Call it the$ 20 million red card.
The ordering of British wing Tim Weah after striking Panama’s Roderick Miller in the 18th second of a Copa América team stage match in June sparked a commotion that shattered U.S. Soccer’s best-laid plans for the men’s national team ahead of the 2026 men’s World Cup on home soil. The Yankees went on to reduce to Panama, failed to make it out of the Copa class level, then fired manager Gregg Berhalter. Facing pressure to find a big-name son, the league landed cheap English Premier League director Mauricio Pochettino. In total, the change possible cost the U. S. Soccer Federation some$ 20 million.
The Pochettino decision serves as a snapshot of American soccer’s present state. On the area, the men’s national squad has underperformed. Off the field, U. S. Soccer’s fiscal health may become stronger than ever. To help correct the past, it leaned on the latter, including some first-time contributors like businessman Ken Griffin, who particularly helped fund the Pochettino walk.

” We hope to prove to people that we’re good stewards of capital—that by virtue of giving us income, you can see impact”, U. S. Soccer CEO JT Batson said in an exam. And if you look at our business over the past two years, we have changed from a$ 40 million loss to one that will be quite profitable and is investing in unprecedented amounts that never would have appeared possible.
Those investments include Pochettino, who makes his debut as U. S. coach this week with a friendly against Panama on Saturday in Austin, Texas, USWNT head coach Emma Hayes, now the highest-paid women’s coach in the world, and a new$ 200 million National Training Center under construction in Georgia. Many of those efforts have received funding thanks to donations, which is a fairly new concern for the federation. Batson said the group has raised more in the past year—upwards of$ 60 million —than it has in its entire history.
” Part of this is that we just not asked citizens before”, Batson said. ” Turns out, that helps”.
Coming off a decade of professional tumult, cheap court battles and investigations, U. S. Soccer has built what appears to be a good, and growing, economic foundation heading into a critical following 10 years, which will see the national teams playing at home for the 2026 World Cup, the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, and possibly the 2031 women’s World Cup, which the U. S. is bidding for in partnership with Mexico.
The financial strengthening comes at the same time as U.S. Soccer renouncing its media and marketing rights at the end of 2022, a legal separation from Soccer United Marketing, an organization that has been in charge of the business for 20 years. The federation was cost-savings and had no other negative protection from the move, but it also had more flexibility and freedom in its relationships.
It also established a direct line between U. S. Soccer and its corporate partners—deals previously run through SUM—which Batson said has helped expand opportunities. The federation claims it now projects making$ 110 million from its commercial rights in 2025 despite the SUM agreement, which guaranteed U.S. Soccer$ 32 million in 2022.

On the philanthropy side, the group hired Leah Heister Burton, who oversaw philanthropic efforts at the Guggenheim art museum, to be U. S. Soccer’s first chief advancement officer. In recent years, the federation had typically raised$ 5 million to$ 6 million annually, Burton said in an interview. ” This year”, she said,” we believe we’ll see 10 to 12 times that amount in philanthropic donations to U. S. Soccer largely tied to our new strategy—as well as the moment we are in”.
The key factor in the hiring of Pochettino, a well-known former Argentina national team player who has had successful coaching stints at prestigious European clubs Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain, and Chelsea, was the$ 60 million in donations, primarily from Griffin and Diameter Capital co-founder Scott Goodwin.
Pochettino did n’t come cheap. According to someone with knowledge of the details who requested anonymity because the negotiations were private, he was given a two-year deal worth$ 6 million per year. That is more than triple Berhalter’s baseline pay. Throw in salaries for Pochettino’s staff and Berhalter’s buyout, and the bill for the move climbs to around$ 20 million, the source said.
In a prior era, U. S. Soccer may not have felt comfortable ponying up for a manager in Pochettino’s price range. However, the organization was able to accept the offer thanks to its commitment to philanthropy. Goodwin, an existing U. S. Soccer donor, helped U. S. Soccer loop in Griffin, Batson said. He called it a “down payment on a larger future relationship” aimed at growing the sport in America.
Requests for comment were ignored by Goodwin and Griffin, who recently attempted to acquire a sizable minority stake in the Miami Dolphins.
Griffin already had a history of giving to the game, which he played in his youth, according to a U. S. Soccer spokesperson. In 2017, he supported the U. S. Soccer Foundation with a$ 3 million gift to fund 50 mini-pitches at parks across Chicago, expanding access to the game for more than 13, 500 community members. ( The U. S. Soccer Foundation is a nonprofit organization, distinct from U. S. Soccer, dedicated to providing programs and play spaces for underserved youth. )
He funded a similar project in 2023, providing$ 5 million for the development of 50 mini-pitches in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, with the goal of improving the health and well-being of at least 36, 000 children by 2030. Additionally, he serves on the board of the Miami 2026 World Cup host committee.
In announcing the Pochettino signing, U. S. Soccer made sure to note the contract was” supported in significant part” by Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel and of Griffin Catalyst.
The coach’s deal is the latest step in a broader, longer-term fundraising plan for U. S. Soccer, one that’s been running in the background for years. In late 2023, the organization disclosed a$ 50 million gift from Atlanta United FC owner Arthur Blank and Home Depot founder and owner Arthur Blank for the new headquarters and training facility outside of Atlanta. Blank, like Griffin, is a first-time U. S. Soccer donor.
The separation from SUM has created new needs on U. S. Soccer’s commercial side, which is run by CCO David Wright, who previously worked in sponsorships at the MLS-owned entity. Significant sponsorship agreements with Nike and Deloitte have been made, as has a new agreement with broadcast partner Turner Sports.
According to U. S. Soccer, a number of commercial benchmarks have followed. The federation claims that overall TV and streaming viewership has increased by 40 %, with the highest average attendance for USWNT and USMNT games in the first six months of a calendar year. Sponsorship revenues increased by 60 %, while sales increased by 25 %. Commercial partnerships and events now make up about 77 % of U. S. Soccer’s operating revenue.
The federation has experienced a period of growing losses, and the turnaround has occurred. U. S. Soccer lost$ 12.5 million in fiscal 2021,$ 25.9 million in fiscal 2022, and$ 40.8 million in fiscal 2023, according to its audited financial statements. In fiscal 2024, the most recent year available, that turned to a$ 1.3 million profit. Revenue in 2024 was$ 192.2 million, on expenses of$ 190.9 million.
According to its most recently made tax returns, the federation reported spending$ 0 on fundraising fees in fiscal 2023. It reported$ 18.8 million in overall contributions, gifts and grants, of which$ 5.8 million was noncash.
Burton claims that Wright’s success on the commercial side has made it easier for her to work. She recently joined U.S. Soccer after winning the championship game against her college soccer team at Division III Knox College in Illinois. She claims that the sponsors of Wright’s deals have been eager to foster connections with their businesses ‘ charitable foundations.
” Our ability to find significant support, whether it be from our leading commercial partners like the Nikes, Coca-Colas, and Volkswagens of the world, has been really incredible,” Burton said. ” And it’s been able to open up additional funding opportunities”.
She cited Coca-Cola, a major commercial sponsor. ” They have a foundation that has said,’ We’d like to get involved. We’d like to invest in some of the impact work that you’re doing within workforce development.’ My team can help support that work while Dave’s team is out there doing the commercial side, so there’s a good symbiotic relationship”.
Despite the gloom of the Copa América failure—and that$ 20 million red card—the executives at U. S. Soccer are upbeat.
Besides the off-field run of success, the U. S. women had a pitch-perfect summer, winning the Olympic gold medal under Hayes, who was signed to a$ 1.6 million-per-year deal this year. The U. S. men’s team under Pochettino will now try to keep up. If it ca n’t, it wo n’t be for a lack of financial resources.
” We are very much excited by the initial results, but there’s so much more to raise as we try to deliver upon investing in sporting, investing in our capital projects, investing into affordable access into the game”, Burton said. ” We’re not taking our foot off the gas”.