Buy the dip and save on CNBC Pro. 24-7 access to market-moving news and interviews across three global live streams for $59.99 at cnbc.com slash join CNBC Pro. Terms and conditions apply. Bring in show music, please. This is Squawk Pod, and I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa. On today's episode, big headlines from the tech world, An executive departure from OpenAI and AI giant of South Korea SK Hynix is debuting on the U.S. Nasdaq, raising billions of dollars from U.S. investors. Our own Christina Partzinevelis joins us with its pitch compared to American memory chip makers. SK Hynix is bigger, cheaper and closer to NVIDIA. Then, Stat News reporter Bob Herman is digging into the cracks in the American health care system. It's all coming to a head for smaller employers. Small businesses are like on the shore of this tsunami and a lot of them are fleeing. They're getting rid of insurance because they know they can't afford it anymore. Plus, Netflix could be getting into live TV. And more good news for viewers, demigods on grass. The World Cup quarterfinals are only just getting started. Founder of Men in Blazers Media, Roger Bennett, made a business betting that Americans will jump aboard the soccer bandwagon. The world falling in love with America. One Buc-ee's, one Popeye's, one Waffle House at the time, which I think we also needed right now. And then America falling in love with global football. It's been a spectacular four weeks. One new fan from the 2026 World Cup. Look no further. It's happening to me a little bit. It is Friday, July 10th, And Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand by Joe in three, two, one. This is Mike. Good morning and welcome to Squawk. Welcome back because you were here yesterday to Squawk Box here on CNBC, live from the Nasdaq market site in Times Square. And you're going to be happy. Melissa Lee is here, like I am. I'm happy to be here. Melissa Lee is here. Becky and Andrew are off today. And Ohio is still the best state. It will be for the next year. It certainly will be. One of the key companies in the AI industry. I know, tapping American investors for billions of dollars in funding. Christina Parts Nevelis joins us now with more on SK Hynix's U.S. debut. Yeah, it's official because SK Hynix has raised roughly $26.5 billion at $149 per American depository share. That's what's listed here. This would be the second largest share sale ever after SpaceX, also at the Nasdaq just last month. I'm wondering why all this demand for a company maybe you haven't heard of. SK Hynix is the world leader in high bandwidth memory, the memory that feeds AI chips with roughly 58 percent of that market. Micron and Samsung competitors split roughly 21 percent each in that pie chart right there as per counterpoint research. The case, though, against Micron really comes down to one sentence. It's bigger. SK Hynix is bigger, cheaper and closer to Nvidia. It's cheaper than the American rival in terms of markets. Five, almost six times forward earnings versus micron seven. So not that much, but still, you know, a little cheaper. That discount existed because U.S. investors couldn't easily buy the Korean shares. Starting today, they can, which is why analysts see this listing as the catalyst that finally closes the gap between what's going on in South Korea and here in the United States. Barclay estimates the stock could see up to roughly $14 billion in passive buying alone as it enters the major indices just over the next few months. As for the $26.5 billion raise, it all goes into new fabs and equipment like ASML parts. Part of the Korean build-out specifically, the company says, could reach $720 billion. None of that supply, though, arrives before late 2027, which keeps the memory shortage going and record prices high intact for now. The longer-term risk, though, is that memory has never really met a super cycle. It didn't eventually crash. But to be clear, this is the biggest pure play on HBM in the market right now, right? They have the full market share over it and the biggest customer, NVIDIA. The revenue number I thought was a mistake. So it's tripled to $65 billion, and it's going to triple to $235 billion this year. Yeah, that's at the end. That's not, I saw that and I said that's got to be a mistake. Tripled to $65 billion, it's tripling again to $237 billion? I know, just in the last three years, and then in one year they're able to do that again, yeah, to $200 and something. I mean, a lot of it's pricing, I guess, for revenue, right, because there's a shortage. And then the investments being made, even in this country, are the numbers I was reading. Some of it's CHIPS Act, too. Yeah, so it's Indiana, and that's going to be an advanced packaging facility. And the goal is for that to be, and they're going to receive roughly $458 million, if I remember correctly, from the Chipsack funding. And perhaps maybe soon they'll announce further announcements, further expansions in terms of manufacturing. But most of it doesn't happen here. It happens in South Korea and some in China as well. It's almost a trillion dollars. Right. It's a lot of money. $720 billion. And some of it is going to come online very soon. So there's two ways to look at it. It's coming online soon, according to them, in the next few years. So should you be worried as an investor because that changes the dynamics of supply and demand for memory and then would in turn lower the prices? Or maybe it's going to take forever because all of these companies promise. And you know the hurdles. You know the not in my backyard scenarios, the labor, everything. And it could take way longer, which prolongs this cycle. And these were like this run-of-the-mill RAM that makes a difference as they stack on top of each other? So you were reading the same article. In general, that's our CNBC article, which I'd recommend everybody go check out. Was that CNBC where I read that? Yeah, it was a longer piece. I think we're getting better and better with this new guy, right? No, he's not new. Wipe that off your nose, Joe. High bandwidth memory is a type of DRAM, and so that's dynamic memory that needs to be plugged in. The rest is NEN, so where it just stores on your laptop. See, my laptop's turned off, so it's still working. So the memory is still stored in there. But this type of memory that you're referring to, high bandwidth, does layer on top. It's more complex, and that's what's needed for AI systems. Okay. But this is almost be careful what you wish for, because this opens up a whole new fundraising channel for SK Hynix, which they can then use to build out, which would then impact supply, increase supply later on, which could then bring it back to that traditional cycle that it's been in in the past. Exactly, because that's where they said the money is going to go. They're raising the capital to fund what's going on in South Korea, to fund the ASML machines that cost a lot of money. I thought you were actually alluding to the money maybe even leaving U.S. dollars and going back into South Korea, too. So the arbitrage opportunity that you and I spoke about just last night, the fact that you can buy freely, you can buy the U.S., you can buy the South Korean shares, transfer them into U.S. shares. But to go back, you have to go through some paperwork. And that's because the South Korean government doesn't want everybody having their money leave that country and come over here to the United States. But it's still the company saying it's a two way deal. They just have to go through some paperwork if they want to transfer the shares from South Korean to U.S., which, by the way, you get you need 10 shares here to get one share there. Christina, thank you. Thanks. Christina Barsanovelis. And Fed chairman, we heard about this, Kevin Warsh revealing some of the participants now in groups that he's setting up to study various central bank operations. You might recall at his first news conference last month, Warsh outlined five task forces, which normally you hear about a government task force and say, oh, no, not another one of those. but probably necessary in this case. He said we'll look at Fed communications data, data as well, the central bank's balance sheet, productivity, and jobs and inflation. Among the prominent names set to be involved in the task force is venture capitalist Mark Andreessen, former White House economic aide Greg Mankiw, former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, who you were mentioning for some reason yesterday. Because before he was reported as being part of the Fed communications. So you already knew all of that. I mean, I'm just reading this and you're doing something else probably. No, I always listen to every word you say. And former Walmart CEO. Did you get any sleep last night? No. Kind of obvious. Walmart CEO Doug McMillan. Warsh indicated he expects some changes at the Fed this year. I'm not going to hold that against you. It's hard. It's hard work. You want to finish this and then go anchor two hours at the end of the day? You're not doing that today, are you? Not today, but I did that yesterday. You did five hours yesterday? Yes. See, I would normally have some compassion or empathy. You have none. No, if anyone can handle it, it's you. That's all I was going to say. I'm going to try and say something nice, but I mean, I don't need to keep trying. It would be great. OpenAI product and business head Fiji Simo announcing she'll step down from the company to focus on her health. Kate Rooney joins us now with more. Kate. Mel, good to see you in person here. Yeah so this was one of OpenAI top executives second in command to CEO Sam Altman Fiji Simo announcing she is stepping down to a chronic illness she been battling since 2019 She did announce this on social media and a memo to staff yesterday Her official title was CEO of AGI Development. She's now going to be a company advisor. OpenAI did hire the former Instacart CEO last year to help really scale its ChatGPT product suite and then business operations, which is key right now as the company moves towards a highly anticipated IPO. She did help take Instacart public, which was part of that hire. SEMO has been on medical leave since this spring. The void at the time did cause a lot of concern from investors that we spoke to at the time. But since then, company co-founder and president Greg Brockman had been overseeing product overall that is expected to continue to talk to sources who say SEMO's responsibilities are going to be split up among Brockman and CFO Sarah Fryer, among other top executives. SEMO did spearhead advertising within ChatGPT, also a health-focused version of the chatbot. And the company's overall product strategy did get a lot leaner and more focused under her leadership. OpenAI has moved out of some of the more experimental side projects. Think of the video generation app, Sora, and focused a lot more on coding and enterprise, where it is now sprinting to catch up with rival anthropics. Simo, in her post yesterday, did also talk about the importance of this technology as she steps back from the role. says curing disease is the most important thing AI could accomplish right now, guys. Does this impact at all its outlook or its roadmap for, you know, IPO? I would say no. In March, when she stepped down, that was the worry, that there's a void, there's a vacuum in leadership. Greg Brockman has stepped in and the company has sort of consolidated under the founder. So you have Sam Altman, you have Greg Brockman. He is a product person and has really been doing that also leading infrastructure. The thought is that they may not replacer. It may just be sort of divvying up this role. And the product focus overall has just been enterprise. They're going after coding. They have just gotten a lot leaner. And that's expected to continue, I think, regardless of if they bring in someone else. That is the strategy as they look to go public. It's so much more profitable to be doing the enterprise business versus just chat UBT. I've never heard of this condition. It sounds absolutely terrible. It's called POTS. I mean, And her memo was was very deep and more about her career and wishing that she had actually stepped back. She said in that that Mark Zuckerberg, when she was at Facebook, she was also top executive there, had recommended she take a year off. And it was sort of a step back and career reflection saying she wished she'd done that. But it does sound. We take it for granted. It's a neuroimmune disorder of the autoimmune of the nervous system. The thing that we don't even think about, like heart rate, blood pressure, it regulates all these things and it gets all haywire from a neuroimmune disease. I think she's standing there, you get dizzy, chest pains, fatigue, fainting. I mean, I talk about I think she has spoken to Becky for CNBC Cures, by the way. But it sounds like an awful, awful disease. I mean, I can't imagine a more stressful job than running things at OpenAI, by the way. And she had been working remotely, you know, but it is it is such an intense culture. It is such an intense, fast paced job at this point. But OpenAI, yeah, they are the pressure is on right now as they look to go public. And they're really trying to monetize the user base, which was really her purview and her her task. But she was number two to Sam Altman. And so very big job there. Not rare. One to three. I mean, rare, but not classified as rare. One to three million Americans up to one percent of the global worldwide population, which is crazy. But I guess it could be differing degrees. Yeah. It's interesting in her memo that she mentions AI as the tool to cure disease. It's so it's the silver lining of this technology. There's so much talk about economic disruption and what it could do to jobs. But I think in the popularity overall, you see the data center pushback. There is a thought that this technology could actually really be used for good. I mean, Sam Altman talked about that, too. But if AI is able to go out and cure rare disease or cancer, I think it's going to be a lot more popular for a lot more people. Just more people that won't have jobs. But they won't have rare disease. No, they won't. Yeah. So we'll live forever, but have nothing to do. Nothing to do. Yeah. We'll just be hanging out. And I'd rather live. And nothing to watch. On Netflix. Back to that. Kate, thank you. Good to see you guys. Kate, Rene. Netflix is looking to get into live TV. The Wall Street Journal says the company is exploring adding live streaming channels to its service or potentially allowing subscribers to use its platform to buy access to other streaming services like NBCUniversal's Peacock. The report says that Netflix executives have grown concerned about engagement, which measures how long users spend watching particular programs. Netflix recently partnered with France's TF1 to allow users in that country to watch some live content, including news. Other similar overseas deals could be a next step. Netflix declines to comment to CNBC, but of course this might pour fuel on the idea that it could buy NBCUniversal. I had a lot of comments on this, a lot of thoughts. I don't know whether I can talk to you about it, though. Why? Because you have twins, and you don't get—are you looking for things to watch? on TV. Do you ever have time to do that? Sometimes. You do at times because I do a lot. So Netflix is now 300 billion or so. It's down 50 percent. Yeah. And I've been complaining about what's on Netflix. I can't you know, there's a lot of stuff. I'm not engaged. And I've tried to watch a dozen of their dramas, whatever they are. And they need either to get better. It's always about content. We keep coming back to that. It's always about content. And I remember in the past when General Electric bought, what you said, NBC Universal, and all of a sudden the suits there were looking at the numbers and it's like, wait a second. So Universal, we have no, they could make X or three times X, depending on whether they make good movies. And these like suits at GE were like, this can't be, we can't run a business. It's all about hits. When's The Last Sopranos? A Breaking bad, a homeless, nothing like that is on that. And they have no guarantee that they're going to be able to do that. So now they're like, holy crap, we might have to do quality programming. Let's do some sports. Let's do some news. Let's do some stuff that. And how expensive sports rights at this point, right? I mean, Netflix had been applauded for having a TV strategy, a live TV strategy that was unscripted, but were events that they created. They weren't bidding against other parties for the rights to broadcast those. They would stage fights. They would have, you know, these sorts of things that were under their control, tennis matches. But here they are. They're entering the fray. Do you remember the demise of appointment? It was must-watch TV, NBC said. So we had, let's say we still, because we worked for them for so long. But it's Seinfeld. Okay, 10 years of Seinfeld. Then replace that with friends. Wow, everything's great. It was different. I mean, it was different. It was a different day. It was a different day. But we never watch something. Do you remember what Jeff Zucker did to try to extend that? He made a supersized version of because we couldn't come up with it. And we to this day, NBC hasn't really come up with another poor Dick Wolf had designed it. We have a CSI in every city at this point because they can't come up. They're all good. I just think it's real. The content is king and it's really hard to do. in Netflix is, for me, I find myself on Paramount a lot more. The number of Emmy nominations that they've gotten would tell a different story. Like what? I agree that there's a lot of stuff on there and oftentimes you don't find what you want. A lot of it is pretty woke too. I don't like it rammed down my throat. Cheese will be next. Coming up on Squawk Pod, cracks in the American healthcare system. Fewer employees are getting insurance coverage from work. Costs are rising and they're being left to go it alone. Stat News reporter Bob Herman explains. Large companies, they usually have the means to still offer health insurance. It's pretty universal among the bigger companies. But small employers, which really are the backbones of entire communities, which politicians everywhere love, they're the ones who are giving up entirely. Thursday, July 16th, CNBC Sport and Boardroom join Fanatics Fest for Game Plan. Groundbreaking ideas shaping the future of sports and entertainment. Request your invite at CNBCEvents.com slash game plan. Welcome back to Squawk Pod from CNBC. Stat News, a website covering stories in the world of health care insurance in the pharma industry, has a new series this week focusing on health insurance. And the second sentence in the first article sets it all up by saying, America's employer-based health insurance system, which is still the dominant form of coverage for people younger than 65, is crumbling. The percentage of working-age adults who get their health coverage from a job has declined. In 1998, it was 67%. It's now about 60%. It's also more expensive than ever. And Bob Herman is the reporter behind the series and joins us live. Bob, it's good to see you. Not everyone is aware of this. Large companies still can make it work at this point. They're able to induce people to come with these lucrative health care plans because they have tax advantages. You mainly seeing the deterioration in small and mid companies Yeah that right What definitely surprised me the most you right Large companies they usually have the means to still offer health insurance It pretty universal among the bigger companies. But small employers, which really are the backbones of entire communities, which politicians everywhere love, they're the ones who are giving up entirely. There's surveys that show companies with 200 or fewer employees, about 60% of those types of companies offer health insurance now. That's the lowest it's ever been. I mean, we're on the trajectory to like a 50-50 split of small businesses now offering health insurance. It was about 83 percent, you know, a couple of decades ago when the ACA passed. So this is this is like a small businesses are like on the shore of the tsunami. And a lot of them are fleeing. They're they're getting rid of insurance because they know they can't afford it anymore. You know what else? And you saw the piece yesterday, probably, Bob, Obamacare, the type of increases that those insurance companies that provide Obamacare need is off the charts. And at this point, it's getting more expensive for people, too. The only 19.2 million people are in Obamacare now. So that's going down, too, down from 22.1. When people at small to medium sized companies lose their coverage, what do the employers tell them to do? You're on your own? Yeah. I mean, first of all, a lot of the small business owners and workers I talked to, it's not an option that they want to do, right? Like a lot of employers want to provide health insurance to their employees. But it's the costs have gotten to the point where they have to make a choice. Either we offer it or our business suffers to the point of, you know, whether it still survives. And so a lot of employers have said, hey, we're going to give employees money. Maybe you can go buy coverage on the ACA exchanges then. But it's a tough tradeoff for workers because, as you mentioned, the premiums are much, much higher now. And the ACA marketplaces, we need to start thinking of these as also places where it's almost like another marketplace for workers. About half of people who enroll in the ACA marketplaces are small business owners or solo entrepreneurs. And the premiums there are incredibly high. And part of that reason is it comes back to politics. Republicans let these enhanced subsidies, which help lower the cost of premiums, those expired at the end of last year. Republicans did not renew them. Democrats created them during the pandemic. So that meant a lot of middle class people started to have to pay full freight for those premiums. And obviously that it's unaffordable. So there are a lot of people said, I can't do it anymore. I'm just not going to pay for that coverage. So Democrats said, oh, we got to we got to do this because of the pandemic. And they didn't they they they let it you know, it wasn't going to last. They knew it was going to expire. They were they were in control at the time. They could have made it permanent, but they didn't because it wasn't cost effective. And then the the the realities of providing coverage set in and it doesn't hold costs down. I don't blame Republicans for not bailing the Democrats out. Obamacare does not work effectively to keep costs down. Right. Well, the Obamacare premiums are a reflection of how sick enrollees are in that marketplace. When insurers offer premiums and when they offer health plans, it is they look at their data. The actuaries say, OK, this is these are the premiums that we have to charge. And increasingly, if healthy people leave the market, they're going to have to charge more to cover the sick people that remain. But why should the healthy 27 year old shouldn't be paying the type of premium that they're forced to for Obama? The increases for Obamacare, 20 percent for the insurers in 2026. That was the average increase. 2027. They're asking for 14 in the state of Washington. They're asking for another 28 percent. This the whole I mean, it's it's the entire industry is not affordable at this point. And we're not we're not doing the things necessary to keep costs down. Right. Yeah. I think one important thing to keep note with health insurance is the idea is you want a bigger pool to spread out the medical costs. right? I mean, ultimately that means the healthy subsidize the sick. That's just the idea behind most types of insurance. You know, if it's homeowner's insurance, if you still pay your premiums, even though your house doesn't burn down. So it's the same kind of thing with health insurance. And I think it's this idea that social solidarity, like we're all going to pay for health insurance. So that means that the sickest among us can get the care that they need, But the premiums are very expensive. And if workers are being steered toward different markets where they have to pay those, like it's a tough decision. And I think the employer based system hides a lot of those decisions, because when you go to the Obamacare marketplaces, those are premiums that you have to pay in the employer system. The employers cover usually 75 percent of those costs. So those costs are shielded. And that's money that would otherwise go to workers in the form of salary. So the employer-based system hides a lot of those tough decisions that we see in the Obamacare marketplaces. So what are the impacts, Bob? I mean, I'm just thinking of their workers that are not getting adequate health care coverage. They may not be getting the medicines they need to manage certain conditions. Certainly, they're not getting specialty medicines, which cost even more, I'm sure. And so the impact is what? More worker absenteeism, less productivity in the workforce. course, ultimately it is the public who pays because they get to a point where they need care so desperately they go to hospitals? Yeah. I mean, if you're a worker and you don't have health insurance, you're right. The idea of health insurance is providing that financial security. And again, most employers want to provide that. But if that's not an option for the worker and they get sick, like if you're very sick, you're going to go to the hospital. And that usually it's going to fall on the employee that's going to potentially ruin them financially, clear out their savings. Most Americans still can't afford, you know, their high deductibles on the spot, which are in thousands of dollars. And, yeah, if you're a worker and you don't get the care that you need, if you're not being proactive about your care, it makes it harder to be a productive worker. And this setup that we're talking about, it does lend itself to making it more difficult for workers to just do their jobs. So if you were in charge, Bob, you just go straight to single payer? I mean, there's there's no there's not an easy solution to this because there's surveys that show that people love their employer sponsored insurance. Right. I think that's why politicians are in general very averse to touching any kind of their tax. The tax advantages that the larger companies have that allow them to do this. Could the laws be changed for small to medium sized companies to offer them the same type of incentives and advantages so that they could they would be able to do it as well? What what why isn't that done? Congress won't do that either. Well, I mean, Congress, there's federal laws like ERISA, which govern self-insured plans. And those just mean that they're companies that pay for medical claims on their own. Most small employers don't do that. A lot of small employers say, we're just going to offload all the medical risks to insurance companies. You take care of it. And you have to pay a premium to do that. And for small businesses, that's just what you have to do. You don't have the resources of a large company to be creative in the ways that you finance care. Congress has to change laws to make it easier for small businesses to do those types of things. It's a tough expectation because Congress is very divided on health care. There's no cohesive plan. And it's a tough expectation. But yes, ultimately, at least among the employer-based system, these are federal laws that govern it. There's some state laws, too, that govern the fully insured plans that small businesses do. So you've seen some tinkering in states as well. But if we want like national reform, it's going to have to go through Congress. You're going to need another ACA type of package that we saw, you know, 16 years ago. And what that looks like, that's up for the parties to decide. Obviously, single payer has been in the headlines again with with more Democrats, you know, running for office. So that's that's also it's a tough thing to achieve. Well, everything's going to be free with the Democrats that are running now. So we've got that going for us. We know how that'll work. Anyway, Bob, we appreciate your time. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Up next on SquawkPod, the World Cup quarterfinals are underway. Just a handful of teams remain and fan interest, especially stateside, is growing. America's become, no matter who wins this World Cup this year, a proper football nation. Founder of Men in Blazers Media, Roger Bennett, built his soccer podcast into a universe for American soccer fans like Joe. Where I really got it was the other night with Messi. He's like a little man who's wandered out of super cuts. He looks like an everyday kind of guy. But when he's in the final third of a football pitch, it's like watching a demigod perform casual miracles. Ride the wave of soccer fandom right after this break Thursday July 16th CNBC Sport and Boardroom join Fanatics Fest for Game Plan Groundbreaking ideas shaping the future of sports and entertainment. Request your invite at cnbcevents.com slash game plan. This is Squawk Pod. You're watching Squawk Box on CNBC. I'm Melissa Lee along with Joe Kernan. Becky and Joe and Andrew are off today. You wish. Now that France has won the World Cup's first quarterfinals match, we'll have three more games to go this weekend. Join us now with more on the matchups. The founder of the Men in Blazers media network, Roger Bennett. Roger, thanks for joining us. Looking at a recent article, a soccer podcast became a 100-person media company. and that's basically, I think, I don't want you to get bashful. I think they might be talking about you. It is crazy how this worked. You know, I'm American now, but the little bit of Englishness that's left in me is a degree of self-loathing where I don't like to talk in a self-aggrandizing way. But the rise of our network, which covers the men's game, Premier League, US, World Cup, the women's game, which is surging in America. We have a platform, VAMOS, that speaks to second and third generation Hispanic fans. It's really a testament to the growth of the game in the United States. When I moved here, head of the 1994 World Cup, soccer, in a study, was 67th most popular sport in America. Tractor pulling was 66. The Economist just found out it's the third most popular fan sport now. So America's become, no matter who wins this World Cup this year, a proper football nation. And we are just surging on that massive wave of love for the game that the rest of the world has always loved. But America is just taking a little bit more time to fall in love with. And I think it would be great for the sport. It already is great that to bring America on board. And I don't want to make everything personal, but it is. It's happening to me a little bit. This is the first time, though. This is this is the first. You never forget your first time. You never forget your first time, baby. I think my first time where I really got it was the other night with Messi, watching that game, and I think a lot of people saw that. I mean, he's so talented. I've never seen anything like it. It looks like the ball's glued to his foot. Yeah, there's a famous Uruguayan poet, Eduardo Galeano, who said that the greatest Maradona, it looked like the ball was glued to his foot. With Lionel Messi, it looks like the ball is actually jammed inside his sock. He moves with it. This is a 39-year-old. He should be fading into obscurity. Instead, he seems to be peaking with every game. And he's like a little man who's wandered out of super cuts. He looks like a everyday kind of guy. But when he's in the final third of a football pitch, it's like watching a demigod perform casual miracles. I was actually at that game live. I was with our sponsors, Bank of America were with me. And I was with one of the leadership there. She'd never been to a football game before. In this stadium, the atmosphere was so, it was almost like a church. The emotions, human beings everywhere were sobbing, watching these everyday miracles. She started crying. I was like, what's going on? She said, I'm so moved by the human emotion in this place. It's almost like a great evangelical church. And so you're not alone. There's so many people who are being turned on to this sport. It's an incredible wave. And no matter who wins, I think ultimately the world falling in love with America, one Buc-ee's, one Popeye's, one Waffle House at the time, which I think we also needed right now. And then America falling in love with global football. It's been a spectacular four weeks. Yeah, I can't believe I'm caught up in it. And I'm watching every game now. I'm looking forward to the game today. And, you know, I don't want to dwell on the red card and everything that happened. And at the time, I said, you know what? If the U.S. is really here in soccer, the team I'd want us to field our best team and still see that a team like Belgium, pretty good. All right. But but they're probably not. You know, there are probably better teams. Correct. So if you want the American market, why wasn't it? Why didn't we want to field our best players? Because we do want the U.S. to be totally involved in this, in this sport, to the way the rest of the world is. And I just I didn't understand why hardcore soccer fans were so up in arms about that, I guess, because you're not you're not supposed to take away a red card or something. It's a complicated one that ultimately we could do a whole hour on the mighty score box about. It's very irregular. It's never happened that a government have come in and tried to reinstate a footballer. It had the devastating effect on the team. Speaking to some of the players in the wake of it, they were on a wave of good vibe. The nation had fallen in love. I was in Seattle for one of the games. I led the march to the match with Marshawn Lynch in Seattle. 15,000 Americans from all over the nation had come together to revel in this moment. and then the good vibes, there was what you call a vibe shift and they fell apart. Look, the reality is the World Cup viewing figures are enormous with or without the United States. England played in the Azteca, Mexico. 40 million Americans tuned in. It's an enormous number. I mean, compared to like the NBA finals, I think that was like average about just over 20 million. America's fallen in love with this. The viewing figures, the commercial figures are enormous. And so the sad part for me, despite my accent, I love America like Kenny Powers loves America. I root for this American team. This World Cup will be remembered forever as a World Cup of Lionel Messi, like for you, of the French blur of speed and Bappe. Norway are playing Erling Haaland, who's like Shaquille O'Neal if he was a Viking and played in cleats. These are superstars, the Scottish fans who made Boston the capital of their nation for two weeks. All of these will be in the telling. And the agony for me is that the United States men's national team, who should have been a real through line in this story, departed too soon and will be kind of a minor character when this World Cup is remembered. But what we are watching is the viewing figures are massive. The commercial figures are massive. and whatever happens, American equity investors have invested so much in football, up and down global football. Football is about to enter its American century for good or for bad. I guess controversy is always going to go. I just thought, you know, if our best player hadn't been on the field, it would have been, yeah, well, yeah, Belgium won four to one, but, you know, we didn't have our best player. And I don't know, either way, it was not. Yeah, England had a player sent off the other day. they have no active prime minister, so they couldn't get stuck in to try and rally him. It's not how football works. It's played on the field. There's rules, there's regulations. We all want our best, but God bless. The red carpet shouldn't have been thrown in the first place, though. You want to do this on the mighty score box. You want to get into this? No, I don't. No, I don't. No, I don't. They're out. We've got a beautiful, I mean, really, the reality is what I'd focus on is what we have in front of us. I do like that big Viking. Do they have a chance or he can't do it all? They do, they do. They said the big Viking, Erling Haaland. By the way, commercially, there's a battle within football. So every team wants to win because to win, you become immortal. When that final whistle goes a week on Sunday, one team will become irrelevant almost immediately, and then the other team will become demigods, immortal woven into their nation's history. But there's an added win for this World Cup. It's in the United States. You know, Visa, Marriott, Bank of America, Home Depot, Anheuser-Busch are all watching. These footballers, Mbappe, best in the world, Messi, you've talked about him. Haaland, the big Viking, as you call him. They are all competing to become the face of the game in the United States. So the commercial win for whoever wins this thing is unprecedented in world football. So there's a game within the game. One of these human beings is going to be on our television screens for the next 10 years as the face of the game in the United States. I know Melissa's got a couple of questions for you, Roger. We don't have any time. Oh, we don't have any time. We don't have any time. She does not have. Okay, Roger, thank you. You're a beautiful human being. Courage. All right, thank you. See you later. That does it for Squawk Pod today. Thank you for listening and enjoy the weekend's soccer matches. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Thank you to both Kelly Evans and Melissa Lee for sitting in this week. To get the smartest takes and analysis from our TV show right into your ears, follow Squawk Pod wherever you get your podcasts. We'll meet you right back here on Monday. Have a great weekend. We are clear. Thanks, guys. which are america's top states for business get all the data and complete state-by-state analysis see how your state measures up america's top states for business see the full list now at topstates.cnbc.com
