Business of Soccer Ep. 3: Mexico's Passion For The Game And Turning It Into Profits

On this special edition of the Bloomberg Business of Sports: The Business of Soccer, Vanessa Perdomo breaks down the landscape of the sport in Mexico, as the host nation of the World Cup that has the closest ties to the game but that is still looking to capitalize on their fans' passion. 
On this episode hear from: 

• Sam Porter, owner and co-managing member of Club Necaxa in Liga MX, on the potential upside for the business side of soccer in Mexico, coming in as an American investor into the industry and his recent appointment as Chief Strategy Officer for Apollo Sports Capital. 
• Bloomberg’s Gonzalo Soto on how Mexico is preparing to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, why certain cities were chosen diving into their deep roots in soccer and their club’s storied past and why Mexico’s LigaMX is so closely tied to Major League Soccer.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is the.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Business of soccer. They appa divers here in this country
is here to stay.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
The Global World Cup of twenty six will bring just
that the globe to the United States.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Every four year, you know, there's this moment where the world.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Wakes up to the incredible athletes that we have on
the US and these national teams.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
There are more soccer games available to watch on television
in the US than any other country in the world.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Soccer, or as.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
I would call it living in the UK, football is
the biggest sport.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
In the world.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
There's a gap in the market around women's soccer, and
we're here to fill that gap. Bloomberg Business of Soccer
from Bloomberg Radio. Welcome back.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
This is a special edition of the Bloomberg Business of
Sports podcasts, The Business of Soccer. I'm Vanessa Perdomo and
I'm diving in behind the scenes of the world's game
more as we get ready for the twenty twenty six
fee Foot World Cup, which is only eight months away. Today,
we'll be taking a closer look at one of the
co hosts of the World Cup, Mexico. Mexico will host
ten games across three major cities Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.

(01:10):
Soccer has been the biggest sport in the country for
over one hundred years, and the fans are beyond passionate.
They are consistently among the top travelers for the World Cup,
and their top league, League MX, is more popular in
the US than Major League Soccer. In this episode, we're
going to speak to Bloomberg reporter Gonzalo Soto out of
Mexico City about the economic impact of the sport in

(01:30):
the country. But first I spoke with one of the
owners of Lega MX team, Club Nicoxa, about why he
invested in the league and the potential he sees in
Mexican soccer. Here's my conversation with Sam Porter, owner and
co manager of Club Nakoxa. So, Sam, really new and
interesting information just came out that you've now been a
part of Chief Strategy Officer Sports at Apollo Sports Capital.

(01:54):
Tell us about this new exciting news.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
So, on September twenty ninth, Apollo announced the formation of
a new company, Apollo Sports Capital, and Apollo Sports Capital
will be focused on providing capital solutions to teams, leagues, meteorites, companies,
you know, anything in the sports ecosystem that needs liquidity

(02:21):
and really capital solutions of all shapes and sizes is
what we're trying to address in the marketplace.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
And Apolo has been invested in sports for a little while. Now,
what is exactly the intent of this specific fund and
is there anything you can tell us direction wise European football,
certain things you guys are looking at.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, I think Apollo has done deals and I've been
an advisor to Apollo for a number of years prior
to taking this role as a full time position, and
at Apollo we have done deals in the sports space,
you know, investments, credit deals, investing in stadium. Now, this
is a public sports capital is going to be a dedicated,

(03:04):
full time platform with its own balance sheet and its
own resources that we'll be able to address the needs
as the asset class really grows and matures, and every
year and every month you're seeing more and more and
so the idea of a Polo sports capital is to
be even better situated than Apollo was previously to address
the needs of the growing asset class. And in terms

(03:27):
of what we're looking to do, it's really going to
be you know, kind of look at a lot of
the different stuff that comes our way and then address
as it comes. But we're looking for big size. You know,
we have long dated capital that we can we can
use to be you know, really helpful partners to the

(03:48):
different owners, operators, leagues, teams that we'll do deals with.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Great And as we talk about that, obviously now we're
going to get more into your personal investments and things that.
But I want to set the stage of a little
bit of your background and obviously this is part of
your backgrounds investing in sports. So can you set a
little bit more of your background in it and give
us a brief detail about your experience as a sports executive,

(04:13):
sports and investor.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
So, I was the chief strategy officer for DC United
in the MLS for a number of years. In twenty
twenty one, myself and my partner Al Tails, along with
a number of LPs including Eva Longoria and Justin Erlander
and Sean Marion, we invested in and bought around fifty

(04:36):
percent of Club Nakoxa and League MX. That has been
something that's been really great for us in terms of
being in League iMX as owners and operators, working with
our Mexican partners, the Tineharo family, and really kind of
bridging that gap between League AMEX and the US in
terms of the soccerculture. Since then, the League's Cup has

(04:56):
really blossomed into this competition between League MX and MLS,
and we've just seen a huge amount of interest in
League MX in the United States. Obviously, League MX is
the most popular sport by far in Mexico. It's also
the most watched soccer league in the United States. And
earlier this year, our TV show Nakasa that features Eva

(05:18):
Longoria and Ryan Reynolds and Rob meck All was debut
on FX and its streams on Hulu and Disney Plus,
and that's been really popular and we're very happy with that.
So that just shows the kind of growing interest in
a product like a show about Nakasa. That's that's primarily
in Spanish English subtitles sometimes if I'm talking it's in English.
These are this is something that was not coming out

(05:41):
of League MX in prior years. And the League's Cup
has been a huge success too, when you're seeing the
competition between League MX teams and MLS teams. So that's
that was our initial investment into the Sports World privately,
and then in uh we bought the book Wind pickleball
team in Major League Pickleball subsequent to Nicasa, and then

(06:04):
earlier this year, as you covered, we purchased clubek You
Dodd one hundred percent of Clubechi DoD in Bogota, Columbia,
and we will be relaunching that team. It's existing, but
we're going to be rebranding it in January twenty twenty
six as Internationale de Bogata to really reflect the international
nature of the club and sort of the presence of

(06:25):
Bogata's international city. So those are our three sort of
marquee sports investments that we've done as a group and
now obviously transitioning into this role at a polo sports capital.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
So much unpack there and I want to get to
all of it. I really am excited to talk about Nacoxa,
the TV show. I love it, you know, candidly welcome.
Rerexham is my favorite sports documentary like ever. I just
think the whole formula of it, and I think, you
know the Naicoxa, you know, watching it the same thing,
the formula of its showing the city, showing the personal story.

(07:00):
I mean, I cry like literally cry, like you know,
watching Nacoxa, watching Alexi Bena his dad crying when he
gets hurt, and it's just really amazing. So to go
into that, you know, when you're looking at this investment
and you're looking at the city of aguasc Ca Allgientes,
did you go to it first? How did you get
involved in Nacoxa and Lega MX as an investment first?

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, so great.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
I can tell that you actually have watched the show
knowing those details, and of course went to Aguas Clantates
a ton before we invested into the team. Because when
you're making international sports investments or any sports investments domestic
or international, match day, the city you're investing in, the
club is typically a large part of that city, and
the city is a large part of that club, so

(07:47):
you need to get a feel for what that's like.
So I went to Aguas clients a lot, toward our stadium,
toward our training facility. We did a ton of diligence
leading up to it, and the city's quite nice, it's
pretty big. It has an international feel to it because
Nissan's based there and you've got a Japanese population. Mercedes
Benz has a big presence there, so you've got German population.

(08:09):
It's a very international city. I don't think it's at
all what people's initial expectations are around, you know, a
Mexican city of a million plus people. So we we
knew that League MX was a huge opportunity. You look
at the media, you look at the viewership numbers, you
look at the demographics of how many Mexican Americans are

(08:30):
watching it in the US, how many Mexicans are watching
it in Mexico. The opportunity for growth is obviously something
you're always looking for in investments, and League MX really
checked a lot of those boxes. But when you're buying
sports teams, it's not like there's a menu at a
restaurant and you go, oh, I'll have this team, this
team or this team. You know a lot of teams

(08:52):
aren't for sale at any given time. There's scarcity, which
is part of what makes teams valuable. So when we
met the Tinharo family, who who were the one hundred
percent owners of Nicoxa before we came in, and when
we got to Aguas Calientes and we got a feel
for the club, we at that point knew that it
was the right fit for us. We had local partners
who we really trust and have a great relationship with.

(09:12):
We had a club that is now one hundred and
two years old that you know, has had a lot
of success and has a historic fan base. And because
Nikoxa had moved from Mexico City to Aguas Calientes, we
also have a really robust Mexican City fan base, which
is cool. And then you have a lot of Nickoxa
fans in the US. If I were a Nikosa hat
or sweatshirt around New York City, I mean people come

(09:33):
up to me and they're like, why is this, you know,
giant gringo wearing Nikoxa stuff. It's always an interesting conversation. So, yeah,
that we did the diligence of visiting the city, got
to know the club and then and as if you've
seen on the TV show, it is there's real passion
around the club and getting to feel that you knew
that it was at the time, we knew it was

(09:55):
something we wanted to get involved in.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
One of the things that's interesting when you're watching the
show too, is that, I mean, you ment it's one
hundred and two years old, but it hasn't always been
in aguastc Alliente's kind of the counter to Wrexham, where
it's always been there and they're suffering through it and
you know whatever. So the interesting thing was there is
like you have the citizens wanting to root for it,
but they're also angry at the team all the time,
and you know there's this kind of you know, well,

(10:18):
you know, they haven't always been here, so we kind
of root for them. We kind of root for Club
America still, like you know other things like that. How
is that when you first got there, having this team
that was rooted in the city but still kind of new,
and you know what, we were goals to try and
get them to really get behind Nikoso.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, I think what I found was you want to
you want to give them something to cheer for. When
a team's losing, it's really tough. And so you even
see it in New York, for instance, when you're walking
around and talking to NFL fans and you're like, oh,
you're a Giants fan or a Jets fan, and the
teams have been you know, I'm a Giants fan. Historically

(10:55):
teams have been quite bad for a while now, both
of them, and so you'll talk to nobody in New
York who who's a Dallas Cowboys fan or a or
a Chiefs fan more more recently. Right, So, when you're
in a city and you want to try to connect,
you have to win. You've got to put a good
product on the field, and you also have to connect
with folks. I think I think fans can put up
with some losing because they know that that's just you

(11:17):
know that not every team is going to win every year,
and there's very few teams even when you look at
the historic giants in any in they're given sports. The
Yankees don't win the MLB every year, Man United doesn't
win every year, Cowboys don't win ever year. You know,
the biggest teams don't always win. So you have to
you know, you you want to set expectations and you
want to put a good product on the field. So
I think if you communicate with the fans, show an effort,

(11:40):
show ambition. If you don't show any ambition and you're
not really trying, then you can't really blame them if
they're apathetic about the product. But if you're out there
showing ambition, you know, hiring coaches who bring something to
the table, hiring players who play hard and bring a
type of football to the table that the fans can
get behind. That's that's that's really all you can do.
And then and then it's so point. If you keep

(12:00):
doing things the right way, you hope the wins come
and the playoff success comes, and the championships come. And
when they do, then then you buy, you earn that
sort of respect and equity with the.

Speaker 4 (12:10):
Fans, and you know, with that and the respect and
all of that. Obviously, when you first came in, it
was it was a couple of years ago, and now
the TV show has come much later than you know,
watching something like Rexham from the startup. How has everything
changed since twenty twenty one you came in, What were
your first initial goals and what are your goals now

(12:30):
that the TV shows out and there's more visibility for
the team.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
I think when we first came in, our thoughts were
to our goals were to you know, we came in
and we really didn't want to, you know, create a
lot of trouble because I think when you're the first
so we were the first American group to come in
and really be part of an ownership group, which.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
Is important to know for r sure.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
And there's folks at Juarez, who are you know, that's
a border town, so there's Mexican Americans there.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Nothing again.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
And then we were the first, like true fully American
group to come in and say, Okay, we're controlling owners
of a league AMX club and so we wanted to
We didn't want to come in and give this perception, Hey,
we're the Americans who know everything and we're going to
be super forceful. We wanted to take some time to
understand the league, understand what worked, what didn't work. We

(13:24):
wanted to be the one thing that we felt we
could do behind the scenes would be forward looking from
our player recruitment model of football. How did we look
at finding new players? How did we look at putting
the best product on the field. So we spent some
time building up and analytics group, which is still part
of our recruitment now, and we've recruited really well and
sold a lot of players. But that was kind of

(13:48):
the initial stage. Now I think we're in a stage
where we now have some of the most famous people
in the world and Eva and Ryan and Rob as
part of our ownership. We're driving a TV show that
has the league hasn't had before in existence something like this.
So our goals now change to where it's okay, we
still need to get better at the football and win

(14:11):
on a on a semester semester by semester basis, but
we also want to continue to grow the commercial and
really our goal is to break into that tier of
Mexican football that's probably the top six seven clubs, and
I think where we've been is just probably a little
bit below that, and we're really trying to make that
push to be a club that semester and semester out

(14:32):
can compete with the Manterreys and the Cruises rules and
these are clubs that have a lot more financial resources
than we do, frankly just due to their ownership structure,
in our history within the league, or their geographic locations.
But that is the ambition that we're pushing for and
trying to, you know, find that right balance of commercial growth,

(14:52):
staying true to our fans and competing on the pitch.
And you know, it's it's it's tough because when you
do sign those good players and they do really well
for you, there's almost this fluid free agency that exists
in global football where we had a tremendous player that
was our best player last semester, and when this semester ended,

(15:16):
one of the biggest clubs in the league came in
and made put together a financial offer where the player
wasn't going to stay.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
We didn't really have a say in it.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
We couldn't keep and and so that was the that's
the that's the gift and the curse of finding these
good players that you can develop.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
When they get really good, you know, you have a
tough time keeping them.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
So that's always been something that we struggled with and
we're still trying to get to a place where they go,
I can stay here because this club is big enough
for that.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
Do you think that the commercial success of having the
TV show will help in that regard because they will
have more of an outward appearance to have, you know, commercials,
whatever it is, more than just the soccer side of
it all.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
One hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
I think you've seen it at Wrexham where after a
few seasons of the show, players can go there. They
have this, they have a platform. You've seen several of
their players, you know, write books and do other things
that add to their commercial level. So that needs to
be proven out. Probably, you know, the show needs to
get some more momentum. We need we need that, we
need a sort of a case study and how it

(16:20):
can be successful. Because at the end of the day,
if the player goes, hey, you can get X to
stay at Nicaso, or you can get three X to
go to cruisezul or Monterrey called America, the players and
their agents and their families are still going to go.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
I think we're going to take this money.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
But as we build this up, I do think the
show and the platform that we're building with ni Cox
as a club will allow us to be more competitive
in that right.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about Eva Longoria as
one of your partners, and she's a partner and across
multiple of the ventures you have. Correct And how did
you guys first meet and how did you guys you know,
come together in all these different partnerships.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah, so my partner al is al Tylist very involved
in various philanthropic organizations. Through some filanthree that he was doing,
he got connected with one of the agents at Endeavor
the and he and the agent said, oh, you know,
what do you what do you do?

Speaker 2 (17:21):
What are you working on?

Speaker 3 (17:22):
And Al said, you know, actually I'm in the process
of buying a Mexican soccer team. And he said, oh,
do you know Eva the Longoria and said, no.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
This was you know, before we bought the team.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
This was you know, this is probably almost a year
before we were in the process of doing it and
h and we got connected with Eva and kind of
hit it off right out of the gates. We had
some some some dinners together and she was all in
right out of the from the jump. She understood the vision,
knew what we wanted to do. And so basically her
agent introduced us and from there we had a direct relationship.

(17:57):
And she's an amazing person, a great investor, really brings
her all to everything she does and so it was
a great fit for us because she looks a lot
better in front of the camera than we do. And uh,
and so it's just been a great partnership across all
the you know, across all the platforms. So she's she's

(18:17):
in interbo guitar with us, she's in the Brooklyn pickleball team,
and really brings a great you know, joy of life
and enthusiasm to everything that that she does and.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
She lives in Mexico City now, right, so her being
there has that authentic factor to it as well. Is
it Padrina they call her and patron right, that's it? Yeah, Yeah,
that's it.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
I think it's translation. She's definitely the boss.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
She she spends, she lives, she has a place in
Mexico City, she has a place in La a place
in Spain. She's a very very much a globe trotter,
but definitely is is connected to Mexico in a very
real way. Her husband, Pepe, is Mexican and he's around
a bunch too, awesome, good eye and yeah, so it's
a great, great connectivity around her in the club.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
You know, watching her in the series makes me really like, Okay,
she didn't grow up speaking Spanish either, but I can
learn too, So that's really that's really great, you know, exciting,
very impressive.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
How Yeah, she didn't didn't grow up speaking Spanish and
is doing all this stuff in Mexico and Spain and
speak Spanish.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
It's very impressive.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
Yeah. So we had mentioned earlier that you know, you
guys were one of the first to invest in LEMX,
but now we've seen a lot more American investment come
in in the last couple of years, particularly this year
in general. So what did you think that is the
time right now? Why people are seeing the value in
Lemex right now?

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Well, I think sports franchises, teams specifically as an asset class,
have just kind of grown and grown and grown. You've
seen the Lakers trade for ten billion and a minority
sale of the New York Giants for at a ten billion,
and you're seeing these numbers that a few years ago
were probably unthinkable, and that's kind of been the case

(20:06):
for quite a while now of the way that sports
franchise is trade.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
So I think you start.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
To go, Okay, where is that a place where there's
As an investor, you just go where where is there
a place where I can still capture some of that
upside that hasn't been unlocked yet, that isn't that hasn't
been fully invested out by the folks who are buying
NFL and NBA teams. And I think League MX holds
a lot of that appeal because, yes, the league is
in Mexico, but we as I mentioned earlier, we play

(20:33):
the League Cup where you play a good amount of
matches in the US. But also it's every match is
effectively on television in the US with major ratings, so
you're almost you're buying an interesting franchise that that is
based in Mexico but is the most watched soccer league
in the US but also the most watched foreign league
of any sport in the US, So that that's pretty interesting.

(20:54):
And so I think that's that's gotten more people to
the table to look at it, and then you know
they're they're because of some FIFA rules, there's a couple
clubs that have the same ownership groups within League MX.
It is diminishing now, but that's that's forcing a couple
groups to sell. So there are a couple clubs that

(21:14):
can be sold, which is what happened with Corea. So before,
I mean League m X teams don't trade a lot.
So when we were doing our work on Nakaksa was like,
what was the last team that sold and what did
it sell for? And it was really hard because they
are desirable to have and they don't the people who
own them aren't really typically looking to sell them. So

(21:35):
now because of their the multi club ownership groups have
to divest. Multi club within within the League MX have
to divest. It's opened up the opportunity for some some
clubs to be sold, and I think that's very appealing
to international investors.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
I think that's an interesting part of it too, that
they don't change hands a lot, or they haven't previously.
And what do you think that goes into maybe the
lower valuation we see for le MX teams that like
MLS teams are at a higher valuation right now, even
though LEEMX is more watched in the US, Like, what
do you think goes into that?

Speaker 3 (22:09):
I think that you pay a premium to be in
the US because it's the US. I think there's a
little bit of the way that the media covers lat
Ham in general is a whole separate conversation that we
could have. But I think that, yes, you pay premium
to be in the US. It's a known quantity, it's
a known entity. Some of the investors in the MLS

(22:31):
clubs are very famous, notable businessmen and sports investors and
famous guys, and I think that that all adds to
the valuations of MLS teams. And I think the MLS
has done a great job of positioning themselves as a
as a value growth league where the franchises become worth
more and more, and I think that League MX.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
You know, we talked about how old Nakasa is.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
You know, MLS started in nineteen ninety six, and I
think the people who created it had a vision for
what it could be because they had seen the NFL
and the NBA and the way that these leagues were
going trajectory wise for team valuations, so they I think
that was always in the mind of the MLS and
how they structure things and how they navigate things. League
MX came together much earlier and in a much different

(23:18):
way where I think a lot of the League m X,
at the league level and a lot of the team
owners were never really thinking about it as a the
way we think about the asset class now, which is
this is a scarce asset that has value, that generates
money that's going to go up and up and up.
I think that League MX came together as as really
a hey, we're here to play football and provide entertainment.

(23:40):
Of course they were businesses, but I don't know that
there was that sort of planning and thought to creating
an asset class. And I think that now that is
something that League MX is, the league and the other
owners are are starting to understand, so I think that's
why you're seeing some of that change. But it definitely,
you know, just being in the US and general is
going to make a company more valuable. There's so much

(24:03):
wealth in the US and where the MLS teams have
put there, where the MLS has put MLS teams city wise,
has been really strategic and well thought out, and I
think that that leads to some of the delta by
I actually think you will see a compression between League
MX team valuations and MLS team valuations when you just
look at the media rights that League MX teams are

(24:24):
going to be generating, the interest from private equity and
where that's going to go in the coming years.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
I'm glad you brought up the media rights because it
is a little bit different structured right in LEAMX right
now than obviously we have in the MLS. In US sports,
it's very clear and it's one of the reasons why
evaluations are so high in the US right So for
LEAGA MX, can you break down for us what it
is right now the media rights and hopefully what it's
going to become, because I know I spoke to LEEMX

(24:52):
president Michael Ariola earlier this year, and he said that's
obviously a big priority, but it hasn't happened for a
reason yet, right.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
So the way that Leaga MX is structured is that
each team sells their own individual media rights package. So
at Nakaso, we sell METEA rights package and it's it's
broken down between a US basically a US and a
Mexico and then you may have some South American or
other territories, but primarily it's a US package and a

(25:22):
Mexican package. You might do that with the same company,
you might do it between two different companies, and each
team is doing their own and League MX is the
largest team league in the world that is using this
format for its media rights. Pretty Much every other league
in the world, NFL, NBA, LA, Liga, EPL, they are

(25:43):
all using a collectivized media rights approach where the league
goes out, perhaps they hire an outside consulting group, perhaps
they do it themselves, and they sell a league wide
media rights package and they may set they may split
that into several sub sub packages like what you see
with the NBA, in the NFL, et cetera. And they
may sell international packages like what you see with La

(26:04):
Liga and the EPL. LaLiga was probably the largest international
soccer league that had not had collectivized media rights until
relatively recently, and I think that you see because of
the connectivity between the two countries, Spain and Mexico and
the way that League MX views La Liga Spain, there
tends to be a lot of like, Okay, they're doing

(26:26):
that there, we can do this here. So Laaliga, compared
to the other large European leagues, was the last one
to collectivize their media rights, and I think that League
MX were now as a league looking to fully collectivize
our media rights in the next couple of years. Michel,
who you interviewed, would know it, would have a better
sense of exactly what that timeline looks like than than

(26:47):
I do. I do anticipate it being in the next
couple of years, and I think that's going to be
a tremendous value add because when you're negotiating on a
one off basis, you have less information. These networks and
broadcast partners do this again again, and when you're doing
it as a league, you have, you know, considerably more
leverage and you can kind of come up with how

(27:09):
you what you want your outcome to be and and
you know, navigate your way there as opposed to just
being one club doing it on your own. So I
think it's time for that. I think it's probably you know,
past time for that. And I think it'll be a
big boost to the league in terms of media rights
and revenues because it is a league that really gets

(27:29):
people watching, you know, in both sides of the border.
It moves the needle in terms of ratings, and now
more than ever, live sports are the backbone of not
just linear but but streaming in terms of what people
are willing to turn their TVs or their devices on for.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
It's the only thing that people go to for specific
time to watch, you know, is live sports. So when
I the other part of the conversation that you had
mentioned too about MLS being you know, coming together as
a business sort of at first and lay MX not
necessary really coming together for that exact reason was one
of the things that Michel had also said was that

(28:04):
one of the things they're learning from the MLS and
the partnership, because the leagues are very close together, is
the governing governing body and governing sense that the MLS
has that he would like to bring to LEA MX.
What are you sense, you know, sitting as a co
managing partner of the team of the governing body, governing
source of the of League iMX, and how everything was.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
I think that I think it's evolving. I think that
it's been.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
It's been a league that has There are some major
clubs Club America, Chievas, Cruise, Azul. There there are clubs Manterrey, Teachers,
some really big clubs in our league. And I don't
know that MLS has the equivalent of like these massive
historic clubs in the same way that League MX does,
and and the people that run those clubs, you know,

(28:52):
it's it's political, and so I'm not saying that that's
necessarily a bad thing, but I think the league is
evolved to a place where they understand that that, you know,
like in the EPL, when you have big clubs like
Man United and Man City and Arsenal and Chelsea and
then you have the smaller clubs. When when everybody's growing

(29:12):
in the same direction and aligned at a league level,
it's helpful to everybody. The big clubs are going to
do better when the when the smaller clubs aren't just
cannon fodder aren't left out in the cold in terms
of decision making and processes. So I think that League
MX is evolving in that direction and understanding that yes
we've got big clubs, yes we've got smaller clubs, but

(29:34):
we need to think about this as a you know,
we compete on the pitch every weekend and every match,
but out off the pitch, we're thinking of ways to
make our league as successful as possible. And I am
seeing guys like Mchel you know, understand that more and
be and be thinking of ways to do that. So
I'm positive and optimistic on the way that the that

(29:57):
the league is going and just be kind of becoming
more open. I think that that happens by way of
more international investment, more us being owners the group that
just bought Correno being owners in the league and coming
in and bringing different perspectives and bringing different you know,
ideas of what the norm at a league should be,
and really thinking about it as a business in a

(30:20):
in a modern sense.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
Absolutely, and as we talk about that, I obviously have
to mention that, you know, and bring up Apollo again,
because Apollo last year was meant to invest over a
billion dollars and that was supposed to help get the
media rights steal really centralized. Is there anything you can
say about if at least this sports capital will help
that deal along.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yes, so obviously a tricky situation for me as an
owner in League of MX and now working at a
post sports capital. That being said, with just my nacoxa
hat on, I would say that there's still a willingness
and a a strong relationship between Apollo and League MX
and ongoing conversations. I think that where League MX is

(31:07):
at the moment is trying to get you interviewed, Michael,
so I think you touched on this in that interview.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
But I think LEGAMX is doing some.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Structuring in its relationship with the Federation of Mexican Football
and doing some internal governance stuff that the league feels
will put them in a better position to enter into
an agreement with an Apollo or somebody else however, whatever
direction that goes in, and I think that I think
I think there's there's progress going on there, and I
think there's a real willingness and an appetite from US

(31:38):
private equity, private credit, whatever you want to call it,
to engage with the League MX and work on that
stuff because I think they, I think, not just Apollo,
but others see what the opportunity is that we've seen
for quite a while. And I think that as League
MX gets a couple of these governance things sorted, I
think then it will make it easier for them to
enter into that agreement that they have on the table

(32:00):
with Apollo that I think was quite close, and you know,
a few things just had to get cleaned up. So
I'm as a as a Nacoxa owner, I'm cautiously optimistic
that something gets done in the near future in that
direction in terms of investment from US private equity.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
And that's probably the most I could say about that.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
I appreciate that. And as much as we're talking about
Club Nacasa, I also want to mention, like you said,
about lat like Wedad and the investment that you have
there in Colombia. I'm interested in the idea that these
are both you know, Latin countries and the idea was
it the idea to hone in on these Latin countries
because the Latinos are so passionate about soccer.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, So these are places, both Mexico and Colombia where
I think the fans over index on passion about football,
and it is just it's a way of life.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
It's it's it's the most.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
Popular sport, the second most popular sport in the third
most popular sport in the US. We've got the NFL
is the most popular sport. And then you've got the NBA,
You've got your various soccer MLSPL, League MX, You've got
the NHL, You've got college sports.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
There's so much here.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
And some you talk to some people who are huge
baseball fans, and some people who are huge basketball fans,
and some people huge soccer fans. And in Mexico and Colombia,
everybody's a soccer fan. You know, everybody's a football fan.
Football with you, and so we really like that. That's
appealing from an investment standpoint. Then I think what some

(33:30):
people fail to realize is Mexico is a domestic population
of one hundred and thirty million people. That's bigger than
any European country by far, so that that's a huge
demographic push of just people who can watch and commercially
engage with your product. Colombia is about fifty three million people,
so a massive country that is bigger than many Spain,

(33:50):
has a Colombia has a bigger population than Spain, which
I just don't think a lot of people would would
think intuitively. So these are big markets, these are growing markets,
These are markets with you know, with a lot of
new businesses being created and a lot of import export.
And so what I what we've liked about then is

(34:12):
that they are we think that their lat Ham countries
are going directionally in a in a good place. Obviously,
there are some things you've got to work through and
figure out being an international investor in a country that
you're not native to the language or the culture. But
but yes, it's it's all part of a thematic opportunity
to go into places where there hasn't been a lot
of international investment and you can you can find those

(34:35):
spots and it's not been picked over and and and
look for opportunities that you think are really exciting. The
two clubs kind of go together in a lot of
ways because I mentioned before about what we're trying to
accomplish at Nakaksa, and what I think about in the
football space and the soccer space is that you're gonna
when you're a team like Niccoxa and you do well,
people are gonna come by your players. It's just it's

(34:56):
just the nature of the beast, and that that happens
for smaller clubs in the e PL or the league
or anywhere else. So what we're trying to solve for
by adding a Columbian team to our portfolio is to
expand our access to young talent by having the first
team there but also having the academy team there and
then having a lot of crossover between the two, between

(35:17):
the two clubs the same you know, people oversee the
football and the scouting and get that going in the
same direction. And it's going to give us when we
do have to sell our best player to a bigger
club because we can't afford to keep them or the
offers just too enticing to the player. Okay, now maybe
we've got a couple guys that can come up and
do that. Now, that takes a couple of years to
get that operation fully syncd up, but that was part

(35:40):
of it. So I would have made either investment, honestly
in a vacuum, because I think both are great buys,
but I think together they're much more valuable.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
Yeah. Absolutely, sharing the talent makes a lot of sense,
or having the pool. Having the talent pool makes a
lot of sense, That's right. Lastly, I want to ask,
I can't you know, I can't let this whole conversam
go by without talking about the World Cup. You know
how big of a landscape that that's going to be
for North America next year? And with all the upside
you've already seen in soccer, how much bigger do you

(36:08):
think it's going to get having the World Cup here
next year?

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (36:12):
I think the sky's limit. I mean everywhere. People in
the community where I live, people who I work with
obviously know if they know that I'm in soccer, They're like, so,
what do you think about the World Cup?

Speaker 2 (36:23):
What's going on with the World Cup tickets?

Speaker 3 (36:24):
Where is going to be the best locations to go
see matches?

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Where?

Speaker 3 (36:28):
You know, if the New York market's going to be crazy,
crazy expensive, is there someplace where we could you know,
like what you heard about with like the Taylor Swift
tour of like, well, you could try to go in
Miami or New York, but maybe if you fly for
the it might be cheaper to fly to Indiana and
go there than it is to for the flights in
the hotels than it is to go see it in
your home market. So what I'm seeing is a real
fervor just colloquially in my life about getting to matches,

(36:52):
tuning in, learning about who's going to be on the team.
So I really think the sky's limit. I think that
the World Cup twenty twenty six is going to have
a massive impact of people learned, people who are getting
another sport for the first time, people who are already
into it getting more into it, a generation of young
people really feeling that vibe of how that is. I

(37:13):
attended a few club World Cup matches with my kids
this summer. I went to some Copa America Cups matches
the summer before that, and all I've seen is, you know,
the build up of like anticipation of how exciting this is.
So I personally think it's just going to be like massive.
I have no I think I'm like full fully on

(37:35):
the side of like this is going to be truly huge,
and I think it's going to be.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
I think it's going to be great.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
You know, the logistics are always going to be a
little crazy, but I think that you know, every match
will probably be sold out. I think there's going to
be some some some just amazing experiences and we're really
excited about it.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
You know.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
Obviously, from business perspective, I think it's good to be
in if you're in the soccer soccer ecosystem here for
the World Cup to be here, But just as a
fan of the sport, I think it's just going to
be awesome to have it on our you know, home
turf for the first time in you know, thirty years.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
Yeah, I'm pumped. And you know, we are both from
New Jersey. We live in New Jersey and we have
to make sure everybody knows the finals on New York.
It's in New Jersey and everybody needs to know that.
So from that landscape, though, like you were saying from
the business side, from the owner's side, how much bigger
and more valuable do you think this makes the business
of soccer, having having that on this on our soil?

Speaker 3 (38:29):
Well, I think you're going to see people want to
invest in the sport more. I think you're gonna want
to I think you're going to see brands are going
to want to do more sponsorships. I think media rights,
broadcast partners are already pretty you know, all in on soccer.
But I think this will actually push that up a
little bit. And I think that you know what makes
those things make money is the fans, And I think

(38:50):
it's just going to create more fans of the sport.
And so, you know, I think a little kid goes
to a World Cup matcher watches one on TV that's
in the United States, and I think it's kind of
hard not to get hooked on the sport. So I
think it's going to create fans, which create sponsors, which
create broadcast partners, which create investors. So I think it's

(39:11):
gonna be a real flywheel that's just going to bring
more interest in, more dollars and more eyeballs into the space.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Absolutely. I know what the nineteen ninety nine World Cup
did for me, so I'm sure there's gonna be some
some of that for everyone else.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Hopefully there will be.

Speaker 4 (39:26):
Sam, thanks so much for joining us, and I really
appreciate you coming on the Bloomberg Business of Soccer.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Thanks for having me, Vanessa, this was great. I appreciate
your time.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
This is a special edition of the Bloomberg Business of
Sports podcasts, The Business of Soccer. Up next, we'll hear
from Bloomberg News reporter Gonzala Soto on how Mexico is
preparing for the World Cup. I'm Vanessa Perromo. This is Bloomberg.
You're listening to a special edition of the Bloomberg Business
of Sports podcast, The Business of Soccer. I'm Vanessa Perromo.

(39:56):
My next guest is Bloomberg News reporter Gonzala Soto, who's
based in our Mexico City office, so he's plugged into
everything going on with Mexican soccer. He gave us a
deep dive on the business of League MS and why
are they're so closely following in the MLS's footsteps, and
we discussed how Mexico is preparing as a co host
for the World Cup. Let's listen to my conversation with
Bloomberg News reporter Gonzalo Soto. So, Gonzalo, I want to

(40:18):
use this opportunity to take a deep dive into soccer Mexico,
and you know how deep it runs in the history,
how important it is, you know, not just to the
citizens and the fans, but how important is to the economy,
and how that's all going to work together as we
come together for Mexico to host, you know, co host
the World Cup. But I want to start with something simple.
In Lega MX, the you know the league there who

(40:41):
are historically the most successful teams in League MS.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Well, thank you, Vanessa.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
I think the.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Well, soccer is by far the most popular sport here
in the country. I mean, baseball has grown, basketball has grown.
There is for large football fan base. However, soccer is
still king and on the most popular teams remain the
historical ones, the ones that have the most championships. And

(41:10):
we're talking about Club America, we're talking about Chiva as
we talk about both teams from Monterey which is in
the north part of the country, Glube Monterey Tires as well,
and well, recently we've had a lot of other teams
that have been able to win some championships. There are

(41:31):
other teams that have lost some of its previous brilliance,
like Pumas which is the team of the national university
here in Mexico, which used to draw and still draws
younger crowds and younger audiences. And of course Crusasul which
was one of the most which was one of the

(41:53):
winningest teams in the country. However in the past few
years they haven't done so well.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
That's really interesting. So what is it, you know that
makes a club you know, so successful or you know
that some of them have dropped off. Is it similar
to what we see in the Premier League where you know,
the teams who have the most money you're consistently at
the top, or what is it for LEMX?

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Yeah? I think Mexico hasn't been able to escape that
tendency in which teams that have the most money are
able to win the most championships. That is still a
rule here and that applies as well here in Mexico. However,
the way our tournament is structured makes it able for

(42:36):
other teams, teams that are not as rich as the
ones that I mentioned previously, they can compete for a
championship and that's something that makes fans, you know, dream
a little bit larger. I mean, it's not the same
to be a fan in England of I don't know,
Nottingham Forest or Wolverhampton that you do not aspire to

(42:58):
win the Premier Leage League. You aspire for maybe European football,
you know, being able to compete in European tournaments the
next season here in this country is kind of different
because smaller teams get the chance because we are not well.
Lega MX is not a tournament that is point based,
that means the team that makes the most points in

(43:21):
the season win the tournament. Here we have a playoff
system in which sometimes there are big upsets, there are
surprises and the black courses that in the end make
it possible for many, many teams to actually win a championship.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
Well that's good because those are the most exciting times.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Right.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
You hate to see the same people keep winning, But
I love an underdog is my favorite thing.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
I mean, we all love a thing Humaniza is that
the level of Mexican soccer, some experts say, has actually
dwindled because of this rule, and that is because teams
do not really aspire to play well during the whole season.

(44:11):
I mean, they don't actually play their best football for
seventeen eighteen weeks of the regular season, but they do
play their best during the playoffs. So you have for
months not the best kind of soccer, not the best level,
and then all of a sudden, once you get to playoffs,
you usually get much better games. That's something that has

(44:35):
put off many many soccer fans here in Mexico.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
Do you know what that is? Very interesting and I
think it's very American. Actually, it seems like that's when
we have the same problem, right with the NBA and
the MLB. The seasons are long, and you know, people
complain about how how much people rest, and they don't
try until really the playoff season. I feel I'm also
guilty of getting fatigued throughout the season of watching not

(45:01):
the best until the playoffs. Really, So I guess.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
It's very interesting and it's very interesting that you mentioned
the US system because in the past few years, LEAGAMEX
and Mexican soccer in general, has mostly followed what the MLS,
the Major League Soccer in the United States, has been doing,
i think, instead of following the European model that remains

(45:26):
basically the same, although many changes have occurred, especially in
European football, and I mean the Champions League for example,
the continental tournaments. Leagames has actually tried to follow with
the MLS model, and that has bring them a lot
of trouble, especially with teams that are in what it's

(45:48):
called league expansion or the second division. I mean LEAGAS
is the top tier in Mexican soccer. Then you have
the second division with league expansion and since the twenty
ninth team twenty twenty season, with the excuse of the pandemic,
with the pretext of the pandemic, promotion and relegation was suspended.

(46:08):
So a team that did poorly in the first division
in League iMX was don't relegated to the second division
as it usually happens in European football, And that led
to a lot of financial and business decision to be made.
And it also, you know, put Mexican soccer on a

(46:30):
path to reply or to copy the MLS model.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Right.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
I'm so glad you brought that up, because that is
exactly what we're seeing right now. A lot in Le
MX is the parallel to the MLS. You know, President
Michael Ariola has a really really close relationship with Commissioner
Don Garbera of the MLS. They do a lot of
things together. They have about three or four competitions throughout
the year that they do together. So I'd love to

(46:57):
get your take on how you know Mexican fans feel
about this close relationship with the US and with the DAMS.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Well, it is mixed, and it is mixed because if
you support a League MS team, you might see that
your team gets an extra revenue for playing, for example,
in the League's Cup, which is again something that was
invented to be played in the middle of the summer
in the United States, where Mexican teams draw very large crowds,

(47:30):
and of course that that becomes that that transforms into
a very good revenue for them. Let's let's remember that
MLS teams bringing far more revenue than most of Mexican teams,
So for LEAGAMX teams to play in the United States,
that means there is an extra source, a very locrative

(47:52):
source of revenue, and that is why League Cups still exist.
That is why Miquelila and the rest of the U
League a mis directive or management have been able to
you know, or are willing to follow more closely what
the MLYS is doing and try to bring you know,

(48:13):
the alliance even closer because that it's it's good for
the it's good for the finances, it's good for the business.
But teams don't really engage too much. Let's say in
a game where America is playing the Seattle Centers or
Houston playing Ada, so that's still not there. There aren't

(48:37):
really true rivalries there that actually draw the attention of
Mexican fans.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
So oh, so you're saying the level of competition isn't
necessarily there between the two leagues. Yet it's not like, oh,
Mexico's coming over to the US and rearrival, Like you
were saying, there's not that rivalry that's creating a natural
storytelling aspect of it that has the fans excited for
for something like that.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Yet the only narrative that I think it's actually gaining
traction is the one that I mean several years ago.
Mexican teams, namely clubs or the national team will usually
dominate anywhere in Conkcap, which is the region where the
United States and Mexican football. It's a region where Mexican

(49:26):
and US teams belong to.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
And.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
The rivalry, it's more that it's more likely to be
how Mexican football still remains somehow better than US soccer. However,
that has been changing a lot recently, especially in national
teams matches, where the US has been quite successful taking

(49:55):
on the Mexican national team and that has sort of
permeated to Mexican clubs. So journalist, analysts, experts will tell
you that Mexican teams are being left behind or are
being caught up by MLST teams, especially because Emmelyst has
been extremely successful in drawing and bringing in UH soccer

(50:19):
stars that yes they might be in the dawn of
their careers, but still they're fantastic. And of course also
they drew huge audiences. I mean, I just have to mention, Uh,
that's the that's the that's the top example. But also
I mean other players from Germany, from France, you got

(50:42):
huge playing in in in Los Angeles. That's pretty exciting.
You got all the visu also playing there. Thomas Mueller,
a German legend for bann Munich now playing in Canada
and Vancouver. So that's something that Emmeles has done terrifically
well and the MLS has had, sorry and lega I

(51:05):
makes has tried somehow to replicate, but it's not there yet.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
That's really interesting and I think one of the things
that you know, we're talking about in the parallels there,
and it's interesting to me that you're saying, you know,
they're kind of being left behind in this way. But
I feel like that's when I was talking to you know,
Michael Arola earlier this year, and he was kind of
saying that the reason they're so close to the US
and one of the things they would love to get
from the MLS is the way their governance works and

(51:31):
the way they structure their business right to get that revenue.
Like you were saying, how the US teams still you know,
they have much bigger revenues. But the interesting part there
is that Lega MX is actually more popular in the
US than the MLS is. So how how do you
think they get to that point where it is a
true business and they are making that money and they're

(51:53):
able to attract you know, outside players.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Well, you're right when you say the Lega MAX is extremely
popular in the United States. I mean, I think the
last season the average half a million viewers across several networks,
mostly in Univision, which is one of the most watched
TV stations for Spanish speaking population in the United States.

(52:21):
One thing that I believe it's the reason why Miquel
Riola was brought in in twenty twenty one to be
the president of Lega MX, is that. I mean when
you look at his at his rescume, he was a
public servant, mostly working in finance, and that is the
aim that the owner's Assembly, which is the most powerful

(52:44):
buddy in Mexican football. That's why they brought him in
because they needed to check in the finance. They needed
to put owner in the house, you know, to clean
the house financially in terms of administration. And his example
was or his model was m less because he thought
and LEEMX has seen in the m l as a

(53:07):
model that could be replicated in Mexico successfully, given the
fact that a lot of its revenue comes precisely from
the United States.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
Yeah, and now we're seeing more American investors coming into
LEE MX. Do you think that do you think that
it's because of the fact that they see that potential
that is there the assets or undervalue. Teams are undervalued
right now, but there is so much room to grow
because it is such a popular score in Mexico and
in the US.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
I mean, I completely agree with the first part that
several teams may be undervalued, And of course buying an
MLS franchise is much more expensive than buying Mexican one.
And of course there is a lot of storytelling there.
I mean, just ask Eva Longoria buying the casa in
a very very small town called Awas Callia This which

(54:01):
I mean, like ASA is a very storied team used
to play in Mexico City, was largely successful in the
nineteen nineties, but then it just kind of disappeared. And
now Evan Goya comes in and she gets to create
this narrative, you know, sort of what Ryan Reynolds did

(54:22):
with Wrexham in Wales. So there is a lot of
opportunity there, and of course US investors are always looking
for opportunities here in the Mexican League. There is there
has been since at least two years, the promise of
an American fund willing to invest in Mexican soccer in

(54:46):
order to make it grow, to create better experiences. That
hasn't materialized yet, but it's still something that's in the
books and still something that is in the plants, and
I think it will bring first in somewhere after. So
some time after the World.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
Cup, do you think that that will be met with,
you know, acceptance by Mexican fans or will it be
met by a little bit of friction there with not
wanting the league to really be taken over by American money.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
I think in the end, the Mexican fan just wants
their team to win. And as I said, I mean,
unlike other teams in Europe that you know, they know
exactly which here they belong to and what they truly
aspired to. I mean here the idea is that they
just want to see their team win. I mean and money,

(55:39):
money does buy success in soccer. I mean, just take
a look to Manchester's just take a look at Manchester City.
I mean twenty twenty five years ago, Manchester City was
the other team in Manchester while Manchester United absolutely dominated
European and English football. And nowadays it's a huge power

(56:00):
house that has already won the Champions League and other
big tournaments, draws large crowds from everywhere in the world.
And I think that's the expectation of some fans to
be able to match the amount of expenditure that other
teams that are being held by big conglomerates like America

(56:21):
or Monterey or Chieva's, you know, the amount power and
money that they have.

Speaker 4 (56:29):
I want to get a little bit, you know, shift
gears a little bit. But I mentioned, you know, kind
of the cities that you were just talking about in
I want to talk about the World Cup and obviously
the Mexicos has three cities hosting the World Cup. That's
Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. So from what you're saying there,
it sounds like Monterrey has this big, huge, you know,

(56:51):
history in soccer and they're very successful. So is that
one of the reasons why they were chosen. Tell me
how these three teams, these three cities were chosen and
why do you think?

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Well, basically, there are the three largest cities in Mexico
and they all three have a huge soccer story. Mexico City,
of course, will be and the A Steca Stadium will
be the first one to host three World Cups. I mean,
nowhere else in the world has this happened, So it

(57:21):
is an historic opportunity. It happened in nineteen seventeen, it
happened in nineteen eighty six, and now twenty twenty five. Well,
Allajada is very very it's very passionate about soccer and
Chiva as gud Adlajada is perhaps the most popular team

(57:42):
after America, both in Mexico and in the United States.
And it also has a fairly news stadium that is
being refurbished, I mean a Steca Stadium is also being refurbished.
It's being adapted for what the fifth standards, for what
FIFAT centers require. Whereas Monterey is also a very soccer

(58:06):
passionate city, it's also it divides its passion and its
attention with baseball. However, the current governor of Monterey, Samuel Garcia,
he is a huge soccer fan and therefore he is
really investing big in the state and in the city
to make it really stand out in the World Cup.

(58:31):
Let's remember something, this will be the best. Sorry, this
will be the first World Cup that doesn't have to
read two but forty eight teams playing and therefore there
will be more games. However, most of the games will
be played in the US. Mexico City will get on
in four games. We will get three games, and Montoreal
will get three games. So these cities are these three

(58:54):
cities are trying to get the best of it and
are trying to really stand out in a tournament.

Speaker 4 (59:00):
How much economic boom is Mexico and these specific cities
expecting from the World Cup.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
I mean they're expecting or five million invistitors just in
Mexico City during the World Cup, and that has been
reflected in a lot of investment being made in the
past few months. Some experts actually believe that the Mexican government,
especially here in Mexico City, kind of started a little

(59:27):
bit late in the investment for the World Cup, especially
in infrastructure around the stadiums. Mexico City, or as the
Osteka Stadium is kind of in the heart of a
very popular, densely populated area of the city, so it
needs a lot of refurbishment. It's not really the case

(59:49):
with the other stadiums, although they are still in the city,
but they have better connection, they have better infrastructure, so
they're really pouring in in and they are expecting well
millions of people coming in. As I said, over five
million just for Mexico City, and that should reflect a

(01:00:09):
large seremoney coming in. One example of it is Formula one.
They are following the example of Formula one. When Formula
one returned to Mexico a few years ago, it became
a weekend where businesses and hotels have almost full occupation,
and that is something that they're expecing again during the

(01:00:31):
Work Cup weeks that will be taking place here in
Mexico City or in guad Alajata and in Montalay.

Speaker 4 (01:00:37):
So before I let you go. Before I let you go, Gonzale,
I have to ask Mexico and US are obviously co
hosts in this World Cup, who do you think is
going to go further?

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Well, oh my god, then you're putting me here in
a very very difficult situation. I think, well, well, Mexico,
Mexican national team hasn't done really well over the past
few years. And one of the reasons it's linked, as
I said, to the fact that there is no relegation
and no promotion. Therefore, many many sport experts and or

(01:01:14):
say that that has reflected into a reduction of good,
good soccer talent available for the national team. But to
answer your question, I think Mexico will go a little
bit further. I think just one stage further than the
United States. I think Mexico will reach finally the quarterfinals

(01:01:38):
of the tournament, and I think the United States will
stay any around behind.

Speaker 4 (01:01:46):
I'm not going to argue with you on it. You know,
we'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Please do not, please do not bring this up in
a few months, this doesn't happen.

Speaker 4 (01:01:57):
But yeah, well now it's on the record, and we
might come back to it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
You know, you never know.

Speaker 4 (01:02:03):
Gonzala, thanks so much for joining the Bloomberg Business of Soccer.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Thank you, thank you very much for indication. I'm very
happy and I hope this is used before our off
with listeners.

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
That was my conversation with our esteem colleague, Bloomberg News
reporter Gonzalo Soto out of Mexico City. And that does
it for this edition of the Business of Soccer. It's
part of a new series we're starting on the Bloomberg
Business of Sports as we get ready for the FIFA
World Cup in twenty twenty six. I'm Vanessa Perdomo. Subscribe
now so you never miss an episode. You're listening to
the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the way.