Just after the last FIFA scandal, Traffic Sports and its partners lost the marketing rights to Copa America (The America’s Cup). The rights went up for auction, and the winning bid was from Soccer United Marketing. SUM is the marketing arm of Major League Soccer (MLS) and a partner of U.S. Soccer.
The U.S. men’s national team gets a share of the money from the tournament. Add that to the sale of marketing rights to Copa America and U.S. Soccer is now swimming in cash. The share from the tournament was $46 million which takes its total surplus to more than $100 million.
U.S. Soccer is now trying to figure out what to do with that money.
The first step was to double the payment to the U.S. Women’s national team. Although the women’s team did not get equal pay as the men’s team, they did get the structure they wanted:
“We’re trying to figure out where women’s soccer is going, so we may not have the same exact structure as the men. So equal isn’t the right word. It would be equitable because we are asking for a different structure.”
The bigger plan currently under discussion is to build a national training center. The training center will look to France’s world-renowned Clairefontaine for inspiration. Also, the plan is to set up some youth academies in areas that do not have Development Academy clubs.
Another suggestion is to increase the number of talent scouts, as there are only nine scouts for the entire of the U.S., which is 27 times the size of Germany.