🏈⚽ Super Bowl LV Features Deep Soccer Ties

From the Hunt family to the Glazer family, this year’s Super Bowl features some fascinating soccer connections. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] [STORY IMAGE AD]( In today’s FOX Sports Insider: This year’s Super Bowl combatants - the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - have deep ties to the game of soccer ... we take a look at what sets Zach Wilson apart from others, and why he could rise or fall in this year’s draft ... and we celebrate the return of a college football video game. It’s Super Bowl week, so let’s start with a Patrick Mahomes anecdote, even though it only tangentially fits the theme of what we’re talking about. Over to you Clark Hunt, CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs. “Every year I take my son to Chiefs training camp,” Hunt told me last week, via telephone. “He’s a good soccer player, and we always get together with the punter and kickers and see how many times we can all juggle a soccer ball. “When he was a rookie, Patrick joined in and he was really good. I don’t remember the exact number but it got up close to 100. I don’t think there’s anything Patrick Mahomes couldn’t be really successful at.” So there you go, further proof, if any was needed, that Mahomes has a sickening level of athletic talent. Remember, he also played college baseball at Texas Tech (more on that later this week) and was a basketball standout in high school. [STORY IMAGE 1] As for the soccer links to the biggest game in American football? Well, they run far deeper than a casual kickaround back in 2017. “It is pretty interesting when the NFL owners all get together at owners meetings,” Hunt, whose son Knobel is now a verbal commit to SMU, where Clark himself was a captain on the soccer team and two-time academic All-American, added. “A lot of the time the topic turns pretty quickly to soccer. There is so much crossover now.” Many NFL owners tend to cast their sporting properties far and wide, especially into the soccer realm. Each of the past five Super Bowls have featured an owner that also owns a team in Major League Soccer, yet this year’s Super Bowl combatants - the Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - arguably have the tightest bonds of the bunch. Clark’s father, Lamar Hunt, fell in love with soccer after watching the 1966 World Cup on television. He founded the North American Soccer League in 1967, played a key role in helping the United States win World Cup hosting rights in 1994 and became a key initial investor in MLS. At MLS commissioner Don Garber’s National Soccer Hall of Fame induction in 2018, Garber (who Hunt had recruited to soccer from his role as head of NFL International) said the accolade gave him “an opportunity to honor the memory of Lamar, and to make a strong statement on how indebted … MLS is to the Hunt family.” “Quite simply, if you didn’t have pioneers like the Hunt family, who not just believed in soccer but doubled down on it when times were tough, soccer in the U.S. looks nothing like how it looks today,” former U.S. captain and FOX Sports soccer analyst Alexi Lalas told me. “As important as the Hunts have been to the NFL, the impact on soccer is even greater – because soccer truly needed them.” [STORY IMAGE 2] Clark Hunt remembers a time when there were only 10 teams in Major League Soccer. Six of them were owned by Phil Anschutz, who still operates the Los Angeles Galaxy, three (in Kansas City, Dallas and Columbus) came under the auspices of the Hunts, while the Kraft family of New England Patriots lore took charge (and still do) of the New England Revolution. Things are drastically different now, with the league due to expand to 30 teams by 2023, all with different ownership groups and valuations of up to $500 million. The Hunts still control FC Dallas. MLS tried to get the Glazer family that spearheads the Buccaneers interested in buying the ill-fated Tampa Bay Mutiny in the early 2000s. The Mutiny shared Raymond James Stadium with the Bucs, but when no sale could be arranged, the team folded in 2002. The Glazers, led by patriarch Malcolm Glazer (who died in 2014) went global instead, engineering a bid to take over English Premier League behemoth Manchester United. At the time, English soccer was not yet accustomed to widespread foreign ownership, and there was some initial suspicion. Even now, as is often the case in European soccer, owners shoulder part of the blame when things do not go as planned on the field. However, United are currently second in the EPL table and contending for their first league title since 2013. In 2018, the club was [ranked as the most valuable soccer club in the world by Forbes](. [STORY IMAGE 3]( “The Glazers brought a different approach when they came in and were trailblazers for the new type of big foreign investment to a large extent,” BBC journalist Peter Shuttleworth told me via telephone. “They brought a level of corporate professionalism but they haven’t held back from spending when it was needed.” United invested a world record $116 million to sign Paul Pogba in 2016, and the $92 million acquisition of Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes last year is seen by many as being the catalyst for the most recent revival in fortunes under head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Nowadays, nine of the 20 EPL teams have Americans as significant investors, with Boston Red Sox owner John Henry having enjoyed particular recent success with reigning champions Liverpool. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, MLS continues to make major strides, both in terms of the standard of play and commercial values. [STORY IMAGE 4] “It has been fun to watch MLS develop to the point where it is one of the most dynamic leagues in the world and can now hold itself up against the established international leagues,” Clark Hunt added. “Conversely, the NFL is making strides internationally, which I have loved being part of.” Lamar Hunt’s interest in soccer was piqued when he saw European stadiums packed with screaming fans and envisioned something similar in the U.S. It has been a long process. Back in 2007, when I followed David Beckham’s first season with the Los Angeles Galaxy, there was still significant antipathy towards soccer from many NFL fans. Over time, the relationship has morphed into a comfortable co-existence. Soccer in America is here to stay, not as a direct competitor to the NFL but as a complementary part of the sports landscape. Some of the millions watching American football’s biggest game on Sunday will be from the soccer community – and they’ll have plenty of round ball connections to enjoy. [STORY IMAGE 5]( Here’s what others have said ... Daniel Kaplan, The Athletic: “Not only do this year’s two Super Bowl contenders have soccer ties, but also nine of the last 10 NFL title combatants have a piece of that other football.” Kieran Francis, Sporting News: “It seems both Manchester United and the Bucs have enjoyed a meteoric rise at least partly because of the stability installed in the club by the Glazers after years of tumult and short-term fixes. Even though the Glazers have been in charge for a long time, it seems a method for success in their ownership may have finally been found.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - Amid pending legislation on one-time transfers and athlete compensation, college football’s transfer portal is exploding. But is there room for everyone to find a destination? [Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger]( explains why college football is facing a recruiting reckoning. - Zach Wilson’s NFL Draft strock soared in 2020, but can teams really trust his meteoric rise? [The Ringer’s Danny Kelly]( breaks down what sets the BYU QB apart from others, and why he could rise or fall in this year’s draft. - From being on the hot seat to reaching the Super Bowl, Tampa Bay Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht helped build the team from the ground up. [ESPN staff writer Jenna Laine]( details how Licht got the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( College football fans rejoice ... EA Sports is brining back its college football series! After years of college football and video game enthusiasts begging EA Sports to bring back the popular NCAA Football series, the company announced on Tuesday that it is set to return. The last official NCAA Football video game was released back in 2013 and featured former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on the cover. EA Sports will plan to move forward without rosters that include the names, image or likeness of current college football players as NCAA rules prohibit athletes from selling their NIL rights, however, those rules are likely to be changed at some point in the coming year. This is outstanding news for all college football fans who have been waiting for the return of this game. Enjoy! [VIEWER'S GUIDE] Baylor at Texas (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET) Jared Butler leads the No. 2-ranked Baylor Bears into Austin to take on Courtney Ramey and the No. 6-ranked Texas Longhorns. Michigan State at Iowa (FS1, 7 p.m. ET) Aaron Henry and the Michigan State Spartans take on Luka Garza and the No. 8-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in a Big Ten clash. Illinois at Indiana (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET) Ayo Dosunmu and the No. 12-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini battle Trayce Jackson-Davis and the Indiana Hoosiers. USC at Stanford (FS1, 9 p.m. ET) Evan Mobley and the USC Trojans go up against Oscar da Silva and the Stanford Cardinal in a Pac-12 showdown. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Super Bowl LV Each team to score 10-or-more points in each half, Patrick Mahomes 1+ pass TDs in each half: +162 We’re sticking with the thought that Super Bowl LV will indeed be a high-scoring affair, which makes the thought of each team scoring 10-or-more points in each half seem pretty realistic. The Buccaneers ranked third in the NFL this season in scoring, averaging 30.8 points per game. The Chiefs were not far behind, putting up 29.6 points per contest, which ranked sixth in the league. Let’s also point out that Patrick Mahomes ranked fourth in the NFL in TD passes this season with 38. With that said, you should feel pretty good about each team scoring 10-plus points in each half and Mahomes to throw one-or-more touchdown passes in each half. Go ahead and lock it in! [WHAT THEY SAID] “There is no defense against a perfect pass. I can throw the perfect pass.” — Dan Marino [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download FOX Sports App: [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [Google Play]( [App Store]( [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [App Store]( [Google Play]( Also available on these devices: [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2021 Fox Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. 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