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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.

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Speaker 2: This is the Business of Soccer. Yappa diverse. Heare in

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Speaker 2: this country is here to stay.

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Speaker 1: The Global World Cup of twenty six will bring just

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Speaker 1: that the globe to the United States.

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Speaker 3: Every four year, you know, there's this moment where the

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Speaker 3: world wakes up to the incredible athletes.

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Speaker 2: That we have on the US women's national teams.

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Speaker 4: There are more soccer games available to watch on television

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Speaker 4: in the US than any other country in the world.

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Speaker 2: Soccer, or as I recall it, living in the UK,

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Speaker 2: football is the biggest sport.

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Speaker 3: In the world.

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Speaker 1: There's a gap in the market around women's soccer, and

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Speaker 1: we're here to fill that gap.

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg Business of Soccer from Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 3: This is a special edition of the Bloomberg Business of

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Speaker 3: Sports podcasts, The Business of Soccer. I'm Vanessa Perdomo and

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Speaker 3: I'm diving in behind the scenes as we get ready

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Speaker 3: for the twenty twenty six FIFA World Cup, which is

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Speaker 3: officially one hundred days out. Before my conver station today

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Speaker 3: with FIFA Chief Business and Strategy Officer, we want to

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Speaker 3: address the situation with the US Israeli war on Iran.

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Speaker 3: Iran qualified to play in the World Cup last year

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Speaker 3: and our schedule to play in Group G as of now.

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Speaker 3: When asked about Iran's participation in the tournament, FIFAS Secretary

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Speaker 3: General Matteius Grafstrom had this to say on Saturday, February twenty.

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Speaker 1: Eighth, Well, I think I read the news the same

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Speaker 1: way as you do. This morning. We had the meeting

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Speaker 1: today and I think it's a bit prettymature to comment

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Speaker 1: on it in detail. But of course we'll monitor the

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Speaker 1: developments and around all issues around the world. And I

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Speaker 1: think we had the final draw in Washington where all

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Speaker 1: teams participated, and of course our focus is to have

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Speaker 1: a safe woke up with everybody participating.

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Speaker 3: That was FIFA's Secretary General Matteius Grafstrum commenting on Iran's

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Speaker 3: participation in the tournament. We will continue to monitor that situation,

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Speaker 3: but now we will bring in chief Business and Strategy

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Speaker 3: Officer at FIFA, Amy Hopfinger. She's here to give us

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Speaker 3: all the details about what to expect over the next

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Speaker 3: one hundred days as we count down to the biggest

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Speaker 3: sporting event in the world. Amy, thanks so much for

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Speaker 3: joining the Bloomberg business of soccer. Thanks for having me

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Speaker 3: one hundred days out from kickoff? Can you believe it's

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Speaker 3: that close or does it not feel closed? Does it

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Speaker 3: feel closed?

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Speaker 4: Like?

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Speaker 3: How are you feeling right now?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Man? All the emotions.

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Speaker 4: You know, this is something that I've been working on

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Speaker 4: and been involved in since twenty seventeen, So to be

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Speaker 4: only one hundred days out is really incredible. Those one

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Speaker 4: hundred days is still quite a long way to go.

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Speaker 4: But really excited about what's to come over the next

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Speaker 4: hundred and I guess now forty days until we get

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Speaker 4: to July nineteenth, and what.

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Speaker 3: Is to come over those next hundred days? What can

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Speaker 3: we expect? You know, what what does FIFA have to

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Speaker 3: do over those next hundred days and what do the

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Speaker 3: host cities have to do over those next hundredays?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you know, we feel really comfortable and

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Speaker 4: confident and where we are in the planning.

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Speaker 2: This has been a long time coming.

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Speaker 4: You know, we've been working on this since the US,

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Speaker 4: Mexico and Canada won the bid back in twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 4: since FIFA set up offices in our three host countries

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Speaker 4: back in twenty twenty three. So it's not like, you know,

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Speaker 4: the work is just starting. The work has been done.

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Speaker 4: You know, we've got great partners in our three you

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Speaker 4: know countries and our sixteen host cities. You know, their

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Speaker 4: planning has been pretty consistent, has intensified obviously. You know,

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Speaker 4: things like pitches are going in in stadiums that were

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Speaker 4: NFL stadiums up until a couple of weeks ago, months ago.

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Speaker 4: For some of our teams, we've got you know, teamworkshop today,

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Speaker 4: last time, all the teams are getting together before they

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Speaker 4: they come into country in May June. We've got a

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Speaker 4: poster release that we're doing today. We've got a bunch

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Speaker 4: of other entertainment announcements that will be coming in the

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Speaker 4: coming weeks on top of you know, just the operations

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Speaker 4: that get us to June eleventh.

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Speaker 3: And so is it go time or like you had mentioned,

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Speaker 3: obviously it's been almost go time right since twenty eighteen

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Speaker 3: since these cities were awarded the you know, the games.

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Speaker 3: But what do those cities have to do in terms

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Speaker 3: of to get those games? Like what do they have

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Speaker 3: to prove to FIFA that they're ready to host these

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Speaker 3: events and that over the next hundred days that they're

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Speaker 3: going to be ready for all the people who are

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Speaker 3: going to come as well.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I don't think so much about proving

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Speaker 4: because the work has been done over the last few

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Speaker 4: years to get us to this point. We're getting to

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Speaker 4: the technical side of it. Like I said, grass is

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Speaker 4: going in in stadiums. We're grassed didn't exist. I was

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Speaker 4: in Kansas City yesterday and their pitch project is well

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Speaker 4: on its way. You know, it's fine tuning things with

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Speaker 4: post cities. When it comes to you know what and

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Speaker 4: how we're communicating to fans about how to get to

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Speaker 4: this stadium, it's you know, it's it's the minutia now

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Speaker 4: as opposed to the big broad things, which is exciting

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Speaker 4: because that means we're in a really good spot. We're

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Speaker 4: in a spot where, you know, we can start thinking

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Speaker 4: about fine tuning as opposed to you know, the big

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Speaker 4: decisions and big things that need to happen.

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Speaker 3: And there are obviously big things and still that still

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Speaker 3: need to happen. Obviously there's still six teams that need

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Speaker 3: to qualify right too, for the fire six teams, yep.

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Speaker 3: And you know, on top of that, there are other

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Speaker 3: things that need to be sorted out. There's fundament that

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Speaker 3: needs to be sorted out. There's a situation in Iran

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Speaker 3: that needs to be sorted out over those next hundred days.

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Speaker 2: What can you tell us.

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Speaker 3: About those big things and do you feel like over

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Speaker 3: the next hundred days everything you know will get sorted

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Speaker 3: out for kickoff.

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Speaker 4: Sure, you know one hundred days is a short period

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Speaker 4: of time, but it's also a long period of time

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Speaker 4: in the world that we live in now if you

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Speaker 4: think about you know, how quickly things change. You know,

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Speaker 4: we do have a playoff at the end of the month,

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Speaker 4: so we've got six more teams to qualify, four from

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Speaker 4: Europe and two from the Intercontinental playoff. So that'll be

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Speaker 4: exciting to get the last six teams in. We've got

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Speaker 4: some placeholders in there, but to actually slot those names

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Speaker 4: into a into a match schedule will be, you know,

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Speaker 4: another major milestone for us. And you know, the dynamic

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Speaker 4: around you know, the host cities, around the world, around

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Speaker 4: you know, the three host countries, you know, continues to

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Speaker 4: change and evolve. You know, we work really really closely,

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Speaker 4: not only with our host cities, but with our host

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Speaker 4: country governments to make sure that we are delivering the

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Speaker 4: most safe and secure World Cup that we possibly can

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Speaker 4: across all stakeholders.

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Speaker 3: And how does that work. I mean obvious, you know

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Speaker 3: this this World Cup is very different than the last

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Speaker 3: World Cup that took place in one place across roughly

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Speaker 3: one hundred miles. So working with three different countries, how

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Speaker 3: has that been and the collaboration there that needs to

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Speaker 3: go across US, Canada and FIFA in Mexico.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, just just a slightly different geographic setup than we

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Speaker 4: had in Qatar four years ago.

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Speaker 2: But it's been great.

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Speaker 4: You know, from from day one, this was something that US,

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Speaker 4: Mexico and Canada from top to bottom were really invested

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Speaker 4: in going back to the bid and you know, getting

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Speaker 4: us all the way to today. So you see that

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Speaker 4: you know, take shape in all different ways. We've PIPA

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Speaker 4: has offices in all three countries. We've had offices in

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Speaker 4: all three countries. You know from the very beginning. We've

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Speaker 4: got offices in all of the sixteen host cities now,

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Speaker 4: which has really helped us, you know, make sure that

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Speaker 4: we're we're dialed into what's going on. But the collaboration

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Speaker 4: and coordination across the three countries across the sixteen cities

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Speaker 4: is really strong. You know, I can't say enough about

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Speaker 4: you know, how fast we've grown and how we've gotten

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Speaker 4: to a place today where we've got a thousand employees

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Speaker 4: for FIFA working across the three countries and working you know,

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Speaker 4: as seamlessly as one can hope for in a project

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Speaker 4: this big.

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Speaker 3: And in terms of working across those countries and making

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Speaker 3: sure this is you know, such a secure World Cup

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Speaker 3: and that you guys are hoping for in there's obviously,

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Speaker 3: like we said, there's a lot going on right now

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Speaker 3: in the world, in the US and recently situations in Mexico.

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Speaker 3: So when those sorts of things happen, are conversations ramped

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Speaker 3: up about further security or how does that work?

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Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean safety and security is paramount to a

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Speaker 4: successful World Cup. So that's a cornerstone of everything we do,

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Speaker 4: whether that's you know, just normal operations or you know

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Speaker 4: highly you know, heightened situations like we've had in the

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Speaker 4: last couple of weeks. So, you know, the situation in

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Speaker 4: Mexico is one that we were tracking from the very beginning,

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Speaker 4: with our team on the ground in Mexico as well

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Speaker 4: as the federal government there. It's something that we you know,

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Speaker 4: feel comfortable with where we are today. We've got you know,

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Speaker 4: a team on the ground that's monitoring at real time.

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Speaker 4: We've got additional people going in this week, as you

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Speaker 4: saw from the FIFA president at the at the offer

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Speaker 4: of the president of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum.

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Speaker 2: So those things are happening.

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Speaker 4: Those things, you know, we don't need a situation like

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Speaker 4: what happened in Mexico though, to make sure that we're

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Speaker 4: having these safety and security conversations, because we're doing that

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Speaker 4: day in and day out.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely so in those in those you know, in

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Speaker 3: all the different cities, you know, every city has a

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Speaker 3: different amount of games and things like that and are

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Speaker 3: activating in different ways. What can you tell us about

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Speaker 3: some of the cities that potentially only have like four

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Speaker 3: to six games, but that they're activating across the entire

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Speaker 3: span of the tournament.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I think that's one of the unique parts about this

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Speaker 4: World Cup is not only do you have three host countries,

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Speaker 4: you have sixteen very very different and dynamic cities.

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Speaker 2: So you know, the geography of them.

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Speaker 4: Is different, their map schedules are different. You know, all

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Speaker 4: kinds of different factors you know, make them unique and different.

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Speaker 4: So finding a way to make sure that we've got

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Speaker 4: one World Cup sixteen different host cities has been a

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Speaker 4: priority for us from the beginning, and it is about

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Speaker 4: the whole thirty nine days. So it's about celebrating the

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Speaker 4: World Cup. And for some cities it's longer than that.

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Speaker 4: Some cities that are team based camps, you know, that

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Speaker 4: really starts for them the moment a team steps put

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Speaker 4: into their city, which can be you know, end of May,

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Speaker 4: early June. So what a World Cup looks like in

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Speaker 4: each city, it is a little bit different. How they're

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Speaker 4: approaching it is a little bit different. And that's that's

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Speaker 4: what North America is about. You know, we don't we

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Speaker 4: aren't a continent or three countries that are going to

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Speaker 4: you know, put out cookie cutter fan experiences are going

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Speaker 4: to be really unique and adaptive to each of the cities.

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Speaker 3: And how do you make sure to work with the

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Speaker 3: local communities. They're obviously each host committee is just based

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Speaker 3: in that city and they're working with local government and

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Speaker 3: local officials. But how do you make sure that each

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Speaker 3: city is representative of that community as much as possible.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we've got great relationships with the host committees.

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Speaker 2: We really, you know, truly believe that they are the

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Speaker 2: World Cup.

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Speaker 4: They're the ones that are responsible on the ground for

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Speaker 4: delivering and our relationship with them is great and we

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Speaker 4: partner with them all the time. You know, they talk

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Speaker 4: amongst each other. I know, you know, the eleven US

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Speaker 4: cities you know, meet regularly. We meet with them regularly.

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Speaker 4: We bring all sixteen cities together regularly. So the dynamics

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Speaker 4: and then you've got geographic dynamics. You've got a Seattle,

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Speaker 4: Vancouver who've got a great relationship. You've got you know,

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Speaker 4: a Northeast corridor which includes you know, a bunch of

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Speaker 4: cities in the US, but also Toronto. So those relationships

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Speaker 4: have developed over the last couple of years, very independent

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Speaker 4: from US, but we have you know, brought the brought

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Speaker 4: everyone together at key moments and key times. We had

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Speaker 4: our last host city workshop with all sixteen cities in January,

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Speaker 4: and it's fun to see the relationships that have developed

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Speaker 4: from the first time we did that back in twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty two.

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Speaker 3: And how is the economic you know, boom going to

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Speaker 3: be for this World Cup? Obviously there are projections and

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Speaker 3: all those things, but now that it's getting closer, are

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Speaker 3: are those numbers starting to get more real?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: I think you know, that was part of you know,

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Speaker 4: bringing the World Cup to North America. You know, you've

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Speaker 4: got the biggest media market in the world. You've got,

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Speaker 4: you know, opportunities that you maybe you don't have everywhere else.

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Speaker 4: So making sure that you know, this World Cup is really,

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Speaker 4: you know, the biggest and best. We talk about it

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Speaker 4: being the largest, you know, major sporting event ever and

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Speaker 4: it has the opportunity to do that, you know, just

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Speaker 4: by to of having one hundred and four games. You know,

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Speaker 4: the reach, the access to tickets in terms of quantity

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Speaker 4: of tickets, you know, is staggering. So you know, I

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Speaker 4: think that we're tracking well when it comes to tickets, hospitality,

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Speaker 4: commercial partnership sales, media rights sales and so on.

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Speaker 3: And how many tickets have been sold so far in

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Speaker 3: our projected council.

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Speaker 4: You know, I can't tell you right now today what's

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Speaker 4: fincil because that number changes every day and I don't

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Speaker 4: have it in front of me. You know, we've got

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Speaker 4: different phases of ticket sales. We had a very early

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Speaker 4: vis of pre sale, We had some public on sales,

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Speaker 4: we had some group sales, so you know it teams

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Speaker 4: and others that have set allotments of tickets. So those

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Speaker 4: phases are continuing and ongoing. We've got a last minute

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Speaker 4: ticket sales a window that will open later this spring

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Speaker 4: for any any last minute to gets to get are available.

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Speaker 4: But that's my That final number changes all the time too,

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Speaker 4: you know, based on what we need for camera positions

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Speaker 4: and things like that.

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Speaker 3: So and a lot has been made about ticket prices

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Speaker 3: and the you know, price fixed model and the variation

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Speaker 3: cost model and all of that, and recently a lot

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Speaker 3: has been made out of the parking prices. What can

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Speaker 3: you say about that and about you know, the criticism

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Speaker 3: that's gone into that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's part of virtue of being in

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Speaker 4: this market. You know, we see and we've seen you know,

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Speaker 4: anything or selling goes on the secondary market for however

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Speaker 4: many acts. So you know, we are trying to make

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Speaker 4: sure that you know, we are responsible as event owners.

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Speaker 4: We're providing access where and when we can. You know, parking,

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Speaker 4: for instance, is not something that FIFA had typically sold

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Speaker 4: in the past because it was very limited in other

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Speaker 4: situations and instances. In some of these cities and some

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Speaker 4: of the cities in the US specifically, there are large

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Speaker 4: parking opportunities.

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Speaker 2: So it's a new endeavor for us.

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Speaker 4: It's something that we're continuing to look at and to monitor.

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Speaker 4: But for every parking lot that we control, you know,

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Speaker 4: there's ten, you know, five to ten that some you know,

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Speaker 4: someone else controls in and around the stadium. And if

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Speaker 4: you look at those prices, you know, those are those

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Speaker 4: are are much different than what FIFA is charging.

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Speaker 3: And then there's obviously the public transportation in today was

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Speaker 3: just announced that the Trump administration is announcing one hundred

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Speaker 3: million dollars in funding for public transportation around the World Cup,

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Speaker 3: which is really helpful for obviously for cities. And but

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Speaker 3: the other side of it was there's there's delay and

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Speaker 3: other funding. I know that's not something you guys have

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Speaker 3: to deal with, but can you lease give us a

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Speaker 3: little bit of an idea of when someone's chosen as

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Speaker 3: a host nation, what are those things that they have

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Speaker 3: to do in order to make sure transportation and all

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Speaker 3: those other things, security and all those other things are funded.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you know, on the funding I can

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Speaker 4: speak less to On the operational side of it, it's

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Speaker 4: it's very clear, you know who's responsible for what you Obviously,

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Speaker 4: transportation is important, making sure that individuals that have tickets

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Speaker 4: that you know, aren't aren't from that market, aren't from

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Speaker 4: you know, maybe that host city and maybe from that

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Speaker 4: host country you'll have an opportunity and access to get

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Speaker 4: to the stadium.

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Speaker 2: So transportation has been a priority for us.

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Speaker 4: We're we're really excited about the funding that's going to

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Speaker 4: the cities and specifically to the cities, not to FIFA,

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Speaker 4: to ensure that transportation is successful this summer.

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Speaker 2: You've got you know, all.

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Speaker 4: Kinds of different transportations, you know, situations in US alone.

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Speaker 4: You've got cities that are in the city center. You've

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Speaker 4: got stadiums that are in the city center, stadiums that

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Speaker 4: are a little bit further out.

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Speaker 2: So the transportation needs.

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Speaker 4: Vary by city, and we're so part of any funding

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Speaker 4: and opportunities that they get. Same for you know, any

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Speaker 4: of the federal funding opportunities. You know, FIFA supports the

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Speaker 4: host cities in those efforts and in those endeavors, especially

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Speaker 4: money that's going towards safety and security because that is

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Speaker 4: a priority for US, for the host cities and for

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Speaker 4: those countries.

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Speaker 3: And as we're talking about hostities, I obviously we have

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Speaker 3: to wrap up here, but as we're talking about the

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Speaker 3: host cities, are there any cities you know that FIFA

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Speaker 3: was really blown away by in you know, that are

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Speaker 3: going to be host cities that people should pay attention to,

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Speaker 3: should visit. I know, I know you can't name a

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Speaker 3: favorite or anything like that, but I mean one of

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Speaker 3: the things that was interesting to me was that three

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Speaker 3: different countries are having their home base set up in

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Speaker 3: Kansas City, right, So what are those different places that

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Speaker 3: are really exciting to you that for the World Cup

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Speaker 3: as a host city.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know, I will not pick favorites.

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Speaker 4: I do not have favorites, but I think each city

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Speaker 4: has something so unique to offer fans. So whether it's

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Speaker 4: so whether it's local culture. You know, you've got hidden

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Speaker 4: gems like Kansas City. You've got well known cities like

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles and Miami. You've got unbelievable stadiums, you know

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Speaker 4: in Dallas and you know Atlanta. So every city, every stadium,

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Speaker 4: and I skewed towards the United States because I spend

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Speaker 4: most of my time focusing there.

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Speaker 2: You know, is so unique and.

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Speaker 4: So different and has so much to offer to each

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Speaker 4: of these cities. You've got a Philadelphia where you know,

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Speaker 4: it's also America's two hundred and fiftieth you know, birthday,

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Speaker 4: so you're you're in the heartbeat of that.

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Speaker 2: So each of them will be we'll really.

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Speaker 4: Be tapping into, you know, who they are and what

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Speaker 4: they are and the identity of their city and trying

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Speaker 4: to bring that to the World Cup, which makes this one,

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Speaker 4: you know, so unique and so different.

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Speaker 3: Chief Business and Strategy Officer at FIFA, Amy Hopper, thanks

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Speaker 3: so much for joining the Bloomberg Business of Soccer one

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Speaker 3: hundred days out.

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Speaker 2: I'm so excited. Thanks one days and.

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Speaker 3: That does it for this edition of the Business of Soccer.

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Speaker 3: It's part of a series we're doing for the Bloomberg

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Speaker 3: Business of Sports as we get ready for the FIFA

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Speaker 3: World Cup in twenty twenty six, in just one hundred days.

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Speaker 3: I'm Vanessa Perdomo. Make sure you subscribe now on all

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Speaker 3: your podcast platforms so you never miss an episode. You're

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Speaker 3: listening to The Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio

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Speaker 3: around blat