So I'll hand over to Bubsy now if you want to talk about it.

yeah my first exposure to it and i thought it was fantastic like from the minute you rock up like that was a great field great atmosphere like i'd never been to a quarry couple but you obviously see it on tv and you get the different teams coming together yeah you're competing against each other but it was like just the vibe and they got the boom boxes going like they got the barbies cranking the the inflatable stuff for the kids like it was like that part of it was was unreal and then yeah we got the group of players together the first like game it was probably a little bit We're a little bit rusty because players haven't played together and sort of hadn't even met really on that.

So once we got that first game out of the way, we sort of redefined the way we wanted to play.

And then it was, yeah, after that it was, but that's what rugby league does.

It brings people together.

And yeah, we obviously went on and we did really well in that.

But being exposed to players like, yeah, Brad Abbey, Cleveland McGee, like seeing Tristan Eldridge, seeing players like that and just what what they were able to do in such a short window of time but even like we we stayed up and then we had the kids and we were gonna go and have a beer afterwards and we'll like we'll ratchet after that first day because you give so much and then you got to pick it back up and go again the next day but with that 11 players coming through into the Sharks I think that pathway was was really good because you get exposure to people from other areas and I won't cover it all now, but that's what I really feel the Nines is great at doing is giving exposure to younger players or players that are playing in competitions that they may never have had that exposure and it's doing such a great job.

Give us a little, yeah, give us a surface level sort of overview on.

Dan Hunt, co-chair of the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, says we've got a lot to brag about.

We've had the International Broadcast Center here and welcome visitors from around the globe.

We had Sweden with us at Toyota Stadium and Soccer Center, and we had Czechia with us in Mansfield.

Both national teams had a fabulous experience, but that's really a testament and credit to our Texas hospitality.

I told FIFA when they were here in 2021 that we do things bigger and better in Texas, especially here in Dallas.

And I think they now recognize that's how we do things.

Looking ahead.

As you think about what the future will bring, I had so many hopes for this World Cup.

Is, is the league too big now? Right number? What, what do you think the league should be?

[laughs] It's an expansion question, right? And you get into this math game.

You know, the NFL with 32 teams is really the perfect size.

You see what's happening in NBA on expansion on the couple markets coming up.

Look, I don't know where soccer goes because y- you have the issue of single table versus how your playoffs work, how, um, y- you could maybe do two conferences of 20 teams.

Um, you know, almost like the Premier League is, is 20 teams.

Um, and so they have 38 games in a year regular season.

You guys have some excitement about what's gonna happen? I know last year wasn't great.

Do you think that affects attendance overall?

You know, it's hard to say.

I don't think it will affect attendance.

The rollout is a little bit non-traditional, how we would do it in American sports, but FIFA has their way of doing it.

And they've gotten some criticism over the prices, and they went back and repriced some cheaper tickets.

And what I would say is there's a market demand for this, and the revenue they generate from the World Cup... support soccer globally their initiatives from grassroots to growing the men's game growing the women's game all the money associated with prize money player money to clubs and just in developing nations and helping the game along and this is really their pinnacle you know tentpole moment that they have every four years and so I know there's a it's a delicate balance right you want it affordable for fans because fans make the game but you also need to be able to have you know that the money to help support the game for the next four years

Emotionally, what has this been like for you?

It's been an amazing journey is what it's been like.

If you really think about

Major League Soccer, we're only, you know, 31 plus years old now.

If you think about the game in Europe, a lot of these leagues and teams are over 100 years.

So they have this unbelievable history, much longer than anything we've seen so far in soccer.

And if you look at where Major League Soccer has come from 1996 to today, I mean, it's just a monumental shift.

So I think we're on this unbelievable trajectory, yet it's not the NFL, it's not the NBA.

But my father was a big believer that in 50 years, soccer could catch those leagues.

Do you think that affects attendance overall?

You know, it's, it's hard to say.

I don't think it will affect attendance.

Um, the rollout is a little bit non-traditional, how we would do it in American sports, but FIFA has their way of doing it.

Um, and, you know, they've gotten some criticism over the prices, and they d- went back and repriced some cheaper tickets.

And what I would say, you know, is there's a market demand for this, and the revenue they generate from the World Cup supports soccer globally.

There are initiatives from grassroots to growing the men's game, growing the women's game, all the money associated with prize money, player money to clubs, and just in developing nations and helping the game along.

Emotionally, what has this been like for you?

You've got to tell us a little bit more about this

collection.

Yeah.

So I'll go back to, you know, a person who I have so much admiration for and a close friend and – mentor and a confidant is a guy named Robert Casterline.

And he's been my art dealer since I was 24.

I walked into a gallery, said, I like that piece of art.

And I've been buying ever since.

As kind of an intro to our discussion on World Cup, What are your memories?

What does all this mean for just the game in this country, this town? What does it mean for FC Dallas, the fact that this is all going on around your franchise?

Yeah, well, let's start with the economic impact.

The estimate between the nine matches, the IBC, the visiting national teams is $2 billion.

That's what the estimate is for our great city, our great state, this whole area, which is amazing.

Again, nine Super Bowls, having them, and if you look at the level of matches, if the U.S. actually wins the group with Australia, Paraguay, and Turkey, not Turkey, and advances and keeps advancing, there's a chance they actually play the semifinal in Dallas on July 14th.

Just think about what that could be.

That would be unbelievable.

So knowing how big a soccer fan you are, will you have time during this World Cup to just be a fan?

Do you have a favorite article that they spoke about?

Oh, I had several favorites.

You know, so, you know, my favorite actually was the thinking about, um, cellulitis, simple cellulitis, you know, which is typically strep, and looking at do we need to use advanced coverage for patients? So we overuse vancomycin, we underutilize simple, uh, first-generation cephalosporins or clindamycin in the patient who has allergy.

And I thought that was a really compelling thing.

Although it goes back a long ways, I can remember when we actually tried to culture the lead edge of a cellulitis, which they mentioned in their talk.

I never saw a positive.

And then they went on to think about the patients who need more advanced treatment, vanc, and the patient who has an abscessAnd thinking about, you know, h- what's the utility of MRSA swabs in the nose, which markedly reduces the likelihood of MRSA in that abscess.

Please explain.