Member of committee advocating 2022 World Cup in US to speak about expanding soccer
‘The Creation of a Soccer Nation in America: Why the Sport Matters here in the U.S. and Why it Will Matter More in the Future’
Where: Kittredge Auditorium
When: Today, 7 p.m.
How much: Free
Soccer and the United States have a hesitant relationship. Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber is trying to change that.
Garber, a member of the committee to get the 2022 World Cup bid for the United States, will be speaking in Kittredge Auditorium on Thursday at 7 p.m. about why the growth of soccer in the United States is important and how it can be achieved.
More children play soccer than any other sport, yet it has failed to join the ranks of popular professional sports, said Richard Burton, a professor of sport management. Burton, who has known Garber for more than 20 years, said he chose to ask Garber to speak to students this fall, because the World Cup bid decision falls in December.
‘I thought that given that this is the year that the World Cup decision will be made as to which countries will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, and that decision gets made in December, that this would be a great time to have him on campus,’ Burton said.
Burton and Garber met when they worked together for the NFL. Garber spent most of his time with the NFL dealing with the international division. He also handled business development, taking care of television and marketing for the league.
Garber became the second commissioner of MLS in 1999. He has been attempting to get soccer on the same level in America as it is globally and has emphasized creating stadiums that aren’t shared with other sports to help the MLS create a more distinct identity. He has secured the organization fiscally by adding 15 new investors. By 2012, he will have added nine new teams to the league.
The United States will be competing with Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea for the 2022 World Cup. Garber is joined on the Bid Committee Board of Directors by a group that includes former President Bill Clinton, U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan, actor Morgan Freeman and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Holding the World Cup in America would move soccer in the direction Garber is pushing it, Burton said.
‘The perception is obviously that we see America as a football, basketball, baseball country, but the reality is that we’re very much growing as a soccer country,’ Burton said.
Burton gave Garber the option to select his own topic, but given the timeliness of the World Cup and his dedication to soccer over the last 11 years, Burton said the betterment of the sport was an obvious choice.
‘I think it was evident that he would speak about soccer, or football, as it’s known around the world, because he’s the commissioner of MLS, and he’s been one of the chief architects of the World Cup bid,’ Burton said. ‘Asking him to speak about anything else would kind of go away from what his real passion has been for quite some time.’
