corner and I was like, I'm
a study harder.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
And so much ended up being a good move.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, it worked out. So now as CEO of US Soccer,
to bring it back to today, I think a lot
of people don't know exactly what that entails. I know
that you're across a lot of things, So what does
a typical day look like.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Well, US Soccer has a whole bunch of things that
were up to Obviously we're most known for the men's
and women's national teams, but we actually have twenty seven
national teams. We have our youth teams, we have our
beach and futsal teams. We also have our disability national teams,
where the world leader and Disability soccer. We of course
are focused on how do we support the growth of
(05:52):
soccer broadly, so all forms of soccer, whether it's recreational,
whether it's competitive soccer, college soccer, pro soccer. We also
have a commercial business, so we have media partners, we
have sponsors, We sell a whole lot of tickets and merchandise,
We raise a lot of money. We now have facilities,
we've got real estate that we're into. And then of
(06:12):
course we are engaged around CONKA, CAF and FIFA, around
the future of the game regionally and globally. So you know,
US Soccer has gone through a journey over the past
few years. I think one of the most important things
we've done is embraced that our mission to be in
service to soccer. Our job is to support those who
are bringing soccer life in communities all across the country,
(06:33):
and bringing that service mentality to how we support literally everyone,
I think is at the heart of our culture and
how we're ultimately going to be able to win.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
It's really important actually you know that you're out here
and you're getting the message across because you know Tom's
question about Okay, what is it.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
That you do.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I know that you know when you're at US Soccer
the number one thing that they will always connect you
to is whether the national team wins or loses. Right,
if they win, you're doing a good job. If they
don't win, you're not doing a good job. But I
think it's important to know that you know, at the
end of the day, the senior national team is like
such a small part of everything that happens, and I
think in general most fans will not know that.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I agree, and I think actually that's on us. So
it's our job to educate our fans on what ultimately
drives the outcomes they care about. And I think one
of the big realizations that has sort of really come
through to all of us is we're a soccer country.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
There are well over one hundred million people who are
soccer fans. There's a recent poll that twenty percent of
Americans described themselves as obsessed soccer fans. And so I
think one of our shifts is, hey, we're big. People
love soccer. There are lots of fans, and we have
very sophisticated soccer fans in this country. We as US
Soccer need to embrace them as sophisticated fans and level
(07:58):
with them and be transparent. And here's what we're doing,
the good, bad and the ugly, and here are the
things that we all should be focused on if we
want to win World Cups, if we want to make
it to where soccer is the most plays for in
the country, and so so, tab, you're one hundred percent
right that most folks don't know that, and I would
have put myself in those in that same bucket x
years ago. And that's on us to fix that. And
(08:18):
that's part of the reason why we're here, and we're
excited for the conversation.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I appreciate that, JT and all of those are very
important points and a tough transition to I'm going to
ask some questions about the senior men's national team right now,
and get of course, get pretty specific. So I just
want to start with Matt Crocker, the sporting director, abruptly
left the program last month, I believe, just a couple
months before of a home World Cup. So question's twofold one.
Can you take me back to some of those days
(08:43):
and what your emotions are processing all that information and
what were the conversations like with Matt Crocker.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Well, I think what's really important is to think about
the journey we've been on broadly. And you know, when
I joined, we had fewer than two hundred people. We're
now six hundred people. We were losing tens of millions
of dollars a year. We just will be public with
this soon, but we'll have our third straight year of profitability,
(09:15):
first time ever in our more than one hundred year
history of three years in a row of put money back.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
In the bank.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And it's not just the fact that we have more people.
We have lots of great people now. It's not just
that we are profitable. We're investing more in our soccer
than we ever have in our history, by virtue of
the great work. And we have a clearly articulated strategy,
part of which Matt helped develop. And I think the
(09:42):
biggest impact Matt had on our organization is one of
our culture of getting our soccer people in particular, but
the rest of the organization to embrace that our success
in US Soccer, for our men's team and our women's
team is ultimately based on the quality of our ecosystem
and our role as US Soccer is to service them.
(10:04):
And I think the fact that that organizational culture has
evolved to that and our overall strategy is one of
rather than thinking of ourselves as on high that we're
in charge, that ultimately we're here to support and that
flip is one that will pay off for years and
years and years to come. And I give a lot
(10:24):
a lot of credit for that. And you know, you
know one thing, and I'm sure we'll talk about head
coaches and succession planning around that. One of the cultural
things that we've done as an organization is we actually
have monthly succession planning sessions for key roles where we
go through what are replacements, what are interims, what are renewals,
what does that look like to make sure that no
(10:46):
matter what happens, we're not in a position where we're
caught flat footed.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And so.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You know, this is something that's sort of a natural
part of business, and you know, we're now well set
up for that. But I give Matt a lot of
credit for that bigultural journey, uh that we went on,
and you now have an employee group at US Soccer
who fully believes that our success is dependent on how
well we support our ecosystem and ultimately how healthy and successful.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
It is just really quickly to follow up. Were you
surprised by that departure in the timing of it?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Matt and I have a very transparent relationship from day one.
Uh and uh, so you know, Matt was transparent around
the outreach.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And it was also transparent. They had no interest initially,
uh and uh as they came back, the interest evolved.
And you know, the I'm a big believer in uh
supporting your teammates, and when people have amazing opportunities, you know,
you want to be able to support them doing that.
(11:53):
Uh And uh you know, I'm excited for him and
his family and and but I absolutely was trans through
the whole process and and uh, uh you know, I
obviously of course appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So uh, you know, digging a little bit more into this, uh,
this sporting director role. So as you as you look
into the future now, and you you look into the
you know, potential successor, and and you know, I'm wondering
what would be some of the broad requirements that you
think would be important for this position. And the reason
(12:27):
the reason I'm asking this is because I have a
follow up to that, which you know, I might as
well say it now, but and.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I'd like for you to know.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
I'd like for you to to let us know if
you feel like Matt Crocker had a full understanding of
of and by the way, I know, super spark guy,
all of those things, I get it, But I know
that the American landscape is so complicated. It's still complicated
for me. And I've been involved, like in the youth sport.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
For all those years.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
So sure, So do you think what are some of
the broad requirements that you're looking for for and do
you think that that job potentially could once again go
to someone for a foreign from a foreign country that
hasn't necessarily lived here.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Well, I think the you know, as I shared, and
part of the reason why I shared, you know, we've
gone from fewer than two hundred people to six hundred people.
We've tripled in terms of our our revenue. We have
this new facility, we have more teams, we have you know,
we're we're a very different organization than we were three
years ago. And so as a part of any natural
(13:33):
long term you know, talent, strategy, planning roles will evolve,
and so our sporting and soccer organization more broadly was
was going to evolve whether or not Matt is here
or whether or not is not here. And of course,
with you know, Matt uh uh moving overseas, that creates
(13:55):
an opportunity for us to conceivably accelerate some of that evolution.
And I think at its heart, we now are in
a position where we have a strategy. We also have
an ecosystem where we had some trust to rebuild.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
You know, we had some real trust issues broadly, and
we had a lot of work to do there and
by no means will be perfect, and we got some
more more areas to continue to improve. But we have
a strategy, We have an ecosystem that believes it's better
working together versus separate. Uh, And we also are in
a position where everyone is embraced. The men's and women's
ecosystems are different and we also have an organization and
(14:35):
I think a broader ecosystem that have embraced that soccer
is really big here and we are a sophisticated soccer country,
and we have a lot of great talent here and
that ultimately for us to be successful. You know, one
of the things that I often like to say is
soccer is the challenger sport in our country, and we're
the challenger country in our sport. So we can't copy
some other country, We can't copy some other sport. We
(14:59):
got to outthink, we got out work, and ultimately we
got to outwork together. And so I would expect an
evolution in terms of how we're structured from a soccer standpoint,
based on our great learning, our great thinking.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And how we've evolved.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And I wouldn't expect us to continue to insert more
and more American soccer DNA and key roles as we
go forward. And I think that's part of our maturity
is a soccer country, and it's a part of our
maturity is as an organization to where we're in a
position to do that.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
Anything that on that top, no, I would I would say,
you know, obviously, it's it's it's too early to ask anyway,
but the only follow up would be, of course we
have to wait until the World Cup to get through
the World Cup and see what happens after that and
what the process would be in terms of the timing,
you know, for a successor in that role, because obviously
(15:52):
maybe you know, just looking from the outside, obviously thinking
that potentially it's like, that's really important role for taking
the next steps in terms of finding the next coach
and you know everything that comes next.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
So actually, I'm glad you asked the follow up, so
that process has already started and so and actually it
actually started even before Matt told us he was going
to Saudi Arabia. So you know, we had a board
meeting in February under AGM and we did succession planning
and talent planning. Overall, we now have three generational ambitions
(16:26):
of US Soccer success US Soccer everywhere in US Soccer
is yours and articulated twenty thirty two goals around where
we're trying to take everything that puts us on a
path to make sure that we're in that position and
a good organization. You say, okay, well where are you
now and where do you need to be to go
get there, and as a part of that, no organization
is perfect, and so there are some gaps or some tweaks,
(16:47):
and so we started that work in February, and actually
my first meeting bright and early this morning was specifically
around the next steps of what we're doing here and so,
and I would not want anyone to leave this podcast
thinking the structure will look exactly like it did before.
I would be very very, very very surprised if we
(17:11):
have a one sporting director who's responsible for everything. We're
in a position where we've evolved, we've matured, we have
more resources than we did before, and it will allow
us to bring in or build up talent who's focused
on the men's and women's ecosystems. And you know, we
are designing these roles in a way where it vastly
(17:34):
increases the chances that we're able to have Americans and
or people who are deeply rooted in the American soccer
ecosystem lead us continue to lead us going forward.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I think that is extremely exciting and very very insightful.
We don't have you for a ton longer, so we're
going to take a very quick break, and then we're
going to talk about the World Cup, recal Pochatino's current
status in future, and a lot much more with J. C. Batson.
Please rate, view, and subscribe in South American Soccer. Wherever
you get the pipe, welcome back to in South American Soccer.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Sabin.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I are joined by JT. Bats and JT. It's here
the World Cup, the Men's World Cup is here. What
would be a realistic best case scenario for the United
States and what does this event mean for the future
of soccer in this country.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, I think let's start with the as we think
about the goal, and there of course are lots of
broad goals which we'll come to. But as we think
about the team. You know, so I was talking about earlier.
We have a large sophisticated fan base who some of
them are newer to our sport or newer to our team.
Others like this crew who's been around for a while
(18:53):
and has seared in our brains moments of sort of
US men's national team past and US Women's team pass
that bring us great pride and great joy and sometimes
great heartache. But to me, the measure of success is
are those tens of millions of Americans who care who
really give a shit. Are they proud? And that can
(19:15):
take a lot of different forms. And if they're proud
of how we've performed, how we left it on the
field and everything we did to go sort of run
as far as we can run, then we've won. And
I know the coaching staff believes that. I know, obviously
we'll know shortly who the players are, and I know
(19:36):
you know they will believe that, And I think that's exciting.
And I think obviously there's lots of great historical examples
of host countries and or let's go with Morocco guitar
adjacent host countries who've gone on great runs with great
home support, great energy, And of course we want to
go do that, and we want to make sure our
team is put in the best position to be successful
to do that, and I think broadly, we also want
(19:59):
to ensure that one every American who wants to be
a part of this World Cup can do so. So
we've got over three hundred soccer forward fests and communities
all across the country. We've got twenty five dollars tickets
to our Germany and Senegal games. We've got a free
roster revealed party in New York City, a Peer seventeen.
(20:19):
You know, May twenty six. We've got merchandise all price points,
all ages, and stores everywhere. If you go to a
grocery store, you go to a CBS, you go at
costco US. Soccer stuff is everywhere, and that's intentional. We
want to make sure that everyone can can truly be
a part of this. And third is, we want our
team to be in the best spaci to be successful.
(20:40):
We want everyone to be a part of this World Cup.
And third is we want to make sure that we're
using this World Cup. We're using LA twenty eight, We're
using the twenty thirty one World Cup bid to get
everyone to take the big leaps forward, to take the
steps to make sure that we have the best system
in the world to win and to make sure that
everyone who wants to play the sport can do so.
(21:02):
And so whether that's school districts putting soccer in schools,
whether it's parks departments making big investments and facilities. So
one of the you know, the great things that I've
learned recently is thanks to a lot of great work
in the City of LA and then some support we've
provided and others from LAFC and Angel City and the
Galaxy Number one played sport for the first time in
(21:24):
history in El city of La soccer and it's now
grown so much that the city of La is ripping
out baseball fields to put in soccer fields. Think about
that city of La which has this incredible history of baseball,
basketball and football. For the first time their rec program,
soccer is by far the most played. And so as
(21:46):
we think about these examples, these are the big things
that are going to lead us to, you know, achieving
all that we've all dreamed of.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
And I'm excited about it.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And the man leading us at this tournament is Marico Pochatino,
so JT I'll just as directly, here's contracts up after
the World Cup. Do you speak with Mauricio about his
future and will he stay?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So you know, from the moment we met in Barcelona
to today, everything he said he would do, he's done
and has approached it in the exact way that one
would come to expect as you get to know him,
and you know, Marizio and Jesus from moment one, we're
excited about our long term vision. It's part of the
(22:30):
reason I came here. They believe that the opportunity here
is incredible and they want to play a role in that.
They also knew from the outset that everyone's focus was
going to be this summer and that we need to
make sure that, you know, we're putting the team and
putting them in the best position to be able to
do that. And so while we all had, you know,
long term hopes, we know that we needed to be
(22:52):
focused on the summer. And so that's been true from
very get go, and that has been true to today.
We of course have had conversations around, well, how's it going,
what's going well, what's not going well, what can we
all do better? And how should we think about the future.
And I think the exact thing that was true at
the start is true now, which is they're excited about
(23:12):
the long term vision, they're excited about what we're doing,
and they of course know that the summer is really important.
And so you know, we'll keep both of those things
in mind as we go through the summer, and obviously
we'll be in a position to make longer term decisions.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Then.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You know, one of the things I would add to that, JT.
As you're mentioning this, you know, of course people are
always going to think that we depend on the results
of the team, but not realizing that the sport's going
to move ahead regardless of whether the team loses all
three games or we win the World Cup, right, so
we're moving forward. I can tell you that there's nothing
that comes to the generation of guys that I come from,
(23:52):
and that's starting in nineteen ninety through the early two thousands.
There's nothing that has made more of an impact than
that nineteen ninety four World Cup because of not just
had nothing to do with what happened on the field,
though was really exciting, you know, some good results. It
had to do with the fact that so many people
continue to come to guys like myself to say, hey,
(24:14):
I started to play when I saw that, or I
went to my first games during that time, and I
think it's just good for someone like myself to hear
from sort of the outside now that there's this whole
preparation of all of the other things that have really
nothing to do with the actual results of the games,
because the impact that this next month is going to
(24:37):
have on soccer in this country will be going on
for the next two, three four decades.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Completely agree with that. I mean, I distinctly should think
about ninety four. I distinctly remember being at the Mark
Burson University of South Carolina soccer watching, you know, of course,
the infamous game at Stanford Stadium against Brazil, with all
of the people who are there for the men's soccer
camp or the boy soccer camp and the cheerleading camp.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And so they.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And you know, you think about, you know, the poll
that ninety four had on you know, generations, because there
were young kids like me, and then there are of
course folks who are are generations older who you know,
that was the moment they fell in love, that was
the moment they got hooked. And you know, as I've
traveled around over the last four years, the number of
(25:31):
people who talk about their ninety four experience, whether watching
on television at home, you know, at a shared space
like a soccer camp, or of course being in a
stadium was so impactful.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
And I think the for us, the you know, the.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
You know, in the end, it's all of the other
things that we do to make sure that everyone can
benefit from this that can be a part of this,
that's ultimately going to be the legacy of this and
of course we want to win. Yeah, and no matter
how we perform, we're going to evaluate how do you
do better? Like of course, but ultimately for us to win.
And this is back to the early part of the
conversation of we need to do as US Soccer need
(26:10):
to do a better job of helping educate everyone of
here the things that are going to lead to us winning.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
One of the big ways is people fall in love
in our sport and they want to play and they're
playing constantly. And also governments in school districts and pro
clubs and all the other parts of the ecosystem are
leaning in a way where we're winning together and we're
all lining in a way where you know, we're producing
the best pathways in the world to ultimately go win.
(26:40):
We know we have work to do there and we
want to be able to use big moments like this
to galvanize the support so that we actually go do it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
JT last one before we let you go, a little
bit of change of topics. US Open Cup MLS has
has kind of restricted taking teams out. It's a watered
down version from MLS in terms of particip basion. What
is your view of the Open Cup and do you
want it to have full participation from MLS clubs.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Well, I think you know, the Open Cup is a well,
first of all, Open Cup is awesome. It is a
celebration of what's great about American soccer. And so when
you think about the stories in the past as well
as the stories in the present, it's just awesome. And
I think, what you know, someone who didn't grow up
in a big city and is someone whose first pro
(27:26):
soccer experiences were the Charleston Battery of the Atlanta silver
Backs indoor soccer pro indoor soccer, and you think about
the sort of importance of soccer in those communities and
having you know, aspirational soccer and more communities in this country.
That's ultimately how we're going to win. We need more
people in this country to be able to touch and
(27:47):
feel soccer in their communities in a way where you
just get hooked. And of course you can watch on
television the best players in the world and or the
best teams in the world, but having that in your
community is important because they become the coaches, they become
the mentors. That creates the job opportunities for that young
coach or for that young referee or for the person
(28:08):
who wants to work their way up. And so you know,
for for me and for us at US Soccer, hugely
important that there's more soccer and more communities, and of
course the Open Cup is a celebration of that, and
so so let's start there. So that sort of spiritually
and strategically, I think it's so so important. It's also
(28:28):
a good recognition of you know, we have underinvested in
many critical parts of our let's called it infrastructure of
US Soccer, and I mean US Soccer broadly, not just
the the organization of US Soccer. That if we want
to win, we have to get that investment right. And
it's not just US Soccer doing the investment, it's how
(28:50):
all of us are investing in the right ways to
make sure this is set up for success. I think
as we sit here right now at our new National
Training Center, that's an example of that. And and one
of the big AHAs for me early in this was
it actually is profitable for us to build our most
expensive investment in history. Think about that by spending more money,
(29:11):
we're actually going to end up having more money to
invest back in the things that matter and get a
key piece of infrastructure, and as you think about the
Open Cup our building over the next couple of years,
to think longer term, to get the right investments into
the sporting side as well as the commercial side, so
that we ultimately can make this a winner on the
(29:32):
field as well as a winner commercially is so important.
So one of the things that US Soccer hasn't done
enough talking about and we'll start now learned long ago.
No margin, no mission. So if we want to go
do all the things we want to go do, we
have to grow revenue. It takes revenue to have great coaches,
(29:53):
it takes revenues to have great players. It takes revenue
to make it to where our pathways are affordable. It's
too expensive for kids to play soccer, for sure, and
if we're going to do that, there are things we
can do to help reduce costs. There are things we
can do to make things more efficient, but ultimately we
got to grow the market. We have to be in
a position where the transfer market is something that a
cruise value to player development in this country. We have
(30:15):
to figure out ways to have local governments in school
districts invest in youth soccer and the way they invest
in high school football. Think about how much money spent
on high school football in this country, how many people
play football relative to soccer.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
None, but that I just talked about. I just had
that on the last show.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, go ahead, No, But so to me that there's
so much upside here. But I think one of the
things we have to do better about is leveling with
people that this costs resources.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
And to do that, we have to get the investments right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
We have to get the alignment right, and we all
got to lean in and it's all in Brasil that
we have a role to play and ultimately helping us win.
So to me, the Open Cup is a great symbol
of our history but also a great opportunity to celebrate
what's so awesome about our sport going forward.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Heymen, so that listen, Jat, we took you a little
bit longer than we promised. Thank you so very much
for your time, Thank you for humoring all of our questions,
and good luck this summer and we look forward.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
To watching good luck to y'all too. Thank you very much.
Popular Podcasts
Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb
Joy is essential. And it's also elusive. You can't order it, borrow it, or simply hope it into life. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence: The Joy 101 Podcast with Hoda! Best known for her Emmy-winning work and co-anchoring Today, Hoda Kotb infuses her authenticity, curiosity, and warmth into conversations with the world’s most fascinating people. Entertainment legends, sport icons, wellness experts, and everyday folks will share how they find, allow, and experience joy. Hoda will offer her own tips and takes on seeking a more balanced, harmonious life. If you're craving inspiration, support, and useful tools to maximize your joy, tune in to these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Joy after a breakup, joy as an empty-nester, joy after loss, joy as a caretaker — Hoda's new podcast will speak to you. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb, an iHeartPodcast.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com