Talks at GS Sep 25, 2026 26m · 14m saved
With JT Batson, CEO and Secretary General of U.S. Soccer
JT Batson says the United States spends $3 billion to $5 billion a year in public subsidy on high school football — and none of that goes toward the sport he runs.
Most sports executives measure the summer after a World Cup by ticket sales and TV ratings. Batson measures it by basketball hoops: every park and every school has one, paid for out of public budgets, and he says there is no comparable public investment in the game his federation is trying to grow.
"It is insane what it costs so many families to be able to play youth sports."
Batson co-founded and ran Hudson MX, a New York and Atlanta-based software company, before U.S. Soccer named him CEO and secretary general in September 2022. He has since taken the federation from roughly 200 employees to 600, moved its headquarters to Atlanta, and opened its first-ever training campus.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 26 minutes of audio, 12 minutes of reading.
Here are the 11 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
The World Cup summer was built around three goals: win, get the whole country watching, and use the momentum to grow the sport
The team's mindset shifted from hoping to compete to expecting to win
Emma Hayes' women's team already had that belief built into its culture
Every park and school already subsidizes basketball with a hoop; soccer gets no equivalent
The US spends $3B-$5B a year on high school football alone
News that FIFA might sell a private-equity stake reached him over WhatsApp, from reporters, not from FIFA
U.S. Soccer's headcount tripled to 600 people in four years, now based in Atlanta
Neither Mauricio Pochettino nor Emma Hayes had a U.S. Soccer campus to tour before this year — the federation had never owned a training facility
Youth travel sports cost is "insane," and the deeper problem is kids specializing too early
A pending NCAA vote would let D1 men's soccer players train year-round and still make it to class
Fans of the US national teams are already fans of MLS and NWSL, whether they realize it or not
He calls himself U.S. Soccer's "recruiter in chief," running an organization built on influence rather than authority
1. The World Cup's Three Jobs
Batson said U.S. Soccer set three goals for the summer before a ball was kicked: put the team in position to succeed, get every American who wanted to feel part of the tournament, and use the run to accelerate the sport's growth.
Success meant kids wanting to wear the jersey, not just win games
"And I'd always say we want to cause young kids to want to run outside with their U.S. jerseys on. You want people to fall in love with the team." — JT Batson
For the first time in his life, the team believed it could win
"The first time in my life—so I'm 43—our men's national team went into a game where everyone believed." — JT Batson
He is betting on a repeat of the stretch that built the sport here the last time the US hosted global tournaments back to back.
"For those of you youngins, we had a World Cup here in 94. We had the Olympics here in 96 and the Women's World Cup in 99. And so that definitely changed what soccer looked like in this country." — JT Batson
He wants the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and a hoped-for 2031 Women's World Cup to do the same thing over the next five years.
