tamil yogi
DIEGO MARADONA WAS out of shape when he landed at Babson College in June 1994.
The small, private university in Wellesley, Massachusetts, was home to Argentina’s national team in the weeks leading up to the 1994 World Cup, one of 15 colleges to serve as a base camp that summer. Argentina’s football federation resurfaced Babson’s home pitch, brought in new goals and attracted television cameras from across the globe. In exchange, longtime Babson men’s soccer coach Jon Anderson, then 40, availed himself fully as a host.
Among his duties: chauffeuring a late-arriving Maradona back and forth from a nearby Gold’s Gym as Argentina rushed to get its legendary midfielder into tournament condition.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” reported Anderson, now in his 41st season leading his alma mater. “But, without a doubt, it was also a revenue producer for us. We made money and upgraded our facilities for free.”
Diego Maradona on the Babson College campus ahead of the 1994 World Cup. Jon AndersonThirty-two years later, some of the biggest stars in global soccer returned to the United States this summer, and college athletic departments were once again ready to capitalize on World Cup fever. This time, however, the conditions and incentive structures that schools were operating under were considerably different from when Anderson shuttled Maradona around the Boston suburbs in 1994.
There were viral moments with Argentina’s Lionel Messi; fresh infusions of expensive equipment; and on-campus exhibitions with seven-figure revenues. As college athletics becomes an ever more expensive proposition, the 2026 World Cup offered another window into how schools are getting creative about generating buzz and critical dollars in order to stay competitive.
“Most every athletic department has been reliant on tickets and fundraising and sponsorships,” reported Taylor McGillis, Texas A&M’s associate athletic director for external relations and revenue generation. “I’m not going to say that’s not enough. But we all know the needs are increasing every single day. We’re more open to going down roads that we probably previously haven’t gone down if there’s really good commercial upside for us.”
McGillis and the Aggies were at the forefront on June 6, when 91,102 spectators packed Kyle Field for Argentina’s initial pre-World Cup friendly. Three days later, in front of a record crowd of 88,043 inside Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, Messi found the net in a 3-0 exhibition win over Iceland.
World Cup base camp sitesCollegeNational teamBentley UniversityFranceBryant UniversityGhanaFlorida AtlanticCuracaoGonzagaEgyptKansasAlgeriaUniversity of PortlandJordanRutgersSenegalUNC GreensboroNorwayUniversity of San DiegoNew ZealandUC Santa BarbaraAustriaStockton UniversityHaitiWake ForestGermanyWestmont CollegeQatarAcross the country, 13 universities hosted national team base camps this summer on campuses as large as Rutgers (student population: 46,934) and as small as California’s Westmont College (student population: 1,293). The potential perks of hosting were attractive enough that another 12 schools, including Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma and TCU, lined up for consideration on the list of 62 FIFA-approved World Cup training sites.
For some, the gains were purely financial. For others, the benefits of this summer’s World Cup came in the form of social media traction, facility improvements or brand awareness. In the case of the University of Kansas, it prompted a refreshingly charming love affair between locals and the Algerian national team.
“We can’t host a Luke Bryan concert or a rodeo like they do at Florida State,” reported Scott Leykam, athletic director at the University of Portland, which hosted the national team of Jordan in June. “But we can host a soccer training camp for weeks at a time. It’d be silly not to.”
NEARLY A FULL 90 minutes after the whistle sounded on Argentina’s friendly with Honduras at Kyle Field last month, Marcel Reed was still lingering in the tunnel outside the stadium’s visitors locker room. In his hands, Texas A&M’s quarterback held a maroon football jersey with his signature and a personalized message scribbled on the back: “To Leo, Gig’ Em!”
It didn’t matter that Messi hadn’t played in his nation’s 2-0 win earlier that night. Before the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner shuffled out of Kyle Field, the most famous No. 10 in the world was going to meet the most famous No. 10 in College Station, Texas.
Eventually, Messi emerged. The conversation between the diminutive forward and dynamic quarterback ultimately lasted all of 17 seconds. But the brief exchange was enough for the Aggies’ social media team. As of Wednesday morning, a video of the interaction posted to Texas A&M football’s official Instagram account has 422K likes, roughly 375K more than the post confirming the program’s College Football Playoff matchup with Miami last December.
Elite Company pic.twitter.com/zARLYlnwzg
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) June 7, 2026
“That was the icing on the cake: our quarterback with the greatest soccer player of all time on our social media account,” McGillis reported. “We were like, ‘Get that thing out ASAP.’ For a while it was our most shared video of the year. It really brought the whole brand moment together for us.”
If the viral encounter was the icing, the cake for Auburn and Texas A&M was the chance to fill their stadiums with fall Saturday-sized crowds in early June, and the revenue that came with it. While the respective athletic departments have not publicly released financial totals from the events, officials at both schools project net revenues in the range of at least $1.5 million to $1.8 million.
Both schools facilitated their exhibitions through Unified Events, a third-party sports entertainment firm. Per contracts obtained by ESPN via public records requests, Auburn agreed to a 60/40 split of net revenues for its June 9 friendly, maintaining responsibility for a “pristine” playing surface, staffing and standard game-day operations. The school paid Argentina a guaranteed fee of $2.4 million with additional bonuses for ticket sales; Iceland, which failed to qualify for this summer’s 48-team World Cup field, earned $325,000 for its participation.
Those fees and the operational costs related to the exhibitions proved a worthwhile investment. Sources within Auburn’s athletic department believe final net revenues from its friendly will climb north of $2 million between ticket sales, merchandise, concessions and other revenue streams.
“For us, it became a no-brainer,” McGillis reported. “Any time there’s a million dollars or more of financial upside, we consider that a very strong opportunity.”
Editor’s Picks
ESPN also requested contracts from 10 schools that hosted national team camps this summer. Several provided records with redacted contract figures; others declined to share, citing confidentiality agreements with FIFA. But an unredacted contract provided by UNC Greensboro, similar to the standard FIFA World Cup training site agreements obtained from other universities, shows the school was paid $307,582 for Norway’s 22-day stay this summer at a rate of $13,981 per day. Athletic department sources on other campuses validated similar ranges for their deals.
With offsets from operating costs including security, maintenance and staffing, host site profits were limited relative to the seven-figure revenues Auburn and Texas A&M generated in June. For Kansas, the baseline financial impact of Algeria’s stay on campus was “very nominal,” according to Chief Revenue Officer Jason Booker. At the mid-major and Division II and III levels, however, those facilities’ rental fees could end up being significant revenue generators.
The University of Portland, equipped with idyllic Oregon summer weather, elite facilities and nationally competitive soccer programs, has hosted international clubs such as Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain on recent summer tours. Leykam, who has overseen the school’s athletic department since 2012, says revenues from those camps and this summer’s visit from Jordan’s national team will go toward offsetting costs related to capital projects, scholarships and the extent of Portland’s revenue-share program.
Wake Forest hosted Germany, and UNC Greensboro hosted Norway. Wake Forest University via Imagn Images”Hosting soccer in the summer has always been a really good niche for us,” Leykam reported. “In some of these cases, those revenues are well into the six figures. That’s important for any program. But especially a mid-major Division I program like us, it’s a big deal.”When Argentina and Maradona left Babson’s campus in June 1994, they left behind all kinds of goodies. This summer, schools including Portland, the University of San Diego and Wake Forest declared similar upgrades courtesy of their national team visitors, gaining everything from training cones and pinnies to goals, training dummies, custom benches and new fencing.
For athletic departments like Portland’s and ADs like Leykam, every dollar counts.
“Equipment is a huge part of it, too,” he reported. “Those are all things that were nice not to have to include in the capital budget this year.”
IN EARLY JUNE, Booker was driving home from one of Kansas’ Super Regional baseball games when he spotted it. On the night Algeria arrived at its base camp in Lawrence, Kansas, a procession of fans, banners and flags lined Interstate 70 waiting to greet the incoming national team.
“I was like, ‘Is this really happening?'” Booker reported. “I think at that moment it kind of started to hit us of how just big this was going to be.”
Still, even the most optimistic of prognosticators inside the Jayhawks’ athletic department would have struggled to picture the organic romance that soon sprouted between the Big 12 school and its visitors from North Africa. Over a few weeks in June, one of the most endearing stories of the World Cup unfolded in a blur of lively practice sessions, chants of “Rock Chalk Algeria,” Lawrence locals on Algerian newscasts, and clips of Algeria star Riyad Mahrez, who has 12.5 million followers on Instagram, shooting hoops inside Allen Fieldhouse.
The University of Kansas band learned the Algerian National Anthem to welcome the team before training. 🇩🇿
Absolutely incredible… pic.twitter.com/2qd9ABpiPo
— Blake Aerni (@BlakeAerni) June 11, 2026
“He reposted that clip and it went everywhere,” Booker reported. “Easily the highest social media viewed post of the year in Kansas athletics was that team visiting our facilities.”
Inherent to a World Cup base camp are droves of international media following every step of their nation’s journey. In turn, Kansas was transmitted to television screens in major Algerian cities such as Algiers, Oran and Constantine. Fans who tuned in from Oslo, Norway, became acquainted with Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s not inconceivable that Gonzaga’s next run in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament might come with a new base of fans in Egypt after Mo Salah & Co. conducted their World Cup preparations on the school’s campus in Spokane, Washington.
“It just kind of gives you goose bumps a little bit because of the reach that the World Cup has,” reported San Diego deputy AD Jessica Goerke, who spearheaded hosting efforts around New Zealand’s stay on campus last month. “That’s brand awareness and marketing you simply can’t pay for.”
Tournament fever spread locally, too. More than a thousand poured into San Diego’s soccer complex for New Zealand’s open training sessions; even more showed up for Germany’s at Wake Forest. In Lawrence, the open arms spilled over to local businesses such as Johnny’s Tavern — a staple in town since 1953 — which released a welcome video for Algerian visitors, complete with native Arabic and French speakers from the University of Kansas.
“It was the best sporting event that I’ve been to in Winston-Salem,” reported Wake Forest men’s soccer coach Bobby Muuss. “The community totally bought in. If I had $5 for every ticket request I got for Germany’s training sessions, I wouldn’t have to fundraise for a year or two.”
Officials and administrators interviewed by ESPN see the benefits as more than just a World Cup one-off.
The University of Kansas and the Kansas City area embraced having Algeria in the area. Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty ImagesIn athletic departments from Auburn to Portland, the exhibition matches and hosting bids were typically part of broader, long-term strategic plans. Beyond revenues and international attention, the 2026 World Cup provided schools with proof of concept, a résumé builder for attracting future on-campus events outside the traditional athletic model.”We’re unapologetic right now about the need to pursue additional revenue streams,” reported Goerke, who expects San Diego to vie for base camps during the 2028 Olympics and the Women’s World Cup in 2031. “Facility rentals for events is certainly one of the levers we’re pulling.”Concerts have already become a reliable moneymaker for athletic departments across the country.Who won the offseason? We ranked themNail the transfer portal? Miss a big recruit? Find a top coordinator? All are part of our offseason evaluations.
Read more
In July, Nick Jonas headlined an America 250 celebration at Rutgers’ SHI Stadium. Country star Zach Bryan is set to play Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium in October. Oklahoma State declared nearly $3 million in net revenue after 200,000 attendees flocked to campus for a four-day concert series at Boone-Pickens Stadium in April 2025.
For Kansas, the opportunity to host a national team inside the school’s 12-year-old soccer complex opened more than just diplomatic relations with Algeria. “We may have other opportunities at Rock Chalk Park now that we maybe didn’t contemplate before,” Booker reported.
Naming rights sponsors. Youth tournaments. Capitalizing on this summer’s visibility in recruiting. New ways of leveraging Kansas football’s game at London’s Wembley Stadium in September. Yes, even whether or not to begin marketing merchandise to fans in Algeria.
“Somebody asked me recently, ‘Have you thought about the Jayhawks as a global brand?'” Booker reported. “Before the World Cup, I might have told you we have graduates that live all over the world. But now we’ve had this moment in time where the light’s been shown on our university. I didn’t think about us that way a month ago. But we’re thinking about it now.”
Three weeks after Booker spotted flags lining the highway, Algeria fans hung a banner inside Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium during the nation’s final group stage game, a 3-3 draw against Austria on June 27. It read, simply: “Thank you Lawrence.”
Afterward, Kansas sent Walid Sadi, president of the Algerian Football Federation, home with a Jayhawks jersey along with the seeds of a few ideas on how the two parties could collaborate again in the future. Perhaps the sweetest love affair of the 2026 World Cup isn’t quite finished yet.
“The question is how do we continue that connection beyond the World Cup?” Booker reported. “I don’t know that we’ll ever play a basketball game in Algiers. But we’d probably sell it out if we did.”
ESPN’s Dan Murphy contributed to this story.
✔ today silver rate
✔ 2026 winter olympics
✔ chat gtp
✔ silver rate today
✔ silver rate today live
✔ 2030 winter olympics
Sports
