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Speaker 2: Terms and conditions.
Speaker 1: Apply as promised. Here's Bart Hi, Bart Martin. All right,
Speaker 1: so what's the mug lems? Let me is okay, So
Speaker 1: let's see who right now? With the topics that we
Speaker 1: normally discuss, what song from the soundtrack would best describe, Say,
Speaker 1: what's going on with Canada soccer?
Speaker 2: Master of the house, always ceiling, cheating and being otherwise
Speaker 2: unscrupulous while putting off a mirage of being nice and
Speaker 2: warm and welcoming.
Speaker 1: I couldn't resist uh and uh in the in the
Speaker 1: in the topic of Oh my gosh, I'm completely shocked
Speaker 1: and stunned the investigation that came out, the findings that
Speaker 1: came out yesterday let's start here the findings that came
Speaker 1: out from the investigation inside Canada Soccer and the the.
Speaker 3: Calls coming from inside the house.
Speaker 1: I mean, not a surprise, but I think the the
Speaker 1: levels I think are are what now that they have
Speaker 1: been put put out in paper form, Yeah, Bed Priestman
Speaker 1: and Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, they are I guess the
Speaker 1: equivalent of now show caused penalties And it looks like
Speaker 1: the the window might be closing in on John Herdman
Speaker 1: now as well.
Speaker 2: Well, that's I think the biggest piece of this puzzle.
Speaker 2: If you want to, you know, for lack of a
Speaker 2: better word, find the kingpin, find the mafia boss. It's
Speaker 2: John Herdman. But we all know that to get to
Speaker 2: that person, you have to knock down all the tiles
Speaker 2: below him. And I think that's kind of the stage
Speaker 2: that we're in right now. Because if you think that
Speaker 2: Bev Priestman was doing this because she just thought of
Speaker 2: it on her own, you know, I don't think that's accurate.
Speaker 2: I think she learned it from somebody and assumed that
Speaker 2: that was as his comments have poor trade. She learned
Speaker 2: this from someone who just acted like this was normal
Speaker 2: and everyone did it when the fact is, no, people
Speaker 2: aren't flying drones over practices to get footage of teams
Speaker 2: that you should be. I mean, Saint Kits and EVAs
Speaker 2: don't need a drone to figure out how.
Speaker 1: To be I was gonna say, you know, why, why
Speaker 1: why you running drones apparently on Saint Kitts and nevs.
Speaker 2: I mean, well, you know, John, because they have players
Speaker 2: that are danger I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 3: If you were trying, I know like that.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of the problem here is when you
Speaker 2: look at all that Canada Soccer has accomplished of the
Speaker 2: last four years, you know, since twenty nineteen, will give
Speaker 2: him that, it does take away from those accomplishments the
Speaker 2: players have achieved on the field, and that, despite what
Speaker 2: John Hernman wants to talk about, is the real crime
Speaker 2: here is he has clouded all of their wonderful achievements.
Speaker 2: I mean, winning a gold medal, you know, is fantastic.
Speaker 2: Pretending you won your little fake CONCA CAF trophy is great,
Speaker 2: you know. I guess drone regulations are stricter in guitar,
Speaker 2: otherwise they would have, I don't know, done something at
Speaker 2: the World Cup in twenty twenty two. But that is
Speaker 2: something that when you look at sporting merit, I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: it's just inappropriate. It's an excusable and you deserve to
Speaker 2: be punished and not be a part of the sport
Speaker 2: much longer to be just frank it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: The candas Soccer wrote the separate finding identified potential violations
Speaker 1: of the Federation's Code of Conduct of ethics involving John Herdman.
Speaker 3: So Herdman not interviewed.
Speaker 1: And this was the thing that we went into yesterday
Speaker 1: when we were circling back over the Rick westthead piece
Speaker 1: at TSN is that that John Herdman said, and we
Speaker 1: played the SoundBite from July where he's like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm more than happy to you know, to discuss what's
Speaker 1: going on. And then all of a sudden, as the
Speaker 1: investigation was happening for four months, they tried to track
Speaker 1: down John Hrdman.
Speaker 3: And you know it's like, man, I just I got it.
Speaker 1: I got a thing, you know, for four months, I
Speaker 1: got a thing. I can't do it. I'm coaching Toronto FC.
Speaker 1: Things busy, and so said he was gonna help, but
Speaker 1: then scheduling issues, I believe was how it was phrased
Speaker 1: where John Herdman was not able to discuss what was
Speaker 1: going on in the Sonya Reagen Bogan investigation. I can't
Speaker 1: necessarily say I'm surprised by it, but you know, literally, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll help you out. But then four months of bringing
Speaker 1: you up, it's like, Penny Sheldon, you know, I mean
Speaker 1: legitimately that's where we are here with this, and it
Speaker 1: was like, you know, we'd like to get your point
Speaker 1: of view, but then the more that you end up talking,
Speaker 1: it would be the more that you might end up
Speaker 1: incriminating yourself. The whole thing about self incrimination by not
Speaker 1: answering questions. John Herdman ends up taking a de facto
Speaker 1: fifth here all of it.
Speaker 2: I do hope that eventually they're able to get to him,
Speaker 2: because again, this seems very much like he's the king
Speaker 2: pen of all of us and needs to be investigated
Speaker 2: and punished appropriately.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So, so I guess now that I finally found
Speaker 3: it in the.
Speaker 2: Board Penny Sheldon, Penny Sheldon, Penny.
Speaker 3: For there you go.
Speaker 1: See, That's what it was like for four months trying
Speaker 1: to track down John Hurt. Yeah, and uh, it does
Speaker 1: cast a shadow over everything that they have accomplished regardless,
Speaker 1: and it was mentioned in the report that there were
Speaker 1: elements that were not seen that that in in the investigation,
Speaker 1: and in all in the the testimony that was given
Speaker 1: in the in the investigation.
Speaker 3: There were things that were shot that weren't seen.
Speaker 1: And so nevertheless, you're still going to have that that
Speaker 1: Paul and the gray cloud over the entire thing, regardless
Speaker 1: of how much was seen and how much was done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think again this is just he does have
Speaker 2: a point where this takes away from the accomplishments of
Speaker 2: the player. I know we ran that sound bite a lot,
Speaker 2: but he's the one who did it.
Speaker 1: So yes, all right, So soccer for us PO d's
Speaker 1: one oh two is out, and I want to have
Speaker 1: a discussion with you about Jamaica and the United States,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to steal away from soccer for
Speaker 1: us PO D one oh two. I guess it would
Speaker 1: be soccer for us PO d C I I I
Speaker 1: think is how I think that's I think?
Speaker 2: Are we doing it? Good?
Speaker 3: Lord John?
Speaker 2: We don't need to get back into Latin.
Speaker 3: Roman then Roman numerals. That's where we are.
Speaker 1: So Jamaica and the United States with a with a
Speaker 1: roster that as you as you look at it, when
Speaker 1: you look at these these selections that were made by
Speaker 1: Mauricio Pochettino from thirty thousand feet, what do you think
Speaker 1: about this this grouping here?
Speaker 2: Well, I think injuries are still kind of plaguing the roster. Obviously,
Speaker 2: no Balligan, no dat. And while we have been accustomed
Speaker 2: to Sergino Dusk not being a part of the team
Speaker 2: because of his injury being for quite a long time,
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean that it's not affecting down roster spots.
Speaker 2: I think specifically, when you look at some of the
Speaker 2: depth players who are either on this roster or not
Speaker 2: called in, you can see how that how injuries have
Speaker 2: affected the roster. For example, he only brought two true fullbacks,
Speaker 2: Joe Scali and Jedi Robinson. Now they've been a part
Speaker 2: of camp for you know, this team for a long time.
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone doubts especially Joe Scally's ability to
Speaker 2: play soccer. They obviously we see Jedi being a very
Speaker 2: useful tool no matter who the coaches for this team,
Speaker 2: but having no backups behind them is not super indicative
Speaker 2: of great depth. And I think, you know, Pochettino looked
Speaker 2: at it and said, well, I'd rather just bring in
Speaker 2: an extra fullback. Maybe he can play left or right back. So,
Speaker 2: for example, Austin Trusty is kind of that dude who
Speaker 2: we know that despite being on the Premier League's worst
Speaker 2: ever defensive team ever in the history of the Premier
Speaker 2: League ever, you know he did play left back on
Speaker 2: occasion at Sheffield. And you also have players like Tim
Speaker 2: Rieim who can kind of play more of a left
Speaker 2: sider center back slash left back. And you have Mark
Speaker 2: McKenzie and Chris Richards who are a little bit more
Speaker 2: two footed. So I think that is where we see
Speaker 2: some of the depth issues explained. We also have guys
Speaker 2: like Wester McKinnon and Unice Mussa who could probably play
Speaker 2: right back of need, especially Unice Musa. And then you
Speaker 2: move up the field to the winger depth, and you
Speaker 2: know you do not have a guy like Kevin Peretz
Speaker 2: who's healthy, who has been starting and playing a lot
Speaker 2: in the Bundesliga, and so when you kind of have
Speaker 2: to not when you can include those guys and you
Speaker 2: have to move down the depth chart, you're stuck with
Speaker 2: a guy like Cad Cowell who run fast, run through
Speaker 2: wall but not necessarily good with ball. And a guy
Speaker 2: like Alex Sandejas who has struggled to show that he's
Speaker 2: a good soccer player on the field despite always being
Speaker 2: ready for a fight, which is important for these CONCACAF matches.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what about the idea of dual nationals? And you know,
Speaker 1: as something that Greg Berhalter in the past administration was
Speaker 1: chasing after was the idea of you know, hey, let's
Speaker 1: always be BC Crewton always, yeah's be Cruton.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So now you're looking at another group heading into twenty six.
Speaker 1: What kind of crutin needs to be done when it
Speaker 1: comes to dual nationals to bring them in as a
Speaker 1: part of this whole discussion.
Speaker 2: Well, I think his quotes weren't necessarily taken out of
Speaker 2: context because I think he gave the context. I think
Speaker 2: people weren't applying the context of yes, we're recruiting, but
Speaker 2: you know, different than maybe Kurby smart at Uga showing
Speaker 2: them the fastest cars that they can drive into wherever
Speaker 2: they feel like they are allowed to do and get
Speaker 2: with zero punishment. Sorry Georgia fans.
Speaker 3: But we do have to.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not total college football recruitment where you're
Speaker 2: bringing out the McDonald's bags or you're you know, doing
Speaker 2: one hundred dollars handshakes. It is though important, and I
Speaker 2: think this is his point is we're going to show
Speaker 2: you what we have, We're going to tell you what
Speaker 2: we see for your future with this team. But at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, you're the play for the
Speaker 2: US and not just Oh, I want to play for
Speaker 2: a team that may be hosting a World Cup, but
Speaker 2: I want to play for the United States of America.
Speaker 2: I want to play for the badge on my shirt.
Speaker 2: And I think that's a good point. And I don't
Speaker 2: think that's different than what we saw under Burhalter's regime,
Speaker 2: and he was very effective at getting very good players
Speaker 2: to commit. There's a lot made of losing some battles
Speaker 2: with you know, dual Nationals on the Mexico side and
Speaker 2: that side of the border. Getting a lot of the
Speaker 2: dual nationals we kind of looked at, but when you
Speaker 2: look at the grand scheme of things, a lot of
Speaker 2: those guys aren't doing anything right now.
Speaker 3: And I think that is a testament.
Speaker 2: To Burhalter and his ability to say be real with
Speaker 2: the player right say this is where we see you
Speaker 2: in your development. This is where we see you right
Speaker 2: now with the senior national team, with the youth national teams.
Speaker 2: A lot of those guys didn't like that reality check, right,
Speaker 2: But then you have Mexico promising them I don't know
Speaker 2: a Ferrari and you know, automatic start in the World Cup.
Speaker 3: It seemed like that's where they are right now. I
Speaker 3: would think nout right.
Speaker 1: There ain't no transfer portal like that in coge CAF transfer.
Speaker 2: And so I think that's it's just a continuation. It's saying, look,
Speaker 2: we're going to tell you how we feel. We're going
Speaker 2: to show you our plan. We're going to give you
Speaker 2: our evaluation of you and you within this program. That's
Speaker 2: up to you. Because if they don't like that, then
Speaker 2: they are shopping around. Does that make sense? If it now,
Speaker 2: if you're truly interested, you say, hey, look I am interested.
Speaker 2: Obviously you have to be convinced a little bit, because
Speaker 2: if you have several nationalities to play for, you do
Speaker 2: have to do your homework and your twoe diligence as
Speaker 2: a professional soccer player. But you know, it's no similar
Speaker 2: than if you are a major player who's getting courted
Speaker 2: by several clubs. You have to pick the club that
Speaker 2: you feel most aligned with and where you feel like
Speaker 2: you fit in best. And I think that was Pochaccina's
Speaker 2: kind of point is if you don't feel like you
Speaker 2: fit in here, then that's on you and we're not
Speaker 2: going to like force it on you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so now as a part of the discussion, you
Speaker 1: have Conka Calf Nations.
Speaker 3: League, very very busy, very very very busy.
Speaker 2: We got some nations leaguing today.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Jamaica in the US is at eight o'clock tonight. We'll
Speaker 1: get into that one in just a second. The rest
Speaker 1: of the rundown, by the way, on Paramount Plus for
Speaker 1: those of you that may partake in the Paramount plusy
Speaker 1: version of things.
Speaker 2: Also on Peacock, Yes, okay with Spanish language, Yes.
Speaker 1: Maulsarat and Saint Vincent and the Grindines is at three,
Speaker 1: Sat Kits and Navis. We do not know if Cuba
Speaker 1: has been spying on them getting ready for this matchup
Speaker 1: at six o'clock. They man have the budget for it.
Speaker 1: Balaize in French Giana is at eight. Bonn Air in
Speaker 1: l Salvador is it eight, and Costa Rica and Panama
Speaker 1: is at nine.
Speaker 3: If I'm not mistaken, A fun little battle there.
Speaker 1: Yes, isn't bon Air the club that has the thirty
Speaker 1: nine year old keeper that.
Speaker 3: Needs to go probably to the Excel or the Double
Speaker 3: XL Jersey. If I'm not mistake, Yes.
Speaker 2: I'm like ninety percent sure you are correct that as
Speaker 2: bon Air.
Speaker 3: Oh man. But this is the fun part.
Speaker 1: When this is the problem set John, I need to
Speaker 1: move to island in the Caribbean and I can probably
Speaker 1: you probably could a caliber soccer player.
Speaker 3: Again, you probably could, man, that'd be pretty good.
Speaker 1: So as we build to discussing Jamaica and the US,
Speaker 1: Costa Rica Panama tonight, I know you're looking forward to
Speaker 1: that one.
Speaker 2: Well, that is going to be a battle, right, Those
Speaker 2: are obviously two teams that I think have flipped places
Speaker 2: in the CONCA cap hierarchy. Costa Rica used to be
Speaker 2: the always the fourth team and a lot of times
Speaker 2: the third team. Canada's kind of really taken over the
Speaker 2: third team. But you know, when you look at teams
Speaker 2: outside of North America, Costa Rica historically has been the
Speaker 2: most successful and dangerous to US and Mexico. Panama's kind
Speaker 2: of tookn that over with you know, a coach that
Speaker 2: kind of has revolutionized how they play. An outsider, I
Speaker 2: might add, you know, someone who's not Spanish speaking, someone
Speaker 2: who's not even from Latin America, and Thomas Christensen's kind
Speaker 2: of revolutionized how they play because it's not it's not
Speaker 2: defensive the way that a lot of people think that
Speaker 2: it's defensive. You know what I'm saying. It is not
Speaker 2: a bunker parked the bus. Now, they will do that,
Speaker 2: as any good team in CONCACAF will and should, but
Speaker 2: they are looking to try to hit you in the attack,
Speaker 2: and they've got some decent players. And I think again
Speaker 2: Costa Rica, if you want to talk about the man
Speaker 2: in the mirror, I think Panama saw Costa Rica as
Speaker 2: a model they could adopt. And I think those two
Speaker 2: teams right now obviously are geographically proximate, but I think
Speaker 2: also from a program stage standpoint, they are approximate as well.
Speaker 1: Legitimately, what are you looking for tonight in the matchup
Speaker 1: with US and Jamaica goals?
Speaker 2: Yes, we talked about this actually on the episode one
Speaker 2: or two. Is Kingston is a place despite them calling
Speaker 2: at the office, it's a place where we've had a
Speaker 2: lot of success and not just wins and draws, but
Speaker 2: scoring goals. I made this point. If you score two
Speaker 2: goals down there, I think you have to whether whatever
Speaker 2: the result is right, you feel very confident coming back
Speaker 2: home to Saint Louis on Monday, and I think that's
Speaker 2: the overall goal. Here is still in the Pochattino early
Speaker 2: stages of his regime, is how do we get more
Speaker 2: balls in the net, How do we create more chances?
Speaker 2: How do we get our strikers more touches on the ball,
Speaker 2: specifically inside the penalty area. That is for me, the
Speaker 2: biggest thing tonight is creating more goal scoring chances. And
Speaker 2: then to follow up on that, you got to put
Speaker 2: the goal scoring chances.
Speaker 1: Away right now, juice boxes have the US on the
Speaker 1: road even money at a plus one hundred the ninety
Speaker 1: minute draws a plus two twenty two in the composite
Speaker 1: Jamaica to win outright as a plus two eighty two tonight.
Speaker 2: Look, I think a draw is a fantastic result. But
Speaker 2: as again we talked about on the pod, there is
Speaker 2: a difference between playing for a draw, which seems to
Speaker 2: have been the stratug of a lot of US teams
Speaker 2: in the past, versus playing for a win and understanding
Speaker 2: that a draw is still possible. Again, for me, going
Speaker 2: out to try to score goals means you're trying to
Speaker 2: play to win, right, You're actively trying to create goals,
Speaker 2: as opposed to passively trying to create goals where you're
Speaker 2: just hoping you catch one on the break that ain't
Speaker 2: gonna fly. And John, I do want to take us
Speaker 2: back to a year ago. Yes, there's a certain individual
Speaker 2: who's not on the team because he's hurt, who decided
Speaker 2: to he was dissatisfied with the referee call. I don't
Speaker 2: blame him. It was a shady referee call and punted
Speaker 2: a ball. I think from Trinidad to Tobago.
Speaker 1: Are you referring to this particular moment.
Speaker 3: I'm getting you set them on your tom and I'll
Speaker 3: kid you know, one of those straightforward.
Speaker 2: So how you do that?
Speaker 3: Man? But the man portige and not send me.
Speaker 1: And there you go when andres contour contour and the
Speaker 1: booth are laughing.
Speaker 2: I mean it was it was as a neutral. I'm
Speaker 2: sure it would have been funny, you know, and the
Speaker 2: rest contour not necessarily a neutral. But you know he's
Speaker 2: not as invested as I am anyway, I want to
Speaker 2: go back to that game, because the US did try
Speaker 2: to take it to Trinidad. Right. This was coming off
Speaker 2: the heels of a big win at home and they
Speaker 2: ended up obviously losing that game in Trinidad. But the
Speaker 2: reason that they still were able to advance is because
Speaker 2: before Serginio Desk did his whatever you want to call that.
Speaker 3: Fourth down coffin corners. Yeah, he is combustion.
Speaker 2: Yet the US was playing pretty well and that is
Speaker 2: the type of mentality you have to take into this game.
Speaker 2: Obviously no offense to Trinidad, but Jamaica a different level
Speaker 2: of quality than Trinidad and Tobago.
Speaker 3: But there is.
Speaker 2: Definitely an opportunity for the US. You saw this back
Speaker 2: in the World Cup qualifying in the twenty twenty two cycle.
Speaker 2: You get an early goal right or a goal before
Speaker 2: Jamaica can score, and that is going to be super
Speaker 2: important to not just this game, but the overall tie.
Speaker 2: Go down there, score goals. You're going to feel comfortable
Speaker 2: coming back home.
Speaker 1: Travel score result Mosarat favored in home at a plus
Speaker 1: one twenty to Cuba a road favored at a minus
Speaker 1: one twenty two. Ye bon Air is a plus sixteen
Speaker 1: to fifty underdog as El Salvador comes to visit it
Speaker 1: at minus one thousand, but he is a plus one
Speaker 1: oh six hosting French Guiana. Costa Rica is a plus
Speaker 1: one forty five hosting Panama, who's a plus two oh six.
Speaker 1: Year draw is a plus one ninety six. Tomorrow you
Speaker 1: end up with League B League A playoffs including Canada
Speaker 1: who's playing Sir and Am and Puerto Rico and Aruba.
Speaker 1: That's tomorrow, and it comes to Nations League. Uh one,
Speaker 1: more reffing thing that I wanted to get into before
Speaker 1: we get into Memphis nine oh one, and Nino Taurus
Speaker 1: from Gold TV starts the Power Hour coming up at
Speaker 1: about twenty minutes. David Coot and I want to man
Speaker 1: and UEFA has now opened an investigation into suspended Premier
Speaker 1: League referee David Coot. Now and this is a video
Speaker 1: once again published by the Three Letter Paper overseas, so
Speaker 1: take the information at your own peril, allegedly showing him
Speaker 1: snorting a white powder while on duty at Euro twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, initially stood down by PGMOL, the refereing body
Speaker 1: for English football, Monday after the first video was posted,
Speaker 1: which showed him making disparaging remarks. I love how this
Speaker 1: is phrased by Dale Johnson at the Four Letter for
Speaker 1: making disparaging remarks about Jurguen Klop and apparently, if I
Speaker 1: remember correctly, I was corrected where the word that was
Speaker 1: used rhymes with punt and he and a friend of
Speaker 1: his who is a former professional cricketer were not fans
Speaker 1: of Liverpool in general. So then UEFA followed suit on
Speaker 1: Monday removed Coot from UEFA Nations League fixtures where he
Speaker 1: was due to act as a VAR. The Three Letter
Speaker 1: paper claims the new video published on Wednesday, which has
Speaker 1: not been verified by the Four Letter Network, was filmed
Speaker 1: by Coot and shared to a friend on WhatsApp. It
Speaker 1: was allegedly taken at the YUEFA appointed hotel on July sixth,
Speaker 1: the day after his final appointment at Euro twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Support VAR for Portugal and France. Statement issued by YUEFA
Speaker 1: on Thursday confirmed an investigation for a potential by aolace
Speaker 1: of its regulations that has begun. PGMOL Wednesday confirmed it
Speaker 1: was aware of the second video published and then PGMOL
Speaker 1: came out with a statement, this is a fine kittle
Speaker 1: of fish as the kids say.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did want to say this, and this is
Speaker 2: not defense of him, but look, there are coaches who
Speaker 2: just clash with your either your refereeing style or your
Speaker 2: own personality, you know, personality, right, that that is valid, right,
Speaker 2: those things need to be expressed to your assigning person,
Speaker 2: whoever that is, you know, at whatever level. Sometimes you
Speaker 2: don't have a say in the matter, right, I have
Speaker 2: a coach particularly that I just look, he and I
Speaker 2: don't we don't jive. Yeah, you know, he doesn't like
Speaker 2: my referering style. I don't like him as a human being.
Speaker 2: But you also have to put that aside and do
Speaker 2: your job as a professional. Now, it is a little
Speaker 2: different when you're getting you know, at the professional professional level,
Speaker 2: where you're dealing with some exaggerated and heightened personalities. I
Speaker 2: think is fair to say. But regardless, this is this
Speaker 2: seems like something that should have been communicated to PGMOL
Speaker 2: and that assigning body to say, look, I don't want
Speaker 2: to referee this team. Now. Is that always possible? Now
Speaker 2: it's just not. But that does that should have been
Speaker 2: communicated because this is you cannot in any way, shape
Speaker 2: or form say this, especially on a recorded device.
Speaker 1: So now make sure this doesn't get out right. This
Speaker 1: can't get out right.
Speaker 3: Okay, ah yeah, yeah, yea. You can't. You can't post
Speaker 3: this video.
Speaker 2: We're recording a video.
Speaker 1: You can't. You can't post this thing. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: we would know. We would never, of course never. Then
Speaker 1: the other topic that you wanted to bring the table
Speaker 1: was the topic that took over the tail end of
Speaker 1: the show yesterday, Memphis nine oh one is no more.
Speaker 1: And like I said, we have reached out to Memphis
Speaker 1: nine oh one in the front office to see if
Speaker 1: anyone wishes to discuss the situation, the timetables, and how
Speaker 1: all of this came to pass where Memphis nine oh
Speaker 1: one will no longer exist as of yesterday and they
Speaker 1: will not play in any form in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Santa Barbara Sky now will go to USL Championship in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six instead of USL League One in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six. So you wanted to bring Memphis nine oh
Speaker 1: one to the table, So I'm gonna let you bring
Speaker 1: the entry point in and here.
Speaker 2: Well, first I want to shout out a friend of
Speaker 2: the podcast, Lawrence Dockery, who covers Memphis nine o one
Speaker 2: for Bluff City Media and through the nine oh one podcast.
Speaker 2: He is also John in the same boat, like, this
Speaker 2: is a guy who has covered this team extensively since
Speaker 2: its inception, and same as you, he's not getting any
Speaker 2: information out of the front office. Normally, I would be
Speaker 2: very upset with the front office over that because we
Speaker 2: kind of need information. But I understand why they don't
Speaker 2: really have information to give because they gave it in
Speaker 2: the statement they gave and what seems to be the reality,
Speaker 2: and this is kind of what I want to discuss,
Speaker 2: is Memphis nine to one wanted to get a stadium,
Speaker 2: that stadium. Unfortunately that plan did not go through right. USL,
Speaker 2: especially at the championship level, has made it very clear
Speaker 2: that its teams need to have not necessarily their own stadium, right,
Speaker 2: but a stadium, a soccer stadium, very specifically that they
Speaker 2: have some controlling interest stuff, and I think that's you know,
Speaker 2: you look at Santa Barbara Sky, like, obviously they're going
Speaker 2: to be playing on one of the more famous college,
Speaker 2: if not the most famous college soccer stadium out there.
Speaker 2: But you also look at some other teams, for example,
Speaker 2: New Mexico United, they have plans in the work to
Speaker 2: build a new stadium. Union Omaha hopefully getting a new stadium.
Speaker 2: So there are a lot of teams that are still
Speaker 2: playing in baseball stadiums in USL has basically said that
Speaker 2: can't be a thing anymore. And the problem is, I
Speaker 2: agree with USL and principle right playing soccer in a
Speaker 2: baseball stadium is not a legitimate solution. But let's just
Speaker 2: run down. I don't know how much you got into
Speaker 2: it yesterday, but I do want to run through the
Speaker 2: timeline because I think the reality is in Memphis nine
Speaker 2: to one fans should feel very hard done by what happened
Speaker 2: that the state and local government. Right, So twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two they come out with this plan the city Memphis
Speaker 2: then two it was six hundred and fifty million dollars
Speaker 2: was the original plan for a city wide kind of
Speaker 2: stadium upgrade and renovation. So this would have probably included
Speaker 2: AutoZone Park where nine on one and the Red Birds
Speaker 2: currently play Redbirds Redbirds.
Speaker 3: Sure that's good to me, minor.
Speaker 2: League baseball team. This also included FedEx Forum and apparently
Speaker 2: the sponsor is Simmons Bank, Liberty Bawl, the Liberty Ball sponsor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what you.
Speaker 1: What you were discussing is what was referred to as
Speaker 1: the Liberty Park Plan, if I remember right.
Speaker 2: So nine o one came out with this Liberty Park Plan,
Speaker 2: which was going to basically tear down a coliseum that
Speaker 2: was there that is no longer useful or functional or even.
Speaker 1: At work Bill Mid South Coliseum for those of us
Speaker 1: that remember Championship Wrestling from Memphis.
Speaker 2: Yes, right, So the plan was tear that down, built
Speaker 2: a soccer stadium there, right, ten is thousand, and that
Speaker 2: was part of this big package. Now, the city understood
Speaker 2: that okay, well we can put some of the bill
Speaker 2: and teams were going to have to put some of
Speaker 2: the bill, but we need to go to the state.
Speaker 3: And so they went to the.
Speaker 2: State last year asking for three hundred and fifty million.
Speaker 2: They got it. That sounds awesome. Nine on one's going, hey,
Speaker 2: this is fantastic. Three hundred and fifty million, though unfortunately,
Speaker 2: so basically they were going to get three hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty million from the state. The city's going to put
Speaker 2: up three hundred million, six hundred and fifty million dollars total. Right, Well,
Speaker 2: then the Memphis Gridsley stepped in.
Speaker 3: Yep, they wanted money to renovate the FedEx Forum.
Speaker 2: And the billionaires who own FedEx and FedEx Forum decided
Speaker 2: they needed more money from the city or they were
Speaker 2: going to leave. And of course, the city doesn't want
Speaker 2: to lose its only legitimate professional sports franchise. No offense
Speaker 2: nine to one. We all understand that an NBA franchise
Speaker 2: is a little different than a USL soccer franchise, and
Speaker 2: that took up basically two thirds of the money and
Speaker 2: the end of what this pack is was going to do, right,
Speaker 2: So you had two hundred fifty million sure ish now
Speaker 2: going to FedEx Forum, thirty one hundred million going to
Speaker 2: Liberty Bowl, right none for the nine oh one stadium
Speaker 2: over at Liberty Park.
Speaker 1: That was from what I understand, that was the first
Speaker 1: line item to go because Memphis wanted money to renovate
Speaker 1: the Forum, the University of Memphis wanted money to renovate
Speaker 1: the Liberty Bowl, and the Redbirds wanted money to renovate
Speaker 1: AutoZone Parks.
Speaker 3: But then nine oh ones idea ended up being correct.
Speaker 3: So basically what.
Speaker 2: Happened is existing stadiums got preference, which unfortunately, I understand,
Speaker 2: right building a brand new stadium, especially when you look
Speaker 2: at some of the costs of some of these USL stadiums.
Speaker 2: Louisville is at sixty five million, Spokane thirty seven point
Speaker 2: nine million, Colorado Springs forty two million. That's a decent
Speaker 2: chunk if you're looking around, let's just say fifty million dollars.
Speaker 2: That is a good chunk of money just for a stadium, right,
Speaker 2: which I guess, which may or not be able to
Speaker 2: be used by more than just the soccer team. You know,
Speaker 2: obviously they probably would have with Liberty Parks specifically being
Speaker 2: there for those who don't know, on the same basically
Speaker 2: the same swash of the land as Liberty Bowl. John,
Speaker 2: Have you been to the Liberty Bowl?
Speaker 3: Yes, I have.
Speaker 2: Your thoughts.
Speaker 1: When you are at the very top of the Liberty
Speaker 1: Bowl and you are shooting from on top of the
Speaker 1: press box. It is very bare bones. It is a
Speaker 1: bare bones facility. It is basically a lot of concrete
Speaker 1: and steel.
Speaker 2: It is a lot of concrete.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there are not a whole lot of modern amenities,
Speaker 1: shall we say, when it comes to entertaining a fan
Speaker 1: that would be interested in going to see something in
Speaker 1: Liberty Bowl proper, it is about as bare bones it gets,
Speaker 1: and it has been as bare bones as it gets
Speaker 1: as far back as I can remember.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: So it was something that definitely needed to be brought
Speaker 1: into the twenty first century when it comes to being
Speaker 1: a facility of the twentieth century, to be quite a hoest,
Speaker 1: that is absolutely true, I will grant you that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when I'm shooting, when I was shooting a Liberty Bowl,
Speaker 1: I think it was Stanford and Michigan State, and I
Speaker 1: was with our crew and we were on top of
Speaker 1: the press box and we were in a very very
Speaker 1: northern section of that stadium. It was it was a challenge,
Speaker 1: and it was not weather friendly and it was and
Speaker 1: it wasn't and still is very very now a very
Speaker 1: very tab a slot b vanilla ish. Hey, it's a facility,
Speaker 1: it's a stadium.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 1: There are millions of stadiums on this planet and the
Speaker 1: Liberty Bowl is one of them.
Speaker 2: And ultimately, the renovations are putting lipstick on a pick.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think they have some plans to kind
Speaker 2: of renovate the lower bowl to be a little bit
Speaker 2: more comfortable, not concrete, you know. But the problem is, John,
Speaker 2: as you've seen from that stadium, a soccer field cannot
Speaker 2: cannot fit in that stadium, and if it any attempts
Speaker 2: to make a soccer field fit in that stadium would
Speaker 2: reduce the capacity significantly. Now I don't think the University
Speaker 2: of Memphis needs that capacity because lord knows, they're not
Speaker 2: selling out the Liberty Ball, which is, you know, a
Speaker 2: fairly sizable stadium. So that is kind of the whole
Speaker 2: problem here, right is, Right now, Memphis nine to one
Speaker 2: has nowhere to go. They don't have a stadium solution,
Speaker 2: and USL has quietly mandated that teams you to have
Speaker 2: their own stadium, if not be in a soccer stadium
Speaker 2: in which they have some control. Right and John, I
Speaker 2: think the problem is I understand and agree with USL's
Speaker 2: overall assessment. If we want to be seen as a
Speaker 2: legitimate league by twenty twenty six, we can't be playing
Speaker 2: in baseball stadiums where we're removing the pitcher's mound to
Speaker 2: play soccer game. It's just not conducive. I mean, they're
Speaker 2: two totally different sports. The problem is, and this is
Speaker 2: where I think. I know USL probably made this known
Speaker 2: to them, but it didn't seem like they were willing
Speaker 2: to give them any sort of benefit to come up
Speaker 2: with the plan B that I don't think there's a
Speaker 2: great plan be available in Memphis. A lot of people
Speaker 2: have pointed to, you know, the Micro Rhodes Complex, which
Speaker 2: is outside of the city. A lot of people have
Speaker 2: also talked about, you know, partnering with the university to
Speaker 2: carew to kind of create a better and bigger stadium,
Speaker 2: and those just aren't legitimate options. It sucks that Memphis
Speaker 2: is the one who's going to lose out on all
Speaker 2: this because Albuquerque getting they have plans for a stadium,
Speaker 2: Omaha plans for a stadium. You know, obviously Cashman is
Speaker 2: not a baseball stadium in the way that we think
Speaker 2: of it, and it perfectly fits sosideccer Field, and hopefully
Speaker 2: new ownership will actually make something of that stadium. But
Speaker 2: you have I mean, you look at Super League right,
Speaker 2: you had a lot of brand new cletmen and all
Speaker 2: of them minus Brooklyn, have their own if not have
Speaker 2: a stadium to play on that does an actual soccer
Speaker 2: stadium fit for professional use yep, maybe outside of Dallas Trinity,
Speaker 2: but we can talk about the cotton ball situation.
Speaker 3: At least the stadium.
Speaker 1: And while that and it and it gives the Cotton
Speaker 1: Bowl Stadium Authority another tenant, and it gives it more
Speaker 1: dates and so and the.
Speaker 2: Soccer field fits in the and in the Cotton Bowl,
Speaker 2: and that is That's to Harry's point. The question is
Speaker 2: would have dropping down to League one bit a better option?
Speaker 2: And I don't think so. I think that's the problem
Speaker 2: we're seeing is this is not a USL championship mandate.
Speaker 2: This is a pretty strong mandate up and down the
Speaker 2: League one and championship board. Is I don't think they
Speaker 2: could have dropped down to League one and have been OK. Yeah, yes, again,
Speaker 2: Omaha is having to get us find a way to
Speaker 2: make a soccer stadium, you know.
Speaker 1: And you know they are and you know they they
Speaker 1: play either at un O or they play at Warner
Speaker 1: Park and Papalan and then well and Harry mentions the
Speaker 1: second team back as well, and then in League one
Speaker 1: and like I said, we'll get into this discussion with
Speaker 1: Kaylor also and that'll be a plater later today too.
Speaker 1: The situation with Northern Colorado at four rivers right, which
Speaker 1: which is a completely different idea of problem, but it
Speaker 1: is a it is a facility where you you play
Speaker 1: and you had a successful on the field team. And
Speaker 1: I mean there's some there's some folks in the USL
Speaker 1: that have to really look at the not just the
Speaker 1: vetting process to get in, but the vetting process for
Speaker 1: future plans.
Speaker 3: If your initial thought is to.
Speaker 1: Be in stadium a correct, then what you're playing down
Speaker 1: the road to be in something soccer specific and yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, and well and.
Speaker 2: Derek they have multi they have multiple homes.
Speaker 3: Uh, they have a plan for a new stadium. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Dylan Butler Estates is being created yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's still it is still undersized mine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but is too little for Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but so they they're they're getting the live work
Speaker 1: play multifaceted.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, if you wanna if you want to stay,
Speaker 1: if you want to get a condo and Dylan Butler Estates,
Speaker 1: you can do that. If you want to stay at
Speaker 1: the Dylan Butler Estates and suites, you'll be able to
Speaker 1: do that. And maybe they'll be like the Hardware maybe
Speaker 1: like the the hard Rock Hotel at SkyDome where you
Speaker 1: can sit there and if you've got a good you know,
Speaker 1: you can stay in the three bedroom suite that Dylan
Speaker 1: Butler Suits and and uh, you know, restaurant processes and
Speaker 1: things like that. But no, there there is a plan,
Speaker 1: Dylan Butler estates is being created that ny C s
Speaker 1: C still have to want. But the thing is, Derek,
Speaker 1: and if you think about it, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, number one media market in the country, city
Speaker 1: football group, tied to a large TV partner, all those
Speaker 1: kinds of things, You're not gonna sit there. You're gonna
Speaker 1: sit there and give NYC.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you'll get there always.
Speaker 2: We're gonna give NYC a lot of leeways, the same
Speaker 2: way you've given Miami leeway with a Rector stadium.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So that's the USL is just not willing to Here's
Speaker 2: the other thing, and this is where I'm going to
Speaker 2: I'm not criticizing nine on one, but the reality is
Speaker 2: also USL is not going to give you the Lee
Speaker 2: way when it's a baseball stadium where you draw less
Speaker 2: than three thousand people. Again, and that is the unfortunate
Speaker 2: reality for nine oh one fans.
Speaker 3: As while they have a very.
Speaker 2: Strong core group of supporters, you know, part of that
Speaker 2: is ownership not funding the organization well enough. Basically, a
Speaker 2: lot of the Redbird staff also serves as one staff.
Speaker 2: And there that whether you know this or not, John
Speaker 2: Minor league baseball teams are also understaffed in their front office.
Speaker 3: You have an understaff front office.
Speaker 2: Doing the work of two front offices. Because the same
Speaker 2: ownership group basically owns both. You have a couple of
Speaker 2: extra owners on one side and the other. But and
Speaker 2: that's the thing is that that ownership group, you could
Speaker 2: call them cheap, but they're just not as wealthy and
Speaker 2: deep as some others, and so they don't really have
Speaker 2: the capital to put forth for a new stadium either.
Speaker 2: They couldn't go buy the land, then demolish Mid South
Speaker 2: and build, you know, again a fifteen million dollars stadium.
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe they could, but I think that would.
Speaker 3: Be and then very too much.
Speaker 1: And then there's the appearances of if you went to
Speaker 1: Mike Rose and you sold out.
Speaker 2: That yeah, you're talking what to twenty five hundred.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, and then I know that there was part
Speaker 1: of the plan was to I think an alternative was
Speaker 1: to expand Mike Rose twenty to get four thousand or
Speaker 1: five thousand.
Speaker 2: You know, is that enough? Is the question?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: Now that is comparable to some I mean, high Mark
Speaker 2: is forty two hundred. I don't think not Santa Barbara,
Speaker 2: a couple of the color the California teams.
Speaker 3: Central Valley, thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have some that are on the smaller end
Speaker 2: as well. You know, I think Orange County was in
Speaker 2: a small stadium as well, So it's not like it's
Speaker 2: not like you had to be in this ten thousand
Speaker 2: seat stadium. But I do think that the city of
Speaker 2: Memphis is a city worth building an eight to ten
Speaker 2: thousand seat stadium because the city of Memphis is a
Speaker 2: marquee stadium, a marquee city in their state. Whereas when
Speaker 2: you're looking at like a Santa Barbara or you know whatever,
Speaker 2: it's just not I mean, look, unfortunately this kind of
Speaker 2: happened to San Diego Loyal, and I'm hopeful that this
Speaker 2: doesn't happen to Oakland roots. They do have stadium plans,
Speaker 2: whether or not it's you know, for more than a year,
Speaker 2: who knows, but all with.
Speaker 1: The raccoons, for as long as you're you're, you're, You're,
Speaker 1: no one else is going to be there anymore.
Speaker 2: You at this point, I think you just say, can
Speaker 2: we just tear this down and build a thirty thousand
Speaker 2: see stadium and shoot, yeah, I mean you get some
Speaker 2: college bowl game to play there every year, the Oakland Bowl,
Speaker 2: and then boom there you go.
Speaker 1: You know, you get the last you turn it to
Speaker 1: the Last Dive Bar Bowl or something like that, and
Speaker 1: do it with the Oakland Coliseum, you know.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah. And Harry's like, please require five thousand, which
Speaker 3: is what you.
Speaker 2: Right, and that's that's yeah. I mean again high Mark
Speaker 2: is not there. They can, but I think they kind
Speaker 2: of can get grandfathered in. That's understinable. You know, Look,
Speaker 2: this is going to affect clubs going forward. I'm sure
Speaker 2: you'll talk about that with kaylor Is. USL does want
Speaker 2: to legitimize the league more than it already has, and
Speaker 2: and and it has a you know, I think the
Speaker 2: question is are they doing this at the expense of
Speaker 2: their growth or are they doing this to enable more
Speaker 2: growth because they've they've created a fairly stable league structure.
Speaker 2: You know. Unfortunately, we are hearing rumors of one to
Speaker 2: two teams not coming back next year at least the
Speaker 2: USL Championship. But I do think this is something that
Speaker 2: the league feels that it needs to do to make
Speaker 2: itself more legitimate as they prepare for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: And this is one of those things where you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, I just saw another report today that you know,
Speaker 2: neighborhood in Atlanta is getting a lot of funding to
Speaker 2: renovate itself. It's going to be at the Georgia State
Speaker 2: Areas trying to renovate to look a little bit more
Speaker 2: like an actual college campus. And you're going to be
Speaker 2: seeing a lot of these places where, you know, cities
Speaker 2: where the World Cup WI be hosted is are going
Speaker 2: to try to hopefully make themselves hospitable for the world.
Speaker 2: But all these leagues that we have are also trying
Speaker 2: to make plans to capitalize and the reality is bringing
Speaker 2: these new soccer fans to a baseball stadium to watch
Speaker 2: a rectangular field sport on a diamond field sport as
Speaker 2: not a great viewing audience or not a great viewing experience.
Speaker 3: And a rectangular peg in a round hole is that what.
Speaker 2: You satangular peg and a diamond shaped hold or whatever
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Soccer for us pod will be up later
Speaker 1: this morning, in this afternoon. So what should folks look
Speaker 1: at for Soccer for us CII.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, like we just talked about it.
Speaker 2: It's all US men's national team versus Jamaica roster and
Speaker 2: some not predictions, but some kind of metrics for what
Speaker 2: we feel like we need to get done tonight to
Speaker 2: be able to then get the job done back home
Speaker 2: on Monday.
Speaker 3: And uh yeah, it's basically all right.
Speaker 1: So then we will see you on Monday talking about
Speaker 1: match one and we'll get you ready for match number two.
Speaker 3: Sound like a plan.
Speaker 2: Sounds like a plan. I got my tick to the
Speaker 2: game in Orlando, by the way, so uh did not
Speaker 2: get in on the bus, So John, I might just
Speaker 2: carpool down with you and back.
Speaker 1: I'm flying down, brother, I'm flying. I got you, lucky, well,
Speaker 1: I got I got. I got high school playoffs on Friday,
Speaker 1: so I can't until Saturday.
Speaker 2: And yeah, my problem is I've already agreed to referee
Speaker 2: on Saturday, and then I have to work on Monday,
Speaker 2: so I can't.
Speaker 3: Like, oh suicide run. Yeah, well I have to uh
Speaker 3: oh abby second bus.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm working from home Monday, but I still have
Speaker 2: to work Monday, so that's.
Speaker 3: Kind of yeah remotely, yeah, yeah, let is that remote?
Speaker 2: When a hotel checkout as eleventh.
Speaker 3: We get a wife get a like a brick and
Speaker 3: just carry that with you, or go with the mine
Speaker 3: does work from Starbucks.
Speaker 2: There you go, all.
Speaker 1: Right, We will see you Monday, my friend. Thanks for
Speaker 1: hanging out and thanks for the breakdown and all the things.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, Thanks everyone for being here.
Speaker 2: And it feels weird to be here on Thursday. But
Speaker 2: I'll be here tomorrow if you want me to talk
Speaker 2: about the game. So, oh, we might schedule was messed
Speaker 2: up this week, but we might help. Don't tell the boss,
Speaker 2: but I got you some presents for her.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we might have you bat lead off about that.
Speaker 1: That's fine, all right, So we'll bat lead off tomorrow.
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow, all right.
Speaker 2: Bye off