Pivotal 1994 World Cup set the stage for soccer’s rise in U.S. |
Editor’s note: The following excerpts are from “The Big Bounce: The Surge That Shaped The Future Of U.S. Soccer,” by Alan Rothenberg (Triumph Books, Feb. 10, 2026).
The average American sports fan back then didn’t even know what a World Cup was. There were a few American soccer aficionados, mostly ethnic immigrants from soccer-loving countries, who knew and cared. How did we break through to the rest? Our feeling was that America loves a big event, and so we had to make this a must-see thing. We surrounded it with as much hoopla as we could, a lot of entertainers and celebrities: Robin Williams, James Brown and Smokey Robinson at the Draw, Oprah Winfrey, Diana Ross and Jon Secada at the Opening, The Three Tenors at Dodger Stadium and Liza Minnelli, Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, Daryl Hall, Enrique Iglesias, Barry Manilow, Willie Nelson, Vanessa Williams, Rod Stewart, Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya and John Williams at various events; we booked the famous Hollywood Bowl for a week of concerts showcasing various nationalities and ethnic performances by acts as diverse as Van Cliburn, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linda Ronstadt, Itzhak Perlman, Lou Rawls and Garth Brooks. The Three Tenors concert was attended by President George HW Bush, Henry Kissenger, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Faye Dunaway, Maria Shriver,........