It happened to me, in that liminal space we call LinkedIn. It was the successive posts of white papers from different European sports marketing agencies touting their expertise in American soccer consumers that made me realize:

This thing I’d been advocating for my entire career — soccer in America — had arrived, for seemingly everyone else except for those in the American soccer community.

I’m not here to blame the opportunists. We’re seven months out from the 2026 World Cup, the biggest global sporting event of our time, and the financial opportunity is unprecedented in sports. Frankly, if you like money, you’re probably thinking about how you, too, can make money off 2026 (I co-founded an American soccer media company this year, so yes, I am also thinking about how I make money!).

To make some of this money, you either need to be selling the World Cup itself to fans, or you need to sell against your ability to connect with these same fans.

Herein lies the problem. Who is the American soccer fan? There are assuredly dozens of marketing personas in decks being presented across the globe this week to brands … but who developed these personas, and on what basis?

The truth is the American........

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