Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic’s weekly sports business cheat sheet.Name-dropped today: Gianni Infantino, Erling Haaland, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, Karl Ravech, Cathy Engelbert, Sophie Cunningham, Tom Brady, Jason Sudeikis, the Khoslas, Justin Bieber, Josh Kerr and more. Let’s go:Driving the ConversationWrangling with World Cup takeawaysWhen the news broke last night that Sunday’s thrilling World Cup final was the most-watched soccer game ever televised in the U.S. — more than 60 million viewers across Fox and Telemundo, putting it in an elite stratosphere of attention reserved for the NFL — one takeaway from the 2026 World Cup was clear:Everyone invested attention.That’s a pretty good starting point for any analysis of this event. Beyond TV, fans spent money on tickets (and everything else), brands spent on marketing and, at least qualitatively, everyone seemed pretty satisfied with their ROI. (Especially FIFA.)But I’m also left with a whole lot of questions. Helpfully, my colleagues have just reported out a foundation of some answers:• We were in a familiar place after the U.S.-hosted World Cup in 1994. Very different moment in time, obviously, along with a very different infrastructure around soccer. But it was impactful. How might 2026 be different?• “Hydration breaks” were the most evident change to the game’s dynamics, on the pitch and for Fox’s bottom line, with a windfall of ad revenues. Are “Americanized” innovations like the mid-half (a.k.a. “quarter”) breaks here to stay?• The tournament created new mega-stars. To be sure: Erling Haaland was already a soccer star, but he elevated to a higher tier while in the U.S. What next for Brand Haaland?• With all of this kinetic energy generated by tens of millions of fans in the U.S. becoming enraptured by soccer, can MLS (finally) capitalize? Or do we all turn our attention to these world-class players we just watched … in European leagues?• And for all the frustrating ploys, has FIFA emerged stronger than ever? (Gianni Infantino seems certain to stay in power.)Fan attention whiplashes pretty quickly. We’re already on to LeBron’s decision, NFL training camps and college football machinations. But we’ll always have the summer of 2026. I think it will stand as an indelible memory for an enormous number of fans.And, sooner than you think, we’ll have the summer of 2028 in L.A.Get Caught UpBig talkers from the sports business industry:New layoffs at ESPN: When ESPN acquired NFL Network in the deal that saw the league get 10 percent of ESPN, it was expected that the overlap between ESPN’s production capability and NFL Network (based across the country in L.A.) might yield to staff cuts. Those came yesterday. Among the notable on-air folks to be let go, long-timer Karl Ravech was a surprise to many.LeBron Watch: Soon? (No?) As a flex of pure power and influence, this extended Decision has been one of the most impressive demonstrations in league history.