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Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Jason Kelley, and I'm Mike Lynch and

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Speaker 1: I'm Michael Barr. And this is the Bloomberg Business of

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Speaker 1: Sports podcast, where we explore the big money issues in

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Speaker 1: the world of sports. Working hard, Robbery go bes b bez,

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Speaker 1: fighting goes down outside the box. We'll get the call Berkovich.

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Speaker 1: That is it, sacram It's time to celebrate, and you're

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Speaker 1: hearing some championship vibes there of the Sacramento Republic FC,

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Speaker 1: the football club. Today we're happy to be joined by

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Speaker 1: Todd Dunovan. He is the president and GM of that

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Speaker 1: fun football club. So Todd, really nice to have you

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Speaker 1: with us from Sacramento. How are you. I'm great, Thanks

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Speaker 1: for having me this morning. Guy. Does that bring back

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Speaker 1: good memories? I'll tell you what I was, you know

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Speaker 1: when that game happened. I was actually a part of

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Speaker 1: the l A Galaxy and we watched. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: in a way it with bad memories for me because

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Speaker 1: that was against our our second team el in galaxy too,

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Speaker 1: and we watched from the locker room after our game

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Speaker 1: at Sacramento. First time to the scene and and spoiled

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Speaker 1: the day for us and had a crazy comeback and

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Speaker 1: and uh put it put Sacramento on the map, and um,

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Speaker 1: you know, several years later, I found myself right right

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Speaker 1: in the middle of it all. And so tell us

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Speaker 1: about that, because you know, that's that's a transition for you.

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Speaker 1: It's also I would imagine an endorsement of this club

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Speaker 1: and the growth of the sport. You know, they're in

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Speaker 1: California and beyond. And we'll talk a little bit later

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Speaker 1: about MLS expansion and all of that, but but talk

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Speaker 1: about the opportunity for you as a businessperson again having

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Speaker 1: worked already at at some of the highest levels of

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Speaker 1: this sport. Yeah, I mean, it was honestly an incredible

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Speaker 1: thing to see Sacramento kind of come out of nowhere

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Speaker 1: in terms of the soccer scene and in sports scene.

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Speaker 1: I mean, for me, you know, I was a player

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Speaker 1: for thirteen years in Major League Soccer and uh, at

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Speaker 1: that time when Sacra first came into the league, they

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Speaker 1: were drawing twenty fans for their games, and they're you know,

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Speaker 1: in MLS there was most of the teams in MLS

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Speaker 1: at the time, we're not drawing those kind of numbers.

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Speaker 1: And so that's when sacrament really took notice and it

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Speaker 1: was only going to be a matter of time before

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Speaker 1: you know, they joined the league. And you know, now

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Speaker 1: that I've been here and been in Sacramento, it is

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Speaker 1: truly different here in terms of the interests, in terms

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Speaker 1: of how saturated it is, in in terms of the culture.

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Speaker 1: You know, people who don't even love sports, who don't

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Speaker 1: know soccer, they know about the team. They know we're

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Speaker 1: building a stadium downtown, they know you know that we're

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Speaker 1: going in MOLS. All those things you know, permeate in

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Speaker 1: a way that I just haven't seen in most places. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And it's and it's truly special. How long and it

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Speaker 1: shouldn't be long with the expansion for you guys to

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Speaker 1: go to MLS. We're working on it right we we've

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Speaker 1: we've been so far down this track. And like I

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Speaker 1: said that, you know, when Sacramental first came on the scene,

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Speaker 1: it was clear that it was in MLS city. And

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Speaker 1: you know, that process has taken time, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we've worked with the city. We've got a so much

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Speaker 1: of the work has been done. You know, we've got

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Speaker 1: a downtown stadium site, we've got you know, environmentals cleared,

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Speaker 1: We've worked out, you know, all the different issues. We've

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Speaker 1: been working for a year and a half with MLS

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Speaker 1: to transition our club to the league, and so, you know,

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Speaker 1: so much of the work has been done, our market

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Speaker 1: has been vetted, you know, all those things. The last

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Speaker 1: piece we need is sort of the lead investor and

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Speaker 1: um and we are we are ready to go. So

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Speaker 1: why is Sacramento, which is not really a city that

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Speaker 1: has a lot of professional franchises, why is it a

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Speaker 1: good fit for MLS. Yeah, it's a good question. I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's a few things. I think one, it

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Speaker 1: is the top twenty media market and you know, it

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Speaker 1: only has one major professional sports team and that's that's

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Speaker 1: the Sacramento King. So it's a city that you know,

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Speaker 1: is a big city that has a lot of TV eyeballs,

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Speaker 1: which is obviously very important to the to the business

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Speaker 1: of soccer and businesses sports. Um, so we're gonna you know,

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Speaker 1: MLS has a TV new TV deal coming up in

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Speaker 1: in you know, thee and we can help with that.

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Speaker 1: You know, more eyeballs from Sacramento. We're going to help

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Speaker 1: with that. And so that's one reason I think we

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Speaker 1: are a booming real estate market at the moment, you know,

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Speaker 1: well maybe the hottest UH you know, correct me if

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Speaker 1: I'm wrong, and the changes daily, but we are You're

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Speaker 1: close to number one in the country in terms of

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Speaker 1: UH in our real estate market. And the big part

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Speaker 1: of that is you know, Bay Area exports and folks

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Speaker 1: that now have have moved out of you know, a

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Speaker 1: very expensive area and into you know, still the benefits

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Speaker 1: of California, the weather, the the proximity to San Francisco,

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Speaker 1: proximity to Tahoe. UM, Sacramento is cheaper, is a cheaper option,

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Speaker 1: but also you know, you get a lot of those benefits. UM,

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Speaker 1: We've got a downtown stadium site, which you know is

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Speaker 1: hard to come by these days. The Railyards project is

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Speaker 1: a two hundred and forty four acre site literally right

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Speaker 1: next to downtown that's been waiting to be developed for

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Speaker 1: the last you know, several decades. And you know, our project,

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Speaker 1: along with UM, you know, Kiser Permanente Housing Retail, is

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Speaker 1: a huge info project that's going to double the size

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Speaker 1: of downtown and that you know, you just don't see

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Speaker 1: those types of opportunities throughout the country. So there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of reasons. You know, the eyeballs that I've already

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Speaker 1: talked about in terms of our our fans support. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, the fact that soccer you know, genuinely matters

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Speaker 1: here where. You know, we we make news when we

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Speaker 1: do think we're division to soccer team, and yet you

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Speaker 1: know we're on all the all the local TV stations

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Speaker 1: when we make moves or make announcements. Um, it matters

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Speaker 1: here in a way that it doesn't in most places.

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Speaker 1: And and we also have a bustling sort of youth

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Speaker 1: academy that is a very big deal in terms of

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Speaker 1: the business of soccer, and especially in the US. We

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Speaker 1: are geographically blessed to be in Central California where there's

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Speaker 1: so many good soccer players and those players, you know,

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Speaker 1: we we sort of bring into our program at a

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Speaker 1: very young age and to bring them through the ranks.

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Speaker 1: And you know, we have three of those players signed

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Speaker 1: to our professional team now that are that are teenagers,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, we see so much long term

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Speaker 1: potential there. So you know, in terms of the boxes

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Speaker 1: that that we need to check for MLS, I think

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Speaker 1: we've we've done it over and over again and we'll

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Speaker 1: continue to do so. Todd You've just mentioned about four

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Speaker 1: things that I want to unpack it. I want to

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Speaker 1: start with the MLS overall, because you've seen this again

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Speaker 1: from a number of different perspectives. This is a league

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Speaker 1: that is by all means successful and yet still trails

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Speaker 1: you know, some of the more established, longer term professional

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Speaker 1: leagues here in the US. Obviously, soccer is a global sport.

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Speaker 1: We know there's so much interest. We've seen American interest

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Speaker 1: both from the investors side and certainly from the fan

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Speaker 1: side in the EPL and other European leagues. What's next

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Speaker 1: for MLS and in your estimation in terms of the

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Speaker 1: next level for valuations, the next level for fans, like

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Speaker 1: what needs to happen to sort of catalyze that teams

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Speaker 1: are getting better and better? I mean, you see across

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Speaker 1: the board that are you know, when when you talk

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Speaker 1: about what league we wanna, you know, continue to compete against,

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Speaker 1: that's that's Mexico. You look no further than than our

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Speaker 1: neighbors to the shout. They've they've had a a dominant

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Speaker 1: professional league for for many, many decades. And we are young.

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Speaker 1: I mean MLS is still a very young league. I

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Speaker 1: I don't think it gives enough credit for that, and

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Speaker 1: people under understand that enough that the league was founded

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Speaker 1: the after we had the World Cup here in the

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Speaker 1: United States. And so you're talking about you know again,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm fairly young, you know, at least in my eyes,

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Speaker 1: and you know, MLS started when I was in high school,

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Speaker 1: so I didn't even grow up with MLS. Um, there

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Speaker 1: haven't been multiple generations that have come through. And that's

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Speaker 1: what you've You've had another sports, right, you know, you've

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Speaker 1: had you grow up and and you go to games

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Speaker 1: as a kid and your your parents had been to

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Speaker 1: the games, your your grandparents. You're a fan because you

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Speaker 1: were born into it, right, and and that just takes time.

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Speaker 1: And so from a growth perspective, it is absolutely incredible

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Speaker 1: what MLS has done in the short period of time.

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Speaker 1: My rookie season was two thousand three. Uh, there was

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Speaker 1: ten teams in the league in MLS at that time.

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Speaker 1: By the time my short career was over thirteen years later,

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Speaker 1: there was twenty teams in the league. So it doubled

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Speaker 1: in just my career alone. And now we're talking about

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Speaker 1: adding the thirtieth team. So in a very short short time,

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Speaker 1: the league has tripled in in terms of its number

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Speaker 1: of teams, the number of stadiums that have come online,

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Speaker 1: and that short amount of time is remarkable. The the

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Speaker 1: amount of growth and the franchise valuations has exploded. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's a crazy story. And uh, you know, everybody wants

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Speaker 1: it to be the E p L tomorrow. That's going

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Speaker 1: to happen, but it's going to take time. And I

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Speaker 1: think everybody should understand that what MLS has accomplished is

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Speaker 1: absolutely remarkable and I've been a witness to it. I'd

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Speaker 1: like to expand off that I've got my twenty dollars

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Speaker 1: in savings and I said, this is it. I want

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Speaker 1: to invest in MLS. This looks like this is an

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Speaker 1: attractive investment. Tell me why the twenty should be invested

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Speaker 1: in MLS. What are the great points that would make

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Speaker 1: this a great investment. I think first you need more

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Speaker 1: than twenty dollars, but will be a good start though

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Speaker 1: we uh you know, MLS is you know again you

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Speaker 1: can look at look at the history of it and

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Speaker 1: uh in two thousand seven, I believe it was uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, you had Toronto FC. Come on. I was

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Speaker 1: fortunate enough to be part of that franchise and in

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Speaker 1: its expansion year, it bought the franchise for ten million dollars. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, Sacramento Republic just purchased you know, the franchise

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Speaker 1: rights for two hundred million uh. At least twelve years

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Speaker 1: later in so, franchise rights have only got bigger and bigger.

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Speaker 1: The TV ratings is something that is going to continue

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Speaker 1: to increase. I think it's it's obviously the big driver

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Speaker 1: for for most leagues in terms of revenue. And that

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Speaker 1: TV deal is going to be up in three that's

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Speaker 1: going to increase in a big way. And then you

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Speaker 1: have the World Cup coming in. This is going to

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Speaker 1: be another massive catalyst. It was in the n the

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Speaker 1: league you know, came out of that um and so

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Speaker 1: you know, having it again in ninety four it was soccer,

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Speaker 1: you know, it was it was known in the in

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Speaker 1: the state, but it wasn't nearly a big You didn't

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Speaker 1: have it on TV like you do now, you know,

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Speaker 1: across across the league. And now we have a league

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Speaker 1: that you can go support. So you know, we think

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Speaker 1: that's going to be yet another massive catalyst. And and

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Speaker 1: so the growth continues in a big way. The quality

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Speaker 1: of play continues to rise. You see every year that

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Speaker 1: the teams are going to get better. And you know,

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Speaker 1: to the last question that is ultimately, you know, our

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Speaker 1: teams competing against Mexico. We had games last night in

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Speaker 1: the in the Champions League it's called where you know,

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Speaker 1: teams from our region get to compete against each other,

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Speaker 1: and ultimately MLS continues to get closer and closer to

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Speaker 1: that summit. We've been in the final now you know,

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Speaker 1: believe four or five times haven't gotten over the edge,

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Speaker 1: but we continue to get there now and that that

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Speaker 1: stigma is virtually gone. And so I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: the investment has been made. There's been an incredible amount

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Speaker 1: of investment made by the founding members of of MLS

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Speaker 1: and the new members that keep coming in than the

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Speaker 1: new teams, a new ownership continue to push a leak

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Speaker 1: forward in a way that you know, improving the product,

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Speaker 1: the infrastructures. There were stadiums, training facilities, all those things,

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Speaker 1: and people recognize the quality that you don't have to

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Speaker 1: only support your team from England or Germany or Mexico

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Speaker 1: or Argentina. You can still do that, but you've got

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Speaker 1: an unbelievable product here in America. You can negotiate in

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Speaker 1: person and you can support it because it's great. So

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Speaker 1: what are the order of things that need to happen

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Speaker 1: for the MLS to say, come on down Sacramento. Is

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Speaker 1: it ownership, investor, slash stadium, slash more commitment. I mean

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Speaker 1: it seems like you've got everything ready to go except

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Speaker 1: one missing piece. Is that the investor? Yeah, that's I mean,

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Speaker 1: you hit it on the hub. We've we've got everything,

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Speaker 1: everything ready to go. We've got a stadium, we've got

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Speaker 1: our market has improven over and over again to be

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Speaker 1: a great market and something that's going to you know,

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Speaker 1: push MLS in a in a in a better direction

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Speaker 1: and it you know further on TV ratings, on market share,

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Speaker 1: all those different things. The investor is what we need

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Speaker 1: that final piece We've we've been working for so long

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Speaker 1: with the city to you know, secure that downtown stadium

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Speaker 1: site that's done. The sign officer there, they're still on board.

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Speaker 1: They haven't gone anywhere. Their supporters on the gotten stronger,

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Speaker 1: the business communities behind us. We've already got a shirt sponsor,

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Speaker 1: you know as we go into MLS, which you know

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Speaker 1: many teams still don't have. Um. You know, the business

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Speaker 1: side of it is ready. We need that final piece

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Speaker 1: that investor to come in to see the opportunity of

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Speaker 1: not just you know Sacramento. I mean, it's the combination

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Speaker 1: of Sacramento, a you know, city that continues to be

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Speaker 1: on the rise, the downtown stadium, the hottest real estate market,

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Speaker 1: but also MLS. Right, this is you know, you're investing

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Speaker 1: in a league that is on the precipice of more

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Speaker 1: and more growth. And then the growth has been remarkable.

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Speaker 1: It's only going to continue with catalysts you know up

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Speaker 1: ahead with the TV deal, with World Cup coming in

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Speaker 1: twenty six and you know, combine that with you know,

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Speaker 1: the land that it's part of our deal. It's not

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Speaker 1: just you know, a stadium site. It's also seventeen acres

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Speaker 1: adjacent to that that we have you can develop in

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Speaker 1: any way you want. You can put retail there, you

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Speaker 1: can put to hotel, you can have restaurants, um and

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Speaker 1: develop it, you know, in any way that you see fit.

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Speaker 1: So it's a very unique opportunity that presenting a lot

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Speaker 1: of um, a lot of benefits for a potential investor. Todd,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you the same question we've we asked

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Speaker 1: Derek Jeter a couple of weeks ago, which is about

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of sitting on the other side of

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Speaker 1: the table. You know, you played the game and as

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Speaker 1: you say, it was early days. So much growth, uh

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Speaker 1: there in the league. And you've also seen and managed

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Speaker 1: from a more operational business side a number of different

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Speaker 1: soccer clubs in in various leagues around the US. What's

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Speaker 1: the biggest challenge in in that transition and what do

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Speaker 1: you think you sort of related to that? You know,

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Speaker 1: what do you bring having been a very successful player

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Speaker 1: in the league that that helps you in your job. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a great question. Um. You know, I I honestly

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Speaker 1: wake up every day feeling very lucky to be part

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Speaker 1: of sports. It's something that I've always loved. I just

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Speaker 1: have naturally been drawn to it. You know, even as

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Speaker 1: a kid, Like I see a ball in the ground,

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Speaker 1: I want to go over and pick it up and

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Speaker 1: throw it around, ticket you know, you name it. It's

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Speaker 1: just what I It's just in my blood. So you know,

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Speaker 1: to be able to, you know, play sports throughout my life.

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Speaker 1: To be able to you know, sports helped me get

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Speaker 1: into college. Um, it helped me you know withplined a

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Speaker 1: career after college and that's only continued. So I feel

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Speaker 1: honestly blessed to be part of the game. And you

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Speaker 1: know that transition is not an easy one, and I

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Speaker 1: think it's something of the most players, uh, in a

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Speaker 1: way fear because you've been so singularly focused on your craft,

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Speaker 1: on the sacrifices involved, on you know, doing doing that,

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Speaker 1: and dedicating your life to that at such a high

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Speaker 1: level that it's hard to think beyond that. But you

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Speaker 1: know it's coming because you know, you can't play forever careers,

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Speaker 1: you know our finite and you have to you have

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Speaker 1: to plan beyond that. So what I did as a player,

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Speaker 1: I didn't I certainly didn't have it all figured out,

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Speaker 1: but I tried to do some things outside of the

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Speaker 1: field that you know, uh, gave me opportunities to to,

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Speaker 1: you know, make that next step. And one of the

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Speaker 1: things I did was, you know, I joined our our

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Speaker 1: players players union in the league, and it was an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to you know, dive into some of the business

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Speaker 1: side of the game that that you don't think about.

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Speaker 1: So through those experiences, I was able to make relationships,

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Speaker 1: you know, throughout the league, whether it's league executives, league uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, league ownership the commissioner um. You know, and

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Speaker 1: and and then even beyond that, it's dealing with your

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Speaker 1: own sort of membership and having to be in a

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Speaker 1: room in a collective bargaining setting where you're you've got

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Speaker 1: forty forty players in a room in Washington, d C.

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Speaker 1: With the mediator and you are trying to lead that group,

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Speaker 1: most of them captains of their team ALPA males. You're

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Speaker 1: trying to lead that group and get them all on

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Speaker 1: the same page. And it is I mean, it was

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Speaker 1: the challenge of a lifetime. It was an incredible experience.

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Speaker 1: But through those experiences you learned so many things. And

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Speaker 1: as an athlete you learn so many things that you

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Speaker 1: don't realize translate to quote unquote real life and in

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Speaker 1: the real world, So those skills and you know, teamwork

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Speaker 1: and UM at the end, working hard, sacrifice, UM, those translate.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, really, when when it gets down

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Speaker 1: to it, you have to be you have to sort

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Speaker 1: of tear the band aid off and just dive then

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Speaker 1: because you're not going to have all the answers. Whatever

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Speaker 1: your next step is. UH. In life, it's it's going

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Speaker 1: to be new, it's going to be a challenge, and

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Speaker 1: as an athlete, you know, you've you've you've faced a

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Speaker 1: lot of challenges. I certainly did in my career, and

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Speaker 1: so you you just you dive in and you ask

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Speaker 1: questions and you you, you know, put your head down

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Speaker 1: and do the work and eventually you get it. And

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Speaker 1: you know, that's I think, I think that's with any job,

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Speaker 1: any new job. You know, nobody's got it all figured

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Speaker 1: out from the start. You gotta you gotta die event

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Speaker 1: And so it's so different as an athlete. So what

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Speaker 1: I sell a lot of you know, former players is

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Speaker 1: you know, honestly, get give confidence doing doing something off

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Speaker 1: the field, whatever that is, whatever you can find. Um,

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Speaker 1: try and find something away from the field and start

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Speaker 1: small and and then you know, keep keep after it

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Speaker 1: and eventually, um, you know that transition is not so hard.

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Speaker 1: I'm a big believer in youth sports, and I always

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Speaker 1: leave that for any major sport baseball, football, basketball, soccer,

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Speaker 1: you have to have the youth participation because that's where

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Speaker 1: the next generation is coming to participate in the sport.

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Speaker 1: Where do you see youth sports for soccer today and

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Speaker 1: and where does it need to develop? I guess starting

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Speaker 1: it's another really good question. I think youth sports is vital, right,

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Speaker 1: and I grew up lucky to play multiple sports. I

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Speaker 1: think that's really important, um, you know, to have Alan's

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Speaker 1: to have you know, to avoid burnout, all those different things.

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Speaker 1: I played basketball, grown up, to play tennis, you know,

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Speaker 1: but that was always every day. I was throwing a baseball,

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Speaker 1: you know, doing a football, playing soccer. It didn't matter.

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Speaker 1: It was just I loved playing and competing, and ultimately

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Speaker 1: take it out that I loved being part of teams.

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Speaker 1: But I think in terms of youth sports, it's about

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Speaker 1: having fun and um, not getting too serious too early.

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Speaker 1: You can have fun and be serious. They're not mutually exclusive.

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Speaker 1: And um, I think you know, I certainly encourage and

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Speaker 1: we have you know, camps, clinics programs as low as

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Speaker 1: four or five years old. But it's all about having fun.

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Speaker 1: It's not about hey, you know, drilling kids and trying

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Speaker 1: to get them to quit everything else. So they singularly

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Speaker 1: focused on soccer at you know, super young ages. It's

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Speaker 1: about having fun and when you lose that, it's it's

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Speaker 1: just not sustainable. And you know again that eventually builds

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Speaker 1: into um, you know, our youth academy and MS teams

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Speaker 1: across across the country have youth academies that that specifically,

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Speaker 1: and this is something that we've caught up with the

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Speaker 1: rest of the world on you know, focus on you know,

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Speaker 1: the top players in the area, of top coaches and

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Speaker 1: and you just end up with an environment where you're

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Speaker 1: going to produce better soccer players and just being and

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Speaker 1: rubbing shoulders and the same club and wearing the same

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Speaker 1: crest as the players who are already professionals who you

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Speaker 1: look up to. That's a big step that you know,

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Speaker 1: again as a as a young player's run up, I

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Speaker 1: never had that being a professional soccer player with a

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Speaker 1: dream of mine, but I didn't that dream was you know,

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Speaker 1: might as well have been, you know, on the other

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Speaker 1: side of the world because I couldn't see those top throws,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't play with them, I couldn't um you know,

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Speaker 1: have those experiences. But I think now just being in

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Speaker 1: that environment, you're treated in a way that's different and

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Speaker 1: you see yourself in a different light and you get

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Speaker 1: get to that level. But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: it's all about having fun. If you lose that and

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Speaker 1: you don't have that perspective, uh, it's not gonna last

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Speaker 1: and you're not gonna You're not gonna make it. Well, Todd,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much. It's been really good to catch

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Speaker 1: up with you. Clearly a lot going on there in Sacramento,

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Speaker 1: and we're looking forward to, you know, some big news

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Speaker 1: before too long about that MLS deal, and we know

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Speaker 1: from a lot of the work that we do that

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Speaker 1: you know, soccer is certainly on the rise. So best

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Speaker 1: of luck to you, and thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: joining us. Thanks for having me. Guys really enjoyed it.

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Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports. I'm Michael barn

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Speaker 1: You can follow me on Twitter at Big Bar Sports.

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Speaker 1: And Mike Lynch you can follow me at Lynch e

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Speaker 1: w CVB. And I'm Jason Kelly. Follow me at Jason

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Speaker 1: Kelly Newser. Here each and every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday,

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Speaker 1: exploring the world of money in sports. You're listening to

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business of Sports on Bloomberg Radio around the world

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