Orange County’s set to get some worldwide exposure in the lead-up to this summer’s World Cup.
The U.S. Men’s National Team plans to set up its training base at the Great Park Sports Complex in Irvine in preparation for its first three rounds of matches, two of which (June 12 and June 25) will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
The Great Park’s Championship Soccer Stadium, home to the USL’s Orange County Soccer Club, can hold more than 5,000 spectators, though it hasn’t been announced whether any practices will be open to the public. A scrimmage between the national team and OCSC appears to be a possibility.
Of note, the U.S. team and its coaching staff will be staying at the oceanfront Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, one of the most upscale hotels on the West Coast, which was made available to countries participating in the World Cup.
The U.S. team apparently had another spot in Irvine in mind for training. According to the website of organizing committee FIFA, a pair of base camps in OC were available to two countries’ soccer teams, at the Great Park and UCI.
The country choosing UCI was expected to stay at the Ritz-Carlton, while the country picking the Great Park site was set to stay at the nearby Marriott Irvine Spectrum, according to FIFA.
Sources tell the Business Journal that FIFA and UCI were unable to reach an agreement on the use of the school’s facilities, so the U.S. team opted to train elsewhere in Irvine while keeping their preferred hotel along the coast. So, it appears that only the U.S. will be training locally.
The Spectrum Marriott, owned by local developer Bob Olson, is expected to house media and other FIFA-related officials during the tournament.
San Clemente, which is set to host LA28’s surfing competition, doesn’t splurge to market itself like Newport Beach and Anaheim, but the Spanish Village by the Sea got plenty of free publicity during last week’s Super Bowl LX, with multiple references to the hometown of Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold during the broadcast.
Ads for the Super Bowl were running about $8 million for 30-second spots, according to media reports.
Darnold, a 2015 grad of San Clemente High School, is the first QB from Orange County to win the Super Bowl. He’s also the first QB from USC to win the big game.
Darnold made a homecoming to the area last week; he and Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III were the guests of honor at Disneyland’s Super Bowl parade the day after the game.
Is there a second lap in F1 Racing in store for Newport Beach’s Jeff Moorad?
Reports last week said that Moorad’s MSP Sports Capital was in talks to invest in the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, with a valuation in the team in the $2 billion to $2.5 billion range.
MSP last year cashed out its holdings in F1’s McLaren Racing, which was valued at over $5 billion at the time of the sale, ten times its value from when MSP first invested in them in 2020.
