# Weekend Listen: FIFA’s Jill Ellis on the the World Cup

An episode of [Big Take](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1578096201), 7 Jun 2026, 23 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/UVBrz8bN8aM2Xe47PEPu/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/825d4e29-b616-46f4-afd7-ae2b0013005c/efbd63fc-4432-406a-a406-b46200d2464c/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=8b1dd624-a026-43e9-8b57-ae2b00130066

Jill Ellis has seen soccer from every angle: as an elite player, as the two-time World Cup champion coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team and as an NWSL team president. She is bringing this expertise to FIFA as the organization’s first Chief Football Officer. As one of the chief architects of the global game, she is the ultimate World Cup insider. In this episode of The Deal, Jill tells Jason and Alex what is worrying and exciting her leading up to the kick off of the 2026 World Cup on June 11th (yes, we talk about ticket prices). She shares some facts and figures around what FIFA is expecting in terms of viewership and revenue. Jill also has her eye toward next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil, telling us about a monumental deal with Netflix and why she is anticipating unprecedented interest in the event. You can also watch this interview on YouTube. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
[0:09] Speaker 2: If Jason and I wanted to make an investment of soccer,
[0:11] Speaker 2: what's your pitch.
[0:12] Speaker 3: Well, I think it's the truly global sport. I mean,
[0:14] Speaker 3: right now we're in China negotiating broadcast deals for China
[0:18] Speaker 3: in terms of revenue, so for the Women's World Cup,
[0:20] Speaker 3: it'll be a billion in revenue for next summer, and
[0:23] Speaker 3: for the Men's World Cup, you're probably talking up with
[0:25] Speaker 3: a four to six billion, I would say in that range.
[0:27] Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean the numbers are big, but those
[0:30] Speaker 3: are the numbers that go back into the sport.
[0:37] Speaker 1: Welcome back to the deal. I'm Jason Kelly and I'm
[0:39] Speaker 1: Alex Rodriguez. All right, Alex coming up on the show.
[0:42] Speaker 1: Jill Ellis. She is the Chief Football Officer of FIFA,
[0:45] Speaker 1: meaning she's one of the chief architects of the global
[0:48] Speaker 1: game of soccer. Also, not for nothing, she won a
[0:51] Speaker 1: couple of World Cups in twenty fifteen and twenty nineteen
[0:53] Speaker 1: as the head of the US women's national team. The
[0:57] Speaker 1: World Cup even if you wanted to escape it, you couldn't.
[1:01] Speaker 2: And I haven't said I'm done in Miami. I mean
[1:03] Speaker 2: it is everywhere and I cannot wait to dive into
[1:06] Speaker 2: the numbers.
[1:07] Speaker 1: Of what FIFA represents, and all eyes are going to
[1:09] Speaker 1: be what happens next in the business of soccer coming up?
[1:13] Speaker 1: Jillellus Jill ellis FIFA's chief Football Officer. You know, Alex,
[1:21] Speaker 1: we'd love to make this show timely. What is more
[1:24] Speaker 1: timely than talking to the chief Football Officer of FIFA
[1:27] Speaker 1: on the eve of the World Cup. So let's start there.
[1:31] Speaker 1: How are you feeling about this World Cup?
[1:33] Speaker 3: I mean excited. I think the what I've learned over time,
[1:36] Speaker 3: you know, whether either competing in them or watching them,
[1:39] Speaker 3: is there's always a lot of controversy. It always feels
[1:41] Speaker 3: like a three ring circus kind of getting into there,
[1:43] Speaker 3: but once the games kick off, it's it's magical. So excited. Obviously,
[1:47] Speaker 3: I'm from the US, so it's exciting to have a
[1:50] Speaker 3: World Cup back here on the shores of America. So
[1:52] Speaker 3: I think it's going to be brilliant.
[1:54] Speaker 1: You're feeling it done in Miami, are you?
[1:56] Speaker 2: Oh, there's no doubt. I mean, I think for the
[1:58] Speaker 2: first time Joe I was born New York, I've been
[2:00] Speaker 2: in Miami. I'm on forty plus years, and I think
[2:04] Speaker 2: soccer right now could be the number one, if not
[2:06] Speaker 2: the number one sport, the number one kind of conversation
[2:09] Speaker 2: and narrative around. I mean, you have Beckham, you have
[2:11] Speaker 2: MESSI of the Championship, and there's so many peoples a
[2:15] Speaker 2: melting pot, and I guess my question to you, I obviously, FIFA,
[2:19] Speaker 2: I'll be throwing the coin flip flipp, but sell me
[2:24] Speaker 2: in the sport, Like if it was an investment. Obviously,
[2:26] Speaker 2: I'm into women's sports with a W I'm into men's
[2:29] Speaker 2: sports of the NBA team with the Wolves. If Jason
[2:31] Speaker 2: and I wanted to make an investment a soccer, what's
[2:33] Speaker 2: your pitch.
[2:34] Speaker 3: Well, I think it's the truly global sport. I mean
[2:37] Speaker 3: you always hear obviously you've got American football, baseball, but
[2:39] Speaker 3: it's played everywhere, so I think you've got an immediate
[2:42] Speaker 3: global audience. There's not a bigger audience for it than
[2:44] Speaker 3: obviously the World Cup. I mean even the Women's World
[2:46] Speaker 3: Cup two billion viewers in twenty three so you've got
[2:50] Speaker 3: probably the most global sport out there. And in the
[2:52] Speaker 3: US it's trending. I mean, I think it's becoming probably
[2:55] Speaker 3: the largest participation sport with amongst youth, so you've now
[2:57] Speaker 3: got a whole generation of people playing it. You've got
[3:01] Speaker 3: established professional leagues here, I mean thirty plus teams in
[3:04] Speaker 3: the MLS, obviously the women's league, so it's not just
[3:07] Speaker 3: emerging anymore. It's very much here. There's a baked in
[3:10] Speaker 3: fan base. You've got an educated fan base. Now you've
[3:13] Speaker 3: had success, you know, obviously the women's team's had a
[3:15] Speaker 3: lot of success on the global stage. Listen, I think
[3:18] Speaker 3: it's a count miss sport, and I think people that
[3:21] Speaker 3: are engaging in sport, and especially in America where we
[3:24] Speaker 3: make it something that is count miss. It's such an
[3:27] Speaker 3: exciting sport. I mean, there's nothing like the last five
[3:29] Speaker 3: minutes of a soccer game.
[3:31] Speaker 1: You mentioned, Jill, the three ring circus of it all,
[3:34] Speaker 1: and I mean it may be a twelve ring circus
[3:38] Speaker 1: at this point in this lead up, we're talking to
[3:40] Speaker 1: you just a few weeks before it all kicks off,
[3:43] Speaker 1: and everybody's talking about something I've recently talked with your
[3:47] Speaker 1: colleague Johnny and Vintino about ticket prices. People are worried
[3:50] Speaker 1: about visas, people are worried about who's going to play.
[3:53] Speaker 1: Like from your job perspective, like what do you worry
[3:56] Speaker 1: about in this tense lead up to the matches actually
[3:59] Speaker 1: getting played.
[4:00] Speaker 3: I mean, I certainly think it's you know, you want
[4:02] Speaker 3: to have full stadiums. Safety is always something when you
[4:05] Speaker 3: think about massive global events that you want to make
[4:07] Speaker 3: sure that those things are in place. But ultimately it's
[4:10] Speaker 3: getting the teams here, getting the stars here once.
[4:13] Speaker 2: You know.
[4:14] Speaker 3: Again, we had the Club World Cup last summer and
[4:16] Speaker 3: there was a lot of debate and controversy about is
[4:19] Speaker 3: this the right event. As soon as the matches kick off,
[4:22] Speaker 3: the fans are in the stads, people gravitate towards that
[4:25] Speaker 3: and it plays out. And I think that's as a
[4:27] Speaker 3: former coach as well, you also know there's always the
[4:30] Speaker 3: anticipation for that first whistle, that first moment, and then
[4:33] Speaker 3: once it happens, I think people settle into it. But
[4:36] Speaker 3: you know, I think one of the things that people
[4:37] Speaker 3: have talked about about this World Cup is we now
[4:38] Speaker 3: got forty eight teams. It's the largest World Cup ever.
[4:41] Speaker 3: It's going to be you know, countries debutantes here, It'll
[4:45] Speaker 3: be you know, are the games going to be competitive?
[4:47] Speaker 3: And I think that's going back to my early comment
[4:49] Speaker 3: about this sport being truly global is yes. I think
[4:52] Speaker 3: on any given day you're going to see, you know,
[4:54] Speaker 3: one of the minnos beat the giants. And that's kind
[4:56] Speaker 3: of what the exciting thing about this sport is. You've
[4:59] Speaker 3: got such a not the whole world really participating.
[5:03] Speaker 2: Give us an idea of some of the numbers as
[5:05] Speaker 2: far as how many people around the world would watch
[5:08] Speaker 2: these events, like the last two Championship Games for example, yep.
[5:12] Speaker 2: And what kind of revenue would you say it generates?
[5:16] Speaker 3: Well, I think the last World Cup, and obviously that
[5:18] Speaker 3: was Katar I think it was five billion globally. The
[5:20] Speaker 3: Women's World Cup two.
[5:21] Speaker 1: Billion, five billion, yep, five billion people.
[5:24] Speaker 2: Yep.
[5:24] Speaker 3: The Women's World Cup in twenty three was two billion.
[5:27] Speaker 3: We're projecting, you know, two point five to three billion.
[5:29] Speaker 3: I mean, you know it's broadcast. I mean, right now
[5:31] Speaker 3: we're in China negotiating broadcast deals for China. You know,
[5:34] Speaker 3: the whole world really tunes in in terms of revenue.
[5:38] Speaker 3: So for the Women's World Cup, we're projecting this will
[5:41] Speaker 3: be a five hundred million dollar increase. It'll be a
[5:44] Speaker 3: billion in revenue for next summer in twenty twenty seven,
[5:48] Speaker 3: and for the Men's World Cup you're probably talking up
[5:50] Speaker 3: with a four to six billion, I would say in
[5:52] Speaker 3: that rain, So yeah, I mean the numbers are big,
[5:54] Speaker 3: but those are the numbers that go back into the sport.
[5:57] Speaker 3: You know, for example, we give FIFA gives every participating
[6:01] Speaker 3: country that's two hundred and eleven. They get FEFA forward money,
[6:04] Speaker 3: so the money gets redistributed back into the investment of
[6:07] Speaker 3: the sport.
[6:17] Speaker 2: Jason, I have a question for you. I mean, you're
[6:19] Speaker 2: the business person expert here. When you hear Jo say
[6:22] Speaker 2: numbers like a billion for the women, five billion, what
[6:25] Speaker 2: is the comp that you've seen?
[6:27] Speaker 1: There is no comp I mean, that's the thing is
[6:29] Speaker 1: there is no comp And one of the interesting things,
[6:31] Speaker 1: Jill that as I've dug into this and spending time
[6:34] Speaker 1: with Johnny on this topic, is there is so much
[6:38] Speaker 1: anticipation around this World Cup in North America because of
[6:41] Speaker 1: the scale of it. And you know, one of the
[6:44] Speaker 1: things and I would love to talk a little bit
[6:46] Speaker 1: about accessibility and ticket prices because I asked Johnny this
[6:51] Speaker 1: question and he gave me a statistic which You've got
[6:53] Speaker 1: to keep me honest here, Jill when I repeat it,
[6:55] Speaker 1: which is this is going to blow your mind. The
[6:58] Speaker 1: previous two World Cups, you know, request tickets, and there
[7:01] Speaker 1: were fifty million ticket requests for the last two combined
[7:07] Speaker 1: for this one World Cup, this one that's coming up
[7:10] Speaker 1: five hundred million ticket requests, so ten x the last two.
[7:15] Speaker 1: So I guess my question to you, Jill on that is,
[7:19] Speaker 1: with that sort of demand, how do you manage the supply? Like,
[7:24] Speaker 1: what are the conversations you guys have inside of FIFA
[7:27] Speaker 1: because you have to manage the economics completely differently with
[7:30] Speaker 1: that sort of demand.
[7:31] Speaker 3: Well, you know, in fairness, there's a whole team that
[7:33] Speaker 3: manages this event, right, so we have a whole team
[7:36] Speaker 3: behind it. But you know, the dynamic ticket pricing is
[7:39] Speaker 3: very real, you know. I think that's the other thing.
[7:41] Speaker 3: FIFA's been taking a lot of hits about the ticket pricing,
[7:43] Speaker 3: but the reality is the demand is so big that,
[7:46] Speaker 3: you know, and you can't control all of the resale
[7:48] Speaker 3: and all these types of things, but you know, internally
[7:51] Speaker 3: it's they have to keep a lot back obviously for partners.
[7:55] Speaker 3: How do you eke it out? How do you make
[7:56] Speaker 3: sure that the demand is there? I mean, we still
[7:58] Speaker 3: got certain games that I think I think we're trying
[8:00] Speaker 3: to push and to sell. But they I mean they
[8:03] Speaker 3: have a whole branch of ticketing experts that go in
[8:06] Speaker 3: there and look at everything. I mean even when you
[8:08] Speaker 3: map out where you want teams to play, right, who
[8:10] Speaker 3: do you want in what venue? I mean we're doing
[8:12] Speaker 3: this currently right now with the Women's World Cup. We
[8:15] Speaker 3: haven't released the schedule because we're looking at the size
[8:17] Speaker 3: of the stadiums. Where do you want teams playing to
[8:20] Speaker 3: maximize revenue. So yeah, this strategy happens years in advance
[8:23] Speaker 3: for sure.
[8:24] Speaker 1: That sort of demand, I'm turning this back on you.
[8:27] Speaker 1: I mean, can you fathom that sort of demand? I mean,
[8:30] Speaker 1: you have a couple pretty popular teams, but like that level,
[8:34] Speaker 1: it's hard to fathom.
[8:36] Speaker 2: I wish I can only dream.
[8:38] Speaker 3: Well, and we're getting hit for you know, ticket prices.
[8:40] Speaker 3: But you're right, I mean, the demand is so high
[8:42] Speaker 3: that it drives the market.
[8:44] Speaker 1: And so with that sort of demand, Jill, one of
[8:47] Speaker 1: the things that comes to mind for me is how
[8:50] Speaker 1: do you factor that in on the sporting side, whether
[8:53] Speaker 1: it is thinking about the matchups, thinking about which teams
[8:57] Speaker 1: and which countries are going to be the dominant story line,
[9:00] Speaker 1: how do you maximize that as a business? How do
[9:02] Speaker 1: you lean into it On the sporting.
[9:04] Speaker 3: Side, well, it's certainly. I mean, you know, we're playing
[9:06] Speaker 3: in massive stadiums. But if you look next summer in Brazil,
[9:09] Speaker 3: there's sixty seventy thousand seat stadiums, I mean, which for
[9:12] Speaker 3: the women's game is massive and it's a heavy lift.
[9:14] Speaker 3: So it's exactly that, it's who do you want playing where?
[9:17] Speaker 3: Obviously there's not ultimate control because it's a draw and
[9:21] Speaker 3: it's a random draw. But in terms of where teams play,
[9:24] Speaker 3: making sure that you know a South Korea is playing
[9:27] Speaker 3: in La you know they've got an amazing player there
[9:29] Speaker 3: in the sun, and so making sure they're on the
[9:30] Speaker 3: West coast, and so it's looking at location, population and
[9:34] Speaker 3: obviously general interest. I mean, you know a team. So
[9:37] Speaker 3: for example, last summer, it didn't matter where you put
[9:39] Speaker 3: Real Madrid. Real Madrid will sell out on my club
[9:41] Speaker 3: World Cup kid cover anywhere. And there's certain teams, I mean,
[9:44] Speaker 3: Colombia has a phenomenal every time you see the US
[9:47] Speaker 3: play Columbia in the US. On the men's side, it's
[9:50] Speaker 3: full of yellow jerseys. Obviously Mexico we play in Mexico,
[9:53] Speaker 3: but there's I mean, there's just an immense amount, especially
[9:56] Speaker 3: because it's such a melting pot. I mean, there's going
[9:58] Speaker 3: to be large, large following that will travel, you know.
[10:01] Speaker 3: And that's the other thing you think about, what fans
[10:03] Speaker 3: will travel. You know, the Scottish fans will come, they'll travel.
[10:06] Speaker 3: I mean, there's just some amazing fan bases.
[10:08] Speaker 2: Jason, we have crazy fans in America. Now in Miami,
[10:12] Speaker 2: I'm really feeling it. That's a very European feeling in
[10:14] Speaker 2: Miami now they start parting at six, seven o'clock in
[10:18] Speaker 2: the morning. It's I guess my question is who are
[10:21] Speaker 2: some of the craziest, most rabid fan bases if you
[10:23] Speaker 2: had to say a few.
[10:24] Speaker 3: Listen, the Latin American market is phenomenal. I mean, you know,
[10:27] Speaker 3: Argentina bring amazing fans, Columbia the same. I mean, I
[10:30] Speaker 3: think those fans, I mean they don't stop the entire game,
[10:34] Speaker 3: moving their arms, singing. I mean, it's it's NonStop. And
[10:36] Speaker 3: that's what's going to be really cool for I think
[10:38] Speaker 3: the US fans to experience is you know, we're kind
[10:41] Speaker 3: of like a golf clapping kind of fan base compared
[10:43] Speaker 3: to compared to the rest of the world, who are
[10:46] Speaker 3: just you know, Rabbid for ninety minutes. But yeah, I
[10:48] Speaker 3: mean the South American fans are brilliant. I mean, listen,
[10:51] Speaker 3: my mom was Scottish, God bless her. Those fans are.
[10:54] Speaker 3: They're crazy. They will be probably starting at six am.
[10:56] Speaker 3: And then you actually add that up because tailgating is
[10:59] Speaker 3: not a thing in Europe the rest of the world.
[11:01] Speaker 3: You now add that you're going to open up potentially
[11:03] Speaker 3: the stadium earlier. I mean, I think it's it's going
[11:05] Speaker 3: to be crazy. They have marches to stadiums. That's really
[11:08] Speaker 3: big things in this world.
[11:10] Speaker 1: Well, and that entertainment piece. I think you'll appreciate this, Alex.
[11:13] Speaker 1: It is so fascinating to me because and Jill again
[11:16] Speaker 1: keep me honest here, like it does feel like FIFA
[11:19] Speaker 1: as a whole is leaning very much into the sort
[11:24] Speaker 1: of entertainment aspect of sports. I think about what you
[11:26] Speaker 1: guys do in Minnesota, I mean, that's just kind of
[11:32] Speaker 1: table stakes, but soccer, it feels like it's learning a
[11:35] Speaker 1: lot about how to build around the match. Is that
[11:37] Speaker 1: fair Yeah?
[11:38] Speaker 3: I mean I listen, we have offices in Miami now,
[11:40] Speaker 3: and you know, in fairness, Johnny's spent a lot of
[11:42] Speaker 3: time now going to American sports. We went to an
[11:44] Speaker 3: Orlando basketball game. You know, the idea of the players
[11:47] Speaker 3: coming out one by one being introduced. We did that
[11:49] Speaker 3: last year in the Club World Cup. So there's a
[11:50] Speaker 3: lot of there's a lot of learnings just that sport
[11:53] Speaker 3: as entertainment, you know, I think is very real. I mean,
[11:56] Speaker 3: you know, last year we were walking around stadiums and
[11:59] Speaker 3: just seeing them a premium hospitality. You don't see that
[12:01] Speaker 3: in Europe. You don't see that in South America in
[12:03] Speaker 3: terms of just space. So I think, you know, we're
[12:06] Speaker 3: learning a lot. You know, hydration breaks that you can
[12:08] Speaker 3: actually commercialize now. I mean, there's all kinds of different things.
[12:12] Speaker 2: You know.
[12:12] Speaker 3: One of the things he loved was the fitness cam,
[12:14] Speaker 3: the dance camp. I mean, these are things that in
[12:16] Speaker 3: Europe they're very traditional because the game is the focal
[12:19] Speaker 3: point and nobody gets distracted by anything else Whereas I
[12:22] Speaker 3: think in America we're used to having a show around
[12:24] Speaker 3: the show kind of thing.
[12:25] Speaker 2: Oh, so I can just a manage the social impact
[12:28] Speaker 2: of social media. The connectivity around the world is just massive,
[12:32] Speaker 2: those numbers, But Jason, I'm also wondering the economic impact
[12:35] Speaker 2: to a city like New York Yeah, those numbers have
[12:38] Speaker 2: to be bonkers. And I'm assuming Joe that those fan base.
[12:41] Speaker 2: We just talked about travel impacts, right yep, travel well.
[12:45] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Jason, if you don't speak to that,
[12:47] Speaker 3: but no.
[12:48] Speaker 1: I mean, I think this is one of the big
[12:50] Speaker 1: question marks around this World Cup is we got a
[12:54] Speaker 1: little bit of a preview of it, to your point
[12:56] Speaker 1: from the Club World Cup, some good, some bad, you know,
[12:59] Speaker 1: in terms of like access to the stadiums and you know,
[13:02] Speaker 1: can people get there, can they travel there? You know,
[13:04] Speaker 1: there's been a lot of talk about how much it's
[13:05] Speaker 1: going to cost to get to met life. I mean,
[13:08] Speaker 1: these are the kinks that definitely are being worked out
[13:10] Speaker 1: that probably. I mean, certainly in the last World Cup
[13:13] Speaker 1: and Cutter, you and I were in Doha together and
[13:16] Speaker 1: actually spent some time talking about sort of these mega events.
[13:20] Speaker 1: Everything was very very contained. You could go to multiple
[13:23] Speaker 1: matches in a day in different stadia. Here it's much
[13:26] Speaker 1: more spread out. I think these are big questions that
[13:29] Speaker 1: we actually won't know until the matches really get underway, right.
[13:32] Speaker 3: Correct, Yeah, I mean I think it's you know again,
[13:34] Speaker 3: I think some events are still selling how much fans
[13:37] Speaker 3: will travel, I mean obviously visa's issues coming into the country.
[13:40] Speaker 3: I think, you know, we're trying to mitigate those as
[13:42] Speaker 3: much as possible, but sometimes people's hesitation. I mean we
[13:45] Speaker 3: saw it last year conker CAF hosted their tournament, and
[13:48] Speaker 3: you know, at the time people were uncertain about going
[13:50] Speaker 3: to the stadiums. But I think the Club World Cup
[13:53] Speaker 3: showed last year that you know, when you get there,
[13:55] Speaker 3: it is a great event. It's a safe event. But
[13:57] Speaker 3: I mean there's nothing quite like coming in seeing you
[14:01] Speaker 3: experience it with the Baseball World Cup countries that national
[14:04] Speaker 3: pride that there really isn't anything quite like it.
[14:06] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's almost like ten to one to a regular
[14:08] Speaker 2: game or even a playoff game, because for example, in Miami,
[14:11] Speaker 2: I had a very much of a European soccer field
[14:14] Speaker 2: where there was like concerts going on five six hours
[14:17] Speaker 2: before the game and people were chanting and they had
[14:19] Speaker 2: their flags and it's just a very patriotic theme. That
[14:23] Speaker 2: is it's hard to describe unless you're there. Yep.
[14:27] Speaker 1: So it's interesting in talking to you, Jill, even to
[14:30] Speaker 1: the past little bit about how fluidly you move in
[14:35] Speaker 1: your job, and obviously based on your experience between the
[14:38] Speaker 1: men's game and the women's game. It is not at
[14:42] Speaker 1: all hyperbole to say you have been a chief architect
[14:45] Speaker 1: of the women's game globally and certainly in this country.
[14:50] Speaker 1: Where are we in that journey, you know? I mean,
[14:52] Speaker 1: I know we're very focused on the World Cup, the
[14:54] Speaker 1: men's World Cup this summer, but there'll be one next
[14:59] Speaker 1: summer for the women. How would you describe the state
[15:02] Speaker 1: of the women's game.
[15:04] Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's you know, the signals are
[15:06] Speaker 3: out there right We're seeing attendances go up. I mean
[15:09] Speaker 3: I think the Denver Enderbursel team it was sixty two thousand,
[15:11] Speaker 3: sixty three thousand, So you're seeing a lot of these
[15:14] Speaker 3: amazing signals. You know, the Women's World Cup next year,
[15:17] Speaker 3: and so yes, I straddle both, but obviously have one
[15:19] Speaker 3: eye on next summer as well, because you know this
[15:21] Speaker 3: will be the first. I mean it was five hundred million.
[15:24] Speaker 3: I think they made off of the last one. Now
[15:26] Speaker 3: we're looking at a billion and one hundred percent of
[15:27] Speaker 3: that money will be reinvested in the women's football, which
[15:30] Speaker 3: is huge. But we're also seeing the ecosystem grow. We're
[15:32] Speaker 3: seeing now club championships for global club championships for women
[15:36] Speaker 3: like we have. On the men's side, we're seeing professional
[15:38] Speaker 3: leagues become more stable in terms of attendance, investment, even
[15:43] Speaker 3: internally in FIFA. It used to be everything, and this
[15:45] Speaker 3: was true, and I think in a lot of sports,
[15:47] Speaker 3: you sell the men's game. The WiM's game was an
[15:49] Speaker 3: add on. You sell this, it was an add on.
[15:50] Speaker 3: Now we're unbundling rights. We've just got the most the
[15:53] Speaker 3: highest media deal ever for next Summer's World Cup, where
[15:57] Speaker 3: Netflix is paying for a one month tournament, which is
[16:00] Speaker 3: incredible numbers. So we're suddenly seeing this unbundling on packaging
[16:04] Speaker 3: because I think it can stand alone.
[16:16] Speaker 1: And so to that point, I've followed the NWSL very
[16:20] Speaker 1: closely for a number of years now, and it was
[16:23] Speaker 1: not that long ago, and you remember, well, I'm sure
[16:27] Speaker 1: that this was a league that was in existential crisis.
[16:30] Speaker 1: You know, the Eighth Report twenty twenty two comes out.
[16:33] Speaker 1: You and a lot of other people were in that report,
[16:36] Speaker 1: and there was a concern that the league wouldn't go on.
[16:38] Speaker 1: What's changed, what has happened in those intervening years that
[16:42] Speaker 1: gives you confidence that women's soccer, and especially women's soccer
[16:46] Speaker 1: in this country is on the right track.
[16:47] Speaker 3: Well, I think it's you know, it's stability. I mean
[16:49] Speaker 3: we're in our third iteration of a women's professional league,
[16:52] Speaker 3: so the first two failed, so this one has now been.
[16:54] Speaker 3: I think we're in year thirteen. Perhaps you're seeing the
[16:57] Speaker 3: growth of it in terms of teams added. You know,
[17:00] Speaker 3: we went from twelve now we're at sixteen, so you're
[17:02] Speaker 3: just seeing all of the numbers go up in that.
[17:05] Speaker 3: But I think it's just it's the professionalization of the game.
[17:07] Speaker 3: I think at its core, I mean, if you put
[17:09] Speaker 3: the players in the middle of it, it was part
[17:11] Speaker 3: time contracts, it was paying for their own luggage to
[17:14] Speaker 3: get on planes. It was things that just you know,
[17:16] Speaker 3: shouldn't really happen in professional sports. Now you're seeing legitimate
[17:19] Speaker 3: minimum standards imposed. You're seeing facilities being specifically built now
[17:24] Speaker 3: for women's teams, So there's just a lot more stability.
[17:27] Speaker 3: I think there's a lot more attention on it. There's
[17:29] Speaker 3: a lot more regulation of the sport as well in
[17:32] Speaker 3: terms of you know, expectations and like I said, minimum standards.
[17:35] Speaker 3: So I think all of those things attribute to it.
[17:38] Speaker 2: I can tell you, Jill, when you were speaking, I
[17:40] Speaker 2: was like, wait a minute, is she's speaking about the WNBA.
[17:43] Speaker 2: It was exactly the same playbook and the same traction.
[17:46] Speaker 2: But I was recently at the WNBA draft, Yeah, and
[17:50] Speaker 2: we had the second pick, and I had an opportunity
[17:52] Speaker 2: to speak to a lot of the young women and
[17:55] Speaker 2: I said to a few of them, I said, are
[17:57] Speaker 2: you excited? Is your family happy? She goes, heck, yeah,
[17:59] Speaker 2: I'm a millionaire. I'm going to be a millionaire. And
[18:02] Speaker 2: they said it was such pride and they deserve it.
[18:05] Speaker 2: And I do think that the economic growth in the
[18:08] Speaker 2: compensation is going to recruit other young women to say,
[18:11] Speaker 2: why can't I also plan a the WNBA. I want to
[18:13] Speaker 2: be a millionaire.
[18:14] Speaker 3: What's interesting is, and I don't know how this is saying,
[18:17] Speaker 3: but in women's soccer, women's football, for example, as the
[18:20] Speaker 3: sport is growing and the ecosystem is growing, and the
[18:22] Speaker 3: players for sure are getting more, we're actually seeing less
[18:25] Speaker 3: women in leadership, on coaching and the sidelines. So as
[18:29] Speaker 3: it becomes more economically viable, you're now seeing a lot
[18:32] Speaker 3: of men going into you know, for example, coaching, we
[18:34] Speaker 3: only have I think three head coaches that are female
[18:37] Speaker 3: in the end of Russell. In the Women's Professional League,
[18:40] Speaker 3: in England, I think it's two to three. So we
[18:42] Speaker 3: also have to make sure we're investing not just in
[18:45] Speaker 3: the players, but the pathway for owners, for leadership, for GMS,
[18:49] Speaker 3: for these other roles in women's sports. I think is
[18:52] Speaker 3: a part of that.
[18:53] Speaker 2: Isn't one of the changes that you made that every
[18:55] Speaker 2: team must have at least one female head coach or coach.
[19:00] Speaker 3: Assistant or head coach? Yeah? I mean, and the reality
[19:02] Speaker 3: is you hope these things happen organically, but they haven't.
[19:05] Speaker 3: I mean this in the US Title nine was a
[19:07] Speaker 3: game changer for us in terms of access and opportunity,
[19:11] Speaker 3: but we're seeing less and less women on the sidelines.
[19:15] Speaker 3: And I think this was a passion for Jihnny. He's like,
[19:17] Speaker 3: I want every head coach to be female. I'm like,
[19:19] Speaker 3: we're not quite there yet. We've got to make sure
[19:21] Speaker 3: that these these coaches are prepared, that they have experience,
[19:24] Speaker 3: that they have education through coaching licenses. So it's not
[19:28] Speaker 3: just creating the regulation, it's creating a pathway to the regulation.
[19:32] Speaker 1: I read a quote of yours about your current job
[19:36] Speaker 1: that you said, and again, give me honest here. You
[19:39] Speaker 1: didn't come into this job to protect comfort you're a
[19:42] Speaker 1: straight talker. What is some straight talk that you've given
[19:46] Speaker 1: to your colleagues at FIFA and to Johnny about growing
[19:50] Speaker 1: the women's game and what FIFA's role can be in
[19:53] Speaker 1: ensuring that in investment terms, these gains are consolidated.
[19:58] Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean, yes, yes, he appreciates the straight talk.
[20:01] Speaker 3: I mean, I just gave a speech to Congress and
[20:04] Speaker 3: basically to the two hundred and eleven presidents of the federations,
[20:07] Speaker 3: just sort of said to them, like, if you don't
[20:09] Speaker 3: invest in women's football, you're missing out. Your countries care
[20:12] Speaker 3: about winning. It's not just to whether it's a gender thing.
[20:14] Speaker 3: It's about winning. So provoking and encouraging people to invest
[20:19] Speaker 3: because you know, and I said in this speech, it's
[20:21] Speaker 3: not an obligation. It shouldn't be an obligation. It should
[20:23] Speaker 3: be something you look at as a viable economic decision
[20:27] Speaker 3: as you move forward. But yeah, I mean just conversations,
[20:29] Speaker 3: you know, looking at how we look at how METEA
[20:32] Speaker 3: rights are framed, you know, pushing, Yes, we've got a
[20:34] Speaker 3: great deal with America, but guess what the rest of
[20:36] Speaker 3: the world should also be paying. So it's everything from
[20:39] Speaker 3: media rights deals to meeting with our CMO Romi and
[20:43] Speaker 3: pushing and sort of challenging him to sort of say, hey, listen,
[20:46] Speaker 3: this is packaged. How many standalone do we have for
[20:49] Speaker 3: the women's World Cup? So a lot of different conversations
[20:52] Speaker 3: around that, but ultimately it's like what are we doing?
[20:54] Speaker 3: I mean, like the Club World Cup for women, It's
[20:57] Speaker 3: now a real thing. The first iteration will be in
[20:58] Speaker 3: twenty twenty eight. It's important that there's a high standard,
[21:02] Speaker 3: and I've said to them, we've got to have it
[21:03] Speaker 3: in a region. Hopefully it will be here in the
[21:06] Speaker 3: US that we can commercialize it, that we can really
[21:08] Speaker 3: give it what it deserves in terms of access around
[21:11] Speaker 3: the world viewership.
[21:12] Speaker 1: All right, we're going to move to our rapid fire
[21:14] Speaker 1: pretty easy. We'll bounce it back and forth. I'll start
[21:17] Speaker 1: in the new pick up.
[21:18] Speaker 2: You ready, I'm ready?
[21:19] Speaker 1: All right? Favorite World Cup memory as.
[21:20] Speaker 3: A coach France twenty nineteen quarterfinals.
[21:25] Speaker 2: Favorite World Cup memory as a fan.
[21:28] Speaker 3: Qatar last World Cup final, amazing France Argentina classic.
[21:32] Speaker 1: That was a hell of a match. Storyline you're most
[21:35] Speaker 1: excited about going into this World Cup?
[21:38] Speaker 3: Just the debutante's the new teams. I think it's exciting.
[21:42] Speaker 2: One change to the World Cup you would make tomorrow.
[21:47] Speaker 3: I would put five hundred tickets aside for kids, just
[21:51] Speaker 3: for kids to come.
[21:52] Speaker 1: All right, that's a good one. Underrated host city for
[21:55] Speaker 1: twenty twenty six.
[21:57] Speaker 3: Ooh god, my wife's from Kansas City, so I can't
[22:00] Speaker 3: say that. I don't think there is one. I think
[22:03] Speaker 3: these cities are going to be amazing.
[22:04] Speaker 2: Favorite player of all time.
[22:07] Speaker 3: Ooh hi Maradonna male player Maradonna and women women's player.
[22:12] Speaker 3: I would probably go with.
[22:13] Speaker 1: MARTA team you'd like to see win a championship more
[22:16] Speaker 1: than any.
[22:17] Speaker 3: My team since I was seven was Man United, So
[22:21] Speaker 3: I go, we need to get back on top World Cup.
[22:24] Speaker 3: Come on, I want to see the US winning World
[22:26] Speaker 3: Cup Men's World Cup.
[22:27] Speaker 1: Jill Els, thank you so much. This is really fun.
[22:29] Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Guys appreciate you. Thank you.
[22:37] Speaker 1: The Deal's production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals. The
[22:41] Speaker 1: Deals hosted by Alice Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly. Shows
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