Time for another soccer down here one v one and for this one, we go to Buffalo and catch up with one of the new entrants in the NPSL.
And full disclosure as.
We're joined by Mark Spocon, the head coach of the new Buffalo Stallions. I know the old Buffalo Stallions from the Major Indoor Soccer League. I know about the odd I know about Rick Jenrett, I know about Usabio. I know about all of these things. But it is now Stallions two point zero. Mark, thanks for dropping by for a one v one.
Glad to be here, and I'm glad you have all those great memories because that's one of the reasons that driving us to do what we're doing. Bring back those memories, create new ones.
All right, So I'll bite you brought it up. What was the genesis? How much thought went into this?
How far back are we going into the process of yeah, let's do this to yell, let's be the Stallions two point zero, to yell, let's go to the NPSL. How far back are we talking here?
Just the past two years, I would say, the conversation of moving up to the MPs cell ranks or to that level, those conversations have been have been occurring. The Buffalo Stallions two point zero has been in existence now for five six seven years. When the club Empire United was part of the US Development Academy, the Buffalo portion broke off on its own took on the name Buffalo Stallions, which they've owned and had control over since the Stallions ended.
So the youth arm has been around for almost twenty years now, maybe even a little longer, and they rebranded to the Stallions. Like I said, when they left the DA Association that they were in with Rochester and Syracuse. So two years ago then the talk started to come,
all right, well, let's get to the next level. What's that going to be in PSL Otherwise, to try to create a path for our players within the club to play as a senior player, and not limited to just players in our club, but try to now extend the reach to Buffalo and Western New York senior players to provide them a platform to play at a higher level as either a college player in the off season or a player that's recently out of college but still wants to play at a high level.
So Kevin O'Neil, Director of Club in Soccer, ops is joining us as well, And let me ask you this Ken, has.
Your phone blown up?
What's it been like to get the response that you've been getting and what has the response been.
The response has been, you know, obviously pretty positive. I think there's a lot of excitement about the team as far as like kind of the history of the team and just kind of getting back even though it's not indoor soccer and kind of whatever remembers the Buffalo Stadions for but just some excitement again with you know, getting a team and a men's team going here, you know, in a league that's you know, semi professional, and just kind of providing that pathway for our our kids to
even kind of aspire to to you know, to look at to be able to, you know, hopefully one day play for that team.
So let me ask you this Mark, what has it been like there in Western New York and in Buffalo specifically to see the sports grow to where it is over the last handful of years and how much growth are we talking about here?
It's fantastic. You mentioned before we got on air here being a follower of this game when USA Network used to carry them back in the nineties and cut away from the game to go to a commercial, and then you come back and next thing you know, the scores one zero and you missed the goal. So we've come from that to where the sport is everywhere. Now it's on the internet. Kids are watching clips of highlights in their favorite teams and EPL and Siria and La Liga
and legal it's all over the Bundesliga. They can watch games whenever they want. You and I we'd have to fight crowds in a sports bar to get a nine inch TV turned off of baseball to watch a soccer game. So today the game is everywhere. Kids see it. They're falling in love with it, they love to play it, and we're happy just to provide them a platform to be able to perform.
Kevin, I know that when you talk about, oh yeah, the season, it's over there. Everybody might you might you know, folks walk up to you sit there and go, oh yeah, the twenty twenty five season. Yeah, sure, it's you know, may or whatever, But it's not just may or whatever. It literally is like for planning purposes and everything. It's like right here. I always ask this of new folks that come online in the NPSL and when I have these kinds of interviews across the board, where is the to do list?
Is it on Google doc?
Is it on a palm pilot where you pull out a stylust you sit there and you write something down, you gam a stylist back, and you put the palm pilot away.
Is it? Is it on your phone?
Is it on a legal pad or is it on one of those six foot by eight foot white you know boards that you can ride on with a marker and it's got a bunch of lines and squiggles going a bunch of different directions. Where is that to do list for the stallions? And what do you think the next thing that you can cross off it is as you get ready for the season.
It's funny you say that, I think there's a Is there a checkbox for all of the above? Yes, because
pretty much it's all of those things. We've had been sitting in the office and we had the huge whiteboard that we use for you know, tactical sessions with players, and meanwhile, while there's nothing on the board, someone's writing something that you know is relating to the MPs, and we're like, okay, yeah, let's let's let's remember that too obviously things that you know, yes, we're we're on Google
forms and things like that. I say, we kind of just finalized that last week actually and got kind of everything all in one place and in a Google forum. That's just an action plan that we're just kind of now working through all the different processes, and of course even today I was just doing something like, oh, I
need to add that. So I think it's that's something that's obviously never ending, will just continue to go, and especially because like you said, it seems like, you know, amaze that far away or it's you know that the season still got a little bit, but really no, it's here. And I would say the next thing, and probably the next thing to cross off that list is going to
be the uh the actual stadium, the home venue. We're hoping to just finalize that negotiation, and probably that would be the next big announcement, so that way we can kind of really start preparing for all the things that we want to do on site for game day experience and all that kind of stuff.
So, Mark, are you gonna break news here? You're gonna you're gonna you're gonna let us know the where and the when, and the why you're gonna tell us that you're gonna let us know.
I wish I could, but I haven't said it. I'm because Glad haven't said what he said, because he's absolutely right. It's like you're clairvoyant. It literally all that information was housed in all the exact places you just said, and it's finally now being we're actually it's there in one spot where everybody can see and add to it and change and delete and check things off. But prior to that, it was exactly like you said. And we've been loving
the adventure. It has been a great journey. We know that May is going to be here before we blink our eye, but we're loving the experience and the journey and the dialogue to get to where we got to go.
Yeavin, what's the biggest lesson that you've learned so far in this journey to get ready for the NPSL With Stalling's two point zero.
I'd say that the biggest lesson is just kind of like not being so maybe afraid to take some risks and just kind of go after it. I know, like you know, we've always been a pretty conservative group as far as like planning and different things, and you know, sometimes we're maybe a little too overcautious. I think we finally reached the kind of thing like, Hey, this is something we really want to go after, this is something
we want to do. Let's just go and let's just take the risk and you know, make it happen.
Mark, what about the on the field perspective? What's the biggest lesson you've learned about.
I think, I'm sorry?
What about the Yeah?
About the on the field version of that same question, The biggest lesson that you've learned about the on the field aspect of it, whether it's WhatsApp or your phone blowing up, or having unlimited text, or needing international minutes more than you've had previously, or folks knocking on your door. You know, at two thirty in the afternoon, sitting there going coach, I heard something's going on. You know, what's
the biggest lesson you've learned about? Assembling things from an on the field perspective?
Just having more of a runway, just for more context. We were planning to make us jump to the next level in twenty twenty six, so the MPSL reached out to Kevin and the guys and proposed doing it in twenty twenty five, a year early. So that's why we're kind of on a short ramp. But it's again, if somebody, if if there's another company or person that developed some other app that is redundant with team snap and Snapchat and the sports Engine and all these applications, is going
to absolutely drive me crazy. So that's my learning. My learning curve for apps and technology has just skyrocketed.
Marx McCone head coach, Kevin O'Neil, director of Club and Soccer ops for Buffalo Stallions as they jump back into the NPSL here in twenty twenty five. Here for an odd man rush that developed over time here on the SDH network, as we catch up with them about the announcement and the build and getting ready for the sprint.
I mean, Kevin, you're looking at a Great Lakes conference and I don't know where they're going to put you yet but unless they've told you, but you're in a footprint in Great Lakes where you're staring at Eerie and you're staring at Flower City, and you're getting ready for that.
You know.
NIAGRAE eighteen twelve was a part of it last year You've got Keystone, which is a nasty It is a na nasty conference that that really where the winner comes out of a lot out of Keystone East, whether you're looking at Motown or Atlantic City or in the West, you're looking at you know, west Chester and Hershey who have made deep runs. When you look at the competition that you're going up going to be going up against, and you know, if you want to tell us what
conference you're going into, you could do that too. When you look at the quality and the competition and the conference that you may or may not be in. When when you think of the quality of the competition, what are you looking at the NPSL that you're diving into and having to assemble here in basically three.
Months, I think you hit you hit it on the head. I mean we're kind of gonna just be tossed into the fire. And obviously those teams are are you know, established, and and some great teams to play against and things like that. I think we're looking forward, obviously to challenge. We have a lot of confidence in Mark to pull this group together and and and pull a team together that can compete. You know from day one. Obviously it's
going to be something. I think, uh, learning curve is going to happen, and we're going to really kind of get into, you know, the type of players and the type of systems and things like that that we're gonna need to be successful. But again, I think it's just part of that fun, it's part of that excitement. It's just kind of what drives us as far as soccer people like, yeah, we look forward to this kind of thing and just you know, can we can we compete?
Can we get in there and and make something happen and you know, make Buffalo again successful as far as being able to compete and just get into that division. And no, we don't know which conference yet for sure, but again we're going to prepare, you know, the best that we can with with with players that we can and let Mark just kind of take it over.
Man.
I had to ask, you know, I didn't know, like I said, you were you were thinking about break You're like, yeah, you know, look working on the stadium, you know, I have to ask we journalistically sound Mark when it comes to the kind of player that you're looking for. Uh, for those that don't know you stylistically, what is your approach on the field. What kind of a product do
you want to put out there? What kind of individual are you looking for that can represent the Stallions both on the field and off the way that you're looking.
Yeah, it's exactly that. Just the person that has those characteristics, that has pride and wearing the shirt, knowing what this franchise name and logo means to people from thirty forty years ago, and having again the excitement to revive that. Play with excitement, play with heart, give one hundred percent of your effort and training it in gains and then off the field, just just do the right thing, be a good person and fulfill what your parents or friends
would describe you as in terms of a person. Fulfill that in terms of how you carry yourself off the field. So we want to be competitive, and we had one try out. The turnout was great. Express what I just expressed to you to those gentlemen in the room. We're looking for people that have the pride and have the motivation to want to do something special as a new franchise, because we know how new franchise is often fair. And we have another tryout coming up on the twenty seventh.
We actually we had to close it out because the turnout in response was fantastic. We had to cap it. We couldn't take anymore. And we have another tryout on February third, and that's going to be the message. Who wants to represent this team, who wants to represent the city, our fan base, and do it in a way where they can be proud of their effort and work as a team and be proud when they're out in the community.
Kevin, let me ask you this, when it comes to getting the word out outside of you know, things like this and doing interviews and such, what are you the most confident about in the growth and the launch And what do you think, as someone who is in the operation side, what do you think is going to be the biggest challenge in getting the word out and making sure that Western New York knows that the Stallions.
Are going to be active in the Npso, so.
I think obviously, I think that, you know, the things that we're most confident about is just the fact that we've been kind of running with this late and you know, just getting out there like to through social media's and different things. But whether it's you know, interviews like this or just our own platforms kind of getting the word
out a little bit, like the announcements. You know, we've had such a good response from the player perspective, like people wanting to kind of get involved and you know, see whether or not they can make a team like this. So I think that's been really good and kind of encouraging because I think that'll translate to to obviously, you know, the fans and things like that wanting to get involved.
And Buffalo seems to be obviously we're sportstown, you know, regardless of if it's Sabers, if it's Bandits, if it's you know, the Bills obviously and as well as they do. But Buffalo's always been kind of a sports town and
will follow teams. I mean, I think I was reading some study a while ago that like, even if we're not involved in different national things, whether it's NHL playoffs and things like that, Buffalo is still usually one of the televised era of the areas that has like the best televised like rates or fouls because we just we love our sports. So I think that's what's going to
be encouraging. And you know, soccer is something that obviously is kind of still kind of up and coming in this area a little bit, but you know, clubs here, there's different teams here now that have been going, and there's there's some excitements around the area. So with the old brand too, I think that's gonna help. And probably the most challenging is just on our part, just again getting this all together, getting it ready the way we want it to be, ready for the you know, those
home games. You know, we have certain kind of visions that we're hoping that we can provide as far as the fan experience and making it cheap for families and allowing you know, that group to come and still be very affordable, but also giving them something when they're there, you know, giving them an experience so that they kind of remember, like when they come to these games that obviously competitive that the team's going to be, you know, competing and stuff like that, but also is it fun
that type of environment that people want to keep coming back to.
So, you know, Mark, let me ask you this, uh, are you're going to have like you're gonna have Dane Smith come by or to you know, or a Natteco come by or Matt Vince come by to kind of help things out. You maybe if you had Matt Vince, you could put Matt in Net. I don't know about in the National Lacrosse League gear between the sticks. But you know, I just I say that somewhat, you know, in jest, but just the the the idea of mentioning
as Kevin said, it's a sports town. And I think that when everyone understands that the individuals on the field or in the arena, they're out there one hundred percent, I mean, the heart's on the sleeve and they're given nine thousand percent and they're laying it all out there, and the city naturally wraps themselves around those individuals, whether it's you know, Bills in the k gun Stallion's one point zero, the Bandit's winning championships, the Sabers.
And hearing Rick Jenrett going may day, may day, may day.
All these kinds of things add to I think a very very special fabric there in Western New York when it comes to franchises and what they mean.
To everybody there in Buffalo on the field and off.
For sure, And it might sound cliche that we're a blue collar town, but we really are a blue collar town. Buffalo is center for manufacturing. We're talking about people who work third shifts or or work twelve hour days and pack their lunch and bring it in their metal lunch
box to work. That's the mentality that people you appreciate, and those are the kind of guys that we want to see on the field, Guys that are willing to lay it on the line, give one hundred percent, like you said, wear their heart on the sleeves, and then that in and of itself should make us competitive. And
then I think people will appreciate that. If it's a bunch of prima donnas who you know, don't want to put in the effort or think that they're going to play champagne football all the time and not give one hundred percent, well then you know our audience in the sports market here their culture enough to know the difference between the two.
And we are looking forward to seeing it all. Let me see Buffalo Stallions dot org, at Buffalo Stallions, on the Facebook, on the IG, the gram or the insta is the kids call it, It's at Buffalo Stallions. Eighty character app it is at buff Stallions, which I think is both figurative and literal when it comes to the individuals that are going to be out there in the NPSL.
Guys, it was.
Great to catch up with you, Mark Spaccone, the head coach, Kevin O'Neill, director of club and soccer ops for the Buffalo Stallions as they get ready to come back in the NPSL. Gentlemen, thanks for an odd man rush. We're looking forward to it and we'll see how it goes. We'll catch up with you soon. We're keeping an eye be safe, guys.
Thank you, take care.
Yes, thank you so much