This year, Major League Soccer has a rare marketing opportunity. When the FIFA World Cup comes to North America over the summer, soccer fandom, which has been growing in the US for years, has the potential to hit peak levels.<\/p>\n
The league, which kicked off its 31st season last month, is looking to capitalize.<\/p>\n
Major international events tend to bring huge spikes in fandom\u2014look no further than this year\u2019s Olympic hockey phenomenon. But attention spans are short, and when those events end, some people forget their fandom as fast as they found it\u2014which is why MLS, along with some of its sponsors, has already mapped out its marketing playbook for the rest of the season with the goal of converting every-four-years fans into die-hard viewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeading up to the World Cup, during it, and after it, we\u2019re trying to pull every lever at our disposal,\u201d CMO Radhika Duggal told Marketing Brew. \u201cConsumers who are so excited about soccer, so excited about the World Cup energy of 2026, we want them to realize we play that same game here in North America all season. We think if we can connect our teams\u2014our players\u2014to the World Cup, they\u2019ll realize they should give us a try.\u201d<\/p>\n
So back<\/h2>\n
MLS opened its 2026 marketing in mid-February, about four months before the first World Cup match, with a campaign called \u201cMLS Is Back.\u201d The first spot, \u201cThe Call,\u201d features a handful of MLS stars like Son Heung-Min and Diego Luna, Los Angeles FC team owner Magic Johnson, and soccer content creator C\u00e9line Dept.<\/p>\n