RSL is in San Diego, coming up on Saturday. After another loss over the weekend, Always a pleasure to catch up with our next guest, RSL original, the Legend himself, Brian dun Seth. Monday Afternoon, Donney, Happy Monday, buddy.
How are we doing.
I'm doing well. It's good to see that the word legend isn't being used as descriptively as possible. I mean, you calling me a legend. I don't think I checked any of those boxes.
Man, lies, you are lying on the program.
My question, Donny, is when somebody, when somebody says, do you when Don Garber says, okay, Brian dun Seth, who scored the first goal in RSL history, do you correct them or do you just let it go.
I can tell you that christ somatically.
I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.
He was so sensitive. No listen. I told Jason, I was like, do you realize how many times I've corrected people over these last twenty years that you scored the first goal. I scored the first home goal? And he goes, what did you do it today? And I was like, you know what, I was just going to enjoy a super surreal moment of hosting. You know, the Miller group coming in and the commissioner looking over at me and saying that, and all like the heads at the same time.
It was like a movie, and like all of the people's faces just turned towards me, and Garber's looking at me, and I was just like, yeah, this is this is a movie. This is a surreal moment. But yeah, cool. Nonetheless, I ended up ben milling him later for the shout out.
I thought I thought it was great. I thought it was great.
And look, the snapshot of you planting the flag at Rice Cycles never gets old, man, every time I see that clip of Clint sending in the cross and You're getting your head on it and planning the flag. I mean, it really was a moment that signaled the arrival of this club. And now we're twenty plus years later, which is wild that you and I have been doing this for as long as we have. But let's start with some of the positive vibes and positive news before we
get to the tough stuff. And I just wonder how you digested the news cycle last week where the Miller family has taken over the controlling stake of ownership of RSL and the Royals.
What do you think this means for the group?
Yeah, listen, I think a lot of us, none of us were naive and recognizing that Ryan Smith's attention was a little bit different following the acquisition the Utah Hockey Club and we hadn't really seen him tweeting about it or talking about We saw Laker Utah Royals for the better part of the year. So when I heard the whispers a couple of months ago about the Miller's scale, Miller and the company itself interested in the acquisition of
Real Salt Lake, it checked a lot of boxes. You know, I go back to the time when you know your dad was able to start Real Salt Lake, and when Dave's paying five million dollars and we're seeing the expansion fee coming around three fifty to four hundred. Now you know there's a lot of money left on the table.
And to see kind of the momentum ship from the sale under's Deloy Hanson into David Blitzer and Ryan Smith and now for David Blitzer to kind of step back still have a lot of the sporting control to soccer control, but similar to his investment, whether he talk about Crystal Palace, he talked about Augsburg, you know, you talk about in
Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA. You know, a part of him really does enjoy being a minority owner and allowing kind of and I'm of the firm belief that having a local owner with primary ownership is important because there's something and that's that's not to disparage anything that David Blitzer and his group has done, because it has been
extraordinary since the sale and Deloye walking away. He's done a great job and a lot of great things, and the infrastructure in the atmosphere, even he upgrades to the stadium. But I do think there's something special about having people that understand the market, understand what this city wants, and you know, having someone that's fully invested in this team is going to be or these teams are going to be important because it's not just Realso Lake and Utah Royals.
It's also Reround Monarchs. It's also the academy. You know, it's the infrastructure of the training facility, all of those things. So I think it's great and as they continue to bet in, my hope is sooner rather than later we'll see an influx of funds and investments that continue the development of the nuclear arms spending in Major League soccer, and as I said to you, I think a couple
of years ago, I think his expansion slows down. We're going to see multi billion dollar owners continuing to invest in clubs already owned by multi billion dollar owners.
I wonder, Donny, if you've been able to garner an insight or in your conversations, if you understand how the dynamic will work.
Between the Blitzer Group and the Miller group.
Is it is the line of delineation as clear as the Miller's handling the business side and Blitzer handling the soccer side, or is it a little bit more convoluted than that.
Yeah, I'd assume it's a bit more convoluted. But what I would say is that because of the Blitzer sporting network specific to soccer has already been in play. There is a benefit for the Millers to slowly figure out ways how to sorry about my son's game and they're they're good now leading to nail against no. I think what it does is it allows the Millers to kind of bet in and understand from the business side what's happening but then also having great education of what the
soccer side is. You know, I am of the firm belief that I don't think it would be in any way, shape or form a bad thing for someone like Dave, you know, date check Its to come in and somehow be involved and then allow the soccer people to make soccer decisions similar to the success that we saw back in two thousand and nine through twenty twelve, you know, specific to hiring Guard, hiring Jason, hiring Robin, and building out that roster and allowing just the soccer to speak
for itself, and then you know, if there's failures, there's consequence. But yeah, I think we're going to see an evolution over the next couple of years of what that looks like. You know, I am not of the belief, having not been in the conversations and being in the room to understand completely what this all looks like. But in the short term I think there's enough of an educated personnel in charge right now to allow you know, this this quote unquote handover of power in real time.
One more thing, and then we'll move over to some results and some additions that are on the way, and hopefully more that we don't know about on the way as well. But what has been you know, as the kids would say, vibes are high, and you know, the start of the season.
Has been great.
But your your connections at the club with both RSL and the Royals, does it feel like this ownership transition is being met with a ton of optimism.
Yeah, I think it is, I really do. I mean, there's no one that's come out publicly and said anything different. There's nobody that has mentioned to me and either my hosting opportunities or being around the trainings that it speaks to anything different. But again, I think you know this and I know this. We're not naive. I mean we're dumb,
We're not naive. I think we've seen the transfer of power from different organizations and clubs and different sporting ventures that you know, there's there's always going to be a little bit of havoc, a little bit of helter skelter, a little bit of confusion because ultimately we're looking at
the variation of responsibility. So that's all fine and dandy, but there is going to be you know, there's there's going to be some time for everyone to kind of figure out who ultimately is in charge, who's making the decisions, and then you know the responsibility of failure is going to be in there as well.
All right, now we have to talk about the current form of the club, which, if we're honust, is not good. So three wins, six losses, eight goals scored fourteen alloud minus six. The goals allowed category is kind of inflated by two really bad performances. But my first question, in this kind of non secuitar direction that we've gone to, what is fair to say about the calls that have gone against the club over the past three or four weeks.
You go back to the FC Dallas challenge for Peel, and anybody that has played at a high enough level will tell you that that was a player protecting himself in a moment and which Patrickson Delgado was about to do him and by doing him, I mean like going to put his foot through his ankle, and I think he recognized in that moment he needed to protect himself, and I think there was a gray area of a
conversation that should have been involved. That doesn't just have to be that, hey, this is violent conduct, this endangers the safety of the opponent. No, this is a guy saying like, you know you're not going to kick me right now, I'm going to protect myself. The Daniel Lovett's forearm shiver elbow to the face of Marchuk should have
been a red. I'm not surprised based on the referee' personality and history that maybe his arrogance in the moment wasn't open to the idea of having someone in a booth in the Dallas, Texas area send him over to the monitor to overturn his call. Love It should have seen a yellow card right after that for a second yellow challenge at a bare minimum, and then finally they're amongst my constituents that call games. So this isn't coming from a real Salt Lake olmer or for my love
for Diego Luna. There's not a pundit in the world that would look at Diego Luna untangling his leg from Petrosso wrapping him up and think that in any way,
shape or form, that's violent conduct and Spence. I texted our good friend Trey Fitzgerald immediately as I was sitting in the Delta Lounge in Seattle, flying home from calling the Seattle National Game, and I said, Hey, just let me know when the appeal comes through that Diego is going to be available for next weekend down in San Diego, because that was one of the when you have Drew Fisher's var sending you to the monitor with his experience,
one of the most respected managers in this league for this. Now it's three nail for this not to be downgraded. For Sergei demian Juk to go over to the monitor, have to look at it from four different for you know, maybe what two minutes from multiple different angles in any way, shape or form to think that that is violent conduct for a player to untangle his leg from a player on the ground, it's just lunacy. It's crazy. To me,
I don't understand it. And the problem that I have with this is also double jeopardy since because RSL was a better team and that listen, they lost the game, right, they gave up the goal. They deserve to lose a game. That being said, they played down to man for the better part of thirty minutes. They were the better team. They should have scored multiple goals, they should have come back, and now you lose the player in real time, arguably one of the most dynamic Number ten playmakers not named
Lino Messi. In Major League soccer, you don't have them for the better part of thirty minutes. You're playing a man down. You don't get the points on the day. And now my hope is that we hear the announcement that he's got oh shy almost just scored. Dang, and then we get the announcement that he's going to be allowed to play next weekend. I feel like that's incoming. Yeah,
it's just tough. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and all of the small things that are going wrong, a lot of it a real sal they needs to figure out. I'm looking for leadership. Who's responsible in terms of pulling everybody up by the shorts. Who's the guy theoretically that's willing to punch somebody to change the and manufacture the momentum,
because right now this team needs something. They've played well, but they're not playing well enough, if that makes sense to UH to be where they need to be in the nuclear arms race of the Western Conference playoff ers.
Little Bertie Que Little Bertie my source at RSL infor me earlier that the red card has been appealed based off of your knowledge of the inner workings of MLS.
What are the chances that it gets rescinded.
I could see it being with the with the with the three person I don't know which we're calling it, uh, the three person panel, if you will. I don't think there's anybody that looks at that and says that that's a violent conduct worthy red card. I think it is a three mil in favor of that appeal going through and Diego Luna's red card being rescinded and him being reinstated for availability in San Diego. And again this is
me coming from an analyst perspective. I could not believe what I was watching in real time.
I know you alluded to and maybe the answer to my question is what you already said as far as the arrogance of the official, But watching the red card in real time, you couldn't really tell because Diego was standing over him, and it's like, all right, well did he do something a faious on him?
I thought he must have, you know, I'm watching it. I thought he must have stepped on him. Yes, he must have stopped on him. Right, Really, he showed the angle from behind and he pulls his leg out and then he kind of like leans in, like what are you doing? It was more that not like diego, listen, diego.
We're all young, dumb, naive at moments like you're talking to a guy that almost cost the United States a spot in the Olympics because I saw blood red and I reacted And it was just in that split second, like my Southern California upbringing, like I just I saw red mist This wasn't that. This was like what, like why are you wrapping up my leg? Like let go?
Like that's what that was to me, right, But my point was in real time, it's like, okay, well that looked like it could be something aggressive.
Then you see the replay and there's nothing there.
So my question, Donny is how do you watch that replay and come to the conclusion that it needed to be read like is that just arrogance?
Like how do you do that?
I don't know. I mean, I think maybe maybe the more easier conversation is maybe that's why he's not one of the consistent reps at the highest level when it comes to All Stars playoffs, MLS Cup finals. You know, we've got we've got some great referees in pro in Major League Soccer. I was actually having a conversation with one of the referees that Maxprados and I ran into
while we're up in Seattle. There's some really fantastic referees, but as the evolution of the game goes on, we forget that some of the best referees are aging out, so we're gonna get some younger referees that have worked their way through and have deserved opportunities. But again, the pace of the game, the speed of play, the decision making, and then the influx of you know, you have ego, you have arrogance, you have experience, you know, the idea
of var and the intervention of technology is fantastic. But at the same time, there's still a human error and a lot of these guys you could show them one play and you could say red or no, and half the room will say red, half the room will say yellow.
So there's still an element of human error involved. And for me, the game in Nashville and the game against Toronto, those were both I don't know if it's arrogainst lack of experience, or just maybe self belief in the call, but you know, two mistakes that I think should have gone in a dummer direction.
All right, Doddie, it's getting late early. You know, this is a slog this is a marathon, this is not a sprint. MLS schedule is intense, and you know, I've seen some of the best clubs that we've had here get off the horrible starts, and some of the worst clubs we've you know, like you could, good stars can lead to bad seasons. Bad starts can lead to good seasons. It's a roller coaster ride. But through nine matches there, eleventh ty was Saint Louis on nine points. I'll ask
you this before we get to some potential editions. What have you seen that you've liked? What are they doing well as of now, even though the start has not been great.
Oh, you're talking specific to rilso Lake, correct. Yeah. I think Diego Luna playing in the number ten position has the pure playmaker with Diego Gonzalveez on the left, has afforded both the players the ability to shine. It takes maybe pressure off Theogo to be quote unquote one of the number tens and allows Diego to kind of find the game because he's a guy that can absolutely kind of sniff out opportunities. I still think of Mecca and
Ojeda are really really strong in their partnership. Pelacios hasn't shown nothing. Plasco hasn't shown the consistency or performance or the recognizing and critical moments of where he needs to be. That may be just a rhythm thing or a lack thereof. Hafa Haf has been fantastic in goal Cabral. I think he's a He's a fantastic addition. But to be quite honest, I think there's more questions than answers. I don't know who the best number nine is. I really don't know
what the true level of Dominic Marchuk is. I see glimpses, but I don't see any consistency. The right back spot is wide open for opportunity. When Kobe Henry's available, I think he easily competes for one of the starting spots. And whether you're talking about Junka or Kataris at left back, that turned into more of a competition than I ever expected to be. So based on the lack of results and the losses, take away all the conversations about referees
and monumental moments going against we also a lake. I still think there's more questions than answers. I think he probably have competitive wise, roster for roster, spot for spot. One of the deepest, if not the deepest team for Real Salt Lake we've ever seen built. But they certainly aren't close to having their difference makers. Even from what we saw last year. This is a completely different group than we saw in twenty twenty four. And I'm waiting
for waiting. I'm waiting for the vocal leaders. I'm waiting for the guys to kind of step up from a physical standpoint, no nonsense me versus you, I'm going to destroy you. And then the technical side of guys, they can put away chances because every and I don't know about you, but every time I watch Real Salt Lake, I feel like they're generating three to four fantastic goal scoring moments. And the game against Nashville is a perfect
example where Mark took before he scores. He should have had two or three more, Peel should have had one. This team needs to be more clinical and maybe a part of this quote unquote lack of investment was a byproduct of this ownership turnover. But they got to get back on track and by Wednesday, that's the close of this first window. Hopefully they can find the right guy that makes.
The most sense for this team, and that's where we'll go next. Before I set you loose so you can get back to your boys game. Fabricio Romano, who breaks a lot of worldwide soccer news, reports that RSL has agreed in principle to sign Robert Bozanici, striker who has been in Portugal. I'm donnie. I'm not going to tell you I've been grinding on Portugue. You know Portuguese soccer tape. I don't know much about him, but tell us about
this new striker. I'm told this should be on the ground of the next twenty four hours or so.
Yeah, I won't pretend to know what his level is. I'm aware of him. I know that the conversations have been going on for quite some time. I'm confused as to why it's taken this long, similar to Diogo Consolvez acquisition, when you were able to get Chico Rongo done so soon. Remember, the Blitzer group owns either outright or a big part of Esquill in Portugal, so they will be very familiar with this player. I know he's a national team player.
If you look, statistically, he's not outrageous in terms of scoring goals. I think he's only got a handful of goals over the course of the season. Hopefully he's impactful enough. It's given him plenty of time to bet in over the course of the season, considering we're only nine matchdays in. But the question is how much of a different profile does he have compared to the two strikers three strikers
if you include his espeta as well. We'll see, but sooner rather than later, let's see what he's made of. Get him on the field and hopefully in terms of fitness, sharpness, game you know, the game awareness, he's coming in and can immediate least step onto the field and you know, make an immediate impact. The team certainly needs somebody that can finish off some of the great chances that they've created so far in the first nine matches.
Last thing, and I'll set you lose.
Are you aware of any other impending acquisitions additions to the group before the window closes on Wednesday?
No, that's the only one. O. Uh, maybe let's put it that way. Maybe there's I've heard some whispers and if it does come to fruition. I think it would. It would. It would certainly help the team and positions that are necessary for competition for the starting spot. But yeah, I mean the other part of this is, you know, real Salt Lake has a certain amount of money available
as they continue to evolve and make these moves. I'm looking at the summer transfer window of how aggressive can they be, especially with you know, the Miller's coming in. That's a big part of this equation that I think is going to be an unknown for all of us is to try to understand the true nature of financially
what this roster is going to look like. Because Weekend we are you know every month or so that we talk every couple of weeks Spence wre We're constantly watching and trying to figure out a way to negotiate what
is this nuclear arms spending in Major League soccer? Because if you're really going to go out and spend money and find like the Latte loss in Atlanta or the Kevin Yankees in Cincinnati, and I know this is going to sound crazy that your your one hit though misses, you're going to be with him at twelve to fifteen million dollar rage at this point. So things are significantly different.
That's why I think having billionaire investors alongside billionaire owners are incredibly important for the evolution major Lex soccer because you just can't afford to sit still anymore.
Donny, good stuff. We'll let you get back to the game, and I appreciate the time, but it'd be good.
Okay, Yes, Skyline four zero winners over Park City up here, so a big, big result there.
Oh my god, Bri, I'm done. Seth RSL Legend.
RSL back at action against San Diego coming up this weekend. Hopefully Diego Luna will be on the pitch. They have appealed the red card. We'll see if it's rescinded.