MLS is banking on it's partnership with Liga MX in the Leagues Cup, which got underway this week, to deliver growth across all areas of the business. On Wednesday the competition held its first game on Mexican soil with a packed crowd in Toluca witnessing the clash with the Seattle Sounders.

Tom Mayo, Executive Director of Leagues Cup, joins the pod to outline MLS's thinking about the tournament and reveal how the competition will fit into the new-look MLS calendar.

Plus we touch upon the unveiling of Larry Berg as new commissioner of MLS in New York earlier this week with the thoughts of Don Garber, Jimmy Haslem and Berg himself and Simon looks at how Berg handled the media for the first time.

Larry Berg is the new MLS Commissioner having been chosen to replace Don Garber in the top seat at the league. But what to expect from the former private equity executive and LAFC co-owner? What will be at the top of his agenda. Brian Anderson from Sheppard Mullin, an analyst of American soccer business, joins the pod to talk to Andre and Simon about the big new appointment.

Simon Evans is joined by Andre Da Costa and Sports Business Journal's Alex Silverman for a wrap-up review of the World Cup — breaking down the tournament's biggest business winners and losers.

From Erling Haaland to Cristiano Ronaldo - beer sales to hydration break revenue - it's all covered as the pod looks back on a memorable five weeks.

Every four years the same debate resurfaces after a US World Cup exit: pay-to-play, access, and why the world's most inclusive sport still has a class problem in America. Ed Foster-Simeon, CEO of the US Soccer Foundation, has heard it all before — and argues the industry keeps asking the wrong question. Instead of fixating on elite player development, he makes the case that talent identification is a volume problem: you can't find good players in communities that don't have anywhere to play.

Foster-Simeon walks through how the Foundation is closing that gap — nearly 1,000 mini-pitches built toward a 2026 target, 1.6 million youth reached through school and after-school programming, and a funding model that leans on philanthropy. We get into what actually moves the needle on access, why "sticky" community engagement matters more than chasing the next elite prospect, and what it'll take — money, policy, and a shift in how the game's value gets pitched to donors — to make soccer as culturally embedded in under-resourced communities as it already is in the suburbs.

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

Simon and André break down the USA's 4-1 collapse against Belgium in the Round of 16 — and why the manner of the exit, not the result itself, has triggered a wave of hot takes across social and sports media. They unpack the noise around player development, arguing that most of the criticism misses what's actually working and what is really in need of reform.

They also tackle the Pulisic scapegoating narrative head-on, and shift to the business case: why one early exit won't slow MLS and USL's momentum, how corporate America's attitude toward soccer has visibly shifted, and what a 42-million-viewer Mexico-England audience signals about the ceiling for the sport in the US.

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

Simon and Andre dive into the opening two weeks of the World Cup - beyond the extraordinary attendances and record-breaking ratings, the tournament has captured the imagination in lots of unexpected ways. With the extra ad revenue generated, are hydration breaks here to stay? What's behind the hate campaign against Alexi Lalas and will the people who are spending thousands of dollars on the World Cup be persuaded to follow domestic soccer once the tournament is over?

While the USMNT make their bid for glory at the FIFA World Cup. the U.S. Soccer Federation is breaking revenue records with over $1.3 billion in contracted revenue. Chief Commercial Officer Dave Wright reveals the business behind the national team and why they say no to so many potential deals.

Former top Coca Cola and Visa sports sponsorship executive Ricardo Fort joins the pod to reveal the inner workings of the business, ambush marketing and why AI firms could be at the forefront of the next wave of mega-deals around the World Cup.