Can World Cup mania grow MLS in the U.S.?

**Becky Sullivan** (0:01)
This is Planet Money from NPR.

**Kenny Malone** (0:06)
A few weeks ago, we accidentally recorded world history. I was calling up my friend for an interview.

**Becky Sullivan** (0:15)
Jenny.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:16)
Hi, Becky.

**Kenny Malone** (0:16)
How are you? NPR sports correspondent there, Becky Sullivan. Becky had found the oddest watch party for the World Cup.

**Becky Sullivan** (0:25)
Hi, Kenny. I'm on a barge.

**Kenny Malone** (0:29)
You're on a barge?

**Becky Sullivan** (0:29)
I'm on a barge here in Seattle.

**Kenny Malone** (0:31)
Like a boat, like a really, like a, like a working boat?

**Becky Sullivan** (0:36)
It is even more working than I could have ever dreamed.

**Kenny Malone** (0:41)
Becky is at a World Cup watch party in Seattle. In fact, this is the official watch party hosted by Seattle's Major League Soccer team, their MLS team. Now, MLS, as many of you know, is the top men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada.
But also, maybe many of you don't know that, which I suppose is why a team like the Seattle Sounders have decided to convert a commercial shipping container barge into a welcoming space where people can watch World Cup matches. So you're on a boat, a really big boat.

**Becky Sullivan** (1:15)
I'm on a boat.

**Kenny Malone** (1:16)
You want to set the scene, just describe it a little bit for me?

**Becky Sullivan** (1:18)
This is a boat. This is an actual barge. The interior of the barge has been transformed into this like beer garden watch party situation.
Like down on the deck of the barge is like turf. There are like families. I'm like watching a toddler kick around a soccer ball. Then at the end of it is a gigantic screen, set up with big gigantic speakers. Surely you can hear behind me.

**Kenny Malone** (1:43)
On that gigantic screen and through those speakers, is Uruguay versus Capeford. It's in fact Capeford's first ever World Cup.

**Becky Sullivan** (1:52)
Uruguay is the big, big, big favorite but the game has just started. Uruguay has a corner kick, it looks like, and we'll see.

**Kenny Malone** (2:03)
Now, even if you've never watched a soccer match in your life, this whole scene, it is part of one of the most fascinating real-time business case studies you are going to find. Because Major League Soccer, MLS, is facing, what we here at Planet Money have come to call a real big problem tunity.
The problem part of this is that in most countries, soccer is the number one sport. It's not really even a competition. But in the US, it is so far from being most people's favorite sport to watch. And even if it is your favorite sport, like is MLS your favorite version of soccer that you love to watch? But the opportunity right now is that Major League Soccer has the World Cup in town. It's happening and the US is one of the hosts. And that seems like a once in a generation chance if all these MLS teams can somehow find a way to capture all of this World Cup attention for their local MLS clubs.

**Becky Sullivan** (3:02)
Yes, there's a lot of different ways that MLS teams are thinking about capitalizing on this World Cup. And so, we have, we have a Cabo Verde goal. We've got a Cape Verde goal there, up 1-0 on Uruguay.

**Kenny Malone** (3:15)
Oh, okay.
Cape Verde scored their first ever World Cup goal in history. Oh, my goodness. Becky, is the boat shaking? Are you near a life preserver?

**Becky Sullivan** (3:28)
There might be a little movement, but that could also just be the wind.

**Kenny Malone** (3:30)
Oh, my goodness. There is nothing like that World Cup feeling. Now, the question is, can Major League Soccer in the US find a way to bottle that up and hold on to some of that very profitable glow?
Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Kenny Malone, and joining us for this episode, she has disembarked the soccer barge. She has her her land legs back. It is NPR's Becky Sullivan.

**Becky Sullivan** (3:59)
Wow. It's so nice to be here. Hello, Kenny. What's going on?

**Kenny Malone** (4:02)
Becky has been zigzagging the country, covering the World Cup for NPR. How many cities have you been to at this point?

**Becky Sullivan** (4:09)
Five? Seven?

**Kenny Malone** (4:11)
Seven. And along the way, Becky noticed something and got in touch with us at Planet Money.

**Becky Sullivan** (4:18)
Yeah. Basically, as I was going all over the place, even before the World Cup, but certainly now that it's going on, I kept seeing all of these MLS teams scrambling to find a way basically to take advantage of it. I mean, it just seemed so clearly like this real-time experiment happening just off screen on the edges of this huge thing that everybody's paying attention to.