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The Pros and Cons of Orange County SC Hosting the USMNT

Urban Pitch sat down with Dan Rutstein, President of Orange County SC, as the club prepares to host the USMNT during the opening stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. During our conversation, Rutstein breaks down what the team has at its disposal and what this moment means for the club.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is finally here. After years of anticipation, all 48 nations are now spread across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, training and preparing for the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Among them is the U.S. men’s national team. All 26 players are now under the watchful eye of Mauricio Pochettino and his staff as preparations intensify ahead of their group stage matches. Their home base for the tournament will be at the Great Park Sports Complex in Irvine, California, which is the home of Orange County SC.

It is within that context that we spoke with OCSC President Dan Rutstein about what it means to host the USMNT during one of the most important moments in American soccer history, and what comes next for the club once the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes to an end.

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Urban Pitch: What specific aspects of the facility made it the right choice to become the USMNT’s World Cup headquarters? Beyond the location itself, what do you think Orange County SC and the facilities offered that really stood out to U.S. Soccer?

Dan Rutstein: The Championship Soccer Stadium is consistently regarded as one of the best venues in the USL. It’s a scenic, well-maintained, modern soccer-specific stadium with a high-quality pitch and state-of-the-art locker rooms.

Beyond the facilities themselves, security and logistics also played a major role. Located within the massive Great Park development rather than a residential neighborhood, the site offers the space needed to create a secure environment while still accommodating large parking areas, media operations, and other World Cup infrastructure.

Orange County has traditionally served as a convenient base for teams operating in the greater Los Angeles area, and there’s already historical precedent. Prior to previous World Cups, the USMNT trained nearby in Mission Viejo in the lead up to 1994.

Ultimately, the facility offered exactly what U.S. Soccer was looking for: something modern, clean, easy to customize, and ready to operate immediately. Add in the fact that it’s located in one of the country’s most soccer-passionate regions, and it became a fairly straightforward decision.

Players often talk about the importance of feeling at home during tournaments like the World Cup, especially when dealing with constant travel, intense schedules, and unfamiliar surroundings. With so many players now based all over the world, and many not necessarily having connections to the area where they’re staying, how much work goes into creating that sense of comfort and familiarity at a temporary base camp like this? How do you make a place feel like home for the players during such an important moment?

Modern national teams have become incredibly sophisticated when it comes to tournament preparation, and they think through virtually every detail. In the case of the USMNT, a major part of that starts with creating familiarity and comfort.

The team is staying at a hotel complex they’re already comfortable with, while also being close enough for friends and family to remain accessible, something that matters during a tournament of this magnitude.

Inside the facility itself, the transformation has been extensive. From the moment players walk in, it no longer feels like an Orange County SC stadium. All club branding has been removed and replaced with personalized USMNT visuals and messaging designed specifically for the players.

Importantly, this isn’t about appearances or creating something for cameras. Much of what has been added is for spaces fans will never see. The focus is on making players feel comfortable, valued, and connected to the team environment. Locker rooms have been customized with crests, national team branding, and personalized touches throughout.

The physical infrastructure has also been reimagined. Areas normally used for team meetings have reportedly been converted into spaces like Mauricio Pochettino’s office, while premium hospitality areas are being transformed into recovery, massage, and preparation spaces.

Ultimately, they’ve taken a stadium normally designed to host thousands of fans and turned it into a private, high-performance environment where players have everything they need to train, recover, and spend their time comfortably throughout the tournament.

Obviously hosting the USMNT is a major moment for the club, but beyond being able to say that the national team trained here, what does this mean from a long-term business perspective for OCSC? Once the World Cup is over and everything returns to normal, what impact do you expect this experience to have on the club and the stadium moving forward?

It’s an interesting situation because, in many ways, this is a case of short-term pain for medium- and long-term gain.

Orange County SC are tenants at the stadium and still have several years remaining on our agreement, so giving up our home venue, along with training fields and infrastructure, has created genuine disruption. Players have been forced to train elsewhere, change in neighboring facilities, and the club has had to adjust its schedule significantly, including playing more road games and even moving home matches to other venues around Orange County.

Still, from the club’s perspective, saying no was never really an option.

Who doesn’t want the U.S. national team playing in their stadium? The long-term opportunities are where the club believes the real value lies. Orange County SC is currently exploring stadium naming rights, and the association with hosting the USMNT during a home World Cup naturally creates additional interest and visibility.

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

There’s also the fan growth element. More than 30,000 people reportedly applied for tickets to attend an upcoming open training session, bringing thousands of potential first-time visitors into a stadium many may have never previously considered attending for club matches.

The proximity to the national team could help convert casual U.S. Soccer fans into local supporters. The World Cup has historically created new soccer audiences, and there’s hope that fans who passionately follow European soccer or the national team may finally begin connecting with their local clubs.

There’s also symbolic importance for a club that prides itself on player development. Orange County SC has built one of the strongest youth pathways in North America and has produced numerous players who have moved abroad. With several U.S. youth national team players currently within the system, there is something fitting about today’s USMNT preparing in the same environment where the next generation of American talent develops every week.

That connection between the present and future of American soccer may ultimately be the most meaningful legacy of hosting the World Cup team.

The Great Post-World Cup Push

There’s been a lot of discussion from both MLS and USL executives about the 2026 World Cup becoming another transformational moment for soccer in the United States, similar to what happened after 1994.

But the landscape today is very different. The sport is more established, there are more leagues, more clubs, and different levels of investment across the ecosystem. From your perspective, how should success actually be measured once the World Cup ends?

I think it’s important to recognize that this isn’t only about the World Cup. Soccer in the United States has been growing at a much faster pace over the last several years than it ever has before, and the World Cup is really arriving at a moment when interest is already accelerating.

You’ve had a lot of different factors contributing to that growth: the Wrexham story, Ted Lasso, Lionel Messi coming to the United States, the Club World Cup, and now the natural momentum that comes with entering a World Cup year. All of those things have helped convert casual sports fans into soccer fans.

For us specifically, I think the impact is going to show up across multiple areas.

One example is merchandise. We launched scarves combining national team branding with Orange County branding, one themed around the U.S. and another around Mexico, and both sold out almost immediately. We actually can’t restock them until after the World Cup. So even at the merchandise level, we’re already seeing evidence that connecting global soccer moments to local clubs resonates with people.

We’re also investing heavily in fan engagement. We’re hosting watch parties, sending our marketing teams out into the community, and building relationships with soccer fans who may have followed the sport for years but never interacted with our club before. When we return to the stadium in July, we’re hosting what we’re calling “Global Soccer Night,” and I expect that to bring in a lot of first-time fans.

From a business perspective, I think we’ll see direct impacts through ticket sales, merchandise, sponsorship opportunities, and fan database growth. Sponsors are increasingly interested in soccer already, and I expect that interest to continue growing after the tournament.

The other factor is value. People have seen how expensive World Cup tickets have become. For the price of parking at some World Cup matches, or a single premium ticket, you could buy season tickets to a local club, bring your family to games, and still spend less overall.

I think there’s going to be a moment where fans experience the excitement of the World Cup but also begin looking around and asking themselves, “How can I keep this going?” And for many of them, local soccer is going to be the answer.

So I think we’ll see both direct revenue growth and something equally important: long-term audience growth.

Soccer in the United States has clearly grown, but it still often feels like a sport that breaks into the mainstream mainly during major moments like the World Cup or when stars like Messi arrive. From your perspective, what still needs to happen for soccer to become more of a week-in, week-out conversation in America rather than an event-driven sport?

I think there’s a difference between how soccer is perceived in American media and how people actually consume the sport. The reality is there are probably far more soccer fans in the United States than most people realize.

A lot of that comes from the country’s diversity and immigrant communities, where soccer has always been deeply embedded culturally. If you stop people in the street and ask who they support, many will name Liga MX clubs, European teams, or clubs from abroad before mentioning a local team, but they’re still soccer fans.

I think the World Cup helps because it pushes soccer into everyday life. Suddenly players are appearing in commercials, brands are investing in campaigns, and soccer becomes impossible to ignore. Even compared to the last World Cup cycle, the sport feels much more visible today.

The challenge isn’t necessarily interest. Participation numbers are growing and consumption is growing. The challenge is translating that into mainstream media relevance.

I also think accessibility matters. More exposure on traditional television probably helps grow the game, while putting too much behind paywalls can slow that process.

Ultimately, I think this is happening, just slower than people want. The audience already exists. The question is when media companies, broadcasters, and brands fully catch up to how many people are already consuming the sport.

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