With a World Cup on the horizon in 2026, having bought the three-year broadcast rights for the Premier League for close on £2bn, a fan base that is growing rapidly and with a flood of capital entering into the European market, the US and football are finally aligning it seems.
For decades the strategy to tap into the sports-mad nation of 332 million people, where both passionate fandom and disposable income exists has fallen flat, the challenge of overcoming the domestic sports of American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey proving a mountain too big for ‘soccer’ to scale.
For a long time Major League Soccer (MLS) was seen as something of a poor relation when it sat next to the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB. Interest ebbed and flowed but it remained something of a retirement home for top players, something borne from the strategy down the years of trying to attract eyeballs on a sport that was struggling to find room at the table.
