USL Deputy CEO and Chief Real Estate Officer Justin Papadakis reveals how the league is in talks with over 70 cities in the USA about building new soccer stadiums and bringing new clubs to communities across the country.

Takeaways

There's real momentum in the USL.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to USL Stadium Developments

La Liga's attempt top play the first ever European league regular season game in the USA was given a boost this week when the Spanish federation backed their plan.

But many hurdles remain before this plan can become reality with Real Madrid and others opposed and UEFA, CONCACAF, US Soccer and FIFA having to approve.

We look in detail at Javier Tebas' plans and the motivation for it with ESPN's Spain Correspondent Sam Marsden.

Rio Ferdinand, the former Manchester United and England defender turned pundit and broadcaster recently left his role with TNT Sport in the UK to focus fully on his own content production and the rest of his business portfolio.

Rio talks to Simon Evans about his new plans for his video content business, his role as an agent, the future for American soccer, the nature of the soccer business from a player's perspective and his advice for players planning their post-playing career options.

It's an interview jam-packed with insight and perspective from one of the leading voices of Premier League and Champions League soccer coverage and one of the early adopters of the 'player as brand' approach.

Simon and Alex Silverman of the Sports Business Journal were in Austin this week for the MLS Board of Governor's meeting and other business events around the All Star Game and they break-down the main takeaways in this pod.

Find out about how MLS's relationship with Apple is 'evolving' - the calendar realignment progress, the looming CBA talks, competition format changes and much more in this in-depth episode.

Xavier Sanchez, the Commercial Director of Liga MX club Monterrey, joins the podcast to discuss his club's strategy in the U.S. market.

Discover how Monterrey has thousands of fans in the USA including some who have little connection to Mexico but have developed a deep passion for the Rayados. Learn how the club connects with these fans throughout the season.

Xavier also gives his thoughts in Leagues Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup and the Club World Cup and how international competition helps boost his club's profile internationally.

This week's guest is Olek Loewenstein is President of Global Sports at TelevisaUnivision, the world's leading Spanish-language media company.

In our conversation, Olek talks about how his company approach soccer coverage and content for the Hispanic market; the changing habits of the viewer; the modern fan's loyalties and where non-Hispanic brands can get it wrong.

Plus some early insights into how the Club World Cup performed among Spanish language viewers.

In our first Soccer Business 'News Focus' episode Jonathan Tannenwald, soccer correspondent with the Philadelphia Inquirer, joins Simon to discuss the opening week of the Club World Cup from a business point of view.

We look at attendances, ticket-prices, marketing and the cultural impact of the tournament.

Multi Club Ownership (MCO) is in the news because of the situation involving Crystal Palace and Lyon who are both owned by American John Textor. UEFA is currently evaluating how to proceed given that both clubs qualified for the Europa League for next season and regulations forbid two teams with the same owner from playing in the same competition.

Brian Anderson of Sheppard Mullin in Los Angeles has deep knowledge of MCO set-ups and he joins the podcast to go over the issues. Brian also digs into the pros and cons of MCO in general and we look at how the model might work better for the women's game.

Leading expert on streaming Dan Rayburn brings his sharp analysis to dissect the MLS deal with Apple - is it working and will it last the full 10 years? In this wide-ranging, deep dive we also look at soccer on ESPN+, Paramount+ and ask whether the fans of the game are being well served and what the future may be for soccer streaming in the USA?

MLS is 30 years old - how did it go from an idea after the 1994 World Cup to become the 30-team league it is today?

Norm O'Reilly, co-author of a new book 'The Rise of Major League Soccer - Building a Global Giant' joins Simon to examine the growth of the league through difficult early years to the recent boom in valuations and the arrival of Lionel Messi.

Where does MLS go from here? Can it really become a top three league in the world?