Gotham FC’s CEO Is Betting World Cup Hype Won’t Fade—And Rewrite Women’s Sports

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By: Christian Pierce

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has broken US viewership records. Soccer has surpassed baseball in US popularity, but still lags far behind basketball and football. No one can say if the hype will stick for local women’s soccer teams. Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, CEO of Next 3, is betting it will. She’s spent the past year overhauling Gotham FC, the reigning National Women’s Soccer League champion she backs.

FIFA will hand out a record $871 million to 48 competing teams at the 2026 men’s World Cup. The tournament has drawn record US TV audiences and sellout crowds across host nations. Gotham FC is part of Tisch Blodgett’s Next 3 sports property portfolio. The team will play an exhibition against the Washington Spirit at New York’s Citi Field on July 15. More than 29,000 tickets have sold, 70% to first-time buyers, breaking New York City’s women’s sports attendance record. Previously, Gotham practiced at a Red Bull facility in New Jersey. They were effectively third-fiddle to 15-year-old boys’ teams there. The US Women’s National Team has a far better track record than the men’s side. It has long faced less support, too. Megan Rapinoe famously fought for equal pay when USWNT games generated more revenue than the men’s team. Tisch Blodgett is now negotiating a move to a new New York City stadium. She’s also building a dedicated practice facility for the squad. She overhauled the front office, hiring professional staff over passionate fans. She’s deploying AI tools and building a sophisticated digital and community-focused strategy for sponsors. She first spoke about this work at last week’s Aspen Ideas Festival.

Tisch Blodgett has framed her work as a modern iteration of Moneyball for sports management. She called herself in inning zero of using AI in sports. Her core goal is to turn casual World Cup fans into long-term Gotham FC supporters. She’s targeting the 70% of first-time Citi Field ticket buyers, the ones who showed up for the World Cup buzz but might not have cared about women’s soccer before. If she succeeds, she won’t just save one women’s soccer team. She’ll rewrite the playbook for how sports properties capitalize on global event hype. The real test will come six months after the 2026 World Cup wraps. That’s when casual fans move on to the next cultural moment, and only the most dedicated, well-run teams will stick around.

Author bio: Christian Pierce, chief financial columnist and markets commentator covering global sports and corporate strategy.