Coming to you live from Marelliot Avenue Studios of Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weekly with your host Jackson Felts. Good even everybody, welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson Feltz here. Good to be with you on this Wednesday night. Appreciate you sticking around here listening to us. Coming up after Cracking Weekly. Good to be on ninety three point three KJRFM where you will be able to hear this Saturday's match coming up, the home opener
against Austin FC. It will be right here on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM, Providence, Swedish prematch show will be at seven o'clock. Kickoff at seven point thirty from Lumen Field. It'll be great to see the boys back there at Lumen for the first time since the playoffs last year. I'll quickly mention you also watch the match via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV
app. You can also listen in Spanish language on LRA thirteen sixty. Get your tickets to day to be at the home opener by visiting soundersfc dot com slash tickets and Saturday's match is brought to you by the Western Washington, Toyota Dealers, Toyota Let's go Places. We'll preview that Sounders Austin match heavily later on tonight with Ari Lillienwall of MLS Soccer dot Com during our Around the League segment, where we will spend a lot of time talking about what he saw
from Austin's loss against Minnesota. Minnesota who won that game without a head coach. We'll dig into that with Ari a little bit later on tonight. We'll also have a really special interview tonight coming up in our next segment, so about fifteen minutes away from right now, we're gonna chat with Hugh Weber, the president of business Operations for the Seattle Sounders. Now, if you're wondering, if you're saying, wait, didn't I just hear Hugh Weber on ninety
three point three KJR, Yes you did. Last Monday, Hugh joined Softie and I for a special President's Day interview where we were joined by all the presidents around Seattle, from you know, Jerry to Potto with the Mariners, Chuck Carl on the Seahawks, Alicia Valvanis with the Storm, and Hugh Webber, president of the Sounders, Business Operations was also on the show Full Disclosure, Pulling the Curtain Back, because you know, building out that show was
quite intense and we had to record a bunch of those interviews. We recorded that interview with Hugh Weber. While we were recording that interview, we went about eighteen or so minutes, but because of time constraints on the Softy and Extravaganza, we'd only played ten minutes of that. Well, that is a whole chunk of about eight minutes of content. That still I think you guys,
as Sounder fans, need to hear from the Sounders pres. So what we're gonna hear tonight is the full unedited eighteen minute conversation we had with Sounders President Hugh Weber, some very interesting stuff from We started the conversation Softy did by asking about if the Sounders want their own new stadium down next to the Long Acres facility. We talked about the new facility itself, the World Cup coming to Seattle, if Long Acres will serve as a home base for somebody,
how that all shakes out. We asked about the situation with a third Jersey like Atlanta for example, it got last year talked about the TV situation on Apple TV. Lots and lots of stuff for Hueber. I also asked if we will get upper deck games where the upper deck of Lumenfield is open more in twenty twenty four. Tons of stuff coming up from Hugh Weber.
You're gonna hear about that in just about twelve minutes here on KJAR. We will take the first couple of minutes by just quickly talking about that LAFC game. I'm not gonna spend too much time on it because honestly, the situation is this team is so injured right now. In fact, let's actually cue
up that clip right now. You know, I was out of training yesterday morning out at Long Acre, and Brian Schmitzer had his start of the week press conference, and you know, the game against LAFC, the two to one loss, It was marked so heavily by what the Sounders could and couldn't do, especially regarding personnel. I mean, Stephen Frye out, Joel Paulo out, Albert Russnak out, Yea Margomes Andrade not injury related but out,
and then also Pedro de la Vegas started on the bench. So obviously lots of changes needed to be made, especially since Albert Russknack's injury was so close to the game. They ended up going in a four to four to two, A flat four four two with Josh Atensio and Obed Vargas in kind of a double pivot there in the middle. Didn't exactly work out one hundred percent well against a powerhouse like LAFC. But the question, of course with the
Sounders right now is will they be getting any of these guys back. I'll review a couple additional ones, but really quick, I wanted you guys to hear this back and forth between myself and head coach Brian Schmitzer out at training yesterday regarding the injury situation. Stephan Free, let's start with him, Uh, probably won't see the game. Well, I'll just rule him out. He's not gonna He's not gonna play. Joe Paula probably not gonna play.
Albert Rusnak probably not gonna play. Is there anybody from what we saw last weekend that is gonna play? Roll's gonna be the problem questionable, problemable, so not good role. Really, Diez, that is good news, probable. It would be great to have him available, But yeah, not having the other guys, that's tough. I will also mention. He went on to say JEMR Gomez Andrade likely not available for this week looking towards next week, so he won't be there. I thought Nathan did a fine job at
center back. I didn't think he was, you know, necessarily at fault for the goals. But listen, I don't think that's a huge cause for concern. We talked about him on last week's show. Nathan not a big concern and then Pedro de la Vega. Brian said it's possible he starts, and boy, that sure would change things because of Pedro de la Vega, who looked fantastic in that thirty minutes against LAFC. I mean he scored the
goal. Obviously, he gets the penalty kick. Great seeing him take that against Hugo Laris, my former Tottenham Hotspur keeper who's now moved to MLS. Just for him, Pedro de Levega to score on one of the greats. That was really fun to see. So listen, he looked fantastic and he can play any of those attacking three positions. So if he can start, Brian Schmitzer can shift back from the flat four four two back to his comfortable
four to two three one. Have Leo Chwo on the left, Christian rolled On on the right, and Pedro de la Vega Paypo is his nickname. Have Papo in the middle of that three, and then Josh Atensi and Obed Vargas in the holding midfield. Jordan Morris up top. That's the comfortable four to two three one. If if Pedro de la Vega is available, and it is a big if, but boy, it is sure a hope that
he would be. So if he is there, I think that right now the Sounders can field a pretty darn good lineup against Austin coming up, because
last week there were issues. I mean, Jordan Morris has a chance in the first two minutes, just like he had a chance in the first two minutes of the playoff game last year, eerily similar, where he has a one on one with the keeper and you know the great save made by Maxim Cropo last year, and then this one doesn't get this one either, right at the start of this LAFC game, and boy what a start that would have been. But you know, I'm not gonna say Jordan has to cash
those but man, it's frustrating that he didn't. So the Sounders. Unfortunately they just score one there in the second half, but do give up a couple to a very good LAFC team who no doubt will be contending at the end of the year. But Liz I talked about it with Chance Frye on the Brief postgame show on Saturday. This is situation, and this is a game where I think we're gonna look back to it at the end of the
year. Look at the two to one score line, Remember that we had five usual starters, four of them out, one coming off the bench, and knowing that Russnak was lost so soon to kick off, you know, it is what it is. It's not a bad loss by any stretch of the imagination, considering the opponent and considering the circumstances. But focus now must now shift to Austin and this team must improve. They must be more goal dangerous. And I think with Pedro de la Vega, who I can't emphasize
enough how good this guy looked. And Pedro even said it in his postgame press conference, the fact that he doesn't even feel like he was at one hundred percent. And I agree with what Nico Moreno tweeted, that should scare the rest of Major League Soccer because if they watched what Pedro de Levega did in thirty minutes, and he was quick, he was decisive, he was recycling runs, He was so good on the ball, off the ball,
with his movement. This is everything that the Sounders needed to bring in this last offseason to add to this attack, which was not where they wanted it
to be last year. And for Pedro de la Vega, if he can increase what he did against LAFC and then consistently do it over the course of a ninety minute stretch, Not that he can play ninety minutes against Austin, but if he can play sixty seventy minutes against Austin and he can do that, good luck stopping him, because that guy is a force to be reckoned with. Boy was he fun to watch there against LAFC. But we will talk more about the Austin match coming up a little bit later on with Ari
Lillianwall. Coming up next on Sounders Weekly, We're gonna hear a long, really good, interesting conversation with Sounders President of Business Operations, Hugh Weber. You'll hear from him next on Sounders Weekly on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders FC Ceedel's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr F. Welcome back to Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feltz here. Good to be talking with you on this Wednesday night. Sounders
coming home for the home opener this Saturday against Austin FC. Will preview that match and take a look around the league with Ari lillionolvmlssuccer dot Com coming up a little bit later in tonight show, but our featured interview here this week is going to be with Sounders President of Business Operations, Hugh Weber. Hugh
Weber took over the franchise about a year and a couple months ago. He really came on and really came in when the club was starting this transition from the last fifty years to the next fifty years, as we've seen the brand
evolution now and everything else going on with the squad. And he was able to sit down with myself and Dave Softy Muller over back on President's Day about what ten days ago or so a week and a half ago, on that Monday, and Softie and I had a long conversation with him, but went about you know, eighteen twenty minutes or so. But because of the time constraints on the Dave Softy Mallar program, we can't play all of it. Well, I sure can hear on Sounders weekly. There's a lot of good
stuff here from Hugh Weber, again, President of Business Operations. We talk about the situation if they are happy at loom And Field, if they ever want their own building. We talk about the new training facility at Long Acres. We talk about the World Cup coming to Seattle, how that changes things for the organization, and how that fits in with perhaps a team being stationed down there at Long Acres. We talk about the stadium situation, trying to
get more butts in the seats. We talk about if they're going to plan on opening up the upper deck for more games this year. Lots of content here from Hugh Weber, So let's just dive in. You're gonna hear a long chat here. It's both myself and Dave Softy mall Or. We go back and forth a bit, but we started the conversation with Hugh Weber by simply asking about if he can give us a State of the Sounders address like the President gives his State of the US. So here was Hugh we Ever
opening the conversation with his state of the Seattle Sounders. Sounders are in a transformative moment. Fiftieth anniversary so speaks to a long tenure in connectivity with this team and its sport in this city. You know, you think back to teams in North America that can say they've been around for fifty years as not many, and so we're looking back, but more importantly we're looking forward.
We have our brand new, state of the art one hundreds of acre development in Renton, which is the home of the Sounders now with our training facility, it'll be a cornerstone of a big development including you know, homes and retail and hotels and potentially music venues and all kinds of things. Super excited about that moved in Tuesday. We have an exceptional roster of young players that are out there competing this year again we hope at the highest level. And
I'll mentioned something that's coming in twenty twenty sixty Seattle the World Cup. So again an exciting time for a franchise for our sport. And that's a big reason why I'm here. Yeah, no question. And here Weber again with us, the president of the Sounders on the radio show, and here you mentioned the Long Acres facility, which I have not yet had a chance to get down there. It looks stunning, obviously, all the renderings and images
and reports I've seen from down there, it looks amazing. So congratulations on that. But somebody said to me the other day, if they're willing to build this shiny new practice facility, are they willing to maybe one day build a shiny new stadium. And there's a lot of teams in soccer, LAFC
has their own facility. It looks more intimate at a smaller park. Obviously, not that you're dissatisfied with Luman, but give us your thoughts on down the road, the idea, the prospects of a soccer only stadium for your franchise. Well, it goes without saying. I think if you think about the Mariners, you know, on their history and playing in the Kingdome, you know it was a multi purpose facility and Lumen has been, as you
said, a tremendous home for the Sounders. But at the same time it is obviously every franchise's dream to have a built for type of venue that can be again bringing the fan experience to life. You know, there's obviously enough room just in terms of acreage to be able to do that on our parcel, but you know, there's a lot of work that we have to do
to think about what that fan experience is like. If it's something that we believe will be additive, then it's something we will definitely be into and look at. But if it's something that again we think that being downtown and the core of Seattle is more important than obviously, we'll continue to work with our partners at Women and make sure that the experience for Sounders games is top notch as it has been for the last fifteen years. Hughitt Jackson here and listen.
We can we'll ask you about that question probably again in a year from now, but let's talk about what you already have and that new facility. Was great to see you last week as you kind of took us on the tour around all those different rooms. You know what, when you walk through those halls and look at the new facilities and look at the new toys as
we called them, for the players. What are you guys most proud of that you were able to get into that new facility and kind of take pride and we have that now as opposed to what we didn't have a Starfire. Yeah, well so let me first off start with Starfark that's where you know you ended and Starfire was an incredible again facility for us, it was you
know, we've had unparalleled success training out of that facility. I think that the new Long Acres training grounds is really a reflection of where m molass is going. You know, for the casual sports fan, you know you think about soccer, do you think about MLS as being maybe one of the minor
leagues of world soccer in the sport, but it's it's changed. This is, you know, highly invested, the largest sport in the world, but also the fastest scoring sport is and it's happening here in the North America, and so you're seeing teams invest much more because these are really important assets in
the community. I worked in the NBA twenty seven years ago and have let teams and the MLS right now feels a lot like the NBA did then, and that there was a lot of family run businesses and you had kind of high network individuals getting into investing and it was just on the verge of exploding. And that's what soccer feels right now. So the Long Age facility is not about getting our players toys and shiny things to you know, feel good
about when they walk in the door. It was really more about future proving this business for the growth of the sports that we anticipate, and how we think about recruiting the best players around the world to make this the best league in the world well and to grow the sport. Hugh Weber again with us, president of the Sounders, on our President's Day show here on KJAR and I mean, you don't need me to tell you this, but to grow the sport you need to have as many eyeballs on the players as possible.
And I will be honest with you that I'm an old school guy. I'm fifty years old. Maybe I'm not even in your demographic. For God's sakes anymore, I have not watched as much Sounder soccer since you made the move to Apple. And the reason why is because getting out of cable and into an app for a cranky guy like me is a tough thing. To swallow. What's your take on the deal with Apple and has that been you think a positive for your franchise. So that's a good question. And if you're
out of the demographic, we're in trouble. Because I'm older than you, I will say so again, if you think about the landscape that's happening in media, this is a really incredible time to be in sports. It's the last kind of non appointment or appointment made live content you can have. And
you see the value of these media deals going all over the place. At the same time, you see regel sports networks really struggle because the economics and cord cutting is changing our industry forever, and so there will be a period of transition for people you know alike us in our demographic who are learning new ways. But I would say to answer your question, headline would be it's been unbelievably successful for us. Our adoption for our fans has been very high.
Founders have been among the top three in the league in terms of adoption
of our fans to the new platform, our viewership. What has changed now is when we sit with partners, we cannot just talk about our ratings and household and estimates, and as you guys know or you're well well accustomed to talking about these types of things, we can actually get down to how long people are tuning in, what they're watching, when they tune in, when they tune out, how many people specifically are on and so although there is
a moment of transition here for not only for people like you, but also for bars and restaurants, which we have to you know, focus and lean into this year, we believe it's really the first step in what we will think about and how we think about sports and watching sports ten years from now will be very different. We're seeing it now where even the NFL games are going to platforms that are digital only. You know, I think we're gonna
be talking about this in a much different way. A couple of president shows down down the road. Well, and it doesn't hurt the fact that the league now has Lionel Messi in there to you know, bring up the subscribers and the viewers too. But Hugh Jackson here again and listen, you talked about the World Cup there in the State of the Sounders a few minutes ago,
and looking ahead to you know, still two plus years away. But I'm wondering what having the World Cup at lumen Field and specifically having the United States men's national team can do for you. That's one part, but also the fact that I would assume Long Acres will be a home base to somebody come June in twenty twenty six. So I'd love to hear how the World
Cup fits into your organization. I mean, let me take those two questions kind of and take the first one, I would say that the World Cup coming to North America is an unbelievable moment for the sport because it's going to get casual fans who wouldn't normally, you know, come to a founder's game, or think about NLS or even to tune in to soccer. We've seen this step function change in terms of fandom. Casual fans become enamored with it
just because of the spectacle of it. You see this with the Super Bowl, right, People who are not really football fans or sports fans on Super Bowl Sunday, they're tuning in. They're because it's the spectacle. It's entertainment.
I know it's not apples to apples, but you know, the World Cup viewership is you know, over a billion and a half people will watch this tournament, and so you think about each each of the six matches in Seattle alone will be like six Super Bowls in terms of viewership globally, and so the spectacle alone will We'll expose the fans in Seattle in the Northwest to our sport and this the Sounders will become again hopefully the home of their their
love of the sport. The second part is is what does this mean to our new training facility teams? The way it's work, teams that qualify for the World Cup, the FIFA World Cup tournament will be given a catalog for lots of a better term of training facilities around North America. Our facility will be in there and the top teams will get to choose again where they want
to train. And there's two types of training sites. One is a base camp where you could have a team like Argentina or Brazil or Italy and what they would do is base out of that location for the entirety of the tournament. And it's likely that our facility will be that type of We hope be a home to a really big club and this would be their their site as
they go and compete to thist of it. That is super cool because I think what we have to do is spread the word amongst the playing community that this MLS and specifically the Scattle founders have world class you know, accommodations for our players, and that's what we're hoping to accomplish as well. Well, that's very cool. We'd like to offer up the iHeartMedia Shower, by the way, if anybody needs that. It only holds one person. But if
anybody needs use of the iHeartMedia Shower, it's yours. But Hugh Weber again from the sounders on our President's Day Show, is with us. And you people in sports marketing are unbelievable. You really are, because you have figured out a way to sell the same thing fifteen different ways. Right. It's like when I was a kid and you admitted it. You're older than I
am. I had to have the Beta Max, the VHS, the Laser discs, the DVD, the Blu ray of Star Wars or Empire Strikes Back, and every time they came out with something new, I would buy it, even though I've seen the movie a thousand times and everybody wants to know, what about a third jersey? I already have a Sounders jersey. I have the second jersey. I want a third one. Is there any news for Sounder fanatics out there, Hugh? How about a third jersey coming out
anytime soon? Well? Anytime soon? Well, we just launched our amazing anniversary kit yesterday. Hopefully you've seen it. It's a beautiful kit. I think what's more important about like the merchandising and hopefully people wearing these things,
is that each of them comes with a story, you know. So we've done the Bruce Lely kit, you know, leaning in and talking about his roots here in Seattle and his philosophies, did Jimmy Hendrix's kit before that, and so I think what this club has done at a really high level is not just you know, try to put merchandise out there to get people to spend their money, but to do it in a way that's you know,
really accentuating and promoting the things that make our community so special. And so this one in particular is leaning into our fifty years here and it's really more of a style forward lifestyle something that we hope that you people would want to wear just around, you know, on Friday night, if they if they had the choice. So again that's that's that's what's for this year, and
then next year we'll have another one coming. So yeah, it's as Sounder family, we got to keep your closet full for sure, well closet full view. But again just to read, we've seen some clubs like last year we saw Atlanta come out with an interesting design for for their third jersey. Yeah, I'm not sure do we know what the requirements are for why certain
teams get third jerseys and why some don't. There are some requirements around that the lead times on these projects, just for those that are not in this business or it's usually takes a couple of years to get them planned and in the system, and so each team can't be you know, introducing third jerseys every year, and so they team they sequenced them so that again the entire ecosystem can support again promoting each team doing a third jersey. Gotcha? Well
yeah, love the anniversary kid and the powder blue shorts. Just chef's kiss on that whole look. Hugh. Ever, with a Sounders business president, Hugh, I want to talk about the stadium experience because for a lot of fans, I think that that has changed over time and just you know, sitting up in the press box looking at the stadium and at the size of
it and the fan engagement and how full it is. You know, let's just kind of a view from thirty five thousand feet on your view of the fan experience last year compared to maybe years before, and what you guys are aiming to do to enhance that fan experience this year and hopefully get the attendance
numbers even higher than last year. Yeah, so that's a great question, and it's definitely a focus as I came in with fresh set of eyes, kind of looking at again what people were saying, what people were experiencing. Talking to longtime season ticket members again having growing up here, friends of mine that have been going to matches for decades and decades, all of them talk
about again what makes the Sounders matches special. But those that have been around a lot see around the margins that there is some event again potentially ways to improve. So we are looking at a variety of things. One is a lot of our tickets are sold, but again sometimes people just choose not to come to certain matches and so getting attendance, people using their tickets, passing
them on to friends, and family is an incredible part of that. So making the tools and resources for people to do that easily through their ticket portals and all that stuff is a big focus of ours. Secondly, you know when teams are growing, and the Sounders went through this period in the first decade where your postures really you're out there trying to get every new fan you can. You're like talking to anybody up and down the street you can.
And then after a while, and every team goes through this as you go through a period of success, and then you start talking back, you know, looking or talking to the people that are already fans and doubling down on them. And we have to figure out a way how to widen the fun a little bit more. We've got to figure out how to general new fans to think about coming to a Sounders match. That may not be diehard soccer fans, but they love the community, they love being around people, they
love a good two a half hour experience. Because I think we provide all that, and so you're going to see the concerted effort by the franchise to go out and again double our fan base, go out and talk and get younger people and get having them have reasons to attend that go beyond whether we are playing you know, Dallas FC or LAFC. It doesn't matter. And so you're going to see a lot of effort on our part to make sure that each match is unique, special and we have new folks they're experiencing it
for the first time. Well, one of the things that you know, just talking to people on the street and talking to you know, just generic sports fans here as they say, you know, I don't go to every Sounders game, but man, I went to twenty twenty two CONCACAF Final, where I went to twenty nineteen MLS Cup, and the atmosphere of fitting seventy thousand people into that building, that's what drew me more. And that's what
the experience kind of hooked me to be a Sounder fan. So on that note, what are the plans to have an expanded availability in the stadium this year? You know, look at Portland in the last game of the season at home, what a game that'll be. Are there plans to have a game or two or more this season where the full the stadium is more full than it usually is and isn't covered off in the three hundred level. Yeah.
So so again this goes back to almost the original question of around a soccer built facility versus you know, one that is really built for NFL football and sixty eight thousand people. You know, there's this weird kind of in between because if you said, listen, we're going to open up the stadium full every single match, and we know that, like there's thirty four thousand or so folks that come to our matches and they were spread around the upper
bowl, it would be even a worse experience. So the reason we actually park those things is to create intimacy and to create you know, this this closest of community that we have. And so, you know, I think that there is a moment in time where obviously these high demand matches come along with it's the Concacat final, or if it was a line on messy match, or if it was like of course we would open it up, We
would sell the whole thing and life would be great. The real question is what happens if it's forty thousand, right, and it's five thousand people sitting upstairs and there's thirty three thousand people are sitting downstairs like most of them, how do we create an environment where it doesn't. You know, we're not just chasing numbers, because one of the things in our business we have to make sure we're doing is there are people who are super loyal to us.
They buy their season tickets, they buy all eighteen matches plus playoffs and everything else. And if the availability to get a ticket at any moment is that we just open more sections because the demand is going up, it kind of deterates the value of why they buy season tickets because they have access to get their tickets. So if you can imagine climate pledge instead of their being fixed seats and we just said, well, we're just going to keep adding bleachers
and adding bleachers for the big games. I mean, some of the lure as to why you're member kind of gets rubbed off because you just pick the best matches you want to go to. So that's the balance that we're contintly working through. And again, ultimately, we have this you know, huge fan base and we have sixty thousand people there at every match, and that's
what we're working toward. It's great stuff there from Hugh Weber, President of Business Operations for the Seattle Sounders. Really good stuff hope you took a few things from that like I did. And listen, we're a couple of years away from that World Cup. Will be cool to see, you know, what team gets their home base at Long Acres and that whole dynamic. But you know, one of those things where hopefully we continue to talk in the years ahead with Hugh Weber there, with Dave Softy Maler as well, so
good stuff on that. Will take a break here on Sounders Weekly and we will focus on the home opener for the club coming up this Saturday against Austin FC. We'll go around the league with ari Leleanwald get a preview for Sounders Austin and get his two cents on what happened against LAFC. That's next on Sounders Weekly Sports Radio ninety three point three KJM. Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders FC cll's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Welcome back Sounders Weekly. Good to have you with us here on this Wednesday evening ninety three point three KJRFM. You will be able to hear Saturday's Sounders home opener against Austin FC right here on this station. Providence Swedish premat show will begin at seven o'clock, kickoff at seven point thirty from Loominfield. You can listen to it right here ninety three point three KJR FM. You know, also watch the match on Apple tvf MLS Season Pass. Also listen
in Spanish language on LRA thirteen sixty. And it's time to go around the league. We'll talk some Sounders, but we'll also talk about a bunch of stuff going on around Major League Soccer. Joining us as he always does, it's my good friend, writer and editor for MLS Soccer dot com and host of the podcast Lobbings Scorchers Ari, lillianwall Ari. Good to have you back on the show, my friend, how are you? I'm good, Jackson. Disappointing result for Seattle this week, but it was good to have the
games back and I'm excited that the season has started. All right, Well, let's quickly swallow the vegetables and just you know, clean them off the plate. Sounders lose two to one at LAFC. You're missing four starters and Pedro de Levega only came off the bench. Impressions from the Sounders two one
loss, Yeah, I mean I think you hit on it. The most disappointing thing for me was just, you know, I was looking forward to seeing the real lineup, what the team is actually going to look like, and just with all the injuries, it felt like we didn't really get an opportunity to see that. You know, I think Russknack and JP being out those are two guys that basically a lot of the offense run through those two guys, So without them, I feel like it's hard to really draw many
definitive conclusions. But as for how the game actually played out, my takeaways were that LAFC is still one of the elite teams in the league, even in spite of all the turnover that they experienced this offseason, and you know, Seattle couldn't just just couldn't keep up with them in attack given their personnel situation. So you know, I really don't think you can draw all that
much from it. But it was good to see Pedro de la Vega debut, and it was good to see him find the squoresheet in his first demo as action for sure. Yeah, and as we talked about at the start of the show, he looked very impressive and if the Sounders can get more than you know, thirty ish minutes from Pedro de l Vega against Austin. I think that would be great. Hopefully he's nearing his way to be able
to start for this team. Ario. It was a terrible week for the Sounders losing, but it's made even worse by the fact if the Portland Timbers got an opening week win, and what a win they had. Very unfortunate for us up here. But you know, people in the Row City are smiling a four to one win over Colorado, and correct me if I'm wrong, But this was the first game that Colorado had goalkeeper Stephan, Zach Stephan, former Unison United States men's national team goalkeeper. They had Zach Stefan and
golded Colorado and Portland just whooped him. What did you see there? Yeah, you know, it is hard to say how much of that was the Portland Timbers being a dominant team and how much of it was the Colorado Rapids just still not being very good. You know, Colorado got a lot of positive press this offseason, and I think deservedly so. In some ways, they had a ton of turnover. They made some big signings, most notably Georgie Mahaalovich coming back to MLS, so I think a lot of people expected
them to be a much improved team this year. It did not look like that in this game. They looked like a mess on defense. Portland did well to capitalize on that, and I think the most encouraging thing for them was Anthony, who is a young DP that they signed from Brazil last year. He scored two goals and looked really, really good. So they should
definitely be encouraged by seeing that. But I don't really know how much you can project out from that result to the rest of the season, just because they were playing the worst team in the league from last year, and we don't really know how much they've improved despite all the moves that they've made, So I'll wait and see before crowning them. But they certainly got a very good start to the pill nevill Era, There's no question about that they did.
But just to continue and piggyback off of that. You know, we talked a lot about season previews last week for the Western Conference, but I don't know if I asked you about where you think the Pearland Timbers end up. I mean, so many people have Seattle in La right there at the top of the West. What do you project for the Timbers and was that all affected by what you saw this last weekend. I think they'll be improved
this year. I expect them to be a playoff team, but when I look at their roster, I still think that they're at least one big signing short of being an upper upper tier team in the West. Okay, and what happened in the Colorado game doesn't really change that assessment in my mind. I want to see them do what they did against Colorado against other elite teams in MLS before I say that. But they have an argument for being very optimistic. I'm not going to sit here and deny that. Yeah, for
sure. Ari Lullion was our guest writer and editor for Mlsoccer dot Com. We'll talk about his return of a podcast, Lobbing Scorchers in just a moment. Ari, what's amazing listening back to our interview last week was the fact that we went like fourteen or so minutes and not once did either of us and I am taking a full fault for this, mentioned the name MESSI,
didn't mention Miami didn't mention Messi, And what did Miami do. I mean, let's just go back to I know they opened up the whole league last Wednesday, a week ago, but let's just go back to the weekend. Ninety third minute, they get the equalizer from that man, the goat Messi in Los Angeles, roaring, sold out crowd there in Carson, California. I mean, there's a two part question here, what you've seen from Miami
so far and what you foresee for them this season. As long as guys like Messi and Jordi Alba, who had the assist on the game tangle, as long as those guys stay healthy, how far can Miami get this year? Yeah? I thought that game was a pretty good nutshell of just what makes this iteration of inner Miami so difficult to play against. LA was out playing them for a lot of that game, especially in the first half. They were the more proactive team. They were on top of them. They
had a one zero lead late into the game. They had him, they had him on the ropes, and then they get a red card, which I think was very questionable. But as soon as Miami got the man advantage, they were right on top of the galaxy. And Messi just feels inevitable, like more than any player I've ever watched. In those moments, you feel like you just can't avoid him getting to you. And that's exactly what happened in the game. And him and Geordie Alba have been doing that exact
type of com nation play for years and years with Barcelona. It looks like a vintage sequence right there. And so you know, for for the Galaxy in Greg Vanna, you got to just be pulling your hair out at that because they were just minutes away from getting a big win over this Miami team that's so touted and they just couldn't do it because Messi got them. And I think as long as the Barcelona guys stay healthy, that's probably what you're
going to be seeing a lot this year. Like even in a scenario where inner Miami they had already played a game, these guys already had minutes on their legs and they still were able to pull the result like that. So if they keep that group healthy, and especially with the other signings that they've brought in, it could we could be looking at the best team in the
league. You know, it's gonna be dependent on health and fitness a lot, But if they get those things squared away, It's hard to see a scenario where Inner Miami is not an absolute force to be reckoned with this year. That's absolutely right, because you look at the rest of the years, and we talked last week about how stacked the East is. Columbus opened up with a one nothing went over Atlanta. That was solid enough. Orlando is
zero zero draw against Montreal. Maybe they were a little bit disappointed there down in Orlando. And then you also had Cincinnati with a zero zero drag against Toronto. Certainly fans in Cincinnati would want to win at home in the opener over Toronto, but they didn't get it. So, yeah, the East there is available for the taking. If Messi and crew, and it is a large crew, do go and get it Ari really quick before we talk about the Sounders next upon it in Austin. We talked last week at the
very end about replacement refs. I wanted to get your two cents, as somebody who watched most of the league this week, if you saw any difference in the officiating from the rest and the refereeing we've seen in recent years to what we saw just this last weekend. Yeah, I mean I thought it looked pretty much what I expected it to look like, which is that I
mean, just speaking about Seattle LAFC game. I talked about this on Lobb and the Scorchers, but there was there was three calls in that game that I went through on the episode that were just it wouldn't have happened. I think if it was a normal referee, just kind of out of left field, out of nowhere miss calls. I thought the VAAR reviews in general were
taking way too long. So I mean, there's definitely gonna be an adjustment period here, and I hope it improved because if this is something that stretches on for weeks and weeks, I think it's gonna be a problem. Jackson, I really do. There were there were just there were some a lot
of calls this weekend that have me scratch in my head. Same here, and you know, watching that Sounders game, you just wonder Christian rolled on getting a yellow card for descent when it clearly looked like a yellow for the LAFC player. There were a number of calls. I feel the same way you do, but are you Let's shift over to our sharp vision upon an outlook and talk about Austin and Austin losing their opener two to one one to
Minnesota. Would love to get your thoughts on what you saw from Austin Seattle's next opponent. And then also Minnesota won that game. I know they have a head coach officially now, but they won that game without a head coach. Yeah, they're rolling with an interim coach. You know, I can I watched a fair amount of that Minnesota Austin game, so I can tell you about how Austin FC is doing right now. Okay, and boy it looks rough for them. It looked really rough. Minnesota was all over them
during that game. It was not as close as to one. Minnesota was up to zero until the very last minute and they could have had at least a couple more goals. And Austin scored won at the very very end. So that score line flattered them. And Josh Woolf's Austin FC head coach. He's on the hottest seat in the league right now to my mind. You know a lot of people were surprised they didn't make a move there last year.
They chose to stick with them. They came out at home at Q two and got absolutely ran on by Minnesota for a lot of that game, especially in the first half. I'm telling you, it looked abjectively non competitive for longest stretches of that game. Minnesota United looked like real Madrid, which you know, they have a pretty good roster. I think they're going to be pretty good this year, but they I don't think they are that good.
Austin FC made them look like world beaters. So Seattle is definitely going to be having a wounded opponent for their next game at home here. But you know, a wounded opponent also creates a desperate opponent, So I don't think it should be looked at as it's going to be an easy game because Austin FC, I think you had a situation where where Josh Wolf is coaching for his job. Certain players might be playing for their jobs and they all
know that, so they're going to come out firing. I hate teams coming off of a loss, just in general, in any sport, in any league, no matter what, A team coming off of a loss is a hungry team. So for the Sounders, you know, don't be looking your chops too much. And also the injury situation, we just don't know so lots of question marks, but it's going to be an awesome team that's hungry
for a result coming in here to Seattle. I'll mention tonight's opponent Outlook is presented by Sharp Vision, Modern Lasik and Lens, the official Lasik provider of Sounders fc ARI. Let's wrap, and I know you mentioned the return of Lobbing Scorches your podcast. People can get it on the iHeartRadio app just search Lobbing Scorches. What do you have on the show this week? Yeah, yeah, we just put out the new one today. We're back in action
for season two. We talked a little more in depth about our thoughts on this opening of Sounder season and Pedro de la Vega and then also gave a few thoughts from around the league as well. I did a little segment on who I thought were the biggest winners and losers for match Day one. So yeah, it was really fun to be back. And anyone who tuned into season one and wants more, or if you just want to tune in for the first time, look up Lobbing Scorches on Spotify. Give it a download.
And yeah, I'm excited to be back doing it. It's a lot of fun being in the podcasting game. Well, if you're listening to this live and the show's about to end, here to eight fifty two right now, So when the show ends, go look up a lot of scorches. And if you're happen to be listening to this on a podcast edition, right when you finish this, go look up Lobbing Scorches there on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts Ari, thank you so much again, sir.
We will talk next week, hopefully after a Sounders win against Austin. Thanks Jackson, appreciate it. Good stuff there from ARILULIENWALLMLS soccer dot com writer and editor there and as we mentioned, their host of the podcast Lobbing scorcheres Well really quickly, we'll go around the sound after we went around the league. No news out of all of the USL two stuff we reported last week.
Seattle RAINFC still waiting and training ahead of the season. Their season does not start until March seventeenth against Washington, So more on that ahead, but that will do it for our show tonight. One last note and that's that Sounders e FC Soccer is presented by Providence Swedish official healthcare partner of Sounders FC. So we will talk to you this coming Saturday. Sounders going to be facing Austin FC in the home opener. You can get your tickets at SOUNDERSFC
dot com slash tickets. Look forward to seeing you out there at Loominfield for a wonderful game and hopefully a first win of the twenty twenty four campaign. You can listen to the match right here Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM, Providence, Swedish premat show at seven o'clock, kickoff at seven thirty. You can also watch the match on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app
and listen in Spanish language on LRA thirteen sixty. I'll also tell you that you can get your tickets today by visiting SOUNDERSFC dot com slash tickets, and Saturday's match is brought to you by the Western Washington Toyota Dealers Toyota Let's Go Places, So we will talk to you right here this coming Saturday, Sounders looking for their first win of the year against Austin But for right now, Fox Sports Radio coming up next