The World Cup opportunity: Why MLS is betting on infrastructure over marketing

Major League Soccer (MLS) is facing a specific challenge: how to turn brief World Cup excitement into lasting domestic interest. While many assume that hosting a global event automatically builds a local fan base, history shows this is not always true. Attendance spikes are often short-lived and sometimes lead to a decline. The real advantage for MLS is not mass advertising, but a shift toward better infrastructure and improved experiences for elite players. By turning their facilities into training bases for international teams, MLS is effectively auditioning for the world’s best talent. The lesson for stakeholders is clear: when you cannot compete on history, you must compete by changing the environment where your competitors work.

The Costco sampling strategy: Why mass marketing fails

Most sports leagues view growth as a marketing problem. The Chicago Fire, however, faced a constraint: their city was not a World Cup host. Without local matches to drive interest, they invested $2 million in a large, centralized watch party.

This approach relies on network effects. Sports fandom is social, and a fan within a community is more valuable than a fan watching alone. By building a space that mimics the intensity of the World Cup, the club is selling entry into a community. However, this strategy has a downside. By focusing on sampling, the league risks attracting casual fans who want the spectacle rather than committed season-ticket holders. The immediate result is visibility, but the long-term risk is high turnover once the tournament ends.

The Field of Dreams fallacy and the 18-month payoff

New England Revolution president Brian Bilello operates on the idea that if you bring the World Cup to your stadium, the passion will naturally spread to the local population. Bilello points to his own experience as a 19-year-old volunteer at the 1994 World Cup as the spark for his career.

This is a level of passion that exists for this sport around the world. And it is sorry, but it is a higher level of passion than we see from our domestic sports here.

-- Brian Bilello

The danger here is the soccer-curious trap. While hosting matches creates immediate exposure, studies of past host nations show that this rarely leads to permanent league growth. The value is not in the match itself, but in the ability of the local team to capture the energy of the event. Success requires a bridge between the peak intensity of the World Cup and the standard MLS season, a gap most leagues fail to close.

Auditioning the elite: The infrastructure moat

Perhaps the most important insight from MLS leadership is the shift in focus from the fan to the player. Camilo Durana, MLS Chief Business Officer, noted that while the league is spending millions on marketing, the real strategy is the base camp initiative. By hosting a dozen national teams at MLS facilities, the league is conducting a long-term audition.

It could also have an impact on the decisions of his teammates and the people that players talk and they ask about experiences and what they think of certain places and often before players transfer, they ask around and ask people what they think.

-- Camilo Durana

This is a structural move. By providing top-tier facilities, MLS is trying to shed its reputation as a retirement league. When stars like Lionel Messi perform at an elite level during the World Cup while being associated with an MLS club, it acts as a powerful, unintentional advertisement. This creates a loop: elite player performance in MLS leads to higher international credibility, which attracts more elite players, which improves the quality of the product.

Key action items

• Prioritize infrastructure over awareness: Invest capital into facilities that serve as proof of concept for high-end talent. This pays off in 12 to 36 months as it changes the league reputation among global players.
• Leverage network effects for retention: If hosting a watch party, focus on data collection and community integration rather than just raw attendance. Tracking attendees creates a long-term advantage in customer lifetime value.
• Target the influencer tier: Focus efforts on attracting elite players rather than mass-market fans. A single high-profile player acts as a catalyst that shifts the entire system.
• Avoid the host city trap: If your organization lacks a local anchor event, avoid spending on broad advertising. Instead, invest in localized, high-intensity experiences that foster community, which creates a more durable fan base.
• Monitor post-event churn: Over the next quarter, establish a baseline for fan engagement that separates World Cup tourists from league loyalists to ensure marketing spend is not wasted on low-retention segments.