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moment where the world wakes up to

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>> Bloomberg business of soccer from

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>> Welcome to a special edition of the

Bloomberg business of sports, the

business of soccer. As [music] we

countdown to the FIFA World Cup just

over two months away, today I'm joined

by the president and CEO of the Los

Angeles Host Committee, Katherine

Schulzman. We're going to discuss what

LA has to offer as one of the major

hosts of the tournament, the fact that

they're the home of the US men's

national team, including hosting their

first match of the tournament on June

12th, as well as discussing security

concerns with potentially hosting Iran.

Catherine, thanks so much for joining

the Bloomberg business of soccer. I'm

really excited to talk to you. The World

Cup is coming. It is right around the

corner now. I'm curious, obviously for

you, you're planning these things for

years, really. But when things finally

come around the way they're around the

corner, the way they are now, do you

feel like you wish you had more time

almost?

>> Yeah, you know, it's interesting. We

started this in 2017 and it seemed so

far off and even a couple years ago we

you know it seemed far off and now to be

you know 70 I forget what it is 73 74

days out. Yes. I mean I feel like the

clock is ticking right over our head and

yes I wish we had more time because

there's so much we want to do but um

it's coming and there's nothing I could

do to change that.

>> And what are those last few things you

know you're hoping to get accomplished

before first kickoff? Well, it's not few

things, there's a lot. So, a lot of our

there's a lot on a lot of different

levels. So, number one, on all of our

community programs, we still have um

several community events happening to

again the whole the whole purpose of

bringing World Cup here is to number one

showcase our community to the world, but

number two is give an opportunity for

the locals to engage. And so we have a

community day uh coming up, our second

community day um road to World Cup

community day presented by AMJ and uh on

May 9th where we're bringing community

members together with local artists at a

local school to help paint murals that

will help welcome the fans that are

coming to Sofi Stadium. So that's one

and we wish we had a little bit more

time to do some more. But we have a

community day coming. We have another

grow the game clinic because again it's

about what is the the spotlight that is

being put on soccer and and giving

people a chance to participate. So we

have a a youth clinic, a coach's clinic

and a and an officials clinic coming up

on May 2nd. Um, we have a we have a bus

tour, a mobile bus tour, kick it with

us, that is traveling around the region

and making different stops at all the

events that are happening and it kind of

rolls up and then it rolls out with a

clinic and all kinds of different soccer

experiences for the people to

participate in. So, really just I think

our our biggest concern is making sure

everybody in the community knows it's

coming and knows what the opportunities

are where they can participate. And how

is LA as a soccer market? Would you

describe?

>> I think LA is definitely a soccer market

with three professional soccer teams,

but more importantly, LA is a big event

market. LA loves the big events and we

know how to put on the big events and

we're used to putting on the big events.

So, World Cup is the, you know, single

largest um largest single sport event in

the world and it is a big time event.

the opening US men's national team,

opening up for the US is a big time

event and LA knows how to do it right.

And so we are putting the fi finishing

touches on everything we're doing during

the opening week of activities and then

the other activities going on for the

rest of the 39-day tournament.

>> I want to talk a little bit about the

teams that are going to be in market and

those finally all came together just

recently, right? the last few teams, uh,

Turkey and Bosnia finally, you know,

coming together for those last few

games.

>> Tell me about how you're planning on

welcoming those specific teams into

market and how you're planning on

engaging with their fans. So, we've

already starting last fall, we have

already had conversations with their

consulates that are here and talking to

them and making sure those consulates

have all the information about what's

happening here so they can push it out

to their communities. They're the best.

They're the best connected to do that.

And so, we're doing that. We've got some

media promotion going in some of the

different markets we are partnered with.

And one of our host city supporters is

Los Angeles Tourism and LA Tourism.

That's all they do is market in

international markets to bring visitors

to Los Angeles. So, we're working very

closely with them to help tell the story

and everything I told you about what all

the attractions are here to tell people,

please start your World Cup journey in

LA. That's been our tagline all along

because of having the opening US match

is start your World Cup journey in LA.

And then the second part of our message

that we've been trying to get out is

everyone is welcome in Los Angeles. It's

very important for us to get that out

there. And so in partnership with Los

Angeles Tourism, um, we're we're able to

do that. We have a bigger microphone

internationally.

>> How impactful is it, you know, knowing

those final teams and knowing just

exactly who's going to be in market,

like you said, so you can speak directly

to them.

>> Hugely helpful. It was a big day for us

yesterday. And um, it's interesting. I I

was on Instagram last night and and

watching the um Bosnia uh community

literally just go nuts. Um I don't know

if you saw any of the posts of how

excited they are and how they rated

their coaches press conference the

players did. I mean they were going

crazy and it's just it's so nice to see

that passion and fandom and something

positive like that. I mean, positive

news stories are great these days and

that that to see people that excited to

be an official part of World Cup and

then playing here and so now knowing who

we're marketing to, who what the fan

base is because remember that we're not

just marketing out out of market, we're

marketing in market because Los Angeles

is host to all these communities. I

mean, we've always said that every team

is playing a home match in Los Angeles

because of the community that they

already have living here. Yeah,

absolutely. And that's the other thing

too with LA obviously as it's so large

and such a diverse market even with the

teams who aren't going to be there at

least right now that you know of for the

group stages you have games you know

throughout the tournament like you said

you're going to be host to eight

matches. So how are you you know doing

that with all the other teams that are

going to be in the tournament that

aren't going to be in the tournament but

fans that are going to be coming even if

you're not sure if their team is going

to be playing in LA yet.

>> Right. And that's a good point. So we

have two matches round of 32 that we

have, you know, technically four teams.

So we don't know who who's playing in

those. That's four other countries that

could be here. Argentina, Mex, you know,

just anybody. And then of course we have

the quarterfinal. So we have a lot of

opportunity for a lot of countries to

play here. So our marketing pitch has

always been to everybody, but with with

some, you know, more specific focuses to

the consulates to make sure they're

getting the information because they're

here sooner. And so, but we continue to

pitch to everybody because there's

people there's a lot the majority of the

visitors that are coming just want to be

part of World Cup. And so, a lot of

people come, you know, while they're

from someplace and they have a country

in mind, they may just want to come to

Los Angeles, camp out here, go to some

matches, be part of this World Class

event, watch their country from a watch

party here. But we've always, you know,

we want everybody to come here and and

and spend their, you know, as much of

their World Cup journey here as they

can. Is there a large diaspora of like a

certain country that is participating

that you might not have in a game in

market right now but that you still are

engaging with because there's just so

many there are so many people from that

country or you know um originally from

that country in LA.

>> That's a great question. I know um you

know we have a huge Croatian population

here. We have a huge um u mex you know

Hispanic population that's following

Mexico. Huge. Huge. I mean, we have a

Mexico game here. It just goes nuts at

Sofi. So, um there there's a there's a

lot of them, but we're not we're not

specifically targeting anyone. We we're

more general of hey, we just want people

here enjoying the matches, enjoying the

the watch parties that are happening in

the market and participating. We're

we're just like I said, we're ready to

welcome the world here. But, um it's a

great question.

>> You know, LA is basically the home for

the US men's national team. Like you

said, they have their first game there.

They have another group stage match

there, and they'll also be their team

base camp is in California as well. Tell

me about having them in market and how

impactful that is for you guys.

>> I think it's it was very exciting to

have them here. Um again, it just brings

having especially in this time in our um

lives to be opening with the US men's

national team for this major event. It

just is a great moment of pride and

we're we're we're very excited and we've

been building a lot of a lot of our

marketing plans around that opening

match and like you said they are playing

a second match as well. But having the

home opener of the tournament of the

World Cup that we've been working eight

years to bring here [clears throat]

>> to be opening for the whole United

States is is a major source of pride for

Los Angeles and that's what we're

building a lot of our marketing around.

So, like we were saying before, LA is a

massive soccer market. The 1994 World

Cup was also held in LA. The final was

held there. Can you tell me what you're

doing to kind of bridge, you know, the

history of the 1994 World Cup to this

one since it's the first time we've held

a World Cup in the US since then,

>> right? That's been a lot of our story.

And interestingly, the person who

chaired that whole effort, Alan

Rothenberg, is on our board. He was part

of the original bid. So, we have a lot

of that history uh of being it's been

part of our story all along that we are

a soccer city. You asked earlier, you

know, are we a soccer city? Yes, we have

three teams here, but we also hosted the

1994 men's. We hosted the 1999 women's,

you know, so we have have that history

of hosting that here. I do think that,

you know, 32 years later from that,

which is crazy. Um or I'm sorry, yeah,

26. Yeah, 32. I'm making sure my math is

correct. 32 years later, it's a totally

different tournament. I mean, with, you

know, 104 matches, 48 teams, it's just

it's a much bigger tournament and a much

bigger platform. And I also think that

when it was here in 1994, which is

interesting talking to people at that

time that soccer, you know, MLS wasn't

around and soccer was a little bit of an

unknown, uh, you know, every obviously

soccer, everybody knows soccer for their

kids playing soccer, but it was, we did

not have MLS teams and I think there was

a lot of question of how successful it

would be and we all know that 1994 was

incredibly successful and the excitement

in the market and people at the Rose

Bowl and the soldout event etc. So that

was very very exciting. Then I think

since that time obviously there's a lot

more interest in in soccer. MLS has

grown. There's a lot of interest in

people owning teams. And so from a

business perspective, soccer has grown

so tremendously. Um and so um so so

we've included in in the history, but we

think that this one obviously is going

to surpass you know everything that was

done in 1994.

>> Yeah. And what do you do with the I'm

curious how you work with the teams in

the market, the MLS teams and the NWSL

team that is in market. How often are

you speaking with them in terms of

trying to engage with the community and

grow the game of soccer especially in

the LA market?

>> So we engage a lot. So our two

co-chairs, one of them um is the CEO of

LAFC and the other is the former

president of the LA Galaxy and also a

former US events national team player.

So he's been really great. Chris Klein

in the history and bringing in the

players and so that's been a big part of

it. But yes, to your point, it can't

this is this is a tourism play p um for

for most cities. It's two twofold. It's

a tourism play and using sock using the

World Cup, this major event to bring

people to your city to spend money. But

it's the second piece of it is is how do

we use the spotlight and the excitement

around something that is so big to get

people interested and and drawn into

playing soccer. And so that's why our

legacy program is built around the grow

the game of soccer clinics um because

we're we're doing 26 free clinics in

market that are World Cup branded to get

people, you know, use the excitement of

World Cup to get people to come on out

and try it or if they've already tried

soccer to to play it a little bit more.

But just again to to get people involved

in a sport that really um does a lot of

good in the community.

>> Is there a certain number that you're

looking for in terms of youth

participation, you know, numbers growing

in the region or in California as a

whole or anything like that that you're

hoping comes from having the tournament

there?

>> Don't have a specific number. just hope

that we have made a lot more people

aware of the opportunity um to

participate.

>> Now, one of the other things that goes

along with community impact is the

economic impact as well. Can you tell us

a little bit about that and how much of

an economic impact you're expecting?

>> Yes, we did a economic impact report of

I think it was $892

million um of economic impact. And

again, what we we did on our economic

impact uh report was make sure we were

super conservative. Um and then when you

add in the media value that we have,

we're over we're estimating over a

billion dollars of impact. That's that's

actually lower than most of the other

city um economic impact reports. And

again, it was just us trying to be

conservative. Um but I always remind

people that the economic impact, it's

definitely there. you know, the hotel

business, the people coming to your

market and spending spending money, but

the really important part is the

visibility for the future. So that the

the spotlight that is on our city for 30

we're 31 days of the 39-day tournament.

So 31 days during the tournament, but

really more importantly over the last

several months and really now coming out

as hard as a ton of media attention

about LA, about LA as a host city that

we did not we would not have gotten

unless the World Cup was here. I mean LA

always gets media attention, don't get

me wrong, but there's just much more of

it on LA. What like the questions you

asked, what is there to do, you know,

where can we go? are we going to, you

know, um, and using that, that's the

thing that keeps me up at night. How are

we using that media attention to show

showcase and and show the best story

about our city to the world?

>> When you're planning out a tournament

like the World Cup, I can imagine

obviously like you'd said, you you're LA

is not new to hosting big events, but it

it is different in terms of how global

it is and how everything like that

works. So can you tell us a little bit

about how you have to work across, you

know, infrastructure, security, safety,

all of those other things to ensure a

successful World Cup,

>> right? No, it is it's definitely

different than everything. It it it's it

having having it over, you know, 31

days, so you're not just having a one

like a Super Bowl is a one event in one

week. um this one because it's it's so

international and it's so different and

so much political attention on it um

makes it a little bit trickier and more

complicated. So, um it's been I'll use

an example of one thing that's different

than other events that we have are in

the World Cup they have fan marches. So,

the t the the fans that have a ticket to

the match get together at some

designated place and march over to the

stadium together. that was new to us

because we didn't have that in um some

of most of the other sporting events

that are here. Not I I haven't seen it

before. So just trying to plan again

they march peacefully. It's all about

you know fandom and they're excited and

you know to go march up to you know

watch their team play and it's a show of

support. So but the the logistics of

that operationally and where are they

going to gather? How are they going to

march and not impede traffic? How are

they going to march and not impede all

the other people that are going to the

matches? Um just adds another um layer

of um difficulty in planning that um

happy to do it, excited that they want

to do that, but just adds it's it's

another layer uh that goes into your

operational planning. So it's been a um

the coordination that's required of

doing this because it's not we we're not

a standalone event either. We're one of

16 cities and we're one of 11 cities in

the US. There's been a lot of what

what's also been different is this time

is that the 11 US cities have worked

very closely together to plan and

coordinate things. Now everybody every

city has is doing something a little

differently. Every city has different,

you know, challenges, different ways are

laid out, but it was really important to

all the 11 CEOs of the host cities to

collaborate as much as we could because

we know if something goes wrong in

Philadelphia or Kansas City or Miami,

any of the other cities, it impacts all

of our cities.

>> And so there there's a lot of

communication that needs to take place

and and every city operates differently.

Every city is set up a little bit

different governmentally on how they do

it and jurisdictions, etc. And every

city is not just one city. Some cities,

in our case, you know, we're hosting it

in LA, but the the stadiums in

Englewood, the same thing in Dallas, uh,

and same thing in a couple of the other

cities. So, it's there's just been a lot

more challenges that way. And I think

the other thing that's been different

and unique about this tournament that

makes it much more challenging is FIFA,

the organizing entity, is used to

hosting an event in one country with one

governing group. um they're hosting

literally 16 different events with 16

different governments. So the the

level of detail and the logistics that

go on hosting 16 different you know mini

World Cups um takes it to a whole other

level.

>> Yeah, that is something that is right

especially different in in this World

Cup as opposed to just the last one we

had in 2022 which was all very very

condensed in Qatar. Can you tell me a

little bit more about how that works? I

mean, like for you in those

conversations when you're when you're

spread across the entire country, when

you're spread across all of North

America, what are those conversations

like logistically? What are those

conversations like in terms of wow, I

were you at all surprised at how intense

it was and how actually kind of hard it

was to plan something across such a big

uh landscape?

>> Yeah. And can I go back to the other

question too? You asked me something

about 1994 too. That kind of ties into

what I was just telling you. In 1994

when they did World Cup, Ellen

Rothenberg and his team were in charge

of all the host cities. So it was one

structure. So they essentially were what

FIFA is playing the role of now. So they

made the decisions across. So it was

really kind of one company that had, you

know, some different fran I won't even

call them franchises because they worked

at different offices in different

cities. And this one is is completely

different. And so that's that's what

makes it um so difficult

>> having to be one entity like they were

in 1994 and then now it being across 16

across FIFA across the US you know

federal government across everything

like that I mean was that at all more

challenging than you feel like you

thought it would be working across every

you know entity that you have to

>> 100% more challenging than I thought it

was going to be. Um this is this has

turned into um because there are

multiple cities because it hasn't been

done before it was the the model was

being built as they were flying it

>> and so that makes it challenging versus

when we did the Super Bowl in 2022 the

NFL has now of course the NFL hadn't

been in LA for 29 years so similar

situation but the NFL did it the year

before and the year before that and they

had a model and they you know so of

course they're open to changing things

up to be in a particular city, but they

had a model of how it's done. You could

look to other, you know, you could look

to how it been done over the last couple

years. There was no situation. What was

done in Qatar had nothing to do with

what we were doing here.

>> So, we didn't have we didn't have in and

1994 really didn't have anything to do

with what we were doing this time

because it was so long ago and and a

completely different organizational

structure. So, this one was a brand new,

you know, it it would be not not to say

that I'm advocating for this, but it'd

be nice for somebody if they were doing

it again in a year or two or whatever

with the same model and could build off

of the exper, you know, all the

institutional knowledge we have now

gathered will be gone, you know, after

after this event won't be able to be

used again because they're not going to

be doing it like this again. So it's

it's kind of a shame there, but we

didn't we did not have any institutional

knowledge from other events that

happened prior, you know, like in Qar,

like in Russia that were really helpful

to us in planning this event.

>> Wow.

>> The good news for us is that we did have

11 US host cities with people who had

experience in running big events and

knew what they were doing and they also

were working with this is different than

2022 and this has been a big benefit for

FIFA. They're working with stadiums that

were already built, that already were

running, already did big events. I mean,

our Sofi Stadium, our team has done the

Super Bowl, the national championship. I

mean, they've been doing event after

event since it opened

>> um over the last six years. So, the the

team has experience and knows how to do

it. So they can they can kind of dictate

what is best practices which is really a

huge benefit for us and all the other um

frankly all the 16 host cities having an

operating stadium in place with a staff

uh running it because I believe in Qar

at least in one of the stadiums it was a

brand new stadium that they literally

had to bring in people who never worked

it before right

>> so having that is truly has been a a

tremendous advantage of having just such

an experienced team at Sofi Stadium and

all the other stadiums around the

country.

>> Well, hopefully the same recipe will be

able to applied for the 2031 World Cup

for the women the women's World Cup. Uh,

cross my fingers that that comes to the

US for sure. Um, Katherine, one of the

other things that I, you know, want to

get on your radar as things are ramping

up and like you said, this is kind of

one of the most all all the political

attention that is on this World Cup and

the amount of time that's left. Are you

in constant conversation of, you know,

changes that could happen to games and

things like that? And, you know, what

can you say in terms of how you prepare

for everything that's going on?

>> You I'm guessing you're talking more

about the Iran matches.

>> The Iran situation. Yeah. And just like

Yeah. Like if there's any changes that

are happening on that front and and how

you even prepare for something like that

to happen.

>> Yeah. No, that's been that's been

interesting. Again, another little um

another level of challenge for us. Um

but but frankly, we have, you know, we

the team hotels are in place, the team

training sites in place, the stadiums in

place. It doesn't matter who's playing

there. So, operationally,

um it doesn't matter which country is

coming and playing. Now, if it's Iran,

there'll be some additional security

um

security challenges that will need to be

addressed

>> given what's happening in the world. But

frankly, given what's happening in the

world, I mean, security is our number

one, two, and three priority. I mean, it

it it's everything we think about every

day. I mean, and my goal at the end of

this tournament is to have had no

publicity about our security because

everything went great and there was no

problem and no issue. So, and people

talking about, you know, our weather and

the great city and the great matches and

the fanfest that they went to. Nothing

about, you know, any any concerns there.

So, that's what we all are planning for

and working toward and we have an a

tremendous team there. But, um, every

match is is a security challenge. So,

um, there there's a lot of planning

going on anyways. There's not there's

not one match where we're saying, "Oh,

this is a walk in the park and we don't

have to, you know, worry about this." We

we worry about every single match.

>> All right, Catherine. Well, one on a

last note here, if you had to end with

the note right before, you know,

kickoff, you know, for LA, what you want

it to look like and then what you want,

you know, the fandom and people to know

about LA after the World Cup is done. I

want people to feel like first off that

they that they are incredibly welcome in

our city uh for the visitors and that

they had I mean again we just want them

to have a tremendous experience here

even if their team doesn't even if their

team doesn't win even if they're not

there that they got a chance to

experience a whole side of LA that they

had never seen before and they had a

great time and that they want to come

back. I mean that's from a visitor's

perspective that's all we can ask for

have a great experience here. they're

going to go home and tell their friends

and they had a great experience, they

want to come back and be here even if

they weren't at a match, but that they

were it just was such an exciting time.

The other thing too I would mention and

the thing I hear the most about and I'm

hoping people will be talking about this

for years to come is a lot of people

come up to me all the time whether it's

whether it's around the World Cup the

1994 or 1999 or if it's about the

Olympics is that they've all got a great

story to tell of some experience that

they had something they got to go to

something they got to see they did it

with their family and it made this

indelible impression for them I mean it

was it was a life you know once in

a-lifetime experience I want people to

leave with some kind of a once in a

lifetime positive experience from our

city that they're going to remember

forever.

>> Absolutely. I mean, just even watching

on TV, I can still remember the 1999 uh

World Cup at the Rose Bowls. Most iconic

moment, I think, in US sports bra,

right?

>> Yep. Exactly. Um, Katherine, thanks so

much for taking the time to speak to us

on the Bloomberg business of soccer. I

really appreciate it.

>> Well, thank you for Thank you for your

interest in what we're doing.

>> That does it for this edition of the

Bloomberg Business [music] of Soccer.

Keep checking in with us as we countdown

to the kickoff of the 2026 [music] FIFA

World Cup.