Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Kelly Walker: Today we are talking soccer. So FIFA World Cup 26 is the talk of the town for me anyway, for my world, my soccer family and my soccer friends. And I've gotten a lot of questions about what's coming with the World Cup. We're going to break this down into a couple frequently asked questions. And actually, the conversation went so long, I'm going to split it up into two episodes. So. So we're going to talk about what is this tournament, why is it a big deal, what's happening in Dallas and Frisco. We're going to talk about how you can get tickets, all that good stuff. So there's part one and then there's going to be a part two. So definitely tune into both so you can learn about why FIFA World Cup 26 is such a big deal.
So let's get started with part one.
Welcome to this episode of Hustle and Pro. I'm your host, Kelly Walker. We have a repeat guest today, Fred Hammond. Hi.
[00:00:55] Fred Hammond: Hi.
[00:00:55] Kelly: Thank you.
[00:00:56] Fred: Good to see you again. Yeah, thank you for having me.
[00:00:58] Kelly: The last time we had Fred on, we were talking. Gosh, it must have been Covid times because we were talking.
[00:01:05] Fred: Michael Jordan.
[00:01:06] Kelly: Michael Jordan. But the documentary the Last Dance, right? Yes, the Last Dance.
[00:01:10] Fred: Awesome documentary.
[00:01:12] Kelly: We are talking FIFA World Cup 26 today.
So just to kind of give everybody a understanding of where this episode stemmed from, as I'm around town, strangers will say, oh, you know, you're soccer fans. Are you gonna do World cup stuff? Or what do you know about the World Cup? Or things like that. And then as soccer friends and we talk, we get into other details, you know, excitement that, you know, they're coming, things are happening, things are coming. But I thought, let's, let's lay out some of the frequently asked questions and see where that takes us so I can sort of educate our non soccer audience a little bit on what World cup is. Why is it such a big deal? What's happening here in Frisco and in Dallas in this area? And when is it all happening? So we're gonna jump in this excited. Are you excited?
[00:02:02] Fred: Oh, my God.
[00:02:02] Kelly: I know, I know. We're soccer nerds.
[00:02:04] Fred: Soccer nuts.
[00:02:04] Kelly: Okay, so give me like, give me a minute on why are you a soccer nut? What's your soccer?
[00:02:09] Fred: So I grew up and South Florida, and at that time, soccer was just starting with the nasl and my dad said, you're not going to be a real big guy, but you're athletic. So why don't you try this new sport called soccer and I did. And I was probably one of the only athletic kids that played soccer. So by proxy, I became a really good soccer player. Thankfully, all the real good athletes didn't play, or else I wouldn't have been, But. And so I grew up, I played all through my life, and then entered college, got a scholarship to play soccer when that wasn't really a thing. And after that, coached my kids and then coached at FC Dallas. And so, yeah, I got to. I got to do the whole gamut. Player, coach, celebrity, podcaster. Don't forget. I mean, this is my biggest thing on the resume.
[00:02:59] Kelly: All right, so to start off, I guess the biggest, most basic question, frequently asked question is, what is it? Why is it even a big deal? Because as. As we know, Americans aren't as in tune with what's happening in the soccer world as people all around the globe are. So just to kind of give a large, you know, explanation, I. I want everybody to sort of start at the basics. It's a soccer tournament. Happens every four years, similar to the Olympics.
The last one was in Qatar. Do you say Qatar or cutter or how do you say.
[00:03:31] Fred: I say cutter.
[00:03:32] Kelly: Okay. I say Qatar.
[00:03:33] Fred: Tomato, tomato, potato, potato.
I hope there's no concerns here that are upset about that.
[00:03:39] Kelly: I don't know how you say it either.
[00:03:40] Fred: We're trying really hard to be proper, though, right?
[00:03:43] Kelly: Trying. Trying hard.
So to give you an idea of why it's a big deal, the scope of popularity, do you know how many people engaged in that last World Cup? I don't watched or when.
[00:03:55] Fred: I bet you do, though, because you've done a lot of research.
[00:03:57] Kelly: I wrote it down. Five billion people.
Five billion people.
So the final. Meaning the final game. Right. We're going to talk about all the match structure. The final match of that World cup had 1.5 billion viewers.
[00:04:11] Fred: That's unbelievable.
[00:04:12] Kelly: Unbelievable.
So comparing that to that same year's super bowl, which US Americans are like, super bowl, that's the biggest thing, right?
Take a guess of, like, what super bowl watching audiences.
[00:04:24] Fred: I'm going to say there's 350 million Americans, and I guessing it goes worldwide, but I'll say 250 million people watch the Super Bowl.
[00:04:33] Kelly: 150.
[00:04:40] Fred: 10 times bigger than the Super Bowl.
[00:04:42] Kelly: It rivals the Olympics, but it's like, on that scale, as far as watch, you know, the audience and the number. I mean, the Olympics was around the 5 billion mark. But you also have to remember all the events and it's like around the clock, you know, it feels like when the Olympics are on.
They, the Olympics put out 7,000 hours.
Yeah. So it's just such, it's, it's different, but that's the most comparable, I guess you'd think. And that's a 16 day Olympic run, whereas this soccer tournament is six weeks. So it, that's kind of the closest thing when you consider like the scale of it.
But have you heard that this World cup is the biggest ever?
[00:05:31] Fred: I have.
[00:05:32] Kelly: Okay. Do you know why they say that.
[00:05:33] Fred: It'S because they expanded the field?
[00:05:35] Kelly: Yes.
[00:05:35] Fred: Okay, tell us.
[00:05:36] Kelly: So it used to be 32 teams. They expanded the field. So it is the biggest in history because it's never been this big as far as the number of teams playing. So now it's 48 teams.
Going to talk about how that happens and how those teams all kind of qualify and, and come to fruition in a minute. But this is also unique because obviously somebody has to host this thing. We talked about Cutter, Qatar being the host, but this is a three nation hosting situation, which is complicated, but also Mag. Magnificent in itself. So you know the three host nations.
[00:06:11] Fred: For this one, which is US, Mexico and Canada.
[00:06:14] Kelly: Yep, yep, exactly.
And so within that three nations is the host, but then 16 cities are host cities, meaning that's where the matches are played.
So between Canada, the US and Mexico, there's 16 cities that bid. Well, a lot of cities that bid. And one, the right from FIFA to host a match. Okay. So those 16 cities are spread all over. Most of them are in the U.S. obviously there's, you know, a couple, I think two Canada, maybe three, Mexico and the rest are here in the U.S.
and Dallas is one of those cities. So I want to break down too in a minute, like what that means when I say Dallas, because it's not just Dallas, it's more. It's, it's. It bleeds out over into Dallas. And then take a guess at how many matches this expanded 48 team World cup is in totality from match one to five.
[00:07:10] Fred: I have no idea.
[00:07:11] Kelly: 104.
[00:07:13] Fred: Wow. So 104. And this is going to be the greatest time of next summer is going to be nothing but soccer. I know football, as they call it around the world. Rest of the world.
[00:07:22] Kelly: Yep.
[00:07:22] Fred: We've called soccer.
[00:07:23] Kelly: Right. I call it soccer. I know. But I also like, we, we know when people say Football. We know what they mean. Because of the way they say it in the context and who's saying it. You can tell who's. By who's saying it, what they're talking about.
But then. Okay, real quick, I just want to tell. Explain to people how the tournament is structured because it is not just. It's not like. It's not like March Madness. Right. It's not like a college football playoff. Thank goodness. That's complicated. It's not one and done golf tournament. Like it's. Right, right. There's multiple stages of it and multiple ways you get in, but multiple ways you stay in and this and that. So the first stage.
We call the first stage the group stage.
So that just means there's like all these group. Group A through now. It's like J or K or. It's a lot of groups now. And each group has four teams, four countries.
And so they play in a. Like a mini bracket style. Right. Where they all play each other once. And so you, you. The top two come out of the group.
[00:08:24] Kelly: So group A, this guy plays this guy. This guy plays this guy. This guy. Who, who got the most points out of that and who got the second most points out of that?
They're. They stay in, they advance others. You're done.
[00:08:35] Fred: Yeah. Points are awarded for victory and a tie. So sometimes a tie is significant. Can help you just to get out of the group.
[00:08:42] Fred: Try to get out of the group is what you want.
[00:08:43] Kelly: You don't want to lose those. Yeah. A tie can keep you in that in the tournament if. Depending on what the other team did, enough points to. Right.
[00:08:51] Fred: Be above the third and fourth place.
[00:08:53] Kelly: Exactly.
You got to be the best half of those four in your group. Okay. So then when you come out of or advance out of the group stage, you're in the, you know, what do you call it?
[00:09:04] Fred: What do I call it? Kind of like this. Not sudden death.
[00:09:06] Kelly: Some people call it the knockouts.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Knockout round. That's actually like the term.
[00:09:11] Kelly: Yeah. Knockout round. Right. It's. Or the round of 32.
[00:09:14] Fred: Right.
[00:09:15] Kelly: Because it, it's taking teams down to 32. And this is where you start single elimination.
[00:09:23] Fred: Right.
[00:09:23] Kelly: If I use baseball terms
Yeah. Pressure starts to where you don't get a second chance here. If you play a not as good team and you happen to lose to them, you're just done. Your. Your run is over.
So it gets real serious real fast in the round of 32.
[00:09:38] Fred: And it's heartbreaking to a Lot of countries.
[00:09:40] Kelly: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:09:40] Fred: It can be.
[00:09:41] Kelly: Drama can start already. Right. Then like if you lose, an underdog loses in the first in the group stage, it's not the end of the world because they can win the next match and probably still stay in. But once you're in the round of 32 and you're done, you're done. And it's. It's a problem.
[00:09:56] Fred: Yeah.
[00:09:56] Kelly: So then that cuts down to the round of 18 and then you start getting into your quarters, your semifinals, and then of course your finals. There is a bronze third place match as well. But so that's kind of how the layout is.
[00:10:11] Fred: Exciting.
[00:10:11] Kelly: I know, it's so exciting.
[00:10:13] Kelly: But with your, like soccer kind of history and knowledge of this sport, like what. What do you see? Kind of how we got here in this country.
[00:10:23] Fred: I think really 94 was a big deal for us because we really weren't a soccer nation and largely still aren't. But back then when 94 was so successful and we did so well as a country, they started, they created the mls and the MLS was a derivative of that success where they started investing in youth and they started investing in teams professionally that were managed on a salary cap so they wouldn't go crazy on spending. They would develop soccer specific stadiums that weren't 80,000 seats and 10,000 people watching. Terrible for TV. They got a TV contract and all of that evolved to really build a passionate, enthusiastic, enthusiastic base that wants to play soccer in the United States.
[00:11:07] Kelly: And it's not quick. You know, from that we're talking, what.
[00:11:10] Fred: 30 years ago, 40 years ago, you.
[00:11:12] Kelly: Know, one of the first soccer sports specific stadiums.
[00:11:14] Fred: I don't. Was it, Was it Toyota Stadium?
[00:11:17] Kelly: Do you remember what it started out being called?
Not Toyota.
[00:11:20] Fred: They were Dr. Pepper.
[00:11:21] Kelly: It was, it was Pizza Hut.
[00:11:23] Fred: Pizza Hut Park.
[00:11:24] Kelly: That's right, Pizza Hut Park. So that was the original Title sponsor.
When they built it. And yeah, it was a Lamar Hunt vision to bring a soccer specific stadium. He had conquered football and tennis and he really wanted to bring the MLS here.
[00:11:40] Kelly: And so Frisco got one of the first.
[00:11:42] Fred: And that makes a big difference as a viewer. You're close. It's intimate, it's rowdy, it's caucus, it's. They're fun to watch. Instead of a giant echoing sound with 10,000 people and an 80,000.
[00:11:53] Kelly: Yeah. It's not built for your feel. Yes, yes. And so this way, I mean, other things happen at Toyota Stadium now. You know, our high schoolers get to use it and others. But it's Soccer hall of Fame for soccer. Yeah. So then the Soccer hall of Fame, when it moved here from New York, it became the first professional hall of Fame in a professional stadium.
[00:12:14] Fred Wow.
[00:12:14] Kelly: It's the first, I think only, but I don't know.
So it's unique also.
[00:12:18] Fred: Frisco is great.
They always think of these cool ideas and we're lucky to have that as soccer enthusiasts.
[00:12:25] Kelly: Yes.
Soccer fans or non soccer fans, if you haven't gone to the National Soccer hall of Fame, go walk through there. Kids love it. There's big tables where you can build teams and you can build scarves and uniforms and get on a green screen and put yourself in the game. And there's a huge map wall of all the soccer in the country and not to mention all the relics and you can see all the things. So if you haven't been to the National Soccer hall of Fame, go check it out because it's a really cool sports stop here in Frisco.
[00:12:55] Fred: You could do it while watching a game. You could actually say watch the game and do the hall of Fame in the same trip.
[00:13:00] Kelly: Yeah, you could. Yeah.
[00:13:02] Fred: Plausible.
[00:13:02] Kelly: Yep. Let's talk about another frequently asked question that I think is confusing. What's in Dallas? What's in Frisco? You know, why are we talking about it so much?
So when I talked about those host cities earlier, the what? 16 of them in the, in the, in the tournament. Dallas is a host city.
When Dallas went to bid for that, that's actually Dallas, Frisco, Arlington and Fort Worth, that was cities those cities went in. In fact, the Jones family and the Hunt family, those are at the head of those bid committees trying to get FIFA to say, yeah, let's, let's have something in Dallas. So it's a multi city bid process. So when it was awarded to Dallas, that means all of us.
So there are approval processes and things that happen with all four of those cities involved. So it's not just Dallas in a silo. As we all know.
I hope most people know the stadium that the Cowboys play at is in Arlington.
So that, you know, obviously Arlington has to be involved. And so there's just all these other cities involved. And we're one of the four that make up the Dallas host committee or host city.
So that's part of that. So rewinding back to February 4th this year, we all gathered in AT&T Stadium to find out what Dallas gets. And we got unprecedented. How many matches?
[00:14:32] Fred: Nine.
[00:14:32] Kelly: Nine.
[00:14:33] Fred: The most of Any.
[00:14:33] Kelly: The most ever because of the big tournament.
[00:14:36] Fred: Right?
[00:14:36] Kelly: The most ever and the most of anybody in this tournament.
[00:14:38] Fred: That's insane. We do it bigger in Texas.
[00:14:40] Kelly: We got a lot, a lot, a lot. So those matches, when you see it on the schedule, it's going to say Dallas, they're in Arlington. It's not going to say AT T Stadium. You're not going to see that anywhere. For this purpose of this tournament, it's always going to say Dallas Stadium.
[00:14:58] Fred: It'll take the AT&T off the top.
[00:15:00] Kelly: I don't know the details on that. And that's not unique to us. Okay. You're going to see that for. For everywhere. For all the other stadiums in the country. When you go to FIFA.com and you're looking at stuff, it's never going to say Gillette or Sofi. Right. It's always going to say Los Angeles Stadium.
[00:15:16] Fred: Okay?
[00:15:16] Kelly: Blah, blah, blah. So it's not unique to us. It's. It's nothing. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just how FIFA is naming their stadium because of, like, partnerships and things.
So Dallas Stadium in Arlington will host the nine matches. And so here's how that breaks out. We talked about the group stages. We have five in the group stages, and then we have two in the next round, which is that knockout round of 32.
We have one in the round of 18. And then we have the semi final, semifinal. Yep. So that's 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
[00:15:50] Fred: So we'll determine one of the finalists. Yeah, or all of the finalists. Just one semifinal here and one semi here.
[00:15:56] Kelly: I don't remember the other semi, but.
[00:15:58] Fred: But we will have one of the finals.
[00:16:00] Kelly: One of the biggest games.
[00:16:00] Fred: Oh, wow.
[00:16:01] Kelly: One of the biggest games.
[00:16:02] Fred: Wow, that's great.
[00:16:03] Kelly: Yeah. And then so. So the crazy thing to me is like this, the scope of the time frame. So that first match, we're going to talk a little more on the timeline details, too, but the first match we have here in Dallas is match number 11 of the tournament.
[00:16:18] Fred: Okay.
[00:16:19] Kelly: Just because out there, they're going to start. Group, group, group, group, group. We get the 11th game. Now, some of those are playing simultaneously, you know, but we get the 11th game and then when we go all the way to the semis, that's the 101st game.
So we've got number 11 and 101. 1 1.
[00:16:34] Fred: Wow. I know. That's cool.
[00:16:36] Kelly: And that spans from June 14th in Dallas to July 14th in Dallas.
[00:16:41] Fred: And these will all be indoor games in the Covered stadium, just like the football team.
[00:16:49] Kelly: Yes, but they are renovating and they will be renovating when football season is over to complete everything, to be up to standards, to host this soccer.
[00:16:58] Fred: So FIFA had required.
[00:16:59] Kelly: They're not new to hosting soccer. They host CONCACAF games. They do host soccer, but this is a special tournament, obviously. Right. And so as soon as football's over there, they will finish transforming it for nine matches of FIFA.
[00:17:13] Fred: So we'll be nice and shiny for the rest of the world to come.
[00:17:16] Kelly: Can't even wait. Can't even wait. Okay, then. Talking about what's in Dallas.
Dallas has two major things to talk about. One is the like fan festival. So at Bear park, that's where kind of the big ongoing regional celebration will be okay. For fans. So people that aren't in the stadium, but they're still experiencing and probably, you know, watching on screens and all the activations and interactive things will be happening at fan festivals in Dallas. There will be others named later, but that's the official, you know, one of Dallas being a host city. And then the second thing is the International Broadcast Center. The pretty big deal when that got announced a few months ago. It might not mean a lot to a resident here, but it means a lot to me in the media world because thousands of media are going to be here and to be chosen as a central location in the US in our airports. There's a lot of reasons why Dallas was chosen, but it's exciting because this is where they. Their hub of all the media. They come here early, they learn about our region. We will be able to get them up here and do things in Frisco. So having the IBC in Dallas is a big.
[00:18:25] Fred: And that'll be in Dallas itself or in Arlington or Dallas, sorry, the K.
[00:18:30] Kelly: Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. Dallas proper.
[00:18:34] Fred: So that'd be like Radio Row, everything.
[00:18:37] Kelly: Yeah.
[00:18:37] Fred: Who. Who's who and broadcasting this event.
[00:18:39] Kelly: Wow, it's so great. That is exciting to media nerds like me. And then, okay, Frisco. So you know, we talked about Arlington, the stadium, Dallas, the Fan Fest and the ibc. And then Frisco.
Frisco is one of the approved basecamp sites. There are 62 and maybe counting FIFA approved sites for base camps.
It's where it's hub where players, coaches, staff will spend the majority of their time starting before the group stages even start. So they will train at their base camp and that's where their accommodations will be. Delegations is another word for it. Countries, teams, it all Just means a team.
[00:19:21] Kelly: Which is a country. Right, Right. Because I didn't even say that off the top. But the World cup is a tournament of countries playing against each other. Not. Not a club, but a country. So. Yeah, a country.
[00:19:32] Fred: So the country will come to Frisco, not just the delegation, the team, but the whole fans. And we'll descend upon.
[00:19:39] Kelly: Right. Yeah, yeah. If you were going to follow your. Your team, your country, you would try to be near them, wherever they're living for the tournament. Yeah.
So Frisco is. Obviously, it's great and we're excited that it's a base camp, but I just want other people to understand there are. We have the most base camps in our region than anyone else.
There are six approved base camp sites in the Dallas area.
So one of them is dbu and the hotel is Weston. One of them is FC Dallas Stadium, and the hotel is Weston. One of them is University of Dallas. Hotel is Omni. One of them is Denton University of North Texas, and the hotel is Embassy Suites. One of them is Fort Worth TCU Hotel Sheridan. And the newest addition is Mansfield Mansfield Multipurpose Stadium. And the hotel is Hilton Garden Inn.
So if you think about the commonalities, these are places with good soccer facilities.
[00:20:38] Fred: Facilities are great at all those places.
[00:20:40] Kelly: And nearby great hotels.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of Hustle and Pro. Subscribe on YouTube and check us out on Instagram and we'll see you next episode.
