How U.S. Soccer’s decades-long dream of a national training center became reality

Soccer and a playbook for her high-stakes meeting with the billionaire who could bring it to life. Parlow Cone, the U. S.

Soccer Federation’s president, wanted to build a first-of-its-kind national training center. But so had her predecessors. The dream dated back decades and, to many, felt unaffordable or far-fetched.

Parlow Cone, though, was determined. After several months of strategizing, she’d landed a meeting with Arthur Blank. U.

S. Soccer had neither a CEO nor COO at the time, so she asked chief strategy officer Tim Vernon to accompany her. They came with a presentation and a pitch that they hoped would convince Blank, the Home Depot co-founder and Atlanta sports owner, to put tens of millions of dollars toward a world-class facility.