Comcast’s Next Spinoff & The US Men’s National Team 6/29/26

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:28)
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**SPEAKER_3** (0:59)
This is Squawk Pod.

**Joe Kernen** (1:01)
Hop on, Becky.

**Becky Quick** (1:02)
Thank you.

**Joe Kernen** (1:03)
You're watching Squawk Box right here on CNBC. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

**Becky Quick** (1:09)
The US Men's National Team playing Wednesday night at 8 Eastern against Bosnia in the first round of the World Cup elimination round. And a key factor for the US team's success has so far been Argentine coach. You told me, call him Poch, but it's Pochettino.

**Scott Goodwin** (1:25)
Yes, sir.

**Becky Quick** (1:25)
Is that okay? I just want to make sure I get it right. A key factor in hiring him, the man with US here, with us, I said with the US, with us this morning, is Scott Goodwin. He runs Diameter Capital Partners. He's helping pay for the US teams coaching staff. How did that happen?

**Scott Goodwin** (1:42)
So I was in July, summer of 2024 They lost in the gold cup, which is the regional tournament. And I was venting to some friends who were big soccer guys.

**Becky Quick** (1:50)
Are you, just hold on, back up. Are you just like a crazy soccer person to begin with?

**Scott Goodwin** (1:53)
Big soccer fan.

**Becky Quick** (1:55)
How did that even happen?

**Scott Goodwin** (1:56)
I was born in Europe. I lived in France and Spain for a while growing up and was around the Real Madrid Galacticos era in the early 2000s. And I've had friends involved with the US soccer team forever and venting to them in 2024 that we needed a better coach. The World Cup is going to be here in two years. This is an opportunity. And I saw in the press that they were talking to some big names. And these guys who were involved with the team said, well, we can't afford them. I said, well, we've just hired this amazing women's coach, Emma Hayes, who is the top women's coach in the world, and went on to win the Olympics hiring her.
So I said, what about if I pay? And they thought I was kidding. So the next thing I know, I'm meeting with the head of US soccer, JT. Batson, who I think you guys have had on at some point in time. And he said, well, here's what we want to do. Here's what we want to build around having a really elite coach.
I'd love to have you involved. And I said, sure, if you can get one of these top two or three guys, I'd love to be involved.

**Joe Kernen** (2:55)
What do you get from this? Do you get tickets?

**Scott Goodwin** (2:58)
It's patriotic pride, patriotic pride. I want to win. I hate losing.
And for me, the opportunity to put a competitive team on the field with a real leader that we have. We had good players, but we lacked leadership and lacked culture. And what Mauricio has brought is culture, leadership, intensity, passion.

**Becky Quick** (3:14)
So is this right? So you're paying six million bucks a year?

**Scott Goodwin** (3:17)
It's not public what we are paying.

**Becky Quick** (3:19)
That's what some of the reports, though.

**Scott Goodwin** (3:22)
Yeah, I'm not going to get into the numbers, but I'm paying less than Ken.

**Becky Quick** (3:25)
This is not cheap.

**Scott Goodwin** (3:26)
Not cheap. Not cheap. Very expensive, Coach.

**Joe Kernen** (3:28)
Is it worth it so far?

**Scott Goodwin** (3:30)
Absolutely.

**Becky Quick** (3:32)
How will you measure that, actually?

**Scott Goodwin** (3:34)
Well, the cultural change is the most important thing. That happened first. The culture has been changed. And I think the bar for what we're going to have from a Men's National Team perspective has been raised. We've done well for a long time. The bar needs to be higher for the men, which is winning real large tournaments. You know, the chocks, so to say, is probably that the team makes the round of 16 So wins on Wednesday and makes the round of 16 That's what the pundits have been predicting for the tournament. I hope we can do better than that.