By this time subsequent yr, the 2026 FIFA World Cup can be over, forcing Main League Soccer and its model companions to begin watching the sport clock with added urgency.
Subsequent yr’s World Cup runs from June 11 by July 19 and options 104 video games performed by 48 groups throughout 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico, and the US. Amongst these host websites, 13 are MLS markets.
Launched within the wake of the 1994 FIFA World Cup—the final held in the US—MLS has tripled in dimension throughout the final 20 years, including 10 golf equipment throughout the final decade alone. It’s opening new stadiums in Miami, New York, and Chicago over the subsequent three years and common membership worth is up from $550 million in 2021 to $721 million in 2025—with 5 golf equipment value greater than $1 billion.
Jen Cramer, evp of partnership advertising and marketing for MLS, famous that the league noticed a 30% uptick in soccer curiosity and participation after the 1994 World Cup. Since she arrived at MLS in 2015, nonetheless, she’s watched membership values rise from $100 million because it added its nineteenth and twentieth groups in Orlando and New York to a $500 million growth price alone for its thirtieth franchise in San Diego. It signed a 10-year broadcast take care of Apple TV in 2022, introduced Argentine famous person Lionel Messi to Miami in 2023, and had positioned two of an eventual three groups within the FIFA Membership World Cup by the top of 2024.
“We’ve been right here for 30 years: We’re going to be right here earlier than the World Cup, we’re going to be right here through the World Cup—and we’ll let our gamers and everyone else shine—however for a very powerful factor is we’re going to be right here after the World Cup, when FIFA is lengthy gone, and we’re those which are serving to construct the participant pathways, the infrastructure and the fandom,” Cramer mentioned. “The World Cup to us is that this second the place we’re going to get individuals who may not have watched us earlier than, and it’s our job then to get them to really feel as obsessed with their crew, whichever one they select.”
MLS model companions are additionally teaming with the league and getting in some observe as they carry their manufacturers to the World Cup. Amongst FIFA’s tiers of World Cup manufacturers are “companions,” together with MLS supporters Coca-Cola and Adidas; “sponsors,” together with MLS-affiliated AB InBev (by Michelob Extremely); and “supporters,” together with longtime MLS backer The Dwelling Depot.
Like MLS, the manufacturers see a possibility to not solely join with a rising base of North American soccer followers, however to play a component within the development of the game itself throughout the area.
“There is perhaps no different place on the planet that we’ve believed in additional than the potential that the US and Canada have in terms of soccer,” mentioned Zola Brief, senior director of soccer sports activities advertising and marketing at Adidas. “We’ve been companions with [MLS] for over 30 years in a method, form, or type, so that is simply sort of an incredible continuation of our total love of the sport, and funding within the recreation simply as a model, after which our perception on this market and the chance that all of us should develop an extremely stunning recreation right here, have fun the tradition across the recreation, have fun the game itself and broaden its attain.”
Getting ready the pitch
In 2003, The Dwelling Depot was named the “Official Dwelling Enchancment Sponsor” of the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF) and the Mexican Nationwide Crew—a deal it prolonged in 2023. When the Los Angeles Galaxy opened its house stadium in Carson, Calif., and later introduced in David Beckham, the then-Dwelling Depot Heart offered his host floor.
In 2008, it joined Main League Soccer as its “Official Dwelling Enchancment Retailer,” renewing that deal in 2023 as properly. The Dwelling Depot joined Atlanta’s host committee for the 2026 World Cup final yr, however when FIFA introduced that The Dwelling Depot can be the “Official Dwelling Enchancment Retailer” for the World Cup, the corporate adopted it up by saying a partnership with US Soccer to construct a coaching middle for its nationwide groups named after founder Arthur Clean—who additionally owns MLS Membership Atlanta FC.
The Dwelling Depot
“That was a giant driver as we began to take a look at the World Cup as a possibility: We’ve been engaged on this area and to us as a model, it’s actually essential that we’re tremendous genuine, and simply bolting one thing new on doesn’t all the time really feel nice for us,” mentioned Allison Kolber, vp of built-in advertising and marketing for The Dwelling Depot. “The lengthy historical past that we’ve had with MLS and reaching these clients that we all know are youthful, numerous sports activities followers, and to digitally interact a fast-growing viewers base, it gave us a number of confidence to have the ability to add on our World Cup presence as we moved into subsequent yr.”
AB InBev, in the meantime, has been with MLS on and off since its founding in 1996, with its Michelob Extremely signing a brand new take care of the league final yr. Within the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, Michelob Extremely has run numerous “summer season of soccer”-focused campaigns by partnerships with MLS, US Soccer, and the Mexican Nationwide Crew that stretched by final yr’s U.S.-based Conmebol Copa America, numerous Concacaf tournaments, and this yr’s FIFA Membership World Cup.
With AB InBev having sponsored the final males’s and ladies’s World Cup in 2022 and 2023 and slated for responsibility once more subsequent yr—with huge soccer occasions coming again to the U.S. for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and the Ladies’s World Cup in 2031—Michelob Extremely has fashioned a technique round its ties to MLS. An enormous portion of that recreation plan to seize greater than 80 million U.S. soccer followers has concerned Lionel Messi, who featured in each a Tremendous Bowl advert and an Inter Miami-focused advert for the FIFA Membership World Cup this yr.
Last minutes
Adidas has additionally been with MLS since 1996 and has discovered its rhythm with the league by tapping into the native communities and tradition of every market, figuring out how soccer defines itself in every place, and tailoring neighborhood applications, model activations, home events, and even the playlist.
Throughout latest MLS All-Star occasions in Austin, Texas, Adidas’s Brief mentioned the corporate took benefit of getting MLS senior management, participant brokers, neighborhood companions, and membership leaders in the identical room to debate the state of the enterprise forward of the World Cup.
Soccerbible
Whereas he acknowledges that these are conversations Adidas and MLS interact in often, it’s all a part of the lengthy recreation of preparation.
“We’ve been participating in planning for a really very long time: I feel we kicked off World Cup ‘26 virtually as quickly as World Cup ‘22 ended, so it’s been a protracted course of,” Brief mentioned. “We really feel excellent about the place we’re at and sit up for exhibiting everyone what we’ve in retailer. It’ll be a terrific occasion and a terrific second for the game on this nation and in Canada and Mexico.”
