Speaker 1: My friend.
Speaker 2: Good to see a happy New Year.
Speaker 1: Happy New Year. It's been a minute, huh.
Speaker 2: No doubt, because you're kind of one of the busiest
Speaker 2: dudes on the planet. And the chance to catch up
Speaker 2: with you about all the things that you are doing
Speaker 2: involving Major League Soccer, about beyond goals, about all the
Speaker 2: globe trotting that's going on where you are helping to
Speaker 2: further the beautiful game. First off, I want to get
Speaker 2: into the work that you're doing Major League Soccer once again.
Speaker 2: You're having all of the diversity work that you're doing there.
Speaker 2: What's the latest with that heading here into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Yeah, same old, same old. It's MLS Center Cultural Awareness
Speaker 1: two point zero. Some different things that we're applying and
Speaker 1: implementing within our trainings, but similar, similar cause and similar
Speaker 1: project and initiative that I think that is of so
Speaker 1: much importance. It's not only a fight against like discrimination,
Speaker 1: it's just helping. It's helping players understand and not only
Speaker 1: what is expected of them within the league that they
Speaker 1: play in and represent what's expected of them living in
Speaker 1: the United States, but also just kind of helping each
Speaker 1: and every individual within every locker room understand where everyone
Speaker 1: comes from and understand their background, their culture, their ways
Speaker 1: of thinking, their views, whether it be political, whether it
Speaker 1: be religious, whether it be and just kind of trying
Speaker 1: to find a common a common ground to meet in
Speaker 1: the middle, right. It's it's I think it's it's very
Speaker 1: hard to say that you can change someone. I think
Speaker 1: when somebody is really solidified into who they are, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure you can change them. But can you help
Speaker 1: them see things differently? And that's a that's a that's
Speaker 1: a big one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and no doubt about it. When it comes to
Speaker 2: two point zero and what you're doing, how many players
Speaker 2: understand what your message you're trying to get at in
Speaker 2: that first meeting, and how many players take a little
Speaker 2: while to understand about what they're getting into in Major
Speaker 2: League Soccer, what they're getting into in the United States,
Speaker 2: what the current temperatures are involving issues like, you know,
Speaker 2: making sure that you're all walking forward as a group
Speaker 2: and that you understand different cultures and ideals and everything.
Speaker 2: How many folks get it immediately and how many folks
Speaker 2: take a little work.
Speaker 1: Uh, It's it's an interesting concept because these are preseason meetings, right,
Speaker 1: and so you kind of I think them having the
Speaker 1: idea to use former players to kind of build that
Speaker 1: connection is key and essential to have a successful presentation
Speaker 1: because you have a lot of players to where like
Speaker 1: they're like, ah shit, I don't want to do. Excuse
Speaker 1: my language, I don't want to do.
Speaker 2: Is explicit grating on a variety.
Speaker 1: I don't want to I don't want to do a
Speaker 1: preseason meaning this sucks, man. I just want to go
Speaker 1: home to my hotel room and sleep, you know. But
Speaker 1: I think I think, you know, having having someone who
Speaker 1: is a familiar face, you know, I just did enter Miami.
Speaker 1: They were the first ones last this week on Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1: So just just having a familiar face, and especially when
Speaker 1: you have a lot of big guns that sit in
Speaker 1: a room and could probably give two craps of who
Speaker 1: you are, but you still have in the same room
Speaker 1: people that you know, people that you've played with, and
Speaker 1: people that you've been around. And I think having that
Speaker 1: kind of relationship with a lot of players allows allows
Speaker 1: me as the facilitator to kind of create a really
Speaker 1: good vibe with the whole entire room. And they see
Speaker 1: me as them, right, They don't see me as a
Speaker 1: suited a student executive within the league coming and telling them,
Speaker 1: you know, what's what's what's needed to make this league successful.
Speaker 1: It's having a former player telling them, Hey, I've been
Speaker 1: in your shoes. We're all in this together. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm on your guys side. But this is this is
Speaker 1: how we have to continue to help this league grow,
Speaker 1: continue to have it one of the most viewed leagues
Speaker 1: in the world, continue to make it one of the
Speaker 1: most diverse, which it is the most diverse league that
Speaker 1: has ever existed on planet Earth at any point in time,
Speaker 1: and just kind of continue to create those opportunities for
Speaker 1: so many people around the world. So I think it's
Speaker 1: a very well accepted message there. There are some times
Speaker 1: where you do have a few you do have a
Speaker 1: few moments to where you have some kind of talking
Speaker 1: back or some I would say, kind of healthy arguments
Speaker 1: that you have to have because you have to try
Speaker 1: and find a middle ground in someone's views of maybe
Speaker 1: a certain word that can be said in another in
Speaker 1: another place that might not mean something as bad, but
Speaker 1: here in the States it is something that is forbidden, right. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been in locker rooms to where those
Speaker 1: things happen, and it's that it's a very fine line
Speaker 1: between the banter that you have in a sanctuary I
Speaker 1: call the locker room. It's a sanctuary. It is a sanctuary.
Speaker 1: Nobody's allowed in it. I was a veteran player to
Speaker 1: where even if an assistant coach came inside the locker room,
Speaker 1: I'd be like, get the hell out, because this is
Speaker 1: a player's locker room. This is our this is our
Speaker 1: it's forbidden. It's our sanctuary. You know, whatever happens in there,
Speaker 1: it stays in there. Nobody knows what goes on in
Speaker 1: the locker room, but it's it's one of those things
Speaker 1: to where the banter is is is I love I
Speaker 1: missed the banter. I miss the banter. And there's certain
Speaker 1: ways that you can have types of banter, right, but
Speaker 1: there's a difference between a lot of banter and in
Speaker 1: a moment to where that can turn into disrespect. And
Speaker 1: that's that's ultimately the kind of key key thing to
Speaker 1: these meetings is to help these players understand that, hey,
Speaker 1: there you are in a microscopical, you know, world to
Speaker 1: where people have a lot of eyes on you. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of views on what's happening around you.
Speaker 1: So the role modelship that takes place and everything else
Speaker 1: of just understanding that, hey, when you're playing in the
Speaker 1: competitive stress that happens along with it, of wanting to win,
Speaker 1: you're fighting for money, you're fighting for positionings. You know
Speaker 1: that that that these things just cannot happen if we
Speaker 1: want to keep our league the on on the upward
Speaker 1: trend of what it is right now.
Speaker 2: I do have allow my own question to ask before
Speaker 2: you get out of here, because it could be the
Speaker 2: return of Meggy fairly soon.
Speaker 1: I did see that, Yeah we can. We can go
Speaker 1: straight into it, uh return of Miggy, and I mean, look,
Speaker 1: it could be potentially the return of other people as well.
Speaker 1: So uh, I'll just I'll put that out there. But uh,
Speaker 1: it's not me. My body can't take it anymore. But uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I think it's this is my
Speaker 1: personal opinion is is uh is Meggy beyond the MLS?
Speaker 1: Is Miggy beyond? And this is no take. But I
Speaker 1: just feel I don't know if our team can be
Speaker 1: built around MEGGI. We have a very European base like
Speaker 1: team right now, and I feel that with Miggie, you
Speaker 1: have to play Meggie in a free role and so
Speaker 1: I it's I don't know, it's it's a lot of
Speaker 1: questionings that I have in that. But I can go
Speaker 1: deep into it and give my personal opinion on why
Speaker 1: I think the fight to bring Meggie back is real.
Speaker 1: But I think it's to put a lot of smiles
Speaker 1: on a lot of faces. That is. That is my
Speaker 1: personal opinion. But to build a championship team, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, he would be he wouldn't be the guy.
Speaker 2: He would be a guy. They're looking at bringing in
Speaker 2: a number nine from the the EFL Championship. They're looking
Speaker 2: at bringing in a guy from Middlesbrough. So what you
Speaker 2: would have is Meggi as a lot of the weaponry
Speaker 2: that is, it would be Saba the new number nine,
Speaker 2: midan Chuk, it would be you.
Speaker 1: Have some danger. Yeah you're I was talking about this
Speaker 1: with one of my menties the other day. You can
Speaker 1: have Meggy as the free free roaming role. You're gonna
Speaker 1: have Saba on the right, you can have Shanda's Silva
Speaker 1: on the left, and you have this new number nine
Speaker 1: up top. Like that's that's I mean, it's I just
Speaker 1: see one of the comments. I don't think the team
Speaker 1: will be built around Meggi. The team has to be
Speaker 1: built around Meggi. You're talking about one of the best
Speaker 1: players that has probably demolished this league in every way
Speaker 1: possible when he was here. I mean there was no
Speaker 1: stopping him. I mean, I know Joseph had, Joseph had
Speaker 1: so much of the kingdom of just scoring so many goals,
Speaker 1: But I mean Meggi was Miggi was our Miggy was
Speaker 1: the player that if he was standing two feet away
Speaker 1: from me and I had the opening, I would give
Speaker 1: it to him because I know that he would create
Speaker 1: something much more, uh, you know, much more special than
Speaker 1: I could have ever done. So I see another one
Speaker 1: of the comments, Meggi was the man. Yeah, Biggy was
Speaker 1: the man when he was here in the MLS. I
Speaker 1: truly think he was. So I think if you do
Speaker 1: bring him back, you have to think about even this
Speaker 1: number nine that comes in. Still, the game that you
Speaker 1: build within Atlanta United has to be built around someone
Speaker 1: like that who can change a game within seconds. And
Speaker 1: that is that is the that is like the key
Speaker 1: sauce to the league. Right, We've talked about that before.
Speaker 1: You have to have a few players who can change
Speaker 1: the game within a second, you know, a few seconds,
Speaker 1: and then you have to build guys that can be
Speaker 1: industrial players to work around them, and guys that are
Speaker 1: going to just work their absolute asses off every single
Speaker 1: day and put in a shift and know for a
Speaker 1: reason why you have those players. So can can can
Speaker 1: it be uh? Can it be convinced within that locker room?
Speaker 1: I would, I would hope so.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, when it comes to dealing, you mentioned
Speaker 2: the conversations that you have with your mentees. What how
Speaker 2: how in depth do those conversations get about? Okay, you
Speaker 2: have a teamwork that has a framework, and then you're
Speaker 2: bringing in the guy or a guy you know that
Speaker 2: has been the guy capital T capital g and having
Speaker 2: to to rework the dynamics of a locker room and
Speaker 2: all these kinds of things. How how how deep do
Speaker 2: you get.
Speaker 1: Into That's a great question because I always speak about
Speaker 1: just knowing your role. Yeah, that's what you're saying right there,
Speaker 1: is just knowing knowing the role that you play in
Speaker 1: every organization that you're in, anything that you do in life,
Speaker 1: you're going to have some sort of role, right, You're
Speaker 1: going to be a role player in some sort of
Speaker 1: fashion or way. Biggie is a player that does not
Speaker 1: have a role. He does what he wants and and
Speaker 1: and you you as that I kind of the industrial
Speaker 1: player around someone. You have to be very understanding of that.
Speaker 1: And that's that's uh, that's that's just my personal opinion.
Speaker 1: And so hopefully all these other guys can can can
Speaker 1: unders can understand something like that. And I mean, I
Speaker 1: just see one of the comments. The next comment is Mironchuk, Right, yeah,
Speaker 1: can he be understanding that if they bring in Miggi, Well,
Speaker 1: Miggi's not Miranchuk and Mirnchuk is not megg and so
Speaker 1: can he be bought in to say, all right, man,
Speaker 1: I'll be the I'll be the Carlos Carmona of I'll
Speaker 1: put it in a shift and work my absolute tail off.
Speaker 1: Although I've been playing Atalanta and in Italy for the
Speaker 1: last twelve years. And Miggi, you've come from you know,
Speaker 1: wherever you've come from before. But you're the guy and
Speaker 1: I'll make sure my work is put in for you.
Speaker 1: And that and that's that's the type of guys that
Speaker 1: you need. You need those type of guys that are
Speaker 1: going to be willing all though they might have a
Speaker 1: stature to where they've done really well for themselves. They
Speaker 1: can they put their egos aside and understand their role.
Speaker 1: And that is a huge piece of conversation that I
Speaker 1: have with a lot of the mentees of understanding moments
Speaker 1: like that, because that's what makes great teams.
Speaker 2: All right. So then before you go, let me ask
Speaker 2: you this, and I know you're on the clock, and
Speaker 2: thank you for.
Speaker 1: You can go a little over and we have a meeting,
Speaker 1: but Parky can take over. We have our marketing meeting
Speaker 1: at ten, so Parky can take over the first five
Speaker 1: minutes from me.
Speaker 2: That's fine, okay. So then I wanted to ask you
Speaker 2: what you thought about twenty twenty four for beyond goals
Speaker 2: and what you're looking forward to in twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: the most with this marketing meeting coming up here in
Speaker 2: less than a minute.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a very fun one one that I
Speaker 1: think created a lot of experiences for us to understand
Speaker 1: what it means to be more of a mentor. I
Speaker 1: think Parking and I would consistently grow each and every
Speaker 1: year and in in a good way and from business
Speaker 1: development way, and and and growing as a company and
Speaker 1: understanding the sales perspective, but and also the most important
Speaker 1: thing is just understanding kids more and seeing how how
Speaker 1: different they are, how unique they can all be, and
Speaker 1: just teaching them wonderful values to live by and and
Speaker 1: things that, you know, things that things that can ultimately
Speaker 1: help them, not within the sport that bonds and that
Speaker 1: uniquely bonds us, but ultimately in life in general. And
Speaker 1: that's that's uh. And I think that's the coolest thing
Speaker 1: for me. It's UH. I was in Cali one day
Speaker 1: and I had a mom call me. Uh, I was,
Speaker 1: I was, I was, I was. I was selling one
Speaker 1: of my homes in California and and and and and
Speaker 1: on the Tijwana side. And I was over there and
Speaker 1: I was with my best friend who's as a mortgage consultant.
Speaker 1: We're having breakfast before crossing over the border. And I
Speaker 1: had a mom like deliriously call me and just like
Speaker 1: crying and you know, something had happened with her son
Speaker 1: and you know, just going quite crazy with every I
Speaker 1: guess the whole situation. And I like I was able
Speaker 1: to calm her down and speak through things, and and
Speaker 1: and my friend looked at me, He's like, dude, like
Speaker 1: holy crap, Like you do this every day and I'm
Speaker 1: like pretty much every day all day, man, And he's like,
Speaker 1: you're He's like, you're the You're the soccer therapist. And
Speaker 1: I was like, I was like, I guess, I guess
Speaker 1: so because you you you, I don't say deal, you
Speaker 1: you experience and you are able to be put in
Speaker 1: front of a lot of different personalities and ways that people.
Speaker 1: It's it's so cool because I get to use that training.
Speaker 1: Like even in what I'm doing right now for the league,
Speaker 1: everybody is so different, but there is something that uniquely
Speaker 1: does bond us all I use and I think like
Speaker 1: even all these interviews from our new head coach and
Speaker 1: from our new GM and from you know, everybody or
Speaker 1: the new VP or everybody that's under Garth. Now what
Speaker 1: I think, what I think is missing, like from a
Speaker 1: couple of those interviews, is that Atlanta is Atlanta because
Speaker 1: the fan base has found a way to uniquely be
Speaker 1: together from being all over you. If you go to
Speaker 1: an Atlanta United Stadium is the only stadium in the
Speaker 1: United States that fills up in a way to where
Speaker 1: you have these sections of just so many different colors
Speaker 1: and races and views and like nationalities. Not many people
Speaker 1: know this, but there are over eighty five different countries,
Speaker 1: over eighty five different countries that are represented, close to
Speaker 1: ninety countries that are represented within the league.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Now, if anybody that's in the comment session can name
Speaker 1: ninety countries, have at it.
Speaker 2: Well, I know Abby can come close, because she's the
Speaker 2: one who puts up the flags of Mercedes.
Speaker 1: She's had a good idea, right, But it's uh, it's
Speaker 1: it's that for me, is like that if we were
Speaker 1: to if this is a great question for if she
Speaker 1: were to put up flags not necessarily of players, but
Speaker 1: the countries that are represented that come and support Atlanta United. Wow,
Speaker 1: I would love to see that one day because that
Speaker 1: is like the true blessing of what Atlanta is. It
Speaker 1: is one of the is a melting pot, one of
Speaker 1: the most diverse cities within the United States. But New
Speaker 1: York doesn't. New York doesn't, you know, come together as
Speaker 1: much within the NYCF Stadium or the New York Red
Speaker 1: Bull which is not even in New York. But uh,
Speaker 1: you know it's they don't come together as much. And
Speaker 1: whatever the special sauce or the the special dust that's
Speaker 1: been sprinkled upon Atlanta for some reason, it brings every
Speaker 1: culture and country together, so a lot of I guess
Speaker 1: just going back with what beyond goals is really learned
Speaker 1: this year is just I think for me, even being
Speaker 1: involved in a lot of these trainings and this initiative
Speaker 1: and this project has allowed me to kind of further
Speaker 1: further my insight on how to help better kids grow
Speaker 1: and mature in the best ways possible and just give
Speaker 1: me new ideas. I think. I think ideas are amazing.
Speaker 1: You know, we're having new ideas and and and trying
Speaker 1: to apply them to what we know and to try
Speaker 1: and spark new things has been extremely beneficial for Parking
Speaker 1: and I this year.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it. One thing before you go, when
Speaker 2: you head into the meeting. Clearly this should count as marketing.
Speaker 2: So consider this work study.
Speaker 1: I would be whoever said that, I would be, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is uh marketing. One on one. I there was
Speaker 1: a point in time this season where I think all
Speaker 1: of us thought the season was going to absolute shite ish, Yes,
Speaker 1: And I just remember being at the stage and somebody
Speaker 1: had got me tickets at all the where all the
Speaker 1: season ticket holders are, and I probably had over ten families,
Speaker 1: over ten families come up to me, and everybody always
Speaker 1: takes picture. Everybody's so nice and and I mean, I
Speaker 1: still can't believe we still get the recognition that we do,
Speaker 1: which is insane and so humbling and so awesome. It's great,
Speaker 1: so gratifying. But I probably had over ten families come
Speaker 1: and ask me, Hey, what do you think about the
Speaker 1: new you know, the new prices for the season ticket
Speaker 1: holders next year, like we're out, We're out. Like I
Speaker 1: had so many people come up to me, and it
Speaker 1: was like it was so surprising because that was the
Speaker 1: first time I think in the history of Atlanta and
Speaker 1: I had to where like I started to realize, man,
Speaker 1: like we need to we need to rebuild, like we
Speaker 1: need to do something here to kind of these are
Speaker 1: fans that have been here from the very get go,
Speaker 1: and these are a lot of fans that are I mean,
Speaker 1: they're upset. They're upset, not not just at prices, they're
Speaker 1: just upset with what's going on behind the scenes. And
Speaker 1: I totally think this is an outstanding, amazing marketing move
Speaker 1: to get those people back into their seats and back
Speaker 1: to being season ticket holders, because he is someone that
Speaker 1: I think can do that.
Speaker 2: And on that note, go to your marketing meeting, sir,
Speaker 2: and then that way you can continue to continue to
Speaker 2: grow things here in twenty twenty five and we will
Speaker 2: get the updates and we get marketing one on one
Speaker 2: from you as well.
Speaker 1: Be safe, my friends, I appreciate it. Always good to connect.
Speaker 1: Happy New Year to you and your family man, and
Speaker 1: we'll speak soon.
Speaker 2: You got it, There goes Greg. Greg's going to meeting