The Big Bounce: The Surge That Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer

"Alan Rothenberg was just what soccer needed in the 1990s. Like any true visionary, he had the ability to look around corners and peer into the future and see things that others didn’t."
— Alexi Lalas, from his foreword

A whirlwind, insider account of soccer's hard-won growth in the United States as told by industry veteran and Major League Soccer founder Alan Rothenberg

Recent years have brought home a startling truth: soccer is no longer an also-ran among top U.S. sports. How did we get here? How did we go from having multiple professional soccer leagues flounder to having Major League Soccer prove to its doubters that it’s here to stay? How did we evolve from barely having a Women’s National Team to a golden era of women’s soccer with a captivating style of play, great stars, and unforgettable moments?

It took great belief as well as power, tenacity, and and a willingness to approach the sport through the lens of big business.

In the crucial fifteen years when US soccer made its most important moves—from 1984 to 1999—the pivotal figure behind the scenes was Alan Rothenberg: soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, chairman of the men’s World Cup in 1994, president of U.S. Soccer from 1990 to 1998, founder of Major League Soccer, and chairman of the 1999 Women’s World Cup.

Rothenberg tells his story for the first time in this definitive account of the Big Bounce that propelled American soccer out of its Wild West past and into the international elite ranks, sharing little-known details of what really happened and why, from the radical to the farcical.

As U.S. soccer fans gear up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil, The Big Bounce chronicles an era of foundational growth for this rapidly growing sport.