Speaker 1: Time for another soccer down here, one v one and
Speaker 1: for this one we head to new Haven. New Haven
Speaker 1: United FC is in the NPSL and they ain't wasting
Speaker 1: no time.
Speaker 2: They're coming in for the twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 1: New Haven United FC's club president Jason Price hanging out
Speaker 1: with us here for a one v one. Jason, thanks
Speaker 1: for dropping by, Congratulations.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Thanks for having me. I'm excited
Speaker 3: to talk about what we're up.
Speaker 1: To, going back to the beginning of this idea, the
Speaker 1: genesis of the whole thing. How far back are we
Speaker 1: talking And you know, was it guys sitting at a
Speaker 1: table with an idea and yeah, hey, let's do that
Speaker 1: and then it goes off. But how far back are
Speaker 1: we talking about the idea of having new Haven United
Speaker 1: as a franchise and then in the NPSL.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So for me, it was a gradual process over maybe
Speaker 4: maybe six years or so. And you know, I got
Speaker 4: involved in soccer through youth youth soccer, and you know,
Speaker 4: a group of kids.
Speaker 3: That I knew really well.
Speaker 4: And you know, I support a lot of things in
Speaker 4: the community. One of the things I support is youth soccer.
Speaker 4: And I have a friend who owns a USL team
Speaker 4: that's nearby. He wanted to start an academy. I knew
Speaker 4: of a group of young boys at that time, you
Speaker 4: fourteen that you know, we're right for kind of helping
Speaker 4: him build an academy within a professional organization. But you know,
Speaker 4: the idea was building from the bottom up fourteen and
Speaker 4: the fifteen's after, and then from the top, from the
Speaker 4: bottom to the top. And what actually ended up happening
Speaker 4: in that process is this was right during COVID and
Speaker 4: once they started playing games, they realized they were starting
Speaker 4: with no fans, which means, you know, most of these
Speaker 4: teams are kind of losing money, just like a lot
Speaker 4: of other you know, professional teams during that period. So
Speaker 4: there wasn't really a budget to starting the academy while
Speaker 4: you're trying to keep the engine running for at that time,
Speaker 4: what was like a startup USL team. So because I
Speaker 4: was sort of you know, the catalysts were getting some
Speaker 4: of these families together and you know, kind of bringing
Speaker 4: these sort of mls next kids at that time, it
Speaker 4: was a da together to kind of grow and maybe
Speaker 4: have a pathway.
Speaker 3: To the pros.
Speaker 4: I said, all right, well, if we can't pay to
Speaker 4: get the right kind of coaches in here. We can't
Speaker 4: pay to the capitol to have a lot of the
Speaker 4: resources you would need to really build it.
Speaker 3: I'll put some of my money into.
Speaker 4: It, and I literally put on you know, the jersey
Speaker 4: and the swag and the badge, and you know, I
Speaker 4: was there.
Speaker 3: Sort of like a manager.
Speaker 4: And what ended up happening is I learned a lot
Speaker 4: about youth soccer, learned a lot about you know, kind
Speaker 4: of the youth player and the pathway. But most importantly,
Speaker 4: I just fell in love with with soccer, you know,
Speaker 4: in general, both domestically and internationally. So as these kids
Speaker 4: began to progress and grow, they started playing in the UPSL.
Speaker 4: So they were playing you know, against men fairly early,
Speaker 4: and you know, I.
Speaker 3: Was funding that. And then I lived in New Haven.
Speaker 4: This team wasn't really based out of New Haven, And
Speaker 4: because I do a lot in the community, I started
Speaker 4: to think about, you know, not only the game that
Speaker 4: I was beginning to love, but also started thinking about,
Speaker 4: you know, how can an amateur pro am team really
Speaker 4: impact community, and how could you connect you know, the
Speaker 4: love of the game and the passion for the game
Speaker 4: with the fans and the citizens of New Haven who
Speaker 4: loved soccer, and you know, to be honest, this was
Speaker 4: an entry level where I could get involved and do
Speaker 4: all of those things, you know, follow my passion, my hobby,
Speaker 4: support you know, the upcoming player, and also entertain and
Speaker 4: delight the New Hyme community. So that's really the longest
Speaker 4: short of high guy from point A to point B.
Speaker 1: Why the NPSL, Because today there's an alphabet soup. You've
Speaker 1: got a bunch of different leagues doing a bunch of
Speaker 1: different things in a bunch of different directions. What was
Speaker 1: it about the NPSL that locked you into them as
Speaker 1: the league of choice?
Speaker 4: So it has it has all the components I think
Speaker 4: for somebody who you know, wants to achieve a few things.
Speaker 4: You know, one is to build you know, a franchise
Speaker 4: for a community. The quality of play is high. A
Speaker 4: lot of research on looking at the us L two
Speaker 4: versus n PSL, and you know, I sort of looked
Speaker 4: at the quality of the player, the quality of the competition,
Speaker 4: you know, the the leaite management gms and where a
Speaker 4: lot of those players ended up after you know, having
Speaker 4: in a summer with the team, and you know, it's
Speaker 4: almost equivalent if you look at the players that are
Speaker 4: drafted out of the NPSLS for the D one players
Speaker 4: in the us L two players. And so we decided
Speaker 4: to go in PSL only because you know, it was
Speaker 4: the best bit within the ecosystem in and around Behavin.
Speaker 4: So we have a couple of USL two teams to
Speaker 4: the north of us one that's not too far away.
Speaker 3: And then a couple that are kind of the New
Speaker 3: York area.
Speaker 4: So MPSL checked all the boxes agatively allows us to
Speaker 4: do what we want to do in the community. And
Speaker 4: you know, I should say, even though we're not USL too,
Speaker 4: we want to be a compliment to the community in ecosystem.
Speaker 4: So maybe you know we're not playing them directly in
Speaker 4: lead competition, but you know, I know those owners and
Speaker 4: those managers and you know a lot of players that
Speaker 4: play there, and so you know, the end of the day,
Speaker 4: we don't own players.
Speaker 3: There needs to be fluidy.
Speaker 4: The more teams are playing at that level, my opinion
Speaker 4: is the better. And you know, we want to be
Speaker 4: a compliment to the ecosystem. And you know, whether we're
Speaker 4: USL two INPSL UPSL, you know we feel that we're poison.
Speaker 3: We're in position to you know, show up, show up
Speaker 3: the right way.
Speaker 2: And the runway that you have is very short, because.
Speaker 3: Very very short.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like seasons coming up just around the corner,
Speaker 1: and you know what is it like? How frantic is
Speaker 1: it to get everything in line so you can hit
Speaker 1: the ground running at full song knowing that it might
Speaker 1: be you know, it's two months away for having a
Speaker 1: product on the field, but there's a lot of the
Speaker 1: infrastructure stuff and the stuff that folks don't see on
Speaker 1: a game day that you've got to get in line
Speaker 1: so you can be ready for twenty five. How how
Speaker 1: are things there on this very very short runway with
Speaker 1: a very large plane trying to take off?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so so John's that's a very stude question. You're
Speaker 3: right about all that. It's a short runway and there's
Speaker 3: a lot to do.
Speaker 4: Quite honestly, I don't think I would be able to
Speaker 4: pull this off in the city that that I'm not,
Speaker 4: you know, if I wasn't from that city, and if
Speaker 4: I didn't you know, no particular stakeholders in this market
Speaker 4: that can help me solve some of the issues that
Speaker 4: we need to solve in order to get ready to
Speaker 4: compete and.
Speaker 3: So you know, you know this, but maybe some others
Speaker 3: don't know it. I mean, you know, you have set
Speaker 3: set up a legal entity, right, boring stuff.
Speaker 4: You have to you know, you have to be insured,
Speaker 4: you have to find a venue, you have to get
Speaker 4: your you know, your badge and your graphic design and
Speaker 4: your brand identity together.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm in other businesses and I have other
Speaker 4: businesses that have some of those components that could help me,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of sprint to the finish line. But
Speaker 4: I think at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 4: we have the foundation of something and playing the long
Speaker 4: term game that will help us, you know, kind of
Speaker 4: check the boxes in you know, a few different areas.
Speaker 3: So one is, you know, we want to build a
Speaker 3: culture in.
Speaker 4: The community this team, and we want the community to
Speaker 4: know that this is for them. And on game day
Speaker 4: we're trying to entertain them and they should have a
Speaker 4: good time through and by watching you know, a strong
Speaker 4: band brand of football.
Speaker 3: That's the first thing. The second thing is.
Speaker 4: You know, you want to have a group of young
Speaker 4: men that are you know, of the level and can
Speaker 4: compete and you know, by no means do I think
Speaker 4: you know you end up at the top of the
Speaker 4: league in your first year. But you know, we definitely
Speaker 4: want to be as competitive as we can be, and
Speaker 4: so we we have that in place, and then I
Speaker 4: think the last thing that we want to do is,
Speaker 4: you know, we want to really push and champion the
Speaker 4: game of soccer and do it the right way because
Speaker 4: you know, I think that we're in a very very
Speaker 4: interesting time in the you know, the competitive soccer landscape
Speaker 4: amidst all of the alphabet suit you know, MLS, USO
Speaker 4: pso that you know, you can show that there's a
Speaker 4: commune unity that's engaged in the game, you know, far
Speaker 4: beyond what you know, people who haven't really been initiated
Speaker 4: to the soccer community understand.
Speaker 3: So there's a whole lot of storytelling, a whole.
Speaker 4: Lot of branding, a whole lot of partnerships that can happen,
Speaker 4: you know, through what I think is a beautiful game.
Speaker 4: So you know, if we can nail those three things
Speaker 4: in year one, including the game day experience, then that's
Speaker 4: a foundation for building, you know, trying things, breaking things,
Speaker 4: and trying to fix it. But we're really focused on,
Speaker 4: you know, making sure that our houses in order feel
Speaker 4: the competitive team. And then we have a great game
Speaker 4: day experience and then you know, we'll build from there.
Speaker 3: So we have that. It's been a lot, but we
Speaker 3: have in.
Speaker 1: Place when it comes to the to do list that
Speaker 1: we talk about here over the next sixty days or so.
Speaker 1: Could be in a you know, it could be in
Speaker 1: a shared Google doc someplace on a computer that everybody
Speaker 1: dives into. Could be on your phone, could be on
Speaker 1: a legal pad, could be on a ring binder that's
Speaker 1: hidden in your office someplace. Or it could be on
Speaker 1: one of those big eight foot by ten foot long
Speaker 1: white dry erase boards. It's got a bunch of different
Speaker 1: colors and lines and everything. Where is it?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 1: What do you think the next thing that you can
Speaker 1: cross off of that to do list is as you're
Speaker 1: on this runway.
Speaker 3: So it's everywhere.
Speaker 4: So it's it's you know, text messages amongst the team,
Speaker 4: face to face meetings with whiteboards, you know Google Drive
Speaker 4: that has all of the documents, and you know brand
Speaker 4: identity and you know all of the material that we
Speaker 4: need to collaborate and work together. I mean that we're
Speaker 4: using technology and that kind of stuff. I mean, so
Speaker 4: you know those are all in improper places. I think
Speaker 4: the next thing that we need to do is really
Speaker 4: you know, work on our game day experience and really
Speaker 4: prepare for you know, what fans are going to see
Speaker 4: the day that they show up to restadium, which is
Speaker 4: you know, a university place seats about fifteen hundred and
Speaker 4: two thousand fans.
Speaker 3: You know, it would be great if we could fill
Speaker 3: that at some point.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't expect to fill a day one,
Speaker 4: but you know, you wanted to light the fans and
Speaker 4: give them something and give them an experience on day
Speaker 4: one because you hope that you know they're entertaining, that
Speaker 4: they go and tell somebody else and you know you
Speaker 4: have twenty percent more fans the next time. But you know,
Speaker 4: having you know, you know, with an understanding of project
Speaker 4: management or been an entrepreneur, you know, comfortable working in chaos.
Speaker 4: We know, we know that there's a date, there's a
Speaker 4: deadline to make sure that we can hit you know,
Speaker 4: all the points that we need to hit. When somebody
Speaker 4: walks out of their car and they begin to walk
Speaker 4: up into the game, and where they sit and what
Speaker 4: they see and what happens and who's announcing, and you know,
Speaker 4: can they buy swag?
Speaker 3: So you know that's not a one thing. It's a
Speaker 3: multiple thing. But I think, you know, in.
Speaker 4: Terms of the you know, i'd say the one thing
Speaker 4: that we need to nail is it's kind of like
Speaker 4: our debut. You know, we're spending time on what that
Speaker 4: experience looks like and making sure that we, you know,
Speaker 4: have mitigans in place to assure that we don't have
Speaker 4: any hiccups.
Speaker 3: Lets gonna start playing.
Speaker 1: What have you learned about yourself in this process? Knowing
Speaker 1: that Okay, we're in we've found our league, and oh,
Speaker 1: you know what, we've got to launch and be ready
Speaker 1: for the twenty five season in a conference that has
Speaker 1: more first year clubs in it then it does clubs
Speaker 1: with experience in it. I mean, it says a lot
Speaker 1: about the NPSL and the desire for folks that want
Speaker 1: to be in it where they're having to break things
Speaker 1: up and you've got a lot of new first year
Speaker 1: of partners in your conference. What have you learned about
Speaker 1: yourself in this process?
Speaker 4: You know, I'm a risk taker. You know, I'm comfortable
Speaker 4: with it. You know, I've been in this position before,
Speaker 4: like trying to race to get something done in a
Speaker 4: short period of time. You know, you you don't always
Speaker 4: have the resources that you needed hand to do everything
Speaker 4: as quickly as you want. And if we all had,
Speaker 4: you know, a billion dollars, you just farm it all
Speaker 4: out and it happens we don't. And you know, I
Speaker 4: think what I'm learning is an extension of the kind
Speaker 4: of leader I want to be, and that is, you know,
Speaker 4: you have to pick the people that show up with
Speaker 4: the same kind of energy, they have the same ethics
Speaker 4: and have the same you know, goals.
Speaker 3: And that.
Speaker 4: You know, I've learned that you know, I can't do everything,
Speaker 4: and that you have to be able to count. You
Speaker 4: need to be able to count on individuals that have
Speaker 4: the judgment, hustle and you know, the knowledge to get
Speaker 4: things done.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I spend a lot of time.
Speaker 3: I spend a lot of time talking to a team.
Speaker 4: About you know, we might have some arguments behind the
Speaker 4: scene means they disagree, but we have a methodology for disagreeing.
Speaker 3: And then once we decide to do something, we go forward.
Speaker 3: And you know, we go forward.
Speaker 4: And if you need somebody something, you reach out and
Speaker 4: the expectation that you hit your deadline. And I'm gonna
Speaker 4: try to hit my deadline and call me out if
Speaker 4: if I'm not hitting my deadline, and you know, I think,
Speaker 4: just to sum up the question or my answer to
Speaker 4: the question is just you know that I can lead
Speaker 4: in chaos and you know, kind of staying even in
Speaker 4: the process.
Speaker 2: New Haven United f C.
Speaker 1: Joining the NPSL, hanging out with his president Jason Price.
Speaker 1: Here for a soccer down here one v one. Have
Speaker 1: you always been someone that is better cramming for an
Speaker 1: exam instead of having a long time and having a deadline?
Speaker 2: Have you? Have you always been that way?
Speaker 4: Bring to cramming for an exam to use that example.
Speaker 4: But but but but I am okay, I'm okay with
Speaker 4: uncertainty and uh and risk and uh. You know, I
Speaker 4: kind of fear of the unknown. So I'm comfortable in
Speaker 4: those spaces. I like those spaces.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: My background was in you know, projectquity asked at management.
Speaker 4: I was working for an institution.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: At one point I was working with a friend from
Speaker 4: business school and he was kind of saying, hey, I'm
Speaker 4: thinking about doing my own thing.
Speaker 3: Ultimately I decided to join him. Went to my wife
Speaker 3: and said.
Speaker 4: Hey, you know, there might be a period where let's
Speaker 4: do something. But you know, we may not make any
Speaker 4: income for a little while, and you know.
Speaker 3: And that's risky.
Speaker 4: And we got into this sort of entrepreneurial endeavor that
Speaker 4: was fairly successful.
Speaker 3: But I actually enjoyed it.
Speaker 4: You know, I enjoyed the chaos of you know, kind
Speaker 4: of showing up trying to figure it out, and he
Speaker 4: kind of gradually, you know, right sizing in the organization
Speaker 4: and you know that process, you learned to count on
Speaker 4: people and kind of back up and then you know,
Speaker 4: you kind of go from boots on the ground to
Speaker 4: a governors role.
Speaker 3: And so.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know if people call that cramming
Speaker 4: or being good at cramming or you know, any of
Speaker 4: those things, but you know, I'm very comfortable in it.
Speaker 4: A lot of it is just wisdom having done it before.
Speaker 4: And you know, this isn't to say that I'm perfect.
Speaker 4: I've made any mistakes and business and in life. But
Speaker 4: you know, I'll tell you one thing. You know, you're
Speaker 4: going through that sort of you know endeavor, you want
Speaker 4: to be with people and an individuals who are like
Speaker 4: minded and you know, see the world the same way.
Speaker 2: So then have you always thought of yourself as a builder?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean more recently, I'm calling myself a builder,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of in hindsight. But if I if
Speaker 4: I look at kind of my resume and you know,
Speaker 4: kind of where I deviate from the path, it's usually
Speaker 4: around you know, opportunities and ideas where there's some building involved,
Speaker 4: and I mean like building buildings brick and mortar, as
Speaker 4: well as building institutions and organizations.
Speaker 1: When it comes to your phone and communications, I know
Speaker 1: that you're looking for a specific kind of individual, both
Speaker 1: on the field and off to represent New Haven the
Speaker 1: way that you want it. Has either your phone or
Speaker 1: your WhatsApp or your text messaging or your emails, have
Speaker 1: they all blown up for folks that have wanted to
Speaker 1: dive into help to be a part of this with you, Yeah, in.
Speaker 3: A good way.
Speaker 4: I mean most most of the people I know, you
Speaker 4: know in and around this soccer community, and I'll call
Speaker 4: it kind of like you know, fear for New York
Speaker 4: up to Boston have you know, kind of reached out
Speaker 4: and they're excited and you know the comments and emails
Speaker 4: are full of which is you know, you know there's
Speaker 4: folks from various kind of constituencies and stakeholders who you
Speaker 4: know won't be involved from the fans and who remember
Speaker 4: Elm City, who you know, were kind of building off
Speaker 4: of that legacy. So Elm City was in this town
Speaker 4: and you know, don't forget about them because you know
Speaker 4: they kind of paved the way and you know, they
Speaker 4: were successful. So it gave me confidence that we could
Speaker 4: be successful in this market. So they're kind of coming
Speaker 4: out of the woodworks and saying, hey, we're excited to
Speaker 4: have another you know it's not hon City, but we're
Speaker 4: excited to have another team. And you know, then you
Speaker 4: have a sponsors who you know just want to see
Speaker 4: a good brand of football soccer and you know, so
Speaker 4: kind of raised their hands. We'll see if they actually
Speaker 4: come through financially with you know, sponsorships.
Speaker 3: I hope they do.
Speaker 4: But you know, it's been really, really you know, pleasant
Speaker 4: experience at this point.
Speaker 1: New Haven United going into the North Atlantic Conference with
Speaker 1: American Soccer Club New York.
Speaker 2: We caught up with them earlier this year.
Speaker 1: Hertford City, who's been established in the NP they've made
Speaker 1: deep runs in the playoffs in the past, New Haven,
Speaker 1: New York Shockers, and Osner's FC.
Speaker 2: We caught up with Osners as well. Have you had a.
Speaker 1: Chance to gauge the competition in the conference and sit
Speaker 1: there and say, yeah, okay, or have you guys compared
Speaker 1: notes the first year the first year folks, have you
Speaker 1: guys compared notes about where you are in the process
Speaker 1: and help out each other.
Speaker 3: So not yet, but but I'm open to it.
Speaker 4: I know the teams. I think they're very, very good teams.
Speaker 4: I think they all have like great reputation. I think, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, my number one goal is to a symbol
Speaker 4: a team that elevates the conference. Right, and that doesn't mean,
Speaker 4: you know, when every game come in at the top
Speaker 4: of the league at first, but you know, you want
Speaker 4: to have a team that challenges your competition because I believe,
Speaker 4: you know, the league is as strong as their weakest link.
Speaker 4: So you know, if there is an honor code, you know,
Speaker 4: the real honor code is that we will go out
Speaker 4: and we'll find the players, and you know, we will
Speaker 4: create a roster full of mostly division IE players and
Speaker 4: you know, maybe some out of contract pros or some
Speaker 4: pre pro players that battles, you know, and then you know,
Speaker 4: we'll compete on the field and then afterwards, hopefully we
Speaker 4: can have a bureauer coffee afterwards, and you know, if
Speaker 4: I can learn a lot from them, quite honestly, you know,
Speaker 4: I know at from I don't know him personally, but
Speaker 4: I know a lot of people from the Albany area,
Speaker 4: and I know that his game day then is spectacular.
Speaker 4: It's like small and intimate, but they have a lot
Speaker 4: of fans and you know, there's beer flowing and people
Speaker 4: are excited. You know, I definitely know hard for an athlete,
Speaker 4: put me hard for an athlete. But Hartford City, I
Speaker 4: know they put on a great show. And I haven't
Speaker 4: met oser yet to look forward to, but I but
Speaker 4: you know, but want to be honest that you know,
Speaker 4: we'll do our best, quite honestly, to to kind of
Speaker 4: show up, you know, near the level or at the
Speaker 4: level that's expected for a league that has a good reputation.
Speaker 1: And we are looking forward to those next steps. New
Speaker 1: Haven United dot com on the world Wide Web, on Facebook,
Speaker 1: New Haven United FC. On the IG, the gram or
Speaker 1: the insta, whatever the kids call it these days, it
Speaker 1: is United FC and on the two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: character app it is n H United FC.
Speaker 2: Jason Price uh.
Speaker 1: Looking forward to seeing how things are going to go
Speaker 1: there and New and new Haven with New Hay in
Speaker 1: United FC joining a very very tough conference out of
Speaker 1: the blocks. Nice mix of first year clubs and experienced clubs.
Speaker 1: Thanks for dropping by for a one B one.
Speaker 3: I really appreciate it. I appreciate the conversation.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna send you a scar for the head once
Speaker 4: we prin them up, and we appreciate the support.
Speaker 3: This has been fantastic.
Speaker 1: Thanks always, always, always. We will catch up with you soon,
Speaker 1: my friend. Looking forward to it here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: Talk soon, John, Thank you very much