Kenny Malone

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2,347 appearances 43 recordings 5 series first heard Dec 2025 last heard 3d ago

Kenny Malone’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 43 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 16.

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Planet Money · Can World Cup mania grow MLS in the U.S.? · 17 Jul 2026 podcast

But yes, that gigantic party, that is all about the samples.

You get people to come to, I mean, of course, share their email address and phone number with the team, but also to let those people know things like, hey, here's some Chicago Fire players that are in the World Cup.

Here are some local collaborations with artists making killer merch.

And I mean, look, it is true that a lot of the MLS teams around the country, they are doing smaller versions of this, you know, big old watch parties.

Yeah.

And on the face, okay, kind of obvious.

But I will say it does take advantage of something a tad more advanced, which is harnessing what we would call the network effects of sports fandom.

You know, some products become more valuable as more and more people buy into them.

Sports, I would argue, is one of these.

It is simply more fun to live and die with a team when you're doing it with other fans

And holding a big old watch party shows potential new fans, potential new customers for your soccer team, that there is a network that they get to join.

So will any of this work?

Will any of these MLS clubs, using their Costco strategy, their build it and they will come strategy, will any of this actually work?

Well, people have actually studied what happens to domestic soccer leagues in a country after it hosts a World Cup or a big tournament.

And the answer is, Becky...

Yes, but may we pose, what if the best way, the most valuable way to use this 2026 World Cup has nothing to do with converting new fans, nothing to do with fans at all?

Arguably, the most important World Cup audience after the break.

So far, we've talked to specific MLS clubs about how they're trying to use the World Cup.

But our final stop is MLS, like the actual organization headquartered in New York City.

I think in North America in particular, we have the sense that the Super Bowl is sort of this enormous event that does about 200 million viewers worldwide.

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