Iran's National Soccer Team Sparks Change Back Home and Unites Its People
*By Christian Smith*
Iran is in the running to advance from the group stage of the FIFA World Cup, and the excitement over the team's performance is beginning to spark change back home.
For the first time since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, women were allowed to watch the men's national team, Team Melli, compete in the World Cup at a televised watch party in Tehran's Azadi Stadium. It's an example of the powerful influence of the world's most popular sport, said Jeffrey Marcus, publisher of World Cup newsletter "The Banter."
"Iran is mad about sports, and specifically about soccer, in part because it's the one secular institution that really unites the whole country," Marcus said in an interview on Cheddar Thursday.
When it comes to letting women in Iran watch the national team on TV, Marcus noted, "It's not quite getting them into the stadium to watch a live match, but maybe that's next."
Team Melli, [tweeted a photo](https://twitter.com/TeamMelliIran/status/1009492592562761728) of women inside the stadium cheering during its match against Spain with the caption "Azadi Stadium now."
Iran currently sits in the third spot in Group B behind Spain and Portugal. A win against Portugal on Monday would put it in the Round of 16 for the first time.
Team Melli has qualified for the current group stage five times: 1978, 1998, 2006, 2010, and 2018.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-irans-soccer-team-is-making-an-impact-back-home).
Hyperice is a technology company that specializes in physical recovery for athletes, and it's now partnering with the NFL. Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers running back and Hyperice athlete-investor, and Jim Huether, Hyperice CEO, joined Cheddar News to discuss the partnership. "It's definitely for both for performance and for recovery, as somebody who plays a brutal sport and have to go through some of the unfortunate realities of injury," McCaffery said of the products. "You're always fighting for that 0.1 percent difference between winning and losing and and the little things and every second matters."
Showtime series 'Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber' tells the roller coaster ride of Silicon Valley's most successful and most destructive company, Uber. 'The Battle For Uber' is the first of the 'Super Pumped' anthology series in which each new season will explore a true business story that changed our culture in one way or another. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, joins Cheddar News to discuss the series.
The Super Bowl is only a few days away, and the game is currently tracking to be the most expensive one ever.
Gametime, a website and app for last-minute tickets, says the average ticket price for the NFL's championship game is $9,502.50, with the most expensive seats costing nearly $38,000. That's a far cry away from the average ticket price of the first-ever Super Bowl in 1967, which was only $12. The average ticket price increased by more than $8,000 in just the past decade. Matt Rados, Senior Operations Manager at Gametime, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Miller Lite is opening the first branded bar in the metaverse, by way of Decentraland, as a way to advertise during the Super Bowl this year without buying an expensive TV commercial slot. Sofia Colucci, global vice president of Miller Family of Brands, joined Cheddar to talk about the new marketing concept. "We have a lot of great partnerships with NFL teams throughout the year but were shut out of advertising during the Super Bowl game, so this pushes us to think creatively and also think of what feels really relevant right now," Colucci said. "There's no question that there's a lot of excitement with the metaverse, and we wanted to participate but in a way that felt right for Miller Lite."
David Tafuri, Former Obama Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor & Former State Department Official, joined Cheddar News to break down the latest geopolitical stories from Beijing, amid China's human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and yet another Russian doping scandal.
Americans placing bets on the Super Bowl is expected to reach a record high due to multiple states legalizing sports gambling. Hana Ostapchuk, the host of Cheddar Bets, joined Baker Machado on Between Bells to discuss the action on the Big Game.
trivago reported its last earnings of 2021 yesterday, marking the end of a rollercoaster year. The online hotel search site was forced to cut costs during the pandemic as the travel industry shut down entirely, instead pivoting its strategy to meet customer demand in other ways. Matthias Tillmann, CFO of trivago, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the company's results and why he's optimistic about the future of the travel industry in 2022.
The Winter Olympics showcase our favorite and most picturesque winter sports: from ski jumping, to figure skating, to ice hockey. But don't forget about doubles luge, the internet's favorite Olympic sport. Join us as we explore the history of this intimate display and reveal why doubles luge is so much more than a meme.
Youth sports coaching service MOJO has partnered with Major League Baseball, named the "trusted grassroots coaching app" of the MLB. The app provides content for parents and coaches to help young players grow their skills. Ben Sherwood, founder & CEO of MOJO joined Cheddar News to talk about how his app works to improve coaching to keep players interested. "The number one reason that kids drop out of sports and all of the surveys is that sports aren't fun, and one of the big reasons that sports aren't fun is that the coach doesn't know what she or he is doing," he said. "We think there's a great coach in everyone, and we just have to have the right resources and tools and inspiration."
The U.S. women's hockey team came up short in its highly anticipated game against the Canadian women, favorites for gold, in the preliminaries of the Winter Olympics tournament. The competition now enters the medal rounds where the U.S. team still has a shot.
