Speaker 1: Time for another soccer down here one v one and
Speaker 1: for this one, we go to Buffalo and catch up
Speaker 1: with one of the new entrants in the NPSL.
Speaker 2: And full disclosure as.
Speaker 1: We're joined by Mark Spocon, the head coach of the
Speaker 1: new Buffalo Stallions. I know the old Buffalo Stallions from
Speaker 1: the Major Indoor Soccer League. I know about the odd
Speaker 1: I know about Rick Jenrett, I know about Usabio. I
Speaker 1: know about all of these things. But it is now
Speaker 1: Stallions two point zero. Mark, thanks for dropping by for
Speaker 1: a one v one.
Speaker 3: Glad to be here, and I'm glad you have all
Speaker 3: those great memories because that's one of the reasons that
Speaker 3: driving us to do what we're doing. Bring back those memories,
Speaker 3: create new ones.
Speaker 2: All right, So I'll bite you brought it up. What
Speaker 2: was the genesis? How much thought went into this?
Speaker 1: How far back are we going into the process of yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do this to yell, let's be the Stallions two
Speaker 1: point zero, to yell, let's go to the NPSL. How
Speaker 1: far back are we talking here?
Speaker 3: Just the past two years, I would say, the conversation
Speaker 3: of moving up to the MPs cell ranks or to
Speaker 3: that level, those conversations have been have been occurring. The
Speaker 3: Buffalo Stallions two point zero has been in existence now
Speaker 3: for five six seven years. When the club Empire United
Speaker 3: was part of the US Development Academy, the Buffalo portion
Speaker 3: broke off on its own took on the name Buffalo Stallions,
Speaker 3: which they've owned and had control over since the Stallions ended.
Speaker 3: So the youth arm has been around for almost twenty
Speaker 3: years now, maybe even a little longer, and they rebranded
Speaker 3: to the Stallions. Like I said, when they left the
Speaker 3: DA Association that they were in with Rochester and Syracuse.
Speaker 3: So two years ago then the talk started to come,
Speaker 3: all right, well, let's get to the next level. What's
Speaker 3: that going to be in PSL Otherwise, to try to
Speaker 3: create a path for our players within the club to
Speaker 3: play as a senior player, and not limited to just
Speaker 3: players in our club, but try to now extend the
Speaker 3: reach to Buffalo and Western New York senior players to
Speaker 3: provide them a platform to play at a higher level
Speaker 3: as either a college player in the off season or
Speaker 3: a player that's recently out of college but still wants
Speaker 3: to play at a high level.
Speaker 1: So Kevin O'Neil, Director of Club in Soccer, ops is
Speaker 1: joining us as well, And let me ask you this Ken, has.
Speaker 2: Your phone blown up?
Speaker 1: What's it been like to get the response that you've
Speaker 1: been getting and what has the response been.
Speaker 4: The response has been, you know, obviously pretty positive. I
Speaker 4: think there's a lot of excitement about the team as
Speaker 4: far as like kind of the history of the team
Speaker 4: and just kind of getting back even though it's not
Speaker 4: indoor soccer and kind of whatever remembers the Buffalo Stadions
Speaker 4: for but just some excitement again with you know, getting
Speaker 4: a team and a men's team going here, you know,
Speaker 4: in a league that's you know, semi professional, and just
Speaker 4: kind of providing that pathway for our our kids to
Speaker 4: even kind of aspire to to you know, to look
Speaker 4: at to be able to, you know, hopefully one day
Speaker 4: play for that team.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this Mark, what has it
Speaker 1: been like there in Western New York and in Buffalo
Speaker 1: specifically to see the sports grow to where it is
Speaker 1: over the last handful of years and how much growth
Speaker 1: are we talking about here?
Speaker 3: It's fantastic. You mentioned before we got on air here
Speaker 3: being a follower of this game when USA Network used
Speaker 3: to carry them back in the nineties and cut away
Speaker 3: from the game to go to a commercial, and then
Speaker 3: you come back and next thing you know, the scores
Speaker 3: one zero and you missed the goal. So we've come
Speaker 3: from that to where the sport is everywhere. Now it's
Speaker 3: on the internet. Kids are watching clips of highlights in
Speaker 3: their favorite teams and EPL and Siria and La Liga
Speaker 3: and legal it's all over the Bundesliga. They can watch
Speaker 3: games whenever they want. You and I we'd have to
Speaker 3: fight crowds in a sports bar to get a nine
Speaker 3: inch TV turned off of baseball to watch a soccer game.
Speaker 3: So today the game is everywhere. Kids see it. They're
Speaker 3: falling in love with it, they love to play it,
Speaker 3: and we're happy just to provide them a platform to
Speaker 3: be able to perform.
Speaker 1: Kevin, I know that when you talk about, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the season, it's over there. Everybody might you might you know,
Speaker 1: folks walk up to you sit there and go, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five season. Yeah, sure, it's you know,
Speaker 1: may or whatever, But it's not just may or whatever.
Speaker 1: It literally is like for planning purposes and everything. It's
Speaker 1: like right here. I always ask this of new folks
Speaker 1: that come online in the NPSL and when I have
Speaker 1: these kinds of interviews across the board, where is the
Speaker 1: to do list?
Speaker 2: Is it on Google doc?
Speaker 1: Is it on a palm pilot where you pull out
Speaker 1: a stylust you sit there and you write something down,
Speaker 1: you gam a stylist back, and you put the palm
Speaker 1: pilot away.
Speaker 2: Is it? Is it on your phone?
Speaker 1: Is it on a legal pad or is it on
Speaker 1: one of those six foot by eight foot white you
Speaker 1: know boards that you can ride on with a marker
Speaker 1: and it's got a bunch of lines and squiggles going
Speaker 1: a bunch of different directions. Where is that to do
Speaker 1: list for the stallions? And what do you think the
Speaker 1: next thing that you can cross off it is as
Speaker 1: you get ready for the season.
Speaker 4: It's funny you say that, I think there's a Is
Speaker 4: there a checkbox for all of the above? Yes, because
Speaker 4: pretty much it's all of those things. We've had been
Speaker 4: sitting in the office and we had the huge whiteboard
Speaker 4: that we use for you know, tactical sessions with players,
Speaker 4: and meanwhile, while there's nothing on the board, someone's writing
Speaker 4: something that you know is relating to the MPs, and
Speaker 4: we're like, okay, yeah, let's let's let's remember that too
Speaker 4: obviously things that you know, yes, we're we're on Google
Speaker 4: forms and things like that. I say, we kind of
Speaker 4: just finalized that last week actually and got kind of
Speaker 4: everything all in one place and in a Google forum.
Speaker 4: That's just an action plan that we're just kind of
Speaker 4: now working through all the different processes, and of course
Speaker 4: even today I was just doing something like, oh, I
Speaker 4: need to add that. So I think it's that's something
Speaker 4: that's obviously never ending, will just continue to go, and
Speaker 4: especially because like you said, it seems like, you know,
Speaker 4: amaze that far away or it's you know that the
Speaker 4: season still got a little bit, but really no, it's here.
Speaker 4: And I would say the next thing, and probably the
Speaker 4: next thing to cross off that list is going to
Speaker 4: be the uh the actual stadium, the home venue. We're
Speaker 4: hoping to just finalize that negotiation, and probably that would
Speaker 4: be the next big announcement, so that way we can
Speaker 4: kind of really start preparing for all the things that
Speaker 4: we want to do on site for game day experience
Speaker 4: and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So, Mark, are you gonna break news here? You're gonna
Speaker 1: you're gonna you're gonna let us know the where and
Speaker 1: the when, and the why you're gonna tell us that
Speaker 1: you're gonna let us know.
Speaker 3: I wish I could, but I haven't said it. I'm
Speaker 3: because Glad haven't said what he said, because he's absolutely right.
Speaker 3: It's like you're clairvoyant. It literally all that information was
Speaker 3: housed in all the exact places you just said, and
Speaker 3: it's finally now being we're actually it's there in one
Speaker 3: spot where everybody can see and add to it and
Speaker 3: change and delete and check things off. But prior to that,
Speaker 3: it was exactly like you said. And we've been loving
Speaker 3: the adventure. It has been a great journey. We know
Speaker 3: that May is going to be here before we blink
Speaker 3: our eye, but we're loving the experience and the journey
Speaker 3: and the dialogue to get to where we got to go.
Speaker 1: Yeavin, what's the biggest lesson that you've learned so far
Speaker 1: in this journey to get ready for the NPSL With
Speaker 1: Stalling's two point zero.
Speaker 4: I'd say that the biggest lesson is just kind of
Speaker 4: like not being so maybe afraid to take some risks
Speaker 4: and just kind of go after it. I know, like
Speaker 4: you know, we've always been a pretty conservative group as
Speaker 4: far as like planning and different things, and you know,
Speaker 4: sometimes we're maybe a little too overcautious. I think we
Speaker 4: finally reached the kind of thing like, Hey, this is
Speaker 4: something we really want to go after, this is something
Speaker 4: we want to do. Let's just go and let's just
Speaker 4: take the risk and you know, make it happen.
Speaker 1: Mark, what about the on the field perspective? What's the
Speaker 1: biggest lesson you've learned about.
Speaker 3: I think, I'm sorry?
Speaker 2: What about the Yeah?
Speaker 1: About the on the field version of that same question,
Speaker 1: The biggest lesson that you've learned about the on the
Speaker 1: field aspect of it, whether it's WhatsApp or your phone
Speaker 1: blowing up, or having unlimited text, or needing international minutes
Speaker 1: more than you've had previously, or folks knocking on your door.
Speaker 1: You know, at two thirty in the afternoon, sitting there
Speaker 1: going coach, I heard something's going on. You know, what's
Speaker 1: the biggest lesson you've learned about? Assembling things from an
Speaker 1: on the field perspective?
Speaker 3: Just having more of a runway, just for more context.
Speaker 3: We were planning to make us jump to the next
Speaker 3: level in twenty twenty six, so the MPSL reached out
Speaker 3: to Kevin and the guys and proposed doing it in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five, a year early. So that's why we're
Speaker 3: kind of on a short ramp. But it's again, if somebody,
Speaker 3: if if there's another company or person that developed some
Speaker 3: other app that is redundant with team snap and Snapchat
Speaker 3: and the sports Engine and all these applications, is going
Speaker 3: to absolutely drive me crazy. So that's my learning. My
Speaker 3: learning curve for apps and technology has just skyrocketed.
Speaker 1: Marx McCone head coach, Kevin O'Neil, director of Club and
Speaker 1: Soccer ops for Buffalo Stallions as they jump back into
Speaker 1: the NPSL here in twenty twenty five. Here for an
Speaker 1: odd man rush that developed over time here on the
Speaker 1: SDH network, as we catch up with them about the
Speaker 1: announcement and the build and getting ready for the sprint.
Speaker 1: I mean, Kevin, you're looking at a Great Lakes conference
Speaker 1: and I don't know where they're going to put you
Speaker 1: yet but unless they've told you, but you're in a
Speaker 1: footprint in Great Lakes where you're staring at Eerie and
Speaker 1: you're staring at Flower City, and you're getting ready for that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: NIAGRAE eighteen twelve was a part of it last year
Speaker 1: You've got Keystone, which is a nasty It is a
Speaker 1: na nasty conference that that really where the winner comes
Speaker 1: out of a lot out of Keystone East, whether you're
Speaker 1: looking at Motown or Atlantic City or in the West,
Speaker 1: you're looking at you know, west Chester and Hershey who
Speaker 1: have made deep runs. When you look at the competition
Speaker 1: that you're going up going to be going up against,
Speaker 1: and you know, if you want to tell us what
Speaker 1: conference you're going into, you could do that too. When
Speaker 1: you look at the quality and the competition and the
Speaker 1: conference that you may or may not be in. When
Speaker 1: when you think of the quality of the competition, what
Speaker 1: are you looking at the NPSL that you're diving into
Speaker 1: and having to assemble here in basically three.
Speaker 4: Months, I think you hit you hit it on the head.
Speaker 4: I mean we're kind of gonna just be tossed into
Speaker 4: the fire. And obviously those teams are are you know, established,
Speaker 4: and and some great teams to play against and things
Speaker 4: like that. I think we're looking forward, obviously to challenge.
Speaker 4: We have a lot of confidence in Mark to pull
Speaker 4: this group together and and and pull a team together
Speaker 4: that can compete. You know from day one. Obviously it's
Speaker 4: going to be something. I think, uh, learning curve is
Speaker 4: going to happen, and we're going to really kind of
Speaker 4: get into, you know, the type of players and the
Speaker 4: type of systems and things like that that we're gonna
Speaker 4: need to be successful. But again, I think it's just
Speaker 4: part of that fun, it's part of that excitement. It's
Speaker 4: just kind of what drives us as far as soccer
Speaker 4: people like, yeah, we look forward to this kind of
Speaker 4: thing and just you know, can we can we compete?
Speaker 4: Can we get in there and and make something happen
Speaker 4: and you know, make Buffalo again successful as far as
Speaker 4: being able to compete and just get into that division.
Speaker 4: And no, we don't know which conference yet for sure,
Speaker 4: but again we're going to prepare, you know, the best
Speaker 4: that we can with with with players that we can
Speaker 4: and let Mark just kind of take it over.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: I had to ask, you know, I didn't know, like
Speaker 1: I said, you were you were thinking about break You're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, look working on the stadium, you know, I
Speaker 1: have to ask we journalistically sound Mark when it comes
Speaker 1: to the kind of player that you're looking for. Uh,
Speaker 1: for those that don't know you stylistically, what is your
Speaker 1: approach on the field. What kind of a product do
Speaker 1: you want to put out there? What kind of individual
Speaker 1: are you looking for that can represent the Stallions both
Speaker 1: on the field and off the way that you're looking.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's exactly that. Just the person that has those characteristics,
Speaker 3: that has pride and wearing the shirt, knowing what this
Speaker 3: franchise name and logo means to people from thirty forty
Speaker 3: years ago, and having again the excitement to revive that.
Speaker 3: Play with excitement, play with heart, give one hundred percent
Speaker 3: of your effort and training it in gains and then
Speaker 3: off the field, just just do the right thing, be
Speaker 3: a good person and fulfill what your parents or friends
Speaker 3: would describe you as in terms of a person. Fulfill
Speaker 3: that in terms of how you carry yourself off the field.
Speaker 3: So we want to be competitive, and we had one
Speaker 3: try out. The turnout was great. Express what I just
Speaker 3: expressed to you to those gentlemen in the room. We're
Speaker 3: looking for people that have the pride and have the
Speaker 3: motivation to want to do something special as a new franchise,
Speaker 3: because we know how new franchise is often fair. And
Speaker 3: we have another tryout coming up on the twenty seventh.
Speaker 3: We actually we had to close it out because the
Speaker 3: turnout in response was fantastic. We had to cap it.
Speaker 3: We couldn't take anymore. And we have another tryout on
Speaker 3: February third, and that's going to be the message. Who
Speaker 3: wants to represent this team, who wants to represent the city,
Speaker 3: our fan base, and do it in a way where
Speaker 3: they can be proud of their effort and work as
Speaker 3: a team and be proud when they're out in the community.
Speaker 1: Kevin, let me ask you this, when it comes to
Speaker 1: getting the word out outside of you know, things like
Speaker 1: this and doing interviews and such, what are you the
Speaker 1: most confident about in the growth and the launch And
Speaker 1: what do you think, as someone who is in the
Speaker 1: operation side, what do you think is going to be
Speaker 1: the biggest challenge in getting the word out and making
Speaker 1: sure that Western New York knows that the Stallions.
Speaker 2: Are going to be active in the Npso, so.
Speaker 4: I think obviously, I think that, you know, the things
Speaker 4: that we're most confident about is just the fact that
Speaker 4: we've been kind of running with this late and you know,
Speaker 4: just getting out there like to through social media's and
Speaker 4: different things. But whether it's you know, interviews like this
Speaker 4: or just our own platforms kind of getting the word
Speaker 4: out a little bit, like the announcements. You know, we've
Speaker 4: had such a good response from the player perspective, like
Speaker 4: people wanting to kind of get involved and you know,
Speaker 4: see whether or not they can make a team like this.
Speaker 4: So I think that's been really good and kind of
Speaker 4: encouraging because I think that'll translate to to obviously, you know,
Speaker 4: the fans and things like that wanting to get involved.
Speaker 4: And Buffalo seems to be obviously we're sportstown, you know,
Speaker 4: regardless of if it's Sabers, if it's Bandits, if it's
Speaker 4: you know, the Bills obviously and as well as they do.
Speaker 4: But Buffalo's always been kind of a sports town and
Speaker 4: will follow teams. I mean, I think I was reading
Speaker 4: some study a while ago that like, even if we're
Speaker 4: not involved in different national things, whether it's NHL playoffs
Speaker 4: and things like that, Buffalo is still usually one of
Speaker 4: the televised era of the areas that has like the
Speaker 4: best televised like rates or fouls because we just we
Speaker 4: love our sports. So I think that's what's going to
Speaker 4: be encouraging. And you know, soccer is something that obviously
Speaker 4: is kind of still kind of up and coming in
Speaker 4: this area a little bit, but you know, clubs here,
Speaker 4: there's different teams here now that have been going, and
Speaker 4: there's there's some excitements around the area. So with the
Speaker 4: old brand too, I think that's gonna help. And probably
Speaker 4: the most challenging is just on our part, just again
Speaker 4: getting this all together, getting it ready the way we
Speaker 4: want it to be, ready for the you know, those
Speaker 4: home games. You know, we have certain kind of visions
Speaker 4: that we're hoping that we can provide as far as
Speaker 4: the fan experience and making it cheap for families and
Speaker 4: allowing you know, that group to come and still be
Speaker 4: very affordable, but also giving them something when they're there,
Speaker 4: you know, giving them an experience so that they kind
Speaker 4: of remember, like when they come to these games that
Speaker 4: obviously competitive that the team's going to be, you know,
Speaker 4: competing and stuff like that, but also is it fun
Speaker 4: that type of environment that people want to keep coming
Speaker 4: back to.
Speaker 1: So, you know, Mark, let me ask you this, uh,
Speaker 1: are you're going to have like you're gonna have Dane
Speaker 1: Smith come by or to you know, or a Natteco
Speaker 1: come by or Matt Vince come by to kind of
Speaker 1: help things out. You maybe if you had Matt Vince,
Speaker 1: you could put Matt in Net. I don't know about
Speaker 1: in the National Lacrosse League gear between the sticks. But
Speaker 1: you know, I just I say that somewhat, you know,
Speaker 1: in jest, but just the the the idea of mentioning
Speaker 1: as Kevin said, it's a sports town. And I think
Speaker 1: that when everyone understands that the individuals on the field
Speaker 1: or in the arena, they're out there one hundred percent,
Speaker 1: I mean, the heart's on the sleeve and they're given
Speaker 1: nine thousand percent and they're laying it all out there,
Speaker 1: and the city naturally wraps themselves around those individuals, whether
Speaker 1: it's you know, Bills in the k gun Stallion's one
Speaker 1: point zero, the Bandit's winning championships, the Sabers.
Speaker 2: And hearing Rick Jenrett going may day, may day, may day.
Speaker 1: All these kinds of things add to I think a
Speaker 1: very very special fabric there in Western New York when
Speaker 1: it comes to franchises and what they mean.
Speaker 2: To everybody there in Buffalo on the field and off.
Speaker 3: For sure, And it might sound cliche that we're a
Speaker 3: blue collar town, but we really are a blue collar town.
Speaker 3: Buffalo is center for manufacturing. We're talking about people who
Speaker 3: work third shifts or or work twelve hour days and
Speaker 3: pack their lunch and bring it in their metal lunch
Speaker 3: box to work. That's the mentality that people you appreciate,
Speaker 3: and those are the kind of guys that we want
Speaker 3: to see on the field, Guys that are willing to
Speaker 3: lay it on the line, give one hundred percent, like
Speaker 3: you said, wear their heart on the sleeves, and then
Speaker 3: that in and of itself should make us competitive. And
Speaker 3: then I think people will appreciate that. If it's a
Speaker 3: bunch of prima donnas who you know, don't want to
Speaker 3: put in the effort or think that they're going to
Speaker 3: play champagne football all the time and not give one
Speaker 3: hundred percent, well then you know our audience in the
Speaker 3: sports market here their culture enough to know the difference
Speaker 3: between the two.
Speaker 1: And we are looking forward to seeing it all. Let
Speaker 1: me see Buffalo Stallions dot org, at Buffalo Stallions, on
Speaker 1: the Facebook, on the IG, the gram or the insta
Speaker 1: is the kids call it, It's at Buffalo Stallions. Eighty
Speaker 1: character app it is at buff Stallions, which I think
Speaker 1: is both figurative and literal when it comes to the
Speaker 1: individuals that are going to be out there in the NPSL.
Speaker 2: Guys, it was.
Speaker 1: Great to catch up with you, Mark Spaccone, the head coach,
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Neill, director of club and soccer ops for the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Stallions as they get ready to come back in
Speaker 1: the NPSL. Gentlemen, thanks for an odd man rush. We're
Speaker 1: looking forward to it and we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with you soon. We're keeping an eye
Speaker 1: be safe, guys.
Speaker 3: Thank you, take care.
Speaker 4: Yes, thank you so much