The massive matchup between Texas and Ohio State to kick off the college football season is a unique environment to focus on the World Cup taking place next summer. But with Fox Sports executives and talent all congregating in Columbus surrounding the season opener for Big Noon Kickoff and the debut of Dave Portnoy, it was in many ways the perfect venue.
It’s not just because Columbus lays claim to being the heart of American soccer, thanks to the success of the Columbus Crew and the history of the US Men’s National Team in the city. It’s also because Fox Sports will attempt to replicate the on-campus environment for the newly expanded 48-team World Cup, which will take place next summer in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Fox’s Jenny Taft moderated a panel featuring company president Eric Shanks, soccer analyst Alexi Lalas, and USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino at Ohio State University on Friday before the clash between the Buckeyes and the Longhorns. The public event, The Road to FIFA World Cup 26, was held on campus as part of a partnership between Fox Sports and Ohio State University through the school’s Sports and Society Initiative.
Awful Announcing was in attendance as Shanks outlined how he hopes the network can take the excitement and feel of being on campus for college football games and translate it to World Cup coverage this summer. One item of news he dropped is that Fox will feature two traveling sets around the continent, which will travel to the best games of the tournament, in addition to the main studio anchored in Los Angeles.
“I don’t think this country knows yet, or hasn’t realized how big this is going to be. It is going to take this country by storm. There is so much that’s going to happen, not just with the World Cup, but with the 250th anniversary of America. The fact that on July 4th we actually have World Cup games, I think one being played in Philadelphia on July 4th. This country is going to go absolutely bonkers for this tournament,” Shanks said.
“It’s a lot like this game tomorrow. You’ve got GameDay, you’ve got Big Noon Kickoff. You’ll have thousands of fans around the stages, fanfest going into the stadium. We’re going to plan our production to capture all of that. It’s going to feel very much like that big fanfest, college atmosphere. For us, it’s going to kind of be like a three-ring circus. We’re going to have two traveling studios around the country that will be at the best games each day with fans behind them to try to give people at home a sense of what it’s like to be there, and then we’ll have a big home base at Los Angeles as well,” he added.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first tournament after the expansion to 48 teams from 32, which had been the case since the 1998 version. The 48 teams will play 104 games across 16 cities in 3 different countries from June 11 through July 19. It’s no wonder, then, that Shanks also called it “the biggest logistical undertaking” in Fox Sports’ history.
“It’s by far the biggest logistical undertaking that we’ve ever done at Fox. And we think it’s going to pay off because I do think we’re going to create memories of a lifetime for people who may not have ever seen a World Cup, or maybe this is the first one they’ve been alive, or the first one they can attend with their mom or their dad or their grandpa and create generational memories for a lifetime,” Shanks stated.
Fox Sports has been the leading player in international soccer coverage ever since winning World Cup rights away from ESPN beginning in 2015. They have been the home of both men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments ever since.
However, beginning in 2027, Netflix will air the next two women’s World Cup tournaments, having surprisingly won the rights last December. The future of the men’s tournament broadcast is uncertain after next summer’s North American edition. The 2030 version will take place in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal and will undoubtedly be an attractive event for streamers and traditional networks alike, especially considering the dearth of sports rights currently on the open market.
With that reality in mind, Fox has continued to build out its soccer portfolio. Last summer, the network aired both major continental competitions, including the European Championship and Copa America, showcasing the best talent from both sides of the Atlantic. This summer, Fox aired the women’s European Championship. But it may also be forgotten that the network also still airs a handful of matches from Major League Soccer.
MLS doesn’t quickly spring to mind as a Fox broadcast partner, given that the entirety of the league’s rights are contained in a landmark streaming deal with Apple. However, Fox still shows 34 MLS games throughout the year, including the MLS Cup Final. And every panelist made clear that a successful, thriving MLS was a crucial aspect of the continued growth of soccer in America, including Pochettino. Last week, the USMNT manager faced criticism for selecting multiple MLS players for the upcoming international friendly matches.
“The best player in the world is playing here in the MLS. I think we need to give more credit to the MLS, and I think we need to show more respect, also bringing them the possibility to compete and be competitive,” Pochettino said. “The squad next week is going to have a roster from MLS. It’s not only if you want to play in the national team, you need to go away and play in a different country. Of course, it’s a great experience. But I think the level is similar, and the thing is to respect everyone and give their chances.”
“We’ve been partners with MLS for decades,” Shanks said. “And we’ve seen it grow at an exponential rate, and the investment in it. I do believe that a strong domestic league is a key component to how far we can eventually go and sustain our World Cup and international performance. A domestic league is essential, and to keep growing the domestic league in perception, I guess, with Spain, Germany, England, it requires even more investment from the team owners and the league to continue to get better and better players in their prime, and hopefully better and better domestic players in their prime so they don’t think about going anywhere else.”
“My dream for MLS, again telling them how to spend their money, is that one day I wake up and Commissioner Garber is on a stage at a podium surrounded by 30 representatives from all the 30 teams, and he announces a moonshot in that MLS is going to be the most popular and the best league in the world. It’s not for lack of money and deep pockets; when you look at the ownership group, it’s an amazing group of owners,” Lalas said. “When the migration happened to England, it wasn’t because of the weather and the food. That migration can happen again, and in particular to North America and in particular to the United States, because people want to come here.”
“I am incredibly bullish on the future of American soccer, whether it’s MLS, whether it’s the national team, or whether it’s the culture of soccer in the United States,” he added.
While a successful MLS and a thriving USMNT would be incredible for soccer’s future in the USA, it’s not a necessity to make the 2026 World Cup a marquee event on the American sports calendar. It’s an entirely different paradigm facing soccer in the United States now than it was the last time the World Cup was held on American soil, in 1994. America is very much a soccer country. You’re just as likely to see a Liverpool or Real Madrid jersey walking down any city street as you are one for Inter Miami or LAFC. And whether it’s the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Champions League, MLS, or so many leagues in between, just as many people are watching and engaging in soccer over the course of any weekend as any other major “American” sport.
“There’s going to be a team that we all as a country absolutely fall in love with. We don’t know who that is yet, but we’re going to be prepared to tell the story,” Shanks said. In 2022, it was Morocco, which became the first-ever African country to make it to a semifinal.
The Fox Sports president also highlighted the value of star power and storytelling as part of the tournament, featuring fans and cultures from around the world who will all come to North America. France and Argentina contested an epic final in 2022, starring Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, that drew an astounding 16.7 million viewers on Fox and another 9 million more on Telemundo.
“If you were the broadcaster in 2010, 2014, it was like going to Vegas,” Shanks said. “You paid a rights fee, and if the US didn’t do well, your investment was shot like you lost at the craps table. What has happened now is this has become such a soccer country that no matter how far the US goes, the interest in the World Cup is still going to be massive. There are fans who love the game, and if you saw the final in Qatar, that we did, amazing ratings, because everyone knew they were going to see something special with those two countries and those two stars. So it matters, but the cool thing about America is it doesn’t matter as much anymore.”
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