I want soccer to be a stable profession that attracts young female athletes when they graduate from college.
The difference in economic potential between clubs in Italy, those in England, or the big two in Spain is very high.
It's been a big flaw of ours in the soccer department that a lot of our best athletes go and play other sports. But I think young players have seen me, and others, go over to Europe and play in some of the best leagues - and MLS is improving so much, too.
Let's build women's football from the bottom before we get to the top; it's not about building from the top to get to the bottom. We can talk about the Etihad and Man United's ground, the Theatre of Dreams, in a few years' time. Let's fill the Academy Stadiums, the Kingsmeadows, first of all.
In the 1990s, we had seven great teams - Milan, Inter, Juventus, Parma, Lazio, Roma, Fiorentina. If you look at the players, they were great players, but there was some crazy investment, and some teams went bankrupt, like Parma and Lazio.
It's no secret that I think that MLS is a top five, top six league in the world but they're not the top league.
My wish is that soccer in the U.S. become on the same level like the Premier League, Spanish league, or the Bundesliga.
When people say 'American soccer,' they think of the U.S. national team. But American soccer also includes Major League Soccer, and until we have a league that produces players at the rate other leagues around the world do, I don't believe we'll ever get to where we want to be.
People have to pay a lot of money to play soccer here.
I hope that everyone tries to help to increase the level of the MLS and also that American players like Pulisic are here and not in Europe. That should be the goal for America. I just try to help as much as I can.
I think - I hope - that we're going to be able to build something here with U.S. Soccer, where it's not just going to be about one lost match or one lost cycle or one lost team. It's going to be about an entire country rallying around an entire sport in a way that lasts.
I think it's important to make clear, you know, that the problem with American soccer... it isn't talent.
Everyone looks at MLS in a different way, of course. Because of the players coming in, it's a better league than before, of course. Everyone can see that there is potential to improve.
