Speaker 1: Time for a soccer down here one v one and
Speaker 1: for this one, we go to Jacksonville and catch up
Speaker 1: with a friend of the network, President and CEO of
Speaker 1: Sporting Club Jacksonville Sportingjax dot com on the worldwide Web,
Speaker 1: Steve Livingston. Steve, great to see you. We got a
Speaker 1: lot to talk about, don't we, brother.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got a couple of things.
Speaker 3: Joan, great to see you again, and I'm glad to
Speaker 3: see you working away there and getting the good news out.
Speaker 2: So it was a pleasure.
Speaker 1: I want to work backward here and start with the
Speaker 1: most recent stuff and then go to the other announcement.
Speaker 1: It was a really busy day and a big day
Speaker 1: for the franchise where you now have an announcement about
Speaker 1: women's professional soccer. It is the USL Super League that
Speaker 1: you're now going to be a part of. You've got
Speaker 1: a venue. Everything seems to be fitting in place now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the announcement the other day was monumental
Speaker 3: for us.
Speaker 2: Historic as well.
Speaker 3: This is the first ever women's professional, high level women's
Speaker 3: professional sports team that Jacksonville has ever had. Now we've had,
Speaker 3: you know, athletes in terms of golfers and tennis players
Speaker 3: that have come out of the area and represented it,
Speaker 3: but really nothing on a team level. So the opportunity
Speaker 3: to actually be on the ground floor with that, create it,
Speaker 3: get it out there in the community and create this
Speaker 3: pathway or make this connection between youth soccer all the
Speaker 3: way up to professional soccer at a high level in
Speaker 3: our community was it was just awesome. And to be
Speaker 3: able to announce that with the mayor, who's our first
Speaker 3: ever female mayor, just that the u n F, that
Speaker 3: the timing was was just right and perfect, and we
Speaker 3: couldn't be more excited and happy at the way the
Speaker 3: announcement went.
Speaker 1: How far back are we talking about here when it
Speaker 1: came to the idea of okay, let's do this, when
Speaker 1: it came to the USL Super League, to the announcement
Speaker 1: earlier this week. How long a timetable are we talking
Speaker 1: here to get everything right where you lined it all up.
Speaker 2: That's a really good question.
Speaker 3: So we really began the process in twenty seventeen, as
Speaker 3: we've talked about before, but it.
Speaker 2: Really began to crystallize.
Speaker 3: Around twenty twenty, and then we had COVID and then
Speaker 3: we were set back a little bit. But I think
Speaker 3: in terms of the particular announcement around the women's team.
Speaker 3: We've been working on that really for the last two
Speaker 3: years or so. We always knew that we wanted to
Speaker 3: lead with the women's team. We saw an opportunity there
Speaker 3: to do something special, do something historic, and really that
Speaker 3: this idea of creating something in the marketplace where fourteen
Speaker 3: and fifteen year old girls that had potential didn't have
Speaker 3: to leave Jacksonville to pursue their you know, their careers
Speaker 3: or an elite level soccer in cities like Orlando or
Speaker 3: Atlanta was something that really drove.
Speaker 2: Us and really made it important. I get two dollars.
Speaker 3: I'm a dad girl, and both of them played soccer,
Speaker 3: and I wish they're kind of older now, but I
Speaker 3: wish we'd I had something like that for those guys
Speaker 3: to look up to, those girls to look up.
Speaker 2: To rather when they were they were that age.
Speaker 3: And I think that's something that's really come through and
Speaker 3: some of the you know, the discussions that we've had,
Speaker 3: some of the announcements, some of the work we've been
Speaker 3: doing around Florida Elite, the youth club, and listening to
Speaker 3: the girls there, they're absolutely thrilled by this opportunity to
Speaker 3: look beyond what they're doing right now and see an
Speaker 3: opportunity to represent you know, Jacksonville in the first coast
Speaker 3: professionally here in women saw for the first time ever.
Speaker 3: So that was definitely a big motivating factor in what
Speaker 3: we've been doing here.
Speaker 2: Of course we've now got the men's team.
Speaker 3: As well to look forward to hopefully we get that
Speaker 3: done in twenty twenty six, and that's something we're working
Speaker 3: towards as well. So, yeah, lots of different things to
Speaker 3: balance and spin, but you know, leading with the women
Speaker 3: was always something we wanted to do.
Speaker 1: And I know that you're looking for that right venue
Speaker 1: in the right place to have that first home for them.
Speaker 4: How long and.
Speaker 1: Deep were the negotiations and trying to find a that
Speaker 1: venue and then b settling on the University of North
Speaker 1: Florida and Hadges. How far back did that go when
Speaker 1: you guys were like, yeah, let's go here.
Speaker 2: That went relatively quick, Johin, probably in the last six
Speaker 2: months or so.
Speaker 3: And you know, it was always a kind of plan
Speaker 3: to you know, potentially kick off in the new stadium
Speaker 3: with the women, but just with a timeline and how
Speaker 3: that was working out and our negotiations with the city.
Speaker 3: We began to realize fairly quickly that twenty twenty five
Speaker 3: was going to be difficult to have us kicking off
Speaker 3: from the new stadium, and we talked about this internally
Speaker 3: a lot, you know, should we wait, should we wait
Speaker 3: and roll the whole thing out together. And then we
Speaker 3: looked at clubs like Rhode Island and someone's success that
Speaker 3: they've had in kind of getting out in front of
Speaker 3: things a little bit, beginning the team, beginning the club,
Speaker 3: starting the brand.
Speaker 2: And then graduating into the stadium.
Speaker 3: I was involved in a similar situation up in Louisville
Speaker 3: as well, where there was something established and then we
Speaker 3: moved into the stadium. So I think at that point
Speaker 3: we decided to a good old Scotty's term, you know,
Speaker 3: grasp the thistle and go for it and go ahead.
Speaker 2: With a launch of the women's team.
Speaker 3: And from there it was then a case of well,
Speaker 3: where we're going to play if the stadium's not ready.
Speaker 3: But fortunately we've got a great facility in Jacksonville at
Speaker 3: the University of North Florida Hodges Stadium. I was involved
Speaker 3: with they are matter there ten years ago when we
Speaker 3: played some matches there at the stadium. And it's a
Speaker 3: great facility and it's been upgraded somewhat since then as well,
Speaker 3: so things like field.
Speaker 2: Surface, the floodlights are broadcast quality.
Speaker 3: There's some other things that we want to kind of
Speaker 3: improve around the stadium for our matches. Will be bringing
Speaker 3: in things like chairbacks, great a club seat section. We'll
Speaker 3: be enhancing some of the hospitality areas, will be working
Speaker 3: on some of the field components and upgrading the locker
Speaker 3: rooms and bathrooms, that sort of thing. But generally speaking
Speaker 3: that that stadium has got great bones, a great structure,
Speaker 3: and you know, it just it made that decision fairly easy.
Speaker 3: And then the other great thing was the University of
Speaker 3: North Florida themselves have been so supportive of us. They
Speaker 3: really stepped up to it. When we told him what
Speaker 3: we were planning to do and about our timeline, they
Speaker 3: really embraced it.
Speaker 2: And we see this.
Speaker 3: As part of a bigger partnership with UNF that will,
Speaker 3: you know, last more than just the women's season. We
Speaker 3: hope to continue, you know a couple of years with
Speaker 3: that partnership, showing support for them and their programs, their
Speaker 3: athletics programs, in particular their soccer programs at which they've
Speaker 3: been doing.
Speaker 2: Really well and as well.
Speaker 3: Their men won their title for the first time in
Speaker 3: about ten to fifteen years fairly recently. So again, we
Speaker 3: want to be supportive. Part of what we're doing with
Speaker 3: Sport and Jack's is to make a difference in the
Speaker 3: community and which we operate, and this is one way
Speaker 3: that we can certainly do that.
Speaker 1: And you're going into instant rivalries within the state in
Speaker 1: the league because of what's going on with Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: Sun and what's going.
Speaker 4: Down in Fort Lauderdale. You're diving into the deep.
Speaker 1: Im what's the radius on that thistle that you're grabbing
Speaker 1: diving in with these es.
Speaker 2: It's a fairly big one pair the lab Stiff. So yeah,
Speaker 2: that's for sure. You know, the rivalries are great. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's that's just it's just icing on the top of
Speaker 2: the cape there.
Speaker 3: And you're already been talking to some of the the
Speaker 3: ownership teams and management teams at Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 2: They're looking forward to having another, you know.
Speaker 3: Florida team to be part of that rivalry. It helps
Speaker 3: a lot in terms of preparation, things like pre season scrimmages,
Speaker 3: those sorts of things. But yeah, we we hope to
Speaker 3: develop a real healthy rivalry between those those two other
Speaker 3: Florida clubs, and it will be exciting to you know,
Speaker 3: to go down to Tampa to to have Fort lad
Speaker 3: of Dale come up here, and you know, maybe we
Speaker 3: can get together and come up with some kind of
Speaker 3: version of the Florida Cup for women.
Speaker 2: And work that out as well.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we we definitely have a respect for what
Speaker 3: the guys. Those guys have done in a short period
Speaker 3: of time to get going with our Super League teams,
Speaker 3: and we've learned a lot from them as well. So
Speaker 3: we're looking forward to those rivalries for sure.
Speaker 1: Steve Livingston, president CEO Sporting Jack's hanging out with us
Speaker 1: here for a soccer down.
Speaker 2: Here, one d one.
Speaker 4: How much advanced scouting do you do? How when do
Speaker 4: you hit the USL Championship season? Just wrap up? USL
Speaker 4: Super League's going on right now?
Speaker 2: How much? How much?
Speaker 1: How many frequent flyer miles and miles on the car
Speaker 1: at fifty eight cents a mile and flying and hotels?
Speaker 1: Are you getting to scout what's going on in the
Speaker 1: Championship and in the Super.
Speaker 4: League is a part of your getting everything together?
Speaker 2: Well? The great thing is I don't have to do
Speaker 2: all that.
Speaker 3: We have a technical team that helps us on that side,
Speaker 3: so yeah, I just I just make sure they can
Speaker 3: get to where they need to go. But our technical director,
Speaker 3: Marisio Ruez, a former head coach at JU, has been fantastic.
Speaker 3: He spends an awful lot of time going out and
Speaker 3: scouting and looking around for us, both on the men's
Speaker 3: and women's side.
Speaker 2: He's also got a fairly.
Speaker 3: Strong position with US national team, so he does a
Speaker 3: lot of the youth development for those guys too. The
Speaker 3: other person that I have to kind of paying my
Speaker 3: respect to is Becky Burley, the legend in women's college soccer,
Speaker 3: who has a roller dex about the size of that
Speaker 3: thistle that we've been talking about.
Speaker 2: It's extensive. She knows everyone in the business and really
Speaker 2: having that specialized intelligence, if.
Speaker 3: You like, particularly on the women's side, has been incredibly important.
Speaker 3: Our friends over at Florida Lee have been great as well.
Speaker 3: Sean Bubb and his team phenomenal. They've run the most
Speaker 3: successful w League team last year, you know, they won
Speaker 3: the regular season and with some of plumb as well,
Speaker 3: so they've been a great resource for us as well.
Speaker 3: And you know, things like why scout, things like you know,
Speaker 3: watching watching games, you know, using the technology to try
Speaker 3: and stay up to speed. We're obviously have a close
Speaker 3: eye on Super League. We also have a close eye
Speaker 3: on some of the other rival leagues out there. But
Speaker 3: I think one thing that we are really focused on
Speaker 3: as a club is to develop talent locally and bring
Speaker 3: that through the club and into the club and maybe onto.
Speaker 2: Other clubs from there.
Speaker 3: So our youth academy are set up is going to
Speaker 3: be vital to that. And you know, we've all Northeast
Speaker 3: Florida has been a great hotbed for particularly young female talent,
Speaker 3: and the sad thing is they've had to leave the
Speaker 3: market to be able to advance. Now we hope to
Speaker 3: provide a solution to that, and you know, there will
Speaker 3: be nothing better than to be able to see some
Speaker 3: you know, talent that's been developed on the First Coast
Speaker 3: make it into our pro teams, both on the men's
Speaker 3: and women's side.
Speaker 1: And obviously, since you've been reading my notes about what
Speaker 1: to ask you about with all of these questions, I
Speaker 1: want to get into the relationship now with Florida Elite
Speaker 1: Soccer Academy. You're talking more than twelve thousand registered members
Speaker 1: across First Coast. It's a merger combining your resources in
Speaker 1: Florida Elites and you get pre pro and you've got
Speaker 1: this merger here with the professional level operation. This is
Speaker 1: something top down where you mentioned, Okay, we want to
Speaker 1: keep folks home. This is that tent pole, that big
Speaker 1: tent pole that you're really sitting there. You're planting your
Speaker 1: flag with this and with the FBSA.
Speaker 3: And it was definitely a kind of strategic decision on
Speaker 3: our part to do that. We've been talking to Florida
Speaker 3: Elite now for the last couple of years. They've always
Speaker 3: been part of the USL family, operating the USL League
Speaker 3: two and W League teams and a USL academy as well,
Speaker 3: So that was any conversation for.
Speaker 2: Us to have.
Speaker 3: I think the more that we got to know Flora Elye,
Speaker 3: the more comfortable we got in those discussions, the more
Speaker 3: comfortable they got in terms of what we were bringing
Speaker 3: to it. And I think we just realized at some
Speaker 3: point the opportunity to bring these two organizations together, albeit
Speaker 3: will be combining with them through our foundation, which is
Speaker 3: a five oh one C three and their five oh
Speaker 3: one C three and we'll continue to be a not
Speaker 3: for profit organization that we'll look at developing talent into
Speaker 3: our pro ranks. It became clear fairly quickly that the
Speaker 3: best thing for both clubs was to combine, and you know,
Speaker 3: we're really excited about it.
Speaker 2: They are a world class youse soccer operation.
Speaker 3: They are one of the arguably one of the best
Speaker 3: in the country. They do a fantastic job both in
Speaker 3: terms of player of development and also running as a business.
Speaker 3: The way that they run their operation put many professional
Speaker 3: clubs in North America to shame.
Speaker 2: So we really feel grateful and.
Speaker 3: Honored to be able to make this combination with them.
Speaker 3: We are not going to go in and change things around.
Speaker 3: They have operated quite happily without us for the last
Speaker 3: ten years. So for us, it's a learning exercise, particularly
Speaker 3: on the youth side, and you know, we'll be relying
Speaker 3: on their expertise now. Obviously we want to bring a
Speaker 3: professional element to things, being able to upgrade facilities, upgrade processes,
Speaker 3: bring an expertise and give the kids that are in
Speaker 3: the Florida Elite ecosystem something to look up to, I
Speaker 3: think is very important. So it was just a great
Speaker 3: kind of combination between the two and really a no
Speaker 3: brainer when it came down to it.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask, when you have this train
Speaker 1: going down the tracks that is Florida Lake and then
Speaker 1: it reminds me of the scene in the Western movies
Speaker 1: where you've got at the hero and he's trying to
Speaker 1: catch the train and the train is speeding off and
Speaker 1: the the guys either on the horse and he's got
Speaker 1: to get off the horse and hop onto the train
Speaker 1: to make sure everything's going on. I mean, what's it
Speaker 1: like for Sporting Jacks to notice that train and go, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: we've got to get there, and we've got to we've
Speaker 1: got to be up to speed with them from the
Speaker 1: second we hop on here.
Speaker 3: Well, to be honest with you, I mean the way
Speaker 3: the way that we look to the development of the club,
Speaker 3: we weren't initially going to get involved in youth soccer
Speaker 3: at all. We were just looking at setting up the
Speaker 3: pro teams and really working with all of the youth
Speaker 3: clubs in the area, and that's something that we're still
Speaker 3: committed to. There's some lines drawn.
Speaker 2: Within our market, if you like, but we have.
Speaker 3: Been consistent in this from the start that we want
Speaker 3: to work with everyone, and we are definitely a big
Speaker 3: tent organization and open to working with all.
Speaker 2: And every every youth club in the area.
Speaker 3: I think for US, we you know, we knew it
Speaker 3: was going to be a long process doing it that way.
Speaker 3: We didn't want to come in and take anything over
Speaker 3: or upset anybody, or set up our own youth program
Speaker 3: or or anything like that.
Speaker 2: And we knew it was going to be probably.
Speaker 3: A ten year process before we got to the stage
Speaker 3: that that Florida the leader at.
Speaker 2: Right now in terms of the youth.
Speaker 3: So we were actually approached approached by Florida Elite in
Speaker 3: the first place, which was really really amazing that they
Speaker 3: would they would think of us, I think in terms
Speaker 3: of what we're trying to do and bringing.
Speaker 2: A USL product, in terms of what.
Speaker 3: We're trying to do, in terms of the facilities that
Speaker 3: were developing the stadium development. They they I think they saw,
Speaker 3: you know, an organization that was as ambitious as them
Speaker 3: and wants to be as successful.
Speaker 2: As they be.
Speaker 3: So again, their leadership, Stephen mel Shawan Bubb I think
Speaker 3: saw that opportunity and we sat down with them, and
Speaker 3: you know, I didn't.
Speaker 2: Know if they were serious to start with, but.
Speaker 3: Then we get into conversations with it and we realized
Speaker 3: that that there was a lot of kind of shared
Speaker 3: goals here, shared vision, a lot of you know, want
Speaker 3: to do things the right way, be.
Speaker 2: Excellent and world class, and our approach.
Speaker 3: And I think it was more from their side that
Speaker 3: they felt comfortable with what we were doing, the new
Speaker 3: guys on the block, you know, the new kids in town,
Speaker 3: if you like. And at the same time, I think
Speaker 3: we felt very respectful to them and what they were doing.
Speaker 3: So again, it wasn't something that we were looking for,
Speaker 3: but it's something that developed and something that's brilliant and
Speaker 3: you know, essentially accelerated our plans.
Speaker 2: And programs by ten years or so, which is just phenomenal.
Speaker 1: What are you the most excited about for twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five and what do you think as you're piecing everything together,
Speaker 1: the Sporting Jacks still needs the most spit and polish
Speaker 1: going into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: It's a good question, John, you know, I think for
Speaker 3: where it kind of begins and ends in terms of
Speaker 3: what we are doing as a club is stadium and facilities.
Speaker 3: Really without that you can't really achieve what you need
Speaker 3: to achieve long term and you can't fulfill that larger
Speaker 3: vision of creating something that's going to be meaningful to
Speaker 3: the community.
Speaker 2: And that then you can start doing stuff in.
Speaker 3: The community to influence and make the community a better place.
Speaker 3: We really need to start with the stadium and the facilities.
Speaker 2: That's the most important thing.
Speaker 3: That's what gives us the credibility, that's what gives us
Speaker 3: the opportunity to bring in partners, sponsors, to grow the brand,
Speaker 3: to grow the club. So I think our focus as
Speaker 3: an organization will for Elite continues and they will continue
Speaker 3: under the Sport in Jack's brand in the new.
Speaker 2: Year to develop youth and develop.
Speaker 3: Talent and grow the game and that respect, our immediate
Speaker 3: priority is to get our stadium development going, get that
Speaker 3: stadium coming out of the ground and you know, be
Speaker 3: in a position to play soccer in that stadium sometime
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six. That's our goal, and that's a
Speaker 3: real ambitious goal. But at the same time, it's vitally
Speaker 3: important that we get that done because without it, we're
Speaker 3: really nothing. We're just another clubs that's renting a facility
Speaker 3: somewhere and that's not long term. So again to meet
Speaker 3: our long term aspirations of long term goals. Really focusing
Speaker 3: on on that stadium is important. And I guess then
Speaker 3: the second thing is, you know, I shouldn't say second
Speaker 3: thing because it's parallel, is getting a women's team up
Speaker 3: and running off the ground, getting the right people in there,
Speaker 3: finding the right players, launching that in a you know,
Speaker 3: a world class way at UNF So we're kind of
Speaker 3: owning parallel cracks there. To answer the question, those are
Speaker 3: the two things that we're really focused on.
Speaker 1: Steve Livingston, President and CEO down at Sporting Jacks. It's
Speaker 1: been a big week. It was a happy Thanksgiving. It's
Speaker 1: a great early December, and you know we're going to
Speaker 1: keep knocking on your door when things keep happening. Thanks
Speaker 1: for the progress report. Great to see you, my friend.
Speaker 1: We will catch up with you sooner than you think
Speaker 1: because things are really going to start hopping. Thanks for
Speaker 1: dropping by for a one v one my friend.
Speaker 2: Thanks Sean, it was a pleasure.