Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondent
When it comes to the hiring of a premier international manager, it’s usually a case of “Show me the money.” Hiring top talent requires paying top dollar, and as it pertains to the next coach of the U.S. men’s national team, the U.S. Soccer Federation seems willing to oblige, both in terms of the amount and the mechanisms by which said manager is compensated.
For the entirety of the USSF’s existence, the compensation paid to the USMNT manager came strictly out of the federation’s coffers. That amount has ebbed and flowed to a degree, but mostly increased over time.
According to USSF financial disclosures, the 2011 fiscal year — which included the 2010 World Cup — saw then-manager Bob Bradley get paid $941,647. When Jürgen Klinsmann was hired in 2011, the ante was upped considerably. In the fiscal year that included the 2014 World Cup, Klinsmann was paid $3.2 million. Gregg Berhalter was paid $2.3 million in his World Cup year, including a $900,000 bonus for qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.
The seemingly small amounts the federation spent on the USMNT manager’s salary fed the perception that the USSF couldn’t afford a coach with a higher profile. For comparison, recently departed England boss Gareth Southgate reportedly earned £5 million ($6.4 million) a year.
The USSF might need to get accustomed to offering that kind of money. In the wake of Berhalter’s firing two weeks ago, the expectation is that the federation will look overseas to find his replacement. ESPN confirmed a Fox Sports report that U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker spent last week in Europe with an eye on hiring a foreign manager. Recruiting such a talent is likely to cost considerably more than the USSF has spent in the past to fill the position.
Everybody’s fantasy pick, former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, was reportedly making €50 million a year when he stepped down from managing the Reds at the end of the 2023-24 season. About half that amount was salary, with outside sources picking up the rest. While sources have told ESPN that Klopp joining up with the USMNT is unlikely, depending on who does get hired, the total compensation for the new manager could reach the high seven figures.
All of which raises the question: Can the U.S. find a way to come up with enough money to get the coach that it really wants?
Finding new ways to pay
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Sports organizations are finding increasingly creative ways to fund the acquisition of players and managers, even utilizing outside parties.
“It’s really an extension of what we’ve been seeing, that the sports investment world has changed dramatically in the last several years,” said David Carter, founder of the Sports Business Group and a sports business professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business. “The types of financing that have been deployed elsewhere are now deemed to be creative solutions in the sports space.
“You look at private equity, obviously that has been in the news a lot, as have the foreign investment funds, and even boosters and collectives with name, image and likeness rights. So I think you could argue easily that finding outside funding or additional funding to land a coach, to keep a coach, whatever it is, is certainly not beyond reach at this point.”
Such an approach is already taking place across the sport at multiple levels. A little more than a year ago, MLS and Inter Miami tapped into the financial heft of Adidas and Apple to help facilitate the acquisition of Lionel Messi. The cash-strapped Canadian Soccer Association engaged the owners of MLS teams in Canada to help fund the hiring of current manager Jesse Marsch, so much so that the position’s official title is the “MLS Canada men’s national team head coach.” While the USSF is in much better financial shape, the need to be creative is there.
“Organizations are thinking about all of the pieces that drive revenue, and the specific levers within those pieces,” said Bobby Warshaw, the director of North America at Bloom Sports Partners, a sports advisory company specializing in strategy and recruitment. “In this scenario, an individual [team] knows that they need to fill their stadium. What drives that? There are different pieces to gaining a customer. Do they know we exist? Do they care about us? Are they engaging with us? Relevance, matchday experience, team quality and stadium quality all matter.
“A better national team drives attention to soccer, which drives attention to everyone in the ecosystem. A lot of stakeholders — team owners, apparel partners, brand partners — have hands in that pie and are incentivized to see the national team do well.”
Would those stakeholders be willing to help facilitate a managerial hire? Sources tell ESPN that some sponsors and individuals have already reached out to the USSF to see how they can help out in that regard. At minimum, they certainly have reasons to be engaged and concerned at the moment.
For a start, the 2026 World Cup, hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada, is a mere two years away. The USMNT’s performance at the just-concluded Copa América, in which it failed to get out of the group stage after defeats to Panama and Uruguay, set off alarm bells that the growth opportunity for the sport presented by a World Cup on home soil would be squandered. The panic and concern ultimately cost Berhalter his job, all of which appeared to be very much on the mind of Crocker when he addressed reporters July 10 on the day of Berhalter’s firing.
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“I know it’s a really competitive market out there salary-wise, and we have to be competitive to get the level of coach that I believe can take the program forward in terms of achieving the results that we need to do on the field,” Crocker said. “But I’m also really conscious that we need to continue to drive for higher standards and equality. I don’t think that’s going be a stumbling block in terms of our investment.
“Our national team is a priority. It’s something we’re prepared to invest in and something that we will be investing in.”
What options are available to U.S. Soccer?
One solution would be for sponsors to make up the difference between the manager’s demands and what the USSF feels it can afford. The federation has proven adept of late at getting money from sponsors. Since the start of 2023, U.S. Soccer has added 11 new commercial partners, brands like Coca-Cola, Visa and Marriott.
Deferring compensation to future years is another option. In that scenario, a manager would receive a salary plus yearly payments after their managerial responsibilities end, much like how the Los Angeles Dodgers structured the 10-year, $700 million deal signed by Shohei Ohtani in December, an arrangement that will see him paid for 10 years after his playing contract expires. Organizations are usually loathe to pay multiple coaches at once, but given the stakes and the potential growth of the sport in America that could be kickstarted by a deep run in the World Cup, it would likely be worth the plunge.
Much like Canada Soccer’s situation, individuals might feel compelled to step in as well. Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank contributed $50 million to the USSF to build a new training center outside of Atlanta.
“Certainly [there are] other stakeholders who are incentivized for the U.S. to do well at the World Cup, including MLS owners,” said Jordan Gardner, a former club chairman with Danish side FC Helsingør who is currently a management and strategy consultant with another soccer consultancy, Twenty First Group. “I think there is a lot of overlap. You have the Arthur Blanks of the world who donate a lot of money to the federation in various forms, whether that’s philanthropic or not. They’re also invested in MLS, so I could see folks like that potentially being in a conversation if it came to it.”
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The vibe from within the federation is that there is a will and way to making it happen, with the sponsorship option the most likely.
“Money is not an issue,” one high-level federation source said to ESPN via text message. “USSF can make it happen. Just have sponsors fill any shortfall. It’s like colleges pay a base salary and then have outside sources do the rest. Not complicated.”
Multiple sources told ESPN that the USSF had run “scenarios of anticipated revenue” if they kept Berhalter on board or signed a big-name coach that might increase enthusiasm around the team and, by extension, attendance and revenue. While sources declined to share the exact numbers with ESPN, the results of the simulations point to hiring a higher-profile manager being worth the USSF’s while.
Carter, of the Sports Business Group, points out that going down the third-party route does contain some potential pitfalls. What kind of strings are attached to any infusion of cash? How much input — and power in terms of decision-making — does that investor or sponsor have? How much of a conflict of interest exists?
It makes for a potentially tricky dynamic, especially if things go sideways.
“That leads to the next part of it, which would be the inevitable media onslaught of, ‘Why are we keeping this coach?'” Carter said. “Oh, because we have to, because of this investment. Or we have to because we’re not entirely in control of the process anymore.”
One mitigating factor for concerns about control is that the federation’s finances have improved, especially in terms of diversification of revenue, thus lessening the amount of money and control that might be ceded. After years of operating at a deficit, the USSF is projecting a modest operating surplus of $1.1 million for the 2025 fiscal year, from $200 million in revenue. The improved financial outlook is due in part to a sizable increase in commercial and event revenue to $154.7 million. Revenue for the same category in the 2023 fiscal year was $95.2 million.
With multiple sources of money seemingly available, Crocker now needs to execute on his search.