When Roger Bennett moved to Chicago in 1994, none of the local television channels were showcasing an important match involving his favorite soccer team. Bennett was forced to call his father back in Liverpool, England, who held his phone against the radio so that Bennett could follow along.
Three decades later, soccer fans in America have a much easier time following their beloved players and teams. But Bennett, who founded the Men in Blazers Media Network, is still looking for ways to amplify the game’s domestic fervor, as the United States prepares to host next year’s men’s World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada.
Men in Blazers is announcing on Wednesday that it will host live pregame shows during the tournament in eight of the 11 U.S. metropolitan areas that are hosting World Cup matches. The shows, known as “Match Day Live,” will be distributed across the company’s social media and digital channels.
The nationwide tour is an attempt to mimic ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which has built a rabid audience by visiting a college campus that is hosting a marquee football game every Saturday morning during the fall.
“In any other nation, a World Cup coming, from years out, the ecstasy would be building,” Bennett said. “What 2026 is going to cement is this final moment where America falls in love with football like the rest of the world, and we will be front row privy to that incredible cultural moment of transformation.”
Each show will be taped at a recognizable landmark, said Bennett, adding that he hoped to highlight the history and cultural and culinary life of each city. In Atlanta, the show will broadcast from Centennial Park, a prominent space during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The other host regions that will be part of the tour are Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, New York/New Jersey and Boston. A preparatory tour in the same eight cities begins Wednesday on the Fox Studio Lot in Los Angeles.
Men in Blazers started in 2010 as a podcast of the same name hosted by Bennett and Michael Davies, who stepped back in 2024. The franchise has since become a sprawling platform of audio, digital and television content, distributing three newsletters and producing a show with NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service for 11 seasons.
Will Ferrell, Matthew McConaughey, John Oliver and Ryan Reynolds have been celebrity guests, with interviews that are often lighthearted and mix humor with analysis. In a conversation with the folk-pop singer Noah Kahan last year, Bennett mentioned elements of Kahan’s high school soccer career, which surprised him.
“Athletes and entertainers are used to being guarded, and I think they can let their guard down when they’re talking to people that care so much about the game,” said Kahan, who is a fan of Chelsea in the Premier League.
Bennett said he met with the various host committees over the past seven months to finalize the idea of the pregame shows. Men in Blazers recently raised $15 million to support its World Cup plans.
The World Cup offers a rare chance, Bennett said, for camaraderie among devoted soccer fans in the United States. And they will not have to wake up in the early morning hours to watch matches that are happening overseas.
“It’s an individual, often lonely, experience being a football fan here in America, and we’ve woven together this passionate community — really knowledgeable community — of American football fans,” Bennett said.
The World Cup final will be held in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19, 2026. Gov. Phil Murphy, a soccer fan who played in high school and attended matches while living in Europe, said it was a “no-brainer” to partner with Men in Blazers, which will broadcast either at the stadium or on waterfront land.
“It’ll make ‘College GameDay’ look like a game of solitaire,” Murphy said.
Emmanuel Morgan reports on sports, pop culture and entertainment.
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