The U.S. Women’s National Team continues to be a world leader on and off the pitch. For decades, its players have been beacons of inspiration and empowerment. The U.S. Men’s National Team continues its rise and recently completed a threepeat title win in the Concacaf Nations League. We also shouldn’t forget its performance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where it advanced out of a challenging group that included England, Wales and Iran while bolstering the second-youngest roster at the tournament. Despite an early exit from the Copa America, the team’s group stage opener was the most watched non-World Cup soccer broadcast ever on FOX with 3,165,000 viewers, signaling a continued rise in fan interest. But behind the scenes and beyond its two most popular National Teams, “U.S. Soccer” is tirelessly working toward the next stage in its evolution. The Federation recently broke ground on the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center, a new world-class facility in the greater Atlanta area that will serve as “U.S. Soccer’s” new headquarters and will create a central hub for the entire soccer community, including coaches and referees, to access best-in-class training, technology and infrastructure to promote successful and sustainable playing environments throughout the country. For its 27 National Teams – which include its men’s and women’s Youth National Teams and its Extended National Teams (Cerebral Palsy, Powerchair, Deaf, Beach, Futsal) – the National Training Center will provide the best environments, guaranteeing uninterrupted access to elite infrastructure for training, development, recovery and performance analysis, ultimately cultivating expertise and excellence in the sport on an international level. Furthermore, the Federation oversees 116 member organizations across the country and is the central hub for coaching education and refereeing resources for all coaches and referees in the U.S., from grassroots to the pro leagues. So, how does a Federation which oversees 27 National Teams and an entire soccer ecosystem fund its ambition when it’s also a 501c(3) nonprofit? The answer lies within one of the Federation’s five strategic pillars – to grow the soccer economy to fuel reinvestment. In other words, revenue earned is then poured back into the areas of the game which “U.S. Soccer” oversees.“U.S. Soccer’s” commercial and fundraising efforts are crucial in these endeavors. A NEW COMMERCIAL ERA In 2021,“U.S. Soccer” announced an ambitious plan to bring its commercial rights in-house after a nearly two decades of outsourcing them to a third party. The transition took place at the start of 2023, and the Federation hasn’t looked back since. 3 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 07 US SOCCER FEDERATION
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