Alexi Lalas isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
While the former USMNT defender turned soccer television provocateur drew intense criticism<\/a> in the first weeks of Fox Sports\u2019 FIFA men\u2019s World Cup coverage this summer, the network is seemingly not concerned.<\/p>\n In an interview with Puck\u2019s John Ourand released Wednesday<\/a> ahead of the USMNT\u2019s knockout-round tilt against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks called Lalas the \u201ccornerstone\u201d of the network\u2019s soccer coverage, and said he doesn\u2019t see that changing.<\/p>\n \u201cLex has been the cornerstone of our soccer coverage for as long as I can remember,\u201d Shanks said. \u201cHe\u2019s the straw that stirs the drink, and he\u2019ll be the cornerstone for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n On USMNT match days, Alexi Lalas has joined for segments with an all-American panel alongside Rob Stone, Carli Lloyd and Clint Dempsey on-site in a crowd of American fans, a setup that has seemingly been a more popular fit for Lalas than the star-studded primary studio team<\/a> of Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovi\u0107, with whom he has clashed<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, Shanks\u2019 comments come as no great surprise given Fox\u2019s longtime commitment to Lalas. While his polarizing persona and unrelenting takes<\/a> have gotten more attention this year<\/a> as a key studio analyst for the host nation\u2019s broadcaster, Lalas has long been a challenging figure for American soccer fans for a long time.<\/p>\n There is also the fact that Fox Sports could well lose the World Cup after this year. The network\u2019s contract with FIFA ends after this year\u2019s tournament, and talks are expected to begin sometime next year for U.S. rights to the 2030 Cup and beyond.<\/p>\n While Fox still owns rights to several other international tournaments that would allow Alexi Lalas to comment on the USMNT going forward, the spotlight would dim significantly on the network if it were to lose the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexi Lalas isn\u2019t going anywhere. While the former USMNT defender turned soccer television provocateur drew intense criticism in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[166971,315096,88,257200,92],"class_list":["post-738124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","tag-alexi-lalas","tag-entertainment","tag-eric-shanks","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}