The Interview: Cindy Parlow Cone
The U.S. Soccer President Answers My Questions and Explains Why She's Running for Reelection
When I covered Cindy Parlow Cone during her playing career, I can’t say that I ever thought she might someday become the president of U.S. Soccer. Then again, I don’t think I would have said that about any former national team player, men’s or women’s, with the possible exception of Julie Foudy. Yet here Parlow Cone is, running for re-election against the man she replaced: Carlos Cordeiro, who resigned under fire in March 2020. (I have put in a request to interview Cordeiro as well.)
This U.S. Soccer presidential election campaign isn’t as wild as the one in 2018 that had eight official candidates, but it’s still a hotly contested one with plenty of major issues that we addressed in our interview.
Here’s the headliner audio clip from our conversation:
The entirety of the written interview below is reserved for paid subscribers. As always, you can still get the entire free audio versions of my podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to go for your pods.
Grant Wahl:
Our guest now is U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone. As a player, she won one World Cup title, two Olympic gold medals and three NCAA titles. As a coach, she won an NWSL title with the Portland Thorns. She's currently a coach and director of coaching at North Carolina FC Youth. Parlow Cone and former federation president Carlos Cordeiro are the two candidates for U.S. Soccer president with the election taking place March 5. Cindy, it's good to see you. Thanks for coming on the show.
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Thanks. And you improved my record in that intro, thank you very much. I didn't know I'd won a third national championship as a player at UNC.
Grant Wahl:
Are you serious?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. I only won two, but I would gladly accept a third.
Grant Wahl:
That's just terrible journalism on my part. My apologies. But I will make sure we correct the record here. But still, a very impressive career, obviously, as a player and you've been doing things since then all over the place in the world of soccer. I want to start this interview with a basic question for you. U.S. Soccer president is at times kind of a thankless job. It's an unpaid position.
Cindy Parlow Cone:
At times?
Grant Wahl:
(Laughs) I stuck the at times in there at the end. It's an unpaid position. It requires investing a lot of time. You do get some perks, but a lot of fans and people inside and outside the membership complain about what you're doing. Why did you want to be the U.S. Soccer president?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. I'm not going to lie, it's really hard and it is thankless a lot of the time. But I was very fortunate, I grew up playing this game. My dad was my first coach. And I was one of the lucky ones that was able to advance my game to play in college and then to play on the national team and win the awards that you spoke about. Even though I got a third national championship in there, I'll have to call Anson [Dorrance, the North Carolina coach] up and let him know that we won another one.
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But it's a huge part of my life. This game is a part of my life and I am the person I am today, the leader I am today, because of what this game has given me. I want to make sure that every kid has the opportunity to play this game. I just feel like there's so much more work to do, which is why I'm running again. And despite all the challenges we have faced, I think I've led the organization with integrity and honesty. I took on this role, and I'm running because I believe in this game, I believe in the future of this game and what this game can do for people engaged in it.
And U.S. Soccer, when I took over, was in a really bad place. Sponsors were threatening to leave. The players were angry. At least half of the country was angry at U.S. Soccer. And so I've really put my heart and soul in the last two years in building U.S. Soccer back up, plugging the holes, moving from one crisis to the next, rebuilding relationships with the players, with our sponsors. And now we're moving in a good direction. Not to say there's not still a lot of work to do, there is, but I feel like we're moving in a good direction. And I think I'm the right person to continue leading the federation, as I'm a proven leader who inspires, challenges, motivates people to work for me and empower them to do excellent work. So I'm really proud of the team we've built and the work we've done so far, but there still is a lot of work left to do.
Grant Wahl:
You've been the U.S. Soccer president since rising from vice president in March of 2020, when Carlos Cordeiro resigned during the uproar after lawyers representing U.S. Soccer made legal filings that alleged women's players were inherently inferior to men's players. What would you say are your major accomplishments as president in the past two years specifically?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
I think one of the things not to be overlooked is navigating the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. Everyone and every organization, whether in sports or not, were having to make really challenging decisions to make sure that the future could still be bright. So doing that.
Overseeing the signing of the largest sponsorship deal in U.S. history with Nike and just really developing that relationship is really interesting. When we were presenting to Nike, I shared a thought with them that I think with our partnership with Nike we could really use the women's game to change the world. To bring soccer to every girl in the U.S. So first, starting here at home and then moving abroad to really using our game to change the world. I kind of thought I'd get a couple chuckles out of them. And then they presented and they almost presented the same thing back to us. What my point is here is it's not just the sponsorships or the dollar signs, it's the values and vision aligning, which has been really fun.
And then, obviously, on the business side, bringing the federation's commercial rights back in-house for the first time in, I think, 20 years is really a game changer, not only for U.S. Soccer, but for our members as well. And another thing I'm really proud of is significantly increasing the federation's diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts, both in-house and outward-facing. Which I've alluded to before, but rebuilding the relationship and the trust and the understanding with the senior national team players. Not to say that we're always going to agree, but they know my level of integrity and honesty, and I think that has really helped in moving things forward. I know things aren't moving as fast as we would all like them to move, but that is going to take time. I think relationship-building is a huge part of that.
And then the last thing, which this was in no order, but really changing the culture at Soccer House. When I came in, all the Glassdoor reports of a toxic culture at Soccer House, but really coming in and working to change that. I've built teams all my life, and one thing I know about culture is it's hard to change culture and it's hard to build culture. And so it's every action of every single day. It's what you do. It's what you say. It's what you don't do. It's what you don't say. And so really getting in, building a team and listening to our employees and really increasing our DEIB efforts has really been a lot of fun. Been challenging, but a lot of fun and something I'm proud of. And I'm looking forward to continuing that work.
Cindy Parlow Cone on Carlos Cordeiro being FIFA’s preferred candidate in the U.S. Soccer presidential election: “I wonder where his loyalties lie. I think everyone knows my loyalties lie with U.S. Soccer and soccer within the U.S., and also at the same time wanting to grow the game here at home and abroad. I'm not sure where his loyalties lie.”
Grant Wahl:
Your main job every day is working at a prominent youth soccer club. What have you learned about the current state of youth soccer, the positives and the negatives, from that job?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah, I think there's a lot. One, COVID. The elite players came back pretty quickly, but where we're still lagging behind is in the recreational space. As you look at that, that's the bottom of the pyramid or the top of the funnel, whatever shape you like to work with, but that's our future of our game. So losing those numbers and losing kids engaged, that has huge impacts down the line on the field, off the field, in the stands. And so I think we need to have a concerted effort to build the grassroots and to grow the game and to really focus on the U-10 and under recreational side, I think, is something that needs to be a focus.
As I mentioned before, becoming more diverse in the youth game and making sure that every kid that wants to play our game has access. And that may be going into the schools, that may be programs out of schools, but we need to think more creatively on how we can get a soccer ball into every kid's hand or at their feet, I guess I should say, that wants to have a ball and to play our game. I think other issues in the youth game is the infighting around the elite player. Players, leagues, teens moving from one alphabet soup league to another. I think U.S. Soccer can take a leadership role on this and bringing the groups together and putting rules around recruitment and trying to put things together for the good of the game.
Because I think everyone engaged in the elite level will know that this infighting isn’t helpful to growing the game. It isn't healthy for the kids. It's not great for the parents, and it continues to drive costs up. So I think those are a few things. And then the referees, I think we need to do something around the treatment of referees, because referee recruitment and retention, we're at a crisis level. And we need to make sure that they're coming into a safe, supportive environment. So I think there's a lot of things U.S. Soccer can do to lead on that front as well.
Grant Wahl:
So Carlos Cordeiro said that he was asked by federation members, especially in the youth and adult ranks, to run against you. Do you have any regrets about how you've worked with the youth and adult parts of the federation?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. I mean, I've said this before, I think one of the challenges for me, and also a mistake that I made, I think one of the challenges was that I was handed a federation in crisis. And so a lot of my attention was on that in making sure that the ship didn't sink. And I think in doing that, I relied too much on the membership's representation on the board. And this isn't a knock to the reps on the board, it's just that through this I've learned that everyone wants that one-on-one connection with the federation.
So whether it's with me or the staff, they want more of a one-on-one connection, which was a mistake I made and I fully own it and will look to do better in the future in making sure that we have a fully functioning membership department that is reaching out and listening and hearing. And that I'm doing more as well and going to their events more, which obviously has been difficult with COVID. I think it's also important to know that my entire presidency has been during COVID.
So point taken. It's something where I can improve. I was an elite player, so I take constructive criticism pretty well, and I'm always looking to improve and be better. And I think this is one area that I can definitely be better in the future because this is where I live my life is in the youth game. And so I think the grassroots is something that I can improve upon the relationships there because I understand the challenges and also the opportunities.
Grant Wahl:
The legal case between U.S. Soccer and the U.S. women's national team players seems endless. You're a former U.S. women's national team player, why has it taken so long and why hasn't a settlement been reached?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. As a former player, you know, Grant, this is something that's near and dear to my heart, and it hasn't been for a lack of trying. I'll give the women's national team credit as well. There's been a lot of conversations, and both sides are trying to move it forward. Things never happen as quickly as you want them to, whether it's litigation, whether it's FIFA World Cup prize money equalization or CBA negotiations. So things are moving in a positive direction with that, and I'm hopeful that we can resolve this well before trials or hearings, but we aren't there yet.
Grant Wahl:
I was going to mention the collective bargaining agreements. We've been waiting a long time for new CBAs for both the men's and the women's teams. How soon do you think we'll see those get done?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
I mean, I'm an ultimate optimist. We've extended the deadline for the women's CBA until the end of March, so I'm hopeful that we can get that done. Obviously, one of the challenges for all of us is that we've said publicly that we're not going into a CBA that doesn't equalize World Cup prize money. If FIFA doesn't equalize it, it's going to be up to the three groups: the men’s, the women’s and U.S. Soccer, to find a way to equalize it. So that’s one of the challenges.
And CBAs are just complex. There is a lot that goes into it. There's a lot of different things. And we're trying to get to one contract or at least one structure, where there can be differences based on the teams, but doing it in a very open and transparent way. So inviting the men's national team PA to the women's national team bargaining and vice versa, so that everyone has an understanding of what's happening in both meetings. So at the end of the day, we can get to a contract that everyone can agree to that is equal. And that takes time.
Grant Wahl:
No, I can imagine. TV rights. This is something I've reported on a little bit for U.S. Soccer. We haven't seen an announcement yet on the next TV rights deal. You're not connected in those TV rights to MLS anymore due to not having the connection with SUM for the next deal. Where are you on that? Because what I've reported is that the current rights holders for U.S. Soccer may not be involved moving forward.
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. It's a really exciting time for soccer in the U.S. I think the demand for soccer content and media rights has never been greater. Our women's national team continues to be the best in the world, and our men's national team is so dynamic and continues to build on theirs and hopefully qualifying for the World Cup at the end of March. All this coupled with the exponential growth of the sport leading up to the '26 World Cup, and then future events with the women's World Cup, as well as extended national team World Cups. We're very bullish in the marketplace on our offering. Interest has been really strong, and we are getting really close to finalizing our English- and Spanish-language media deals.
Grant Wahl:
Cool. I'll be looking for that. Any sort of timeline at this point?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
We're getting close, so soon.
Grant Wahl:
Okay. If you wanted to break the news on this podcast, feel free.
Cindy Parlow Cone:
I'm sure you would love that. [laughs]
Grant Wahl:
And you mentioned this, I think you alluded to it a second ago, there's a women's World Cup taking place in 2027. Is there any chance that the U.S. bids to host it?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. We're doing some work in-house now looking at the '27 and the '31 World Cup. We'll definitely be bidding on at least one of those, if not both, so stay tuned. FIFA hasn't even opened the bidding yet for the '27 World Cup, so we have a little bit of time here.
Grant Wahl:
I wanted to ask you a little bit about stuff connected to things that happened in 2020, in March of 2020. When the uproar around the legal filings in 2020 took place, several of U.S. Soccer's official sponsors went public to condemn U.S. Soccer's legal strategy. Obviously, some major changes took place after that. Do you think that now in this election you are the preferred candidate of U.S. Soccer's existing sponsors?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yes, I do. I spent a lot of my time from March 2020 on building relationships with our sponsors. SUM has been a great partner of U.S. Soccer, but one of the challenges with that partnership is that we don't have the direct relationships with our sponsors. When I say I spent all the time, it's a whole team effort, so I don't want everyone to think it's just me doing this. But we have a whole team who work towards rebuilding the trust and talking to the sponsors and letting them know that that isn't how U.S. Soccer feels and really talking to them about our vision for the game in the future and bringing them back in.
So after having built those relationships with the sponsors and continuing to do that, I would have to think that having a woman lead the federation with my leadership style and team-building abilities and vision for the future and keen interest in the women's game is front and center and top of mind for our sponsors.
Grant Wahl:
Now based on my reporting, I think it's accurate to say that Carlos Cordeiro is FIFA's preferred candidate in this election. He has an unpaid role as an advisor to the FIFA President Gianni Infantino, they're pretty close. What do you make of that?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Well, I wonder where his loyalties lie. I think everyone knows my loyalties lie with U.S. Soccer and soccer within the U.S., and also at the same time wanting to grow the game here at home and abroad. I'm not sure where his loyalties lie, with FIFA or not.
Grant Wahl:
After the most recent Washington Post story detailing more allegations of abuse by the coach Rory Dames at the youth level years ago, several top U.S. women's national team players wrote a letter to you and Cordeiro demanding immediate action. And I know to some extent you have to wait for the conclusion of the investigation by Sally Yates that's ongoing, but are there some immediate things that U.S. Soccer could do right now?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. We've talked to Sally Yates on this to please come forward with anything that she finds that we need to immediately act on to make these changes. So she's agreed to do that, so anything that she finds that we need to take immediate action on and we'll do so accordingly.
I think one of the challenges, and I think I fell into this, wanting to do something immediately, making immediate change. I think that's kind of the gut reaction that everyone wants, like, "Something's wrong, let's change it. Let's fix it." But we want to make sure that the changes we make are the right changes and are impactful and move the game forward in order to make sure that every kid, every player is safe in our game, and we do everything that we can do to prevent this from ever happening again. So while patience is challenging, I think it's also important to make sure that we're making the right changes and the most impactful changes.
Grant Wahl:
There's more than one investigation taking place into this right now. There's the U.S. Soccer investigation with Sally Yates. There's an NWSL investigation. There's a Portland Thorns investigation. And there's been some indication that not everyone is participating with all of these investigations, that in some ways they might even be in conflict. What's your sense of what's happening there?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
I don't know. I can just speak to the Sally Yates investigation. One of the challenges that we knew we would face in the Sally Yates investigation is that she doesn't have subpoena power, so players and teams don't have to talk to her if they don't want to. So I would imagine that the other investigations are up against some of the same challenges, which would probably slow down the investigations, but I don't know if this is the case or not. It was something leading into the investigations that we knew ahead of time that could be a challenge.
Grant Wahl:
I do want to get into some more detail on this 2020 legal filing that you and everyone found offensive that led Carlos Cordeiro to resign. And at the time, you were the federation vice president, you were on the three-member litigation committee for U.S. Soccer. You, like Cordeiro, said you did not see the filing before it went public.
But on February 20, which was more than two weeks before the notorious filing came out, there was another filing that came out in which a lawyer representing U.S. Soccer asked Carli Lloyd in a deposition, "Did you think that the women's team could be competitive against the senior men's national team?" And Carli somewhat famously said, "I'm not sure. Shall we fight it out to see who wins and then we get paid more?" And that was a big deal publicly as well. At the time I wrote this was “shameful” from U.S. Soccer. And it was a bellwether for the even more extreme filing that came that March.
My questions for you as a member of the litigation committee would be, one, what do you remember about your reaction to the exchange with Lloyd when it went public? And two, given how concerning that was, why didn't you take the initiative to request that you see all legal filings before their release moving forward?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. First of all, I think that line of questioning [with Lloyd] is totally out of line. I mean, it was uncalled for. And second, with the litigation committee, I wasn't aware that there was a follow-up legal brief to be filed. I read the previous one, but I didn't even know a second one was due to be filed until I read it online. Actually, someone called me about it. I hadn't even seen it until after it was published and I got a call on it.
But I think the challenge here is there was a breakdown. At this time, Carlos was president, we were without a CEO, so processes were not put into place to ensure that the special litigation committee received these briefs beforehand. So Carlos was the only one that received it ahead of time. How much of it he read? I don't know. He said one thing, other people have said others. I don't know where the truth is in that, but what I do know is that the proper processes were not put into place to ensure that the SLC would receive the brief in a timely manner in order to read it ahead of time. So we didn't receive that brief. We received the previous one, which I think was a week or two weeks before that filing. So I didn't even know to request the next brief.
Grant Wahl:
I guess I would just ask if you were in a similar situation again, would you, in the future or something, ask to see stuff ahead of time before it went public if you were in that spot?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah. Our legal team now knows that they need to present any briefs to the SLC before filing.
Grant Wahl:
There was an investigation that U.S. Soccer did into what happened, but that's never been made public. Is there any reason that hasn't been made public?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Yeah, it's a privileged document and confidential. We do this when any of our staff are involved in an investigation, so this is kind of the way that it has been. And so I'm unable to share with you the findings of that due to the privileged [nature] and confidentiality of that investigation.
Grant Wahl:
And there's no way to make that public, that's just not going to happen?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
It is not going to happen.
Grant Wahl:
Right now, on the technical side Earnie Stewart is the sporting director for U.S. Soccer, which puts him in charge of the men's and women's national teams. There are general managers, Kate Markgraf, Brian McBride, below him. Earnie Stewart has never worked in women's soccer. I have a lot of respect for him, but do you want to see a situation someday when a woman is in Earnie's position and in charge of both the men's and the women's teams?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Absolutely. Look at me, right? I'm not just in charge of the girls and women's side of the game, I'm in charge of the whole U.S. Soccer Federation. So I think absolutely. And that's not a knock to Earnie or anything, I think Earnie's doing a good job. But I do believe in a future where the leaders of whether it's our federation or other member association phase, we're starting to see it more and more, women in leadership positions. So I am about excited about the future and I do believe that one day a woman will lead on the sporting side.
Grant Wahl:
Couple more questions here with Cindy Parlow Cone, appreciate you taking the time. The Athletes Council now has 33% of the vote in this election to match federal requirements. The pro, adult and youth councils have equal percentages, just a slight bit lower than what it was in the elections previously. What's your path to victory in all of this with those councils and those voters?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
I mean, for me, it's talking to each person and sharing with them my vision, what I have done, what I'm looking to do, what I care about. I talked earlier about my mistake of really honing in on the representatives to the board and not doing enough outreach myself and communicating out to the members. So that's one thing I've been focusing on in the campaign and actually owning up to. And so I think part of it is talking to them and making them realize what they've been told about me or what they think has been going on is not necessarily reality, so changing those perspectives a little bit. I think my true passion for the game comes through and my leadership abilities come through and team building capacities come through.
I think it's important for the members to hear, regardless of what council you're on, how important this game is to me. I was fortunate enough to wear the crest as a player, both on the youth national teams and the senior team and World Cups and Olympics. And you don't soon forget that. I mean, that is some of the most proud years of my life is being able to wear that and represent my country on the field, which I think is important. As we go into meetings, whether it's sponsors or with FIFA or with media or anyone, I think it's important to have someone with my background and my experience making soccer decisions.
Grant Wahl:
Last one here for you. Is there anything to finish that you would like to say to the voters and U.S. Soccer fans?
Cindy Parlow Cone:
A vote for me is a vote for soccer and growing the game in the U.S.
Grant Wahl:
Cindy Parlow Cone, thanks so much for joining me.
Cindy Parlow Cone:
Thank you, Grant. Appreciate it.