{"id":747271,"date":"2026-06-19T13:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747271\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:06:14","slug":"philadelphia-to-get-free-youth-soccer-program-amid-world-cup-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747271\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia to Get Free Youth Soccer Program Amid World Cup Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 2026 World Cup<\/a> has only just begun, but plenty of legacy building is already in the works.<\/p>\n

\n\tMany stakeholders, including sponsors such as Adidas and Coca-Cola, want to use the event to capture the next generation of consumers and soccer fans. For the Philadelphia Union<\/a>, the plan is to finance the education of soccer in local elementary schools.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe MLS<\/a> franchise is committing $200,000 in equipment and education resources to seven local school districts for the 2026-2027 scholastic year, with the hope that teaching soccer in physical education classes will give children early access to the sport at no cost. It estimates spending at least 10 times that amount on the program over the next decade.<\/p>\n

\n\tTim McDermott, president of the Union, said the idea formed from conversations with the Philadelphia School District about the methodology behind physical education programs for younger grades. He learned that educators have latitude to determine which sports are taught, and there was no requirement for soccer. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPE teachers may not know the sport,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe they didn\u2019t play the sport. Maybe they feel a little inhibited teaching a sport that they didn\u2019t play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, McDermott told the school district that the Union could help. \u201cWe can get you the equipment, we can train the gym teachers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe program, called Soccer in Schools, is targeted at children in third through fifth grade, with the goal of expanding to 64 school districts in the greater Philadelphia area over the next 10 years. McDermott estimates the cost to the Union over that period to be about $2 million, possibly more if participating schools form after-school programs related to soccer.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be clear, the program is partially self-serving. \u201cWhen the kids are out there playing, I want to look down the sideline and see the parents wearing blue and gold and Philadelphia Union gear,\u201d McDermott said. \u201cAnd so we\u2019ve got to figure out a way that we do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Union isn\u2019t alone among MLS clubs in hoping that this year\u2019s World Cup turbocharges fan interest. The New York Red Bulls are offering complimentary tickets to new fans who can demonstrate they\u2019ve never attended a soccer match.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd while\u00a0ratings are up<\/a>\u00a0for MLS on Apple TV this season, commissioner Don Garber\u00a0has conceded<\/a>\u00a0the league may have moved entirely to streaming too soon. Last year, MLS and Apple\u00a0revised<\/a>\u00a0their original 10-year contract to conclude in 2029, three years earlier than planned.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the Philadelphia Union, the Soccer in Schools program is also about providing children with a free entry point when youth sports<\/a> in the U.S. are costlier than ever.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Aspen Institute\u00a0reports<\/a> that the average U.S. family with a child participating in sports has increased their spending on said sport by 46% since before the pandemic. Soccer families who participated in the survey reported spending an average of $910 per year on equipment, registration and other fees in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tMLS has a stake in the commercialization of youth sports: Its youth development program, MLS Next, is pay-to-play.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Union\u2019s move is a small reversal of a decades-long trend away from scholastic sports as a soccer development tool. In 2012, U.S. Soccer effectively banned top-level youth club players from playing on their high school soccer teams to bring America\u2019s elite development system more in line with Europe, a move that drew criticism<\/a>. The move accelerated an exodus of top homegrown players away from NCAA soccer, as well, which U.S. Soccer is now trying to reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI do believe that there is a need for at least lowering the cost of soccer,\u201d McDermott said. \u201cAnd what we\u2019re doing is bringing it into the school system. So obviously there is there\u2019s no cost to any kid or a parent by doing it this way. But it is a little bit different than I\u2019d say joining a [club] team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, McDermott says he has high hopes for a World Cup bounce for the broader American soccer industry, given that there are better resources and facilities in place today to capture the buzz than after the last U.S.-hosted tournament in 1994.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cComing out of the [1994] World Cup, MLS didn\u2019t exist, right?\u201d he said. \u201cThe youth soccer ecosystem wasn\u2019t nearly as of built up as it is today. We didn\u2019t have nearly as many facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the ultimate factor for generating long-term\u00a0f\u00fatbol\u00a0fever will be if the U.S. Men\u2019s National Team became a perennial tournament contender. \u201cThey need to be seen as a top five team year over year,\u201d McDermott said. \u201cBasically, becoming must-see TV.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLuke Cyphers contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 World Cup has only just begun, but plenty of legacy building is already in the works.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[21898,49,48,573,16533,561,82,129571,23703],"class_list":["post-747271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mls","tag-philadelphia-union","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-usmnt","tag-youth-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}