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Work.

Sports transcends all communities.

It creates connection where connection isn't always found.

Once Spain announced that they were coming to Chattanooga, they almost blew up the internet.

What we're doing here is unbelievable - something that we'll say for the rest of our lives, ‘Man, we had the number one team come here for this.

It definitely puts it on the international stage.

Chattanooga, you're on.

Lights are on.

The cameras are on.

The world is watching.

You're on.

And let's show everybody who we are.

My name is, Curtis Blair.

I'm the director of soccer.

So my name is Sean McDaniel.

And for the World Cup, my position is the team service venue officer for FIFA.

My name is Tim Morgan.

I'm president of the Sports and Events Corporation, which is our community sports commission.

I highly recommend you Google Bill Nuttall... ...Bill Nuttall... ...a gentleman by the name of Bill Nuttall.

My name is Bill Nuttall, I was involved with the 1994 World Cup, I was the general manager of the U.S.

World Cup The World Cup's coming here in 2026, they're looking for what they call team base camps.

When I was the general manage of our- of the World Cup team, we had a base camp, so I knew what they needed in general.

I called Tim Morgan and said, ‘Tim, theres a good chance we can get FIFA here to inspect Chattanooga, Baylor School.

I may need a little help.

And he said, ‘Make the call.

Just make the call, dont worry about it.

I said, ‘Well, we need t find out if Baylor is interested in getting involved with this whole, this whole process.

So the Baylor administration, you know, Chris Angel, said, ‘Let Sam handle that.

[laughs] Lets let Sam run with that.

She's the one that is basically, to me, the heartbeat of- of getting Spain here.

Sam was absolutely the connector for Spain, like Spain called Sam.

My name is Sam Green.

And the role that I hold currently is Director of Operations and Systems.

I am the glue, the grout, and the in-between.

I remember getting thi phone call from our soccer coach that says, ‘Hey, I just sent an email with your name on it to FIFA.

And I was like, ‘FIFA, like the video game?

And he was like, ‘Something lik that, but with the real ball.

He said, ‘Well, weve been recommended to host as a training site.

And I was like, ‘So cool.

What what do you need from me?

And he's like, ‘Well, I just I need you to give this tour.

And I said, ‘Okay, great.

And so this this bus rolls up and it's got, you know, the, the FIFA guys on it And so they get off the bus and, we go around campus and he was like, he's like, ‘I knew you guys had great facilities but these are amazing.

So the visit went well.

And I got this email that wa like ‘Hey, we would really like to put you in the brochure, for training sites.

The first book that came out had 12 cities involved.

You start looking and it was Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, L.A.

And then you had a little dot i Tennessee called ‘Chattanooga.

and everybody's, ‘Where di Chattanooga come from?

Right?

We were there, and we were the only school, or the only high school, in that announcement at that point.

We were entering into the World Cup phase, and so with that came visits from other teams.

Some of those visits: Germany came early on.

The Netherlands had come, Japan came.

All these countrie were literally looking at cities from all across the nation and we were on the front order.

I think literally two weeks later, the company representing Spain comes out.

And he said, ‘I love it.

He's like, ‘We're going to bring Spain to you.

And I said, all right, here we go.

You know, it's kind of like when you find your person in life, right?

I'm not going to say it was love at first sight, but... [laughs] something like that.

Baylor has all the ingredients.

They have two immaculate fields.

This is one of the best, no soccer facilities in Chattanooga this is one of the best soccer facilities now we can say in North America.

For the Spanish delegation, they were also looking at Chicago, in L.A., in the Midwest, Northeast.

So we were always being compared with other facilities across the country.

What we have been able to do is map out a perimeter that allows them to basically create their own little city back there.

When you step on campus and you're literally next to a highway, but have no idea that you are next t a highway - I think for Spain, that built a level of credibility and peace that a team like Spain wanted.

It creates this extra level o privacy that we're able to offer That was something that was huge for them because from what I hear, they attract a big crowd.

All those little things tha none of us really think about: Critical to the success of a team.

The way they'll be cared for at Baylor - the ability to react to what Spain needs.

Sam and her team, Curtis and his team reacting accordingly so that when we ask for something, they get it and then some.

And for a team trying to win the World Cup - win the World Cup - being able to have access to what you need when you need it really is what did it for them.

The ease of conducting business in a smaller market by implementing the Chattanooga Way has absolutely put us over the edge versus larger markets.

We can control more instead of going to a larger market where there's more bureaucratic tape.

Everybody wants Spain, everybody wants access to the players.

But when they're treated with this level of normalcy and care, that's what they saw and know that they're going to get it.

Just being us provides them a sense of hospitality and comfort that they don't find everywhere that they go.

The city embraced them.

You know, you go to a Chicago - and I'm not knocking Chicago - or the bigger cities, and it's just another day for them.

You know whereas Spain comes here, everyone embraced them.

So as these people are coming in the pictures becoming very clear that there's a whole other level associated with the World Cup, right?

And so now we're trying to figure out how do we prepare for that?

And then it was kind of a sprint from there.

For them, Spain, it is almost a blank canvas.

Creating something from this blank canvas, obviously it sounds great, but it does come with its own challenges.

Field prep: maintaining a field to FIFA an a national federation standard is a lot of work.

We put a blanket on the field in late March in order to kind of stimulate that growth.

That last visit that they ha before it all really kicked off, they look at the grass and they say, ‘I don't know if it's going to make it.

They've seen the facilities - we had mapped out our plan.

Well, based on what they wanted to do, they couldn't.

There's about 14,000 square foot of security fencing.

There's five 50-ton A.C.

units here.

And the install of that was no small feat.

Then comes the installation of the fitness center, the media center.

All of that comes with potential damage to the area.

Branding - I mean, this place is completely different than it was a month ago.

There is about 58,000 square feet worth of branding in this place alone.

Electrically, I think if you pulled up this carpet, itd look like a spiderweb of cords everywhere.

The electrical output of this building right now has just been substantial.

We really had to put our heads together on how we create something out of this shell - light trusses, and these doors and walls.

Security wise - I had sat in a room with Homeland Security and the FBI.

That day was kind of th culmination of all the meetings.

And it was finally like we have enough infrastructure to walk everyone through.

The current moment is quite literally unbelievable.

This is a, this is a landmark day and a landmark event for Chattanooga.

Oh my God!

[laughs] I think one of the mos important things for, you know, the Chattanooga community to recognize is that its going to have a huge impact on our community and, you know, bring some prestige and global recognition to Chattanooga.

We are on the international stage now, especially if Spain wins the World Cup, knock on wood.

The amount of fans, the amount of notoriety - I'm excited for the city of Chattanooga, for Baylor to get the recognition that they deserve for all the hard work they put in getting Spain here.

And it's a lot of work.

We have all done a great job of trying to get Spain here, and now it's our job is to support them making sure that they realize, Chattanooga is behind us.

Yes, Baylor's behind you, but it's bigger than that.

Chattanooga is behind us and that's what we want.

I think what we're ultimately going to find is, by doing this there are going to be intangible benefits that we could have never quantified throughout this journey.

Do we really understand the weight, in a good way, of having the World Cup and a lot of eyes globally on us?

Every time we hit a new pinnacle, you go, ‘Well, it can't get better than that.

It's really hard to predict what what comes next.

It's really tough to say.

You can go much bigger or further than the best team in the world at Baylor School in Chattanooga.

There is nothing in the future that we can't handle.

I mean, there really isn't.

What I hope this does for Baylor is show that what we do every day at the level that we do it is recognized on a global stage as well.

Our entire community put a lot of effort into making Baylor what it is, and we know what a treasure we have.

And no the world gets to see it, too.