Name: The World Cup brings the world together, and we see that in
Uploaded: 2025-02-03T15:01:14.638398+00:00
Duration: 2848 s
Channel: Adrian Hargrave

Well, first of all, I'm gonna say I lost right off the bat when Lisa showed up with a scarf and the matching laser. Yeah, I mean, I, I knew I was done and then we sat next to each other. um.


I think you're right, right, that there, there is a universal story that the World Cup brings, right? It brings the world together, and we see that. And I think oftentimes, um, as Americans, we don't typically see that. We, we're a little myopic in our sports. We, we call ourselves world champions except we only play against ourselves. Um, so there, there's a, there's, it's, I, I know.


I know. Um, but so, so that's one of the things that we struggle against from a host city standpoint is, is finding the authenticity within our own hometowns, right? I, you know, as, as Lisa said, you know, talking about Miami, it's, it's sexy, it's Miami, it's South Beach, it's messy. I mean, there, there's the Beckham, it's the story, right? It's, it's, it's Hollywood on the East Coast.


Um, I'm from Boston, right? And when I first got there, I wanted to find our identity. Who are we? What, what, what, what, what is it from being from Boston, right? We drop our eyes, we, we, we have an attitude that goes with it. I mean, there's, there's, there's Boston. Anybody who spent any time in Boston, right? We, we, there's a, there's a sense of, of


If you're from Boston, you're from nowhere else. And so we created an identity with this, this sense of it all started there. We're talking about our 250th birthday as a country, something that's uniquely American, something that that's unique to the United States. And even though the world is coming to our doorstep 250 years ago, it started in our backyard.


And so we came up with this idea of, of, it all started there, the, the, the first public school, the first public park, post office, legalized gay marriage, the first organized soccer game in the entire United States took place on Boston Common in the 1600s.


So there's an authenticity about the origins of where we are, and we wanted to lean into that and we wanted to lean into the fact that for us, and I think we can tell this story differently than any other host city, and every other host city has its really unique point of view, but for us it all started there. It all began there and there's a, there's a sense of leaning into that and, and we talk about our icon.


brands, right, and Lisa touched on it. We're we're trying to figure out how to monetize this thing as Lisa said, we, nobody showed up with a check and said, Here you go, put this thing on. So we have to figure it out. But for, for us, I think ultimately we're all storytellers and we all, we all come at this through our own unique stories and ways to bring this to life. So while we have an amazing fat palette that FIFA gives us and gives us the world.


we have to figure out how to localize it. And so for us, finding and threading that, that gap between telling this global story on this global stage, but making it authentic to Boston, right? Making people who dropped their eyes proud of seeing the world come there and proud of showing off their hometown. And so, for, for us, our goal, our team's goal is to find a way to tell a global story on a backyard level.


And, and bring it to life and, and anybody who knows Boston is a way that only we know how, right? You, you can take the, the Mark Wahlbergs and the, the Matt Damons and John Krasinski just got named Sexiest Man Alive, Ben Affleck, right? So, so we've got really unique characters to tell this story, and that's what we're looking forward to do. So, so it's really the road to 26 and telling the story. It's not just the, the 40 days of the tournament, but it's the lead up and bringing that to life. Sure.

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Well, first of all, I'm gonna say I lost right off the bat when Lisa showed up with a scarf and the matching laser. Yeah, I mean, I, I knew I was done and then we sat next to each other. um.I think you're right, right, that there, there is a universal story that the World Cup brings, right? It brings the world together, and we see that. And I think oftentimes, um, as Americans, we don't typically see that. We, we're a little myopic in our sports. We, we call ourselves world champions except we only play against ourselves. Um, so there, there's a, there's, it's, I, I know.I know. Um, but so, so that's one of the things that we struggle against from a host city standpoint is, is finding the authenticity within our own hometowns, right? I, you know, as, as Lisa said, you know, talking about Miami, it's, it's sexy, it's Miami, it's South Beach, it's messy. I mean, there, there's the Beckham, it's the story, right? It's, it's, it's Hollywood on the East Coast.Um, I'm from Boston, right? And when I first got there, I wanted to find our identity. Who are we? What, what, what, what, what is it from being from Boston, right? We drop our eyes, we, we, we have an attitude that goes with it. I mean, there's, there's, there's Boston. Anybody who spent any time in Boston, right? We, we, there's a, there's a sense of, ofIf you're from Boston, you're from nowhere else. And so we created an identity with this, this sense of it all started there. We're talking about our 250th birthday as a country, something that's uniquely American, something that that's unique to the United States. And even though the world is coming to our doorstep 250 years ago, it started in our backyard.And so we came up with this idea of, of, it all started there, the, the, the first public school, the first public park, post office, legalized gay marriage, the first organized soccer game in the entire United States took place on Boston Common in the 1600s.So there's an authenticity about the origins of where we are, and we wanted to lean into that and we wanted to lean into the fact that for us, and I think we can tell this story differently than any other host city, and every other host city has its really unique point of view, but for us it all started there. It all began there and there's a, there's a sense of leaning into that and, and we talk about our icon.brands, right, and Lisa touched on it. We're we're trying to figure out how to monetize this thing as Lisa said, we, nobody showed up with a check and said, Here you go, put this thing on. So we have to figure it out. But for, for us, I think ultimately we're all storytellers and we all, we all come at this through our own unique stories and ways to bring this to life. So while we have an amazing fat palette that FIFA gives us and gives us the world.we have to figure out how to localize it. And so for us, finding and threading that, that gap between telling this global story on this global stage, but making it authentic to Boston, right? Making people who dropped their eyes proud of seeing the world come there and proud of showing off their hometown. And so, for, for us, our goal, our team's goal is to find a way to tell a global story on a backyard level.And, and bring it to life and, and anybody who knows Boston is a way that only we know how, right? You, you can take the, the Mark Wahlbergs and the, the Matt Damons and John Krasinski just got named Sexiest Man Alive, Ben Affleck, right? So, so we've got really unique characters to tell this story, and that's what we're looking forward to do. So, so it's really the road to 26 and telling the story. It's not just the, the 40 days of the tournament, but it's the lead up and bringing that to life. Sure.

https://d3ev5earl6dvd0.cloudfront.net/public-media/videos/009/345/009345/video_cTNiR2O.mp4#t=947

Adrian Hargrave

The World Cup brings the world together, and we see that in

I'm a former athlete who has worked overseas for most of my career

I think I'm a product of the growth of soccer in the US

I'm a guy who loves cars and sports, and I'm responsible for

How do you give your host city a local feel so that you can

Los Angeles is the epicenter of music and sports and

Atlanta is a great city with a lot of resources to make sure

Diet fan friendly pricing will stay, right? That's a there

I think the World Cup is really different in that respect

How Fanfest will transform cities

I think this World Cup model will be a catalyst for a new generation

7 months and 2 days, 570 days, focus on fan experience

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A focus on World Cup 2026 host stadia and cities!

Panellists include: 
🗣️ Adolfo Romero, ‪@SoFiStadium‬ and Hollywood Park
🗣️ Jon Persch, FIFA World Cup Boston 26 (Host Committee)
🗣️ Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami (Host Committee) 
🗣️ Dietmar Exler, AMB Sports + Entertainment - Mercedes-Benz Stadium

🎙️ Moderated by John Kristick, Playfly Sports

A focus on World Cup 2026 host stadia and cities!Panellists include: 🗣️ Adolfo Romero, ‪@SoFiStadium‬ and Hollywood Park 🗣️ Jon Persch, FIFA World Cup Boston 26 (Host Committee) 🗣️ Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami (Host Committee) 🗣️ Dietmar Exler, AMB Sports + Entertainment - Mercedes-Benz Stadium🎙️ Moderated by John Kristick, Playfly Sports

https://d3ev5earl6dvd0.cloudfront.net/public-media/videos/009/345/009345/video_cTNiR2O.mp4

gosh, um, when I tell this story now, I'm, I'm John Persh and, uh, we are 26 and we are Boston. Um, I, I, I get to this point. I'm not quite sure how I ended up here, uh, but I turn around and say 30 years later, here I am, and, um, it makes me cringe a little bit.

Um, but I'm a former collegiate athlete, a former international athlete, and to John's point, I, I've had a, a really fortunate career, in being able to um run communications and marketing for USA Rugby, WWE International, Major League Rugby, um, the America's Cup, most recently in Barcelona, but, um, as long as I've been away from Massachusetts, it's still my home.

Um, I'm, I'm still, I'm still a Boston guy and I got, I got a Boston girl
She'll say she's from Miami, but I never say I'm from Miami. I live in Miami.
Um, but we, you know, it was an amazing opportunity to come home, um, and, and tell a story, and we don't have opportunities to tell stories and sports in the United States quite like this. Um, we, we, we say this all the time, but this is the world.

The world's largest sporting and cultural event and it's, it's coming to our hometowns. It's, it's coming to our backyards. And I, I think that, that certainly as an American and as an American who has worked overseas for the, the bulk of my career, we see how big the World Cup is, but now we get to localize it, right? So we, we, we take this macro level and we're, we're making it micro and we get to bring it to life on our, on our hometown. And so, for me, that was really

That the most exciting thing. So the, the, the career and the opportunities I've had with the Olympics and World Cups, um, sort of pale in comparison to being able to do something for my home, um, and my hometown and, and my region. So, uh, excited to be here and excited to work again with, with our host cities, and we have a, a collective sense of bringing something amazing to life and it's great to be able to, to be here and to visit with all of you and to be able to work alongside our colleagues to tell the

Yeah, we are 26 Los Angeles and for me, I think I'm a product of the growth of the game of soccer in, in this country, started in soccer in 2004 with Chivas USA, the expansion team at the time. They've been working with the league. I got to work at MLS and really put on events.


Uh, not the scale of the World Cup, but we did Copa America and also worked on the brand side with Herbalife and really promoting soccer around this country and around the world. And most recently, obviously I'm at Sofi Stadium and really what Sofi Stadium is going to bring to the world in a market like Los Angeles. I'm excited to be part of that and be able to tell that story to our community, our culture.


Not just locally but globally, like you said, I think it's educating people from around the world what's great about each of our individual cities and we each have our own individuality that comes with it. And for, for me, again, it's really an honor to represent a lot of people that I've been working on this game in this country for a long time and trying to make sure that it continues to grow and I think that's


Today, as a result of that, and, and what's coming in the next two years, I think for us it's going to be critical for the growth of soccer. I know the last World Cup in Los Angeles launched MLS, so hopefully this launches the game in a, in a further level as well. and honor to be here with all of our partners as well.

Dietmar, uh, the other, uh, representative this from, from Atlanta, but you know what I love about Adolfo is, you know, you're talking about one of the most elite stadiums now in the world, and I think that right next to that is Mercedes-Benz Stadium, so Dietmar.


Thank you, John. Glad to be here. I'm Diet Master. I spent the majority of my career working for Mercedes-Benz and then had a chance to join Arthur Blank, the EMBSE Sports and Entertainment Organization, where I'm responsible, among other things for the operations of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In a way, I'm your stereotypical guy. I like cars and sports. I get to do both, so I'm living truly the dream.


Uh, at Atlanta in our stadium, we have the excitement. I called it a three-legged journey in soccer. We're doing really good with Atlanta United. Atlanta is a hotbed for soccer. Audiences there, fans are excited, but on the international level, we had a chance to be part of COPA earlier this year. We have the club World Cup coming. That's probably a level up and then.


26, which is another big level up. So that journey in international soccer for me personally means a lot. I used to play soccer until I was 18. There was not a chance I would ever have a professional career and get paid for it, to be very clear as well, but still love the game. But it's also for all of our cities a big chance to make a move forward. I was not in Atlanta, but I hear from many of my colleagues the stories how the 1996 Olympic.


Transformed Atlanta and helped the jump a big step forward, and we are anticipating in all the cities that host the World Cup, all the 16, the same after the World Cup in 206. So a really exciting personal journey for me, but it's also for all our cities, an exciting event that will happen in our places.

She set the marker down, OK, in in terms of I wanna say I come from sales and marketing. That's I'm a sales and marketing, so I'm highly competitive John, but really I think one of the challenges for each host city though, is obviously, you know, working to to be aligned against such strong universal messaging about what the World Cup is about and it's gonna be such a significant, but how do you give it that local.

A feel in, in your market so that you can leave that local legacy so that you can really engage your local communities with the stories they want to hear.

Yeah, I mean, in Los Angeles soccer is part of our eco ecosys 3 365 days a year, right? It's, it's one of the top soccer cultures in the world. We have two MLS soccer clubs and NWSL and many US USO clubs as well. So for us, soccer was top of mind, right? Whenever Stan Kroenke built Sofi Stadium, he built it with the idea that soccer was going to have a home there and, and if it wasn't for Sofi Stadium.


I think the World Cup coming back to Los Angeles would have been very difficult and, and really elevating the game to a global, a global brand and so when I got there, part of our storytelling was validating the work that had been done for many years, validating our community. There's a passionate soccer fan base there. We needed to bring events that resonated with the community along with football, American football and college football and concerts, but we knew that there was a community that needed soccer to be top of mind and validation of


So, so much of Los Angeles, it's youth culture playing soccer, it's pickup games playing soccer, watch parties and on every weekend when they're watching EPL or watching League IX, the culture is there. So we really wanted to make sure that we were part of that storytelling. And for that, for us, the World Cup validates a lot of those communities in Los Angeles, and now we want to show the world what that is. So when they come to Los Angeles, we have representation from over 140 countries.


So when they come there, they're going to feel at home. They're going to feel that, OK, there's a space for me here in LA and us opening the doors as the epicenter of music and sports and entertainment, right? We're going to be able to roll out the red carpet for the world with the opening game. Come on in.


The US, start your journey here, go to the different cities as a gateway to Asia and Latin America, we're really thinking through how we, we're going to be able to do that and make sure that it starts early and what we're doing is the emphasis has been on Sofi Stadium, but to, to your point, our campus is 300 acres, so Hollywood Park, and Hollywood Park hasn't been able to take really the center stage because we opened with Sofi Stadium.


And then we also have a YouTube theater. Well, we're going to have a chance to do that next year and we recently announced that we're working very closely with our friends at CONCACAF to do a celebration of the CONCACAF Nations League Week and really showcasing. It's not just the games, it's the culture of CONCACAF, it's our region. So we're really going to expand beyond the games. We're doing some community events. We're going to bring music to the, to the games. We're going to bring a festival environment.


And really leading into 26, the storytelling behind that, it's that there's more than the game. It's people coming together to celebrate the game and then bringing the entertainment side.

So there's a couple of things that are different and a couple of things that are the same.


So what is the same, and that's also important to mention our owner Arthur Planck is


Pretty big and intense. We bring people together to give them a good time. This is where fan-friendly pricing comes and the experience that fans have in our stadium is absolutely the number one matrix for us. Now we are a football stadium, we have the Falcons. We play 567 college football games a year, and we play soccer.


The task for us in operations is, if we play football, it needs to be a football stadium. If we play soccer, it needs to be a soccer stadium. So ArthurBuy says very much, if you come in, you need to come in and say this is a soccer stadium.


To the greatest extent possible for every event and of course specifically for the big international soccer event for FIFA 26, we want to be a soccer stadium for everybody that comes in. We make no secret that we do other sports, but people needed perceive us as a soccer stadium, and we do everything to make sure they have a wonderful time.


That's really what we try to do, bring people together and give them a big time. Now there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. It's not just, you know, the lines on the field and the configuration from the stadium. It's also addressing to the audience and where they come from. So for FIFA 26, we all should anticipate to have a lot of international visitors.


That are maybe not as familiar with the stadium and the surrounding. What are we doing for them to make them feel at home in the city and everything around.

We are in somewhat a privileged situation in Atlanta. We have 15,000 hotel rooms within 150 minutes walking off the stadium. We have two subway stations, the mother stations. You're right there. We have an environment where the state and the city, two political parties, work really well together on all of these topics in the benefit of everybody.


And so for us at the stadium, it's a lot of work from transportation, but it's all focused on the task. Give everybody who comes to the stadium a good time, that's the fans, that's the teams, that's the media, and basically get the desire into them to come again to Atlanta, to come again to our stadium when everything else come up, say I go there again. That's what we're trying to do.

And you heard it from Diet fan friendly pricing will stay, right? That's a there will not be an event in the stadium where this uh will not actually be in place, uh, that is about as safe to say as there is anything that's something we are committed to.

That's fantastic.

Something to add there I think John is as we think about what we're all doing here is we do this day in day out in a lot of our cities already and that's the thing that really unique aspect of this World Cup. We welcome fans for multiple events, different types of events, and I think 2026 is really different in that sense that our cities and, and our venues are well prepared for.

You know, gatherings, I think it's now how do we make sure that we adapt that international fan coming in those services, and, and that's something that I think is really key in terms, but operationally logistics, a lot of that's already happening day in day in day out.

Yes, I think that the one difference is that we all need to get our arms around. This is not a one day event. It's a 30 day event depending on the 25 you know day event 8 games I think for most of us in the in the whole area so it's. It's the gift that keeps giving.

Yeah, yeah, we say it's 7 Super Bowls. We have 7 matches and a lot of people compare this to Super Bowl, but it's like 7 Super Bowls. That's a, that's a lot to pull off. And

I think the footprint that each host city has, I mean, speaking from a Boston standpoint, you know, our stadium is in Foxborough, and that's 35 miles south of Boston.

So we'll be operating a fanfest. We will, we will have our, our fan gathering footprint 35 miles north of where the matches actually take place. So we're running two massive events, you know, 100,000 plus simultaneously. And so it's, it's the logistics of all this. It's, you know, I, somebody said before that the work that goes on behind the scenes, is epic, you know, dealing with local governments, transportation.

A police security in multiple jurisdictions in our particular case because we go to different towns in different areas. So it really is a, it's each host city that's putting this on the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes is, is truly staggering and it's so impressive

John, one comment to Fanfest that we, we all, you know, are preparing for in Atlanta. Obviously, we have matches.


I lived in Germany in 2006 when the world was there when the fan fest was basically invented, the public viewing that was the first worlds where they did it. The fans were was biggest on the days when there was no match in Stuttgart, because the people who lived there, the fans that came, had nowhere to go. So you go out to the big, you know, TV screens and watch it all together.


And that excitement on days when nothing's going on in the stadium bringing everybody together and the public viewing, it's going to be a tremendous opportunity. That so means for the city. It's 78 matches, and every day in between there is a big event as well on top, right, and matches in other cities that are exciting and important.


And what I said earlier about some of this has never been done before. Yes, our cities have had fan Events, you know, but have 16 cities across three countries simultaneously hosted this many events with this many fans. We don't know yet what teams are playing, who on on what days. So when you think about the security implications, the opportunities, and everything else, all of these have to be taken into account. And then that lightning in a bottle, I mean just as you said with Germany, they didn't plan fanfest for necessarily having a million people.


OK, but when it all comes together and that's the, uh, the, the influx of support that you have to, to, uh, to manage in your cities, they have to be ready for that. So that is all the work that's been happening behind the scenes right now, which is also pretty exciting and intimidating when you think about it at the same time that perspective.


Let's try to step back. Where does this all go? What is the legacy? It's a word that's always thrown out with events like that, but where is, when does legacy start, when does it stop? How much time, Lisa, are you thinking around uh the, the legacy that this event is gonna leave for the, for the sport itself, for how your city approaches big events? Maybe you can speak to that a little bit for us.


Sure I will, and I don't think it's uh different than any of my other colleagues because it's a big part of what we're able to offer sponsors. So not only is it a big part of what we're committed to within our communities and the way that we can engage our communities and the way that we can talk to our communities in a positive way about what these matches mean to us outside of the fact it's gonna fill hotels and restaurants everybody wants to know every commissioner wants to know what's the difference it's gonna make in.


Our neighborhoods and our communities because um one of the rubs against the United States is that soccer football is pay to play and so a lot of communities where that's not possible are left out of the sport and in many cases those are the same communities that live for football and love football and want to play football. So as a team we are spending a significant time.


And a lot of energy thinking about the legacy programs where they end up happening, how many kids we can support over what period of time we don't want this for 1 year we want it for 3 years and oh by the way, it's one of the biggest assets that we have to sell in our sponsorship packages and one of the biggest ways that we have to talk to our corporate partners about why they should join us and why they should invest in these events.


Because they in turn are going to be able to make a big difference in the communities in which they do business and so when you think about the assets that every host city has legacy projects are a very big part of that and critically important and um and we are spending as much time on legacy as we are on all of these other moving parts and balls that we're juggling in the air on how we're going to ensure that this is incredibly successful.

I think this will be one of the unique benefits of this World Cup model that FIFA is implementing is that legacy is going to be a lot more bottom up city by city is what you're going to see. Each city is really crafting their own legacy, which if you go back to World Cup '94, where you did have that organizing committee that Alan Rothenberg, my business partner, ran, ran at the time, you know, they had.


Certain priorities they generated a profit from the event. He mentioned the US Soccer Foundation. The US Soccer Foundation was the beneficiary of that profit. The US Soccer Foundation was established after the World Cup in 1994, and they have built from success to success. So hearing that the foundation is a partner in Boston to me shows you how that legacy builds. MLS.


It was a legacy of World Cup '94. That was a condition that FIFA placed upon US soccer when they awarded them the rights for the World Cup in 1994. Listen, coming out of this, you need to build a professional league and look how it's sustained itself to today. So, but I think the difference.


This time, I think you're going to see the legacy stories very much are going to be crafted through these host committees and how they are building up the wrong program. So I think that's going to be something that really, really plays a lot of benefits across the entire sport. Another legacy to me.


That should never be underestimated is the industry, the industry that we all, we all work in. I mean, I could probably ask how many of you did something around World Cup 1994, which was my goodness, 30 years ago, so we're dating ourselves here, but this will, I'm sure, be a catalyst for a whole new generation of sports industry professionals who take this World Cup experience and for decades on will use this to build successful careers in it.


Um, uh, Adolfo, what keeps you up at night when you look at what's going on across all of the, uh, the, the host committee's efforts, the plannings around the stadium, all the different football things, and, and you look at this North Star with World Cup 26, where, what's what keeps you up at night? What?


What is the, what are the real challenges that you see or is it all we're in good, good place, Sleep easy?


No, I mean, look, I think we've all talked about it. It's definitely a challenge and for us operating on the venue side, there's 300 acres and really how do we activate 300 acres for a global event and this will be one of the first times that we we'll be able to do that because we didn't get, we didn't get to do that for Super Bowl.


Since the site is still an evolving construction site and so well, that's why we're going to take a chance and do this next spring on the road to 26. But to me is how do we deliver for our community. Our community needs this. It's validation of a lot of work, you know, for our community and then we think about that first, you know, whether it's youth soccer, whether it's just the hospitality industry that exists in Los Angeles, the entertainment industry is, how do we bring them into the fold as well. It's


We're at a soccer conference, but to me it's sports and entertainment and really, how do we bring that and really it's the, that the intersection of both of those, bringing those together to us, I think it's a unique challenge.


Understanding because I, you know, being on both sides on the venue side, we get to market 6 nights of Taylor Swift and we're gonna have 8 games of the World Cup. It's very similar. The fan base and the operation around the city is, but no one's really talking about that and how do you, how do they do they coexist. So to me is having a seat at the table, having that experience is, we know there's a lot of key learnings of what this brought because we brought an international audience for Taylor Swift.


Right, it was, it was really truly like a World Cup. So to us, how do we make sure that we're delivering for our community and making sure that our communities understand what the legacy is because soccer is gonna be in LA beyond 26 and, and there's already an existing ecosystem and for us, again, when we first opened in 2020 with no fans.


One of the bigger efforts that we did, we wanted to bring soccer and when we had our first soccer match and really we established a relationship with CONCACA. We wanted CONCACAF official matches happening at Sofi Stadium, right? And we've developed a really good relationship with them to bring and tell that story because CONCACAF is our partner in the region and it's elevating them.


Right, because FIFA will come and go after 26. The CONCA Cup to me takes center stage over the next couple of years leading into that, and we wanted to be part of that. So I think that's also really important

First, don't cut us short. It's 7 months and 2 days.


We're working on that. Um, but, uh, the same that everybody talks about, whether it's Club World Cup or any event, and obviously big on FIFA, but the same for Cup World Cup. Our North Star is always, what are we doing for fan experience?


And, and I want to say that why to make sure that people really enjoyed in the stadium when they come back. The teams who play here want to come back and play here. The promoters who do a concert with the same Taylor Swift for 3 days, want to come back and do it here again. All of these are important for our long term success, I think, and that is, that is the North Star.


Uh, and for me, whether it's couple cup or anything, I'm always reminded what Edwin Moses, you know, told me once, a great American athlete ran, you know, track, and I think for 9 years, 9 months and something like that, he won every race back in.


The 80s, 2 Olympics, didn't win the third one because America didn't go to Moscow at that time, but fantastic athlete. And he always reminded me, I didn't win in the competition because what I did in the competition, I won because of everything I did before. And that's the same area. The harder we work, the easier it is on game day. So what can we do to put ourselves in the best position?


Um, we have the 7 months and 2 days, the 570 days. How do we make the most out of this to put us in that situation that everything will look so easy on game day, which sounds very easy to say, but it means thinking now what might or might not have happened and being prepared for everything, and many of the things, and you probably all saw that and experienced it, that we realized afterwards, we would have never thought it up front.


How do we bring everybody together to be really prepared and make everything work, because every day that's going to go by where we don't do anything, we don't get that day back. So that's what what we are focused on on all the events. We got CFP on January 20th, actually before that is obviously, you know, full throttle, and then it's, you know, obviously a bunch of other events, but uh on the big events all on the Cup World Cup and on FIFA 26.


And I think that's the, the one thing that I take away from so much is we'd like to say 570 days, but again, it's going to go so fast now. There's been an enormous amount of planning. You obviously get a sense of that just hearing what we're talking about now. It's been going on for years, but the lights start getting turned on over the course of the next 90, 120 days where you're gonna start to see all the planning start to be executed, OK? And you know, the promotional plans that you're starting to see.


Come into shape. I've already starting to see it from the, the, the commercial sponsors who are associated a lot with FIFA and some of the host committee ones that will soon start to be announced. You're really going to see, you know, things, and then it's about execution, you know, the planning is kind of behind us. It's then gonna turn into an execution mode really, really fast and before you blink, uh, the, the event will be over, but there's plenty of fun, uh, before then. We still have a few minutes left, so I just wanted to


Maybe toss the one question out about the sleepless nights if there's any, maybe I'd pass that one on the Lisa, is there any things, I mean fundraising we know is important for all the host committees. they're all in the market right now. They're really working hard to to to to demonstrate value to local partners, but what Lisa is really the kind of keep thing that keeps you up at night or what you're most excited about every day when you go to work, you know, it's always like they always want one thing. Well, and you know it's not that simple, right, because there are so many things that we're just trying to make sure all come together and happen. I think the logistics is probably

Um, you know, we've touched on it a little bit and all the things that we've said, whether it's 300 acres or learning from all the events that happened to make sure that everything that we do, when it's our turn, it goes as smoothly as possible. We're dealing not only with um.


You know, a lot of moving parts, a lot of different government agencies and municipalities that come into play and have a say in how we balance and manage and and navigate all of that. We're also, you know, one of the things we haven't talked about is we're also dealing with the federal government because when you talk about. I've tried to keep, you know, I know, I know, no, and this isn't about politics. It doesn't really matter. It's, you know, government is government regardless and so it's slow and you want to make sure that people that want to come into the country are able to come into the country and able to get the documentation they need to get here on time. We need help, you know, you think about this event that's happening across North America