Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Dan Hunt, president and co owner of FC Dallas. Always
Speaker 2: great to have you back here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, great to see you, Julie.
Speaker 2: Also, I want to talk to you being co chair
Speaker 2: of the organizing committee in North Texas. I know this
Speaker 2: has been a long, long venture for you being involved
Speaker 2: with this. How do you feel going in?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I'm about to enter month one hundred and seven working
Speaker 1: on the World Cup and it has finally all come
Speaker 1: to fruition, and it's so great to get that first
Speaker 1: kick coming up in a couple days.
Speaker 2: Dallas Sports Commission has estimated more than a one point
Speaker 2: five billion dollar economic boost to the area, up to
Speaker 2: over two billion dollars. Does that come to fruition.
Speaker 3: Yes, I believe it will come to fruition.
Speaker 1: If you think about Super Bowls, the average visitor comes
Speaker 1: for less than three days, and we have nine Super
Speaker 1: Bowls with nine games in Dallas. But visitors are in
Speaker 1: a World Cup come for just under ten days, and
Speaker 1: so they'll be staying in our hotels, spinning at restaurants,
Speaker 1: buying gas, going to retail. So I say a huge
Speaker 1: economic boom for our area.
Speaker 2: Talk about now it's Dallas Stadium. We know it as
Speaker 2: AT and T Stadium, but it's certainly Dallas Stadium.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: FIFA estimates that it will hold more than ninety thousand
Speaker 2: people for World Cup Games. If you do the math there,
Speaker 2: that's more than eight hundred and forty five thousand for
Speaker 2: the total nine matches. First of all, what do you
Speaker 2: think of those numbers?
Speaker 1: I mean, the scale of this is so massive, and
Speaker 1: I don't know that we'll be in the nineties for
Speaker 1: World Cup Games. We're raising the pitch at AT and T
Speaker 1: Stadium by four or five feet, which we'll have some
Speaker 1: seat kills associated with that. But you know, if you
Speaker 1: even think about it, between seven hundred and eight hundred
Speaker 1: thousand tickets as a huge number. Frankly, I need for
Speaker 1: there to be more tickets with the number of ticket
Speaker 1: requests that I've had over the last couple of months,
Speaker 1: and so it's great in this entire tournament there could
Speaker 1: be over seven million tickets available.
Speaker 2: Do you think the games in Dallas will sell out?
Speaker 2: There's been a lot of questions about sellouts period.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the games in Dallas will sell out.
Speaker 1: If you think about the matches that we have five
Speaker 1: great group stage games with powerhouses like England, Croatia, Japan,
Speaker 1: Holland Argentina with MESSI I.
Speaker 3: Think those games will sell out.
Speaker 1: When you get into the later games, the opponents aren't defined,
Speaker 1: right because those are elimination games and they're coming out
Speaker 1: of their different groups.
Speaker 3: But this is a sports city.
Speaker 1: It has a gigant sports appetite, so I think the
Speaker 1: stadiums will be full.
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk to you about the ticket prices,
Speaker 2: and again I know those are set by FIFA, does
Speaker 2: not go through the host committees. But there's a lot
Speaker 2: of questions about the pricing, how many were available, and
Speaker 2: the rollout. Do you think that affects attendance overall?
Speaker 1: You know, it's hard to say. I don't think it
Speaker 1: will affect attendance. The rollout is a little bit non
Speaker 1: traditional how we would do it in American sports, but
Speaker 1: FIFA has their way of doing it, and they've gotten
Speaker 1: some criticism over the prices and they went back and
Speaker 1: repriced some cheaper tickets. And what it would say, you know,
Speaker 1: is there's a market demand for this and the revenue
Speaker 1: they generate from the World Cup supports soccer globally.
Speaker 3: Their initiatives from grass roots.
Speaker 1: To growing the men's game, growing the women's game, all
Speaker 1: the money associated with prize money, player money to clubs,
Speaker 1: and just in developing nations and helping the game along.
Speaker 1: And this is really their pinnacle, you know, tent pole
Speaker 1: moment that they have every four years.
Speaker 3: And so I know there's a it's a delicate balance, right.
Speaker 1: You want it affordable for fans because fans make the game,
Speaker 1: but you also need to be able to have, you know,
Speaker 1: the money to help support the game for the next
Speaker 1: four years.
Speaker 2: Soccer is obviously extremely important to you. You are actually
Speaker 2: a sponsor in Dallas for the World Cup. You are
Speaker 2: a personal sponsor. Let's talk a little bit about why
Speaker 2: you decided to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm proud to be a hometown supporter for Dallas.
Speaker 3: It was important to me.
Speaker 1: I mean I can put my time and effort behind this,
Speaker 1: which like I said, has been almost one hundred and
Speaker 1: seven months, and it also shows them my enthusiasm for
Speaker 1: to put financial support. I want this to leave a
Speaker 1: lasting legacy and that support will go to help creating
Speaker 1: mini pitches and community around in areas that need field
Speaker 1: safe spaces for kids to play soccer and also help
Speaker 1: support our local organizing committee. I mean, putting on a
Speaker 1: World Cup is incredibly expensive. And also we have this
Speaker 1: gigantic fan fest at fair Park for those that aren't
Speaker 1: going to World Cup matches. We'll have thirty five thousand
Speaker 1: people a day at fair Park.
Speaker 2: You've not specified how much you have put in personally.
Speaker 2: Is it over a million.
Speaker 1: It's a multimillion dollar investment, and I'm proud to do it.
Speaker 1: This is me supporting soccer and also supporting the game
Speaker 1: I love so much.
Speaker 2: I want to take a step back here. Your father,
Speaker 2: when you look at it, just instrumental in beginning Major
Speaker 2: League soccer in the United States. What's so interesting to
Speaker 2: me is he too served as a co chair of
Speaker 2: the Dallas host committee. That's back in nineteen ninety four. Emotionally,
Speaker 2: what has this been like for you?
Speaker 3: It's been an amazing journey, is what it's been like.
Speaker 1: So many of the similarities, the hard work that goes
Speaker 1: into it, the countless meeting, speaking engagements, raising enthusiasm, fighting
Speaker 1: for the International Broadcast Center. I'm so proud of that
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety four having it at fair Park. We
Speaker 1: get to have it again here in Dallas at the
Speaker 1: K Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. This is where the storytelling
Speaker 1: of World Cup twenty twenty six will take place, broadcasting
Speaker 1: back to almost two hundred countries. And that was so
Speaker 1: important to him, and I see it now as a
Speaker 1: more an older adult and experiencing this and being able
Speaker 1: to share those commonalities.
Speaker 3: It really is that connection.
Speaker 1: My Dad's been gone for a long time now, but
Speaker 1: it just touches the heart. It really brings you back
Speaker 1: to so many happy memories. He was so proud to
Speaker 1: bring the World Cup to Dallas in nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 2: You were there, and you've been to every World Cup since.
Speaker 2: You just kind of went through a laundry list of
Speaker 2: all the games you've been to in all the places.
Speaker 2: Is there anything that specifically stuck out to you?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: I mean, there's so many memories.
Speaker 1: I've been to every World Cup since nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 1: seeing over one hundred and thirty World Cup matches.
Speaker 3: Here's what sticks out to me.
Speaker 1: And this is my big hope for our visitors and
Speaker 1: Guess and the locals going to games, that you create
Speaker 1: lifetime memories with families and friends. There have been so
Speaker 1: many great memories, so many great experiences, experiencing cultures. I
Speaker 1: hope our visitors get to experience this Texas hospitality. We
Speaker 1: do it bigger and better than anyone else.
Speaker 2: Your family's invested so much into Major League soccer over
Speaker 2: the years. It's the most popular sport in the world,
Speaker 2: but here in the United States, it's not football, basketball, baseball.
Speaker 2: Why do you think it's taking this long for soccer
Speaker 2: to really make those inroads.
Speaker 1: Well, if you really think about Major League soccer, we're
Speaker 1: only thirty one plus years old.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: If you think about the game in Europe, a lot
Speaker 1: of these leagues and teams are over one hundred years,
Speaker 1: so they have this unbelievable history, much longer than anything
Speaker 1: we've seen so far in soccer. And if you look
Speaker 1: at where Major League Soccer has come from nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: six to today, I mean, it's just a monumental shift.
Speaker 1: So I think we're on this unbelievable trajectory. It's not
Speaker 1: the NFL, it's not the NBA. But my father was
Speaker 1: a big believer that in fifty years soccer could catch
Speaker 1: those leagues.
Speaker 2: One area where soccer is growing exponentially, and you're very
Speaker 2: involved with youth sports.
Speaker 1: Youth sports, it's right that is the lifeblood of soccer.
Speaker 1: The rest of the world develops a lot of their
Speaker 1: own players and those players go through to the professional teams.
Speaker 1: We do it an amazing job at FC Dallas of
Speaker 1: doing that. If you look at the US men's national team,
Speaker 1: you'll have four FC Dallas players on the team, Ricardo Peppi,
Speaker 1: Weston McKinney, Chris Richards and alejandras In Dejas. All four
Speaker 1: of those players came from the FC Dallas youth system.
Speaker 1: And that's how the game is played globally. You develop
Speaker 1: your own talents and we lead that whole area.
Speaker 2: On the business side of this, in terms of your
Speaker 2: growing brands, broadcast rights, what are your thoughts on Leono
Speaker 2: Messi and revenue sharing ownership rights? Is that the future here?
Speaker 1: MLS was modeled after the NFL. My father was really
Speaker 1: the father of Major League Soccer and he borrowed a
Speaker 1: lot of those revenue sharing models from the NFL. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: having Lino Messi play in the league has been an
Speaker 1: unbelievable uptick there. But working with Apple too, this is
Speaker 1: this amazing change we're about to have. This year, we
Speaker 1: moved in front of the paywall, so you can watch
Speaker 1: ted Lasso and watch FC Dallas without having to pay extra.
Speaker 1: But we're also changing our schedule to a traditional European
Speaker 1: calendar next year, and I think that's going to really
Speaker 1: be a boost for the league.
Speaker 2: What do you hope comes from this World Cup day?
Speaker 1: A couple of things. Like I said, lifetime memories for
Speaker 1: family and friends. I hope it inspires the American MESSI
Speaker 1: open it inspires a young person who wasn't going to
Speaker 1: pick soccer to wind up picking Major League Soccer, picking
Speaker 1: FC Dallas developing here. I think that would be great
Speaker 1: for the game. And look, they say one of the
Speaker 1: biggest statistics is hosting nations of World Cups, that their
Speaker 1: national team has a successful tournament, their average attendance increases
Speaker 1: by thirty percent after the World Cup. So I hope
Speaker 1: that for all professional soccer in America.
Speaker 2: Women's World Cup in the United States in twenty thirty one.
Speaker 3: It's coming.
Speaker 1: We're going to start working on it in August. We've
Speaker 1: already started, but really going in August of this year,
Speaker 1: my stated goal is to bring the final to Dallas
Speaker 1: in the Women's World Cup in twenty thirty one. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited for this I have two young daughters that
Speaker 1: are soccer players. I want to show them that anything
Speaker 1: is possible and to get to share more of the
Speaker 1: beautiful game with local citizens or my fellow Texan. It's
Speaker 1: going to be incredible honor and and welcome more global
Speaker 1: guests to Dallas.
Speaker 2: I want to know what keeps you up at night
Speaker 2: as you put this bid together.
Speaker 1: You know, honestly, it's the scale of it. When you
Speaker 1: think about the number of people that are coming to
Speaker 1: this market. We are a spread out community, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think my biggest surprise and all of it, and
Speaker 1: the thing I'm maybe most proud of is how our
Speaker 1: entire community has worked together. Dallas and all the suburbs
Speaker 1: have worked together in such a great fashion. Transportation is
Speaker 1: obviously a big issue that a lot of people talk
Speaker 1: about safety and security, but we have come together in
Speaker 1: a great way. Monica, Paul has been an unbelievable leader
Speaker 1: for us.
Speaker 2: You have been everywhere in the past two years.
Speaker 1: Really, Yeah, it's been quite a travel around talking about
Speaker 1: World Cup across the United States and specifically here in
Speaker 1: the Metroplex. It's great to share the story, but it's
Speaker 1: different than nineteen ninety four. So few people knew the
Speaker 1: World Cup was coming in ninety four. Everybody knows it's
Speaker 1: coming in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: Speaking of looking past the World Cup, we do have
Speaker 2: an inordinate amount of subscribers from Buffalo, New York to
Speaker 2: the Texas edition. And what do you think about playing
Speaker 2: on Thanksgiving against the Bills in our new stadium, which
Speaker 2: I just do want to let you know is supposed
Speaker 2: to be much better with Lake effect wins.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 1: That has turned into a fierce rivalry and the best
Speaker 1: it really is. And you've got two top quarterbacks there
Speaker 1: and two great teams. My brother recently toured the stadium
Speaker 1: before it opened and he said it's going to be
Speaker 1: really impressive there. So I'm hoping I have a happy
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and maybe not the same for you, but you
Speaker 1: know it's going to be an exciting football season. I mean,
Speaker 1: the NFL is an amazing product, right and the way
Speaker 1: these quarterbacks are driving these teams, I can't remember a
Speaker 1: generation in the NFL of having better quarterbacks and that
Speaker 1: on field product is unreal and.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to seeing that one Well, one of
Speaker 2: us is going to have a great Thanksgiving. But wishing
Speaker 2: you the best month, and thank you so much for
Speaker 2: being with us Dan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you, Julie,