Finance of Football

Football was never just football — and that is especially true of the World Cup. With less than 60 days until the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off, Michael and Asli are joined by Simon Kuper to explore the politics, economics, and cultural power behind the biggest tournament in sport. Drawing on his new book, World Cup Fever: A Footballing Journey in Nine Tournaments, Simon explains why the World Cup...

Inter Miami has a new home. New York City FC is building its first true soccer-specific stadium. Chicago is spending $750 million on a new venue. Across MLS, clubs are no longer just building places to play — they are building long-term business assets. This week, Michael and Asli break down why stadium ownership has become one of the biggest drivers of growth in American soccer. Because this is n...

Women’s soccer is growing fast but is the calendar growing faster than the game can handle? In this episode of Finance of Football , Michael and Asli dig into one of the biggest tensions in the sport right now: the fine line between expansion and overload. As FIFA pushes new competitions like the Women’s Club World Cup and Women’s Champions Cup, the business opportunity is obvious. More matches, m...

Multi-club ownership is no longer just changing the men’s game. It is becoming a major force in women’s soccer too. In this episode, Michael and Asli break down how ownership groups are reshaping the women’s game, and why investors are moving in now. From shared resources and commercial scale to talent pipelines and long-term brand building, multi-club ownership is creating new opportunities but a...

The NWSL isn’t growing quietly anymore — it’s scaling fast, attracting serious capital, and entering a new era of ambition. From Boston to Denver and beyond, expansion is accelerating as new ownership groups enter the league and franchise values continue to rise. But this isn’t just about adding teams — it’s about building a sustainable business model for long-term growth. Asli is joined by Walter...

In this episode of Finance of Football, Asli and Michael are joined by former NWSL Players Association co–Executive Director Brooke Elby to explore how player power helped transform the league from a fragile startup into one of the fastest-growing investments in global women’s sports. When the NWSL launched in 2013, the league was still recovering from the collapse of two previous professional wom...

“Distribution equals visibility. Visibility drives sponsorship. Sponsorship fuels payroll growth.” That’s the new model powering the National Women's Soccer League. The league that launched in 2013 just trying to survive is now operating in a completely different financial reality. Ahead of 2026 — with the men’s World Cup on U.S. soil and the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil on the horizon — women...

M LS about to take a real global leap — or just reshuffle the calendar? With the 2026 FIFA World Cup around the corner, Major League Soccer is launching MLS 3.0 — a sweeping shift designed to align the league with Europe and reposition it internationally. At the same time, USL is preparing to introduce promotion and relegation with the launch of its new Division One league. Together, these moves c...

Five Major League Soccer (MLS) teams are now worth $1 billion — and expansion ahead of the 2026 World Cup is driving the surge. Ahead of the 2026 season, Major League Soccer has officially entered its financial power era. The average club is now valued at $767 million — up 6% year over year and nearly 40% since 2021. So what’s behind the explosion? Michael and Asli break down the arrival of “MLS 3...

What do Madonna and Giannis Antetokounmpo have in common? Women’s soccer. Asli Pelit and Michael LoRé break down the growing wave of celebrity attention and investment pouring into the women’s game — starting with Madonna being spotted at a Chelsea Women vs Tottenham youth match, supporting her daughters in the Spurs academy. When a global icon shines a spotlight on women’s soccer, it’s more than...

2026 should be the most important year in Major League Soccer history. MLS is coming off its strongest season ever, capped by a 2025 finale that delivered record global viewership and massive social engagement, underscoring the scale of the Messi Effect. With Lionel Messi’s contract extended through 2028 and the global soccer world increasingly focused on North America ahead of 2026, the league en...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming — and New York and New Jersey are at the center of it. In this episode of Finance of Football , Michael LoRé and Asli Pelit speak with Alex Lasry, CEO of the New York–New Jersey World Cup Host Committee, about what it takes to deliver the biggest sporting event in history. Lasry draws on experience spanning the Obama White House, NBA ownership with the Milwaukee B...

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching, Finance of Football welcomes Alan Rothenberg, one of the most influential figures in U.S. soccer history. Joined by Michael LoRé, Rothenberg reflects on the unlikely moments that launched American soccer onto the global stage — from the breakout success of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics to leading the 1994 World Cup, founding Major League Soccer, and helpin...

It’s officially a World Cup year — but the road to 2026 is already uneasy. As the random ticket draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup closes, millions of fans are hoping for seats to what FIFA calls the biggest sporting event in history. At the same time, a growing number are calling for a boycott, driven by political fear, rising costs, and real concerns about safety and welcome in the United States u...

World Cup 2026 will be the biggest sporting spectacle in human history — with a projected 3.7 billion viewers for the final alone. In the Finance of Football season finale, Michael LoRé is joined by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy to explain what it really means to host the World Cup Final in New Jersey and the scale of what’s coming to the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The...

The World Cup draw just turned into a full-blown circus — comedians, concerts, fake peace prizes, supermodels, and a two-day TV marathon before a single ball was revealed. This week, Asli Pelit and Michael LoRé break it all down with Men in Blazers founder Roger Bennett, who was in the middle of the madness. Roger explains why FIFA is transforming the 2026 World Cup into an American-style entertai...

This week on Finance of Football , Michael LoRé goes solo and dives into a set of stories that say everything about where the sport is headed — on the field, on TV, and inside the minds of the people who play it. The MLS Cup delivers a dream matchup in Messi vs Müller — a reminder that the league’s biggest currency is still star power, and that the Beckham Effect didn’t end with Beckham. Miami’s c...

Fresh off a 10-point title, Liverpool ditched its usual slow-and-steady approach and blew the doors off the transfer window. They broke their own record twice in one summer, bringing in Florian Wirtz for £116 million and Alexander Isak for £125 million — now the most expensive signing in British football. Add Hugo Ekitike and a handful of others, and Liverpool’s total spending soared to roughly £4...

After nearly 30 years, Major League Soccer is finally aligning with the global football calendar. Starting in 2027, MLS will shift to a summer-to-spring season with a winter break — avoiding clashes with the NFL, syncing with European competitions, and positioning the league for better transfer windows and playoff visibility. At the same time, MLS is ending its Apple TV partnership early and scrap...

A record NWSL expansion, a college star turned investor, and Messi popping up in two stadiums—this week’s episode has everything. Asli and Michael kick off with the NWSL playoffs, a weekend full of chaos and upsets that proved once again why this league delivers pure drama. Asli questions whether the short playoff format does the excitement justice, but Michael argues that if you’ve got heartbreak...

Heineken’s out, Budweiser’s in—and soccer’s sponsorship landscape may never look the same. This week, Asli and Michael kick things off with the end of a 30-year partnership: AB InBev is replacing Heineken as the official beer of the UEFA Champions League starting in 2027, doubling the annual fee to more than $230 million. Asli wonders if the European prestige will fade, while Michael sees it as th...

Ticket chaos, Messi’s Miami deal, and a corruption scandal that could only happen in Turkey—this week, Asli Pelit and Michael LoRé dive into the messy business of the world’s game. With World Cup 2026 tickets already hitting $25,000 on resale, they ask: has football’s biggest event become too elite for real fans? Asli recalls Brazil 2014’s accessible magic, while Michael calls today’s market a tes...

Fresh off FIFA’s announcement that the 2031 Women’s World Cup will be co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, Asli and Michael turn their focus to one of the sport’s most iconic voices: Andrés Cantor . From Buenos Aires to Los Angeles, Cantor has spent a lifetime bringing football to life for millions. He shares how growing up listening to Argentinian radio play-by-plays shaped his...

Kick off your day with purpose—and coffee. Get 15% off at KickoffCoffeeCo.com with code FINANCEOFFOOTBALL15 — coffee for soccer people, by soccer people, freshly roasted and delivered to your door. The NWSL is on fire—record crowds, soaring valuations, and billionaires lining up to buy in. But as the women’s game explodes, what does real progress look like off the pitch? Former Colombia internatio...

The question has haunted American soccer for decades: why can’t the U.S. Men’s National Team win it all? The money is there. The facilities are world-class. The fanbase is growing faster than ever. And yet, the pipeline that produces global stars in Brazil, France, and Argentina keeps breaking down here at home. With the 2026 World Cup fast approaching, hosts Asli Pelit and Michael LoRé sit down w...