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The vibes are definitely off
108 Plays1 year ago
The Seattle Sounders are winless after two games and have not yet scored from open play. There's an overall sense that the vibes are off, at least among fans. Jeremiah and Aaron dig in.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to NOS Arietes. This episode of NOS Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of NOS Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters.
MLS Cup Victory Celebration
00:00:20
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:28
Speaker
A.O. Shen! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win! Here come three years through the middle to crown it the vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations. It's the Sounders' MLS Cup! Niko Liddo leaves out!
Podcast Team Introduction
00:01:12
Speaker
Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adietes, sponsored by Full Pull Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on March 5th, 2024. I am your host, Jeremiah Shan. Joining me today is my co-host, Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickett.
Match Analysis: Sounders vs Austin FC
00:01:41
Speaker
Well, the Sounders opened their 2024 home campaign in eerily similar fashion to how they closed out their 2023 season. No, it wasn't a loss, but they did fail to score again. This time it was a 0-0 tie against Austin FC, a team that seemed absolutely intent on parking the bus and doing absolutely nothing else with it. The Sounders managed to squeeze off 23 shots and allowed two completely harmless attempts from well outside the penalty area and had 10 times as many touches inside the Austin FC penalty area.
Pedro de la Vega's Injury Impact
00:02:10
Speaker
but they didn't make enough of those chances. To add insult to injury, Pedro de la Vega, who I thought looked pretty darn good in his 63 minutes, went out with a hamstring injury that we just found out will cost him six to eight weeks as the Sounders try to figure out why he keeps getting hurt. We're just two games into the season and the vibes can hardly be worse, Aaron. Is it actually that bad?
00:02:35
Speaker
It's not good. I think I'm still pretty bullish on this team. Yeah. But I don't think it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out. I think it's going to be kind of a slog for a little bit. The Austin game and the LA game both to me felt like
00:02:57
Speaker
a good team doing most things pretty well and struggling in the final third. And, you know, that's that was kind of the story of a lot of last season as well. So I think it's reasonable that people are frustrated about it.
Sounders' Dominance and Missed Chances
00:03:14
Speaker
But I I think the team is going to be OK. Like, I don't think that this is going to be a repeat of of of the year before last. I think the team will make the playoffs. I think there's a good chance they're going to be one of the best teams in the West.
00:03:26
Speaker
going all said and done, but I do not think it's going to be smooth sailing. I think that it's going to be kind of a rocky start to the year. It's going to be, you know, probably a little bit of a hole to dig out of, um, until, you know, God willing, everybody gets healthy. Um, but I, I just, I see a lot of things that are fundamentally good about the team that they're still doing at a high level defensively. I think they've looked great. They gave up two goals against LA, but, uh, LAFC, but you know, I think that, uh,
00:03:55
Speaker
one of them was just kind of a worldy. So I'm not going to sweat too much about that. Austin created absolutely nothing. Granted, they probably weren't really attempting to create too much, but the sounders really didn't go. You got to give them. They got to give us some credit there, right? Like Austin barely crossed the halfway
Fan Frustration Over Performance
00:04:13
Speaker
line. Yeah. Yeah. The sounders were in complete control that a buddy of mine texted me pretty much at the end of the game and said, is there has there ever been a team that
00:04:22
Speaker
Control so many games completely that they don't end up winning and it it really does feel that way sometimes you know they they were in complete control this game it was definitely one of those games where it just felt the whole time like the goal was coming and it never did but Austin's a bad team I mean and I think that that's the thing right is that this isn't a game that the Sounders should
00:04:45
Speaker
struggle to win this, this should be an easy win, right? If they were playing a better team, I think that it would be, it would be a little easier to, to forget, not forgive, but to get over a game like this. But because this, I mean, that's Austin at home should be a gimme, should be a gimme three points. And so I, two years in a row. Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, that's something else.
00:05:11
Speaker
I don't blame anybody for being frustrated. I think the vibes are bad, especially now that De La Vega is going to be hurt because, I mean, really...
00:05:22
Speaker
They didn't the Sounders did not look terrible against LFC before he came on, but it was they were a much different team after he came on. He was and he and I would say they they weirdly looked better, I thought, after he came off against Austin. Yeah. And maybe that was just because they had a little bit more urgency to the attack. But he did a lot of things that I thought were really encouraging when he was on the field. I mean, he's he's definitely not afraid to dribble at opponents. He's effective, you know, in the press.
00:05:51
Speaker
I like his game a lot. He attempts passes that really no one else will attempt. He's, you know, I, I think given time, this could be, I got really encouraged by the signing
Key Players and Missed Opportunities
00:06:01
Speaker
in general. Yes, absolutely. But yeah, it's, it's, it's frustrating that, that he's going to miss six to eight weeks. I mean, he's, he's going to miss, you know, a solid third of the season, uh, or a quarter of the season, I guess. Uh, I just wanted to go through some of these chances and I, I mean, it's easy to say that the Sounders didn't,
00:06:21
Speaker
look dangerous enough, but I think they had at least six very good chances in this game. There was Leochu cutting in on his right foot, shoots it just high over the crossbar. Morris had an open header. Jackson Reagan had a pretty much open header.
00:06:41
Speaker
Josh Atencio had a good header that got saved. Josh Atencio had another shot that just went barely wide. And then Rui Diaz had two great chances. One of them was saved, although it was called out for a goal kick, ridiculously enough. And then he had the other one where he hit the underside of the crossbar and it stayed out. That one I thought for sure when he hit it, I thought that was a goal for sure.
00:07:04
Speaker
And I will say I was very encouraged in general by Rui Diaz's performance. He looked really sharp. I mean, that looked like, to me, vintage Rui Diaz in that game. Yeah, I think that if there's one really positive thing to take away from both of these games, it's how good he's looked. And I think
00:07:25
Speaker
Last year, yes, he hasn't scored, and I think that that would be the counterpoint to that, but he just didn't look like this last year. He looked like a shell of his former self, and I think this year, he has looked very much like his former self, and maybe that's because he hasn't been playing. He hasn't been starting as much, and he's able to...
00:07:44
Speaker
to exert himself more and give more than he was able to give when he was still the, you know, starting every game. But whatever it is, I think it's been really encouraging. I think that he's I think he's going to find a goal pretty soon, which will be, I think, very nice for everyone and himself included, because it has been a while. And and it does. I mean, it really does kind of feel like the cliche of once they find a goal, they'll start coming in. But it does feel that way because it feels at times like they're pressing
00:08:13
Speaker
But they are creating chances. And, you know, it's just it's frustrating right now because you can't you can't have these points back. And, you
Managing Player Injuries
00:08:24
Speaker
know, it's.
00:08:28
Speaker
There's just not a lot to this early in a season after a season that ended in such disappointing fashion last year. There's not a lot to like herkin back to that's positive, you know, they have that great run towards the end of the season last year, but that was six months ago. And, you know, so there's not a lot to cling to that's tangible. That's the actual on field product right now. That's, that's making anybody happy. I feel like the vibes will turn pretty quickly once they do, but it just might be a while before they do.
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's, and I think that, and it's not just the, you know, we'll talk a lot about this a little bit later in the show, but it's not just the on field stuff that feels off. There's some off field stuff that also seems like it's not going too well. But before we get into that, uh, I know one of the hot topics of discussion this week has been around the way the sounders handled Pedro de la Vega. What do you make of that? He came out in this, he got hurt in the 63rd minute sort of,
00:09:27
Speaker
the expectation he'd play 60, 65 minutes, something like that. Do you think he got left on too long? Do you think that he got rushed into starting? Yeah, I mean, I hope not. I don't feel like I have enough information to offer a credible opinion. But what I will say is that I don't think the sounders have ever been
00:09:52
Speaker
could have been reasonably accused of being reckless rushing players back from injury. So I'm sure there was some pressure, especially after that first game to try to get him onto the field. But I just feel like if he, if there were signs that he wasn't ready to be starting, um,
00:10:12
Speaker
I have a hard time believing he would have started that game. You know, I just I think the Sounders tend to be very very cautious. Yeah. And, you know, it's a hamstring injury on a cold night for a player that is just coming back from injury, maybe doesn't have full fitness.
00:10:28
Speaker
But sometimes players just get injured. I mean, he'd been back in full training for, you know, close to a month at this point. So it's not like he, you know, it wasn't like he came off the street and start them. The Sounders, I thought were pretty careful. And I mean, they didn't start them in any of the preseason games.
00:10:47
Speaker
They, you know, they, they ramped him up. I, I thought they were being pretty prudent in the way that they bring it back. And I'm sure people are sitting here going, Oh, if they're so careful, why is Reed Baker Whiting still hurt? And that's, that's fair. But I, you know, he got five weeks off between the end of the season and when he finally came back and played and now, you know, Reed Baker Whiting is a whole nother situation with his entry.
00:11:11
Speaker
But I think it sort of goes to show that it's like most of the time, these injuries are not totally predictable. It's hard to tell, like on some of you have to trust players when they say they feel ready. I would imagine there's a fair number of monitoring that they can do, but that can only tell you so much.
00:11:29
Speaker
I don't know. I'm on some level. I think this is this is kind of bad luck. If it were a injury, I think that would be one thing. Like if if if he's hurting, if he, you know, had been dealing with a hamstring injury, hamstring issue and.
00:11:48
Speaker
to the
00:12:08
Speaker
he you know he got like a month off right they brought him back he heard another hamstring had a slight then he'd sort of like dialed him back a little bit so it's i don't know it's it's it's a tough one uh but i am not a physio i don't i i sort of
00:12:24
Speaker
And even more so than I trust the coaches to make tactical decisions, I really feel like I don't have anywhere to speak to on how well or poorly they're handling these injuries. Although it does start to look bad. It does look bad. It does look bad. But I just I think that professional athletes get hurt. And yes, I and every team is dealing with a lot of hands. Every team feels like they are they are hamstrung by hamstrings. Yes.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Maybe they did. Maybe they were too aggressive. Maybe you shouldn't have started. I think it's pretty crazy to think that you can make that judgment without medical knowledge of his specific conditions. I just think that there's a tendency a lot of the time when somebody gets hurt
00:13:16
Speaker
to want to find a way to blame it on somebody. And I think just the reality is that professional athletes get hurt. Sometimes soccer players hurt their hamstrings, you know, it's it's just the thing that happens.
Lineup Changes and Returning Players
00:13:27
Speaker
And it's frustrating, especially because the Sounders are dealing with so many injuries right now and their injuries that are making a player like Pedro de la Vega a lot more important because of the players that are out hurt. But, you know, it's just the way it's the way she goes.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah, some good news on the injury front. It looks like Ciao Paulo and Yemar were full in training today. So the expectation is that they're going to at least be available for selection. And if they can both if they're both fit enough to start, which I don't know, I don't know if they are. But if they can both start, I actually like this potential lineup. Like if they were to go with like a 442 with two
00:14:10
Speaker
Two Morris, Morris, Rui Diaz, and Roldan across the four, and then Atencio and Giao Paolo.
00:14:19
Speaker
in sort of like those bucket positions. I actually like that formation. I actually think that could work. Yeah, it's okay. I mean, I think that my issues with the roster and the players that they have right now are probably not going to be fully solved by players getting healthy. But I think it's really clear they've missed Schwalpaolo so far this year. I think it's been a pretty... And Rusnak.
00:14:45
Speaker
And Russnak for sure, yeah, as well. I mean, to miss one of those guys is difficult. To be missing both of them, I think, is really quite a hill to climb. I think that the odds of them getting shot out against Austin, if they have one of those guys, are a lot slimmer. If they have both of those guys, I think they're even slimmer still. So I feel maybe it's not enough to fully overcome losing De La Vega, but
00:15:13
Speaker
I do think that it makes it sting a little bit less and, um, and, you know, the defense has been great, but I think having Yamer back is always going to be a very welcome thing. Yeah. And it gets, you know, it gets Jackson Reagan back onto his more comfortable side. It.
00:15:28
Speaker
You know, there's, there's some, some benefits there as well. You know, he's such an important part of their, of their passing game. I mean, at some point this will be, I don't know if the Sounders will ever be fully fit. Like we need to come to terms with the idea that maybe their best 11 never gets on the field, but I still, you know, I'm still reasonably confident in the top 15, 16 players on this roster. Uh, but it bears repeating that they haven't, you know,
00:15:56
Speaker
They've had to dig even deeper than that so far. So, you know, we'll see. I'm hesitant to pass too much judgment until we see something a little closer to what this team was envisioned to be, you know, and hopefully, you know, in a couple of weeks we'll be getting pretty close to that. But in the meantime, this is a team that has not scored a goal from open play yet this year.
00:16:24
Speaker
one of just I think four teams that have not scored from open play this or maybe five teams that haven't scored from open play this year. But you know, it's it's the get like I said earlier, the gap between the teams that have scored, you know, like are the one good game changes that narrative a lot. And they're going to be playing a Philadelphia Union side who is who has two matches against Pachuca in the CONCACAF Champions Cup sandwiched around this one. They played
00:16:54
Speaker
tonight actually at home. They started all their regular starters. Most of them went 90 minutes. I would imagine there's going to be a heavily rotated lineup on the weekend.
Upcoming Match Against Philadelphia Union
00:17:04
Speaker
And this seems like a pretty good opportunity for the Sounders to, you know, maybe not ball out, but to get through. This is a game they should feel like they have the potential to get three points from.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think Philly has been super impressive this year. Playing away is always, you know, it's always tougher, obviously, but I think it's a winnable game. I think that especially the circumstances you mentioned, they're going to be not on, you know, full rest. They just played sporting KC, so I'm sure they got the hell beat out of them in that game. So, you know, it's there for the taking. And I think even though this Philly is not the Philly of a year or two ago when they were
00:17:46
Speaker
I think one of the best teams in the league and making the MLS Cup Final, there's still a team I think that you feel pretty good about beating, even if you're beating a sort of diminished version of the team, especially beating them away. I'm hopeful. I wouldn't say I'm optimistic necessarily, but I do think that the
00:18:08
Speaker
The ingredients are there. Um, they just need to execute a little better in the final third while, you know, still maintaining in the, in the defensive phase. Cause they, they have looked great defensively. I think that the kind of defensive numbers they put up last year are probably unsustainable, but I still think they're an elite defensive team. Uh, and, and that makes, that makes me willing to be a little more patient because if they can keep that up, they're really not that far from being an elite team just generally.
00:18:38
Speaker
Right. Uh, and so, yeah, this is, this is a matchup that I think could, could work out in their favor and, you know, if they can get a couple, if they can get a goal or two.
00:18:51
Speaker
I don't see any reason why their defense can't pitch a shutout in Philadelphia or not. Weirdly enough, the Sounders have never won in Philadelphia. It's one of, I think, only two stadiums they've visited at least three times and never won in. They're 0-3-3, I think, in Philadelphia. Last time they were there was...
00:19:13
Speaker
2019 and that was a 0-0 tie. That was, if I remember correctly, a very ugly game. I think they're actually the last two games that may have been 0-0 ties actually.
Off-Field Issues and Fan Engagement
00:19:21
Speaker
I feel like they've played on an inordinate number of ugly games in Philadelphia. They had they I think maybe the most boring Sounders game I've ever watched was I think in 2011 2012 when they played the Diamond. It was like the first game they played the Diamond 442 and it was money and nasty. And and that's always what I think of when they play Philly is that game that was like 10 years ago at this point, 12 years ago at this point. I don't know why. But they and I will note they did win their
00:19:51
Speaker
in the 2014 Open Cup final, but it was not a regular season game, which was, and weirdly, one of the other places that they, the other, the other place they visited a bunch and never won in is LAFC, which is again, someplace they have technically won. They won a Western conference final or most famously, but so, uh, the number of stadiums they've literally never won in is getting pretty small. I think Atlanta and maybe.
00:20:14
Speaker
Maybe Saputo, they may have never won in Saputo in Montreal, but this is not the point of what we're talking about here. So we're going to take a little bit of a break. We're going to come back and we're going to talk about some of the other off field vibey stuff that seems to be off. And this may be a continuing thing that we're going to follow, but we'll be right back.
00:20:47
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Ariates. So we wanted to talk a little bit about some of this off field stuff that feels a little off right now. We don't have a ton of answers. We are looking for some answers. So that's why I say we may revisit some of these, these subjects.
00:21:04
Speaker
But it was I was talking to someone with the sounders today and we mentioned this idea that the vibes feel kind of off and they were saying how there does seem to be this little bit of a disconnect on one hand.
00:21:19
Speaker
You can look at the way things are going around the sounders and it's really easy to feel like there's all this positive momentum. They did this great job with launching the redesigned crest. They just opened long acres. They've tied themselves to this World Cup bid. They just put out their new jerseys and everyone seems to love these new jerseys.
00:21:46
Speaker
And, you know, you, you add this all up and it feels like they're getting a lot of the big stuff, right. You know, even the stuff that even if you, you don't love what's going on in the field, they're getting a lot of the big picture. They didn't just sign Pedro de la Vega. They made this really nice signing that everyone seems alike. And yet there does seem to be this disconnect where there's this negative vibe surrounding the team. Part of that, I think is the results.
00:22:10
Speaker
But the other thing is, is that for all this positive stuff that's going on, I don't think fans feel very connected to a lot of it. You look at the brand unveiling, there wasn't really a public way to access that other than virtually. You look at long anchors for totally understandable reasons.
00:22:34
Speaker
They've not been able to actually have fans out to Long Acres yet because Long Acres actually isn't done yet. It's like a lot of the public spaces are still being worked on. But in any case, that's not been very public. Fans can't touch that. They can't interact with it yet. You look at the jersey. That was something that was done again. That was a virtual thing. Sure, you can go and buy the jersey, but there wasn't an event tied to it where people could
00:22:58
Speaker
could feel it. And then the other big element is, or then you look at the World Cup. And I think as we get closer and closer to the World Cup, it's becoming more and more apparent that while the World Cup will probably be a lot of fun,
00:23:14
Speaker
If from a purely from a Sounders fan perspective, I don't know that the Sounders are going to benefit directly from this at all. Like all the improvements that are being done at Lumenfield feel like they're way more focused on either being just for the World Cup, like it's looking like the grass is only going to be something that's there for the World Cup. A lot of the improvements that we thought might happen at the stadium, I don't know that they're going to be things that
00:23:40
Speaker
Sounders fans can really interact with very much in if in if they are there are things that are gonna be much more focused on the Seahawks there's a good chance the Sounders might have to open and Both before and after the World Cup. They might have to go on long road trips to accommodate everything
00:23:57
Speaker
And even in Seattle, I don't know how many of these things you can really directly tie to the World Cup. You know, like most of the improvements around town were things that were already being planned, like the light rail extensions and the waterfront improvements and all this kind of stuff. And it'll be great that hopefully it's all up and running for the World Cup, but it's not because of the World Cup that any of it's there.
00:24:18
Speaker
And, and I think that a lot of this is starting to dawn on founders fans that it's like, well, this isn't really like, how am I bet like we might even get, we're probably not going to get special access to tickets. You know, and then, and then the most recent thing that happened is, you know, the sounders sent out season ticket packages and in the past.
00:24:38
Speaker
Uh, they've been mostly coming in a nice packaged box and there's some literature that goes along with it and there's sort of like a welcome to the season and it feels special. And there's been a sense that maybe it's a little wasteful, which I think is fair. Like I don't need another box in my life. I don't need more literature in my life. These are things that are probably going to go in the trash, but they do send a message. I think that, that you're valued, right?
00:25:04
Speaker
And this year, the season ticket package showed up in a nondescript white mailer. Your stuff was just haphazardly stuffed inside of it.
00:25:16
Speaker
no letter, no literature at all, no label that even says it's from the Sounders. And it just felt like it was an afterthought. And I think you add all this stuff up and Sounders fans are feeling kind of like maybe a little, not necessarily taken advantage of, but taken maybe taken for granted is a little bit better way of putting it. Yeah, I definitely feel like there is the relationship between the fans and the club has changed in the past.
00:25:47
Speaker
I don't know, five-ish years, I think. Um, and I, and I think this is something we've kind of been talking about for years as the league has grown, whereas the league gets more big time, more big businessy, more sophisticated, the teams become more sophisticated organizations. You necessarily lose some of the connection with the fans. And I think that that's certainly part of it. Um, and there are, it's like you said, there are big things happening at the club. And I do think that there is a.
00:26:15
Speaker
It's not just the sounders. I think it's everywhere in the professional world where it's like, hey, this is a big deal to me, right? It's like everybody's been in a situation where they hear the big boss at their company giving a keynote speech or something about something that they do not care about that doesn't impact them positively in any way. And they're expected to be enthusiastic about it. And it's just not.
00:26:38
Speaker
Why? Why would I be enthusiastic about this thing? Yeah, the boss got a new office. Who cares? Yeah, it's great. For me, the excitement about the World Cup is sort of like, I'm probably not going to benefit from that. If there's a good chance I'm not going to be able to go to the games. A lot of people I think are going to be priced out. I think for 99% of people that live in Seattle, the World Cup is mostly going to be a pain in the ass.
00:27:04
Speaker
I'm not saying that's not a reason for the 1% of us who are excited about it. Lots of things happen in big cities all the time. That inconvenience most people, that's life in the big city. I'm not saying that, but I think that there is a tone deafness sometimes from the club with things like this. I think too that there are a lot of things that have happened over the past few years
00:27:28
Speaker
that created animosity that never really got resolved. The Providence thing is a great example of that where I think the sounders just kind of are acting like that all completely went away and there's still a lot of anger about it. It's not as
00:27:42
Speaker
It's not as much of a factor as it was at the time of the announcement, but I think a lot of people still feel alienated about it. I think that there's tension between the club and the supporters always, but I feel like it's been ramped up a little bit lately. Since the CCL win,
00:28:08
Speaker
there hasn't been that much to get excited about on the pitch either. And I think that sometimes it's easy for people who are on the business side of sports teams to forget that ultimately they're a sports team. And the primary thing that drives how the fans feel about the club or the team or whatever is how is this team doing on the field?
Balancing Expectations and Club Growth
00:28:33
Speaker
And the Sounders have, I mean, they made the playoffs last year. They have exciting players. I think they're going to be a good team, but they haven't really been that much to write home about for a while. Even the year they won the CCL, not to take anything away from that accomplishment. The rest of the year sucked, you know, I'm sure we all remember. So, um, I think if the Sounders can get winning again, get back to winning trophies,
00:28:58
Speaker
a lot of this fixes itself. But I do feel like there was a time where when things weren't going great on the pitch, there was an effort by the club to kind of go the extra mile in ways that they just don't really seem to do anymore. Well, I think that part of that is, is understandable because they've been pretty busy. Yes, absolutely. Other stuff, but I think they need to realize that
00:29:29
Speaker
If the, even if they didn't lose sight of the ball that the, they still need to give some attention to these issues. Like they can't just write these things off and say like, well, in June, we're going to have all these activations at long acres. And so just hang out, you know, just, just bear with us for.
00:29:47
Speaker
you know, a few more months. And like, that's just not how, you know, that's not how fans work. And on some level, if they can start winning games and playing fun soccer, to some degree, this is going to go away. But I do think it's a good reminder that
00:30:02
Speaker
The front office can't really control the results. The business office can't really control the result at all. The whole organization needs to run well. They brought in Hugh Weber, who's a, by all accounts, extremely qualified, extremely competent manager.
00:30:25
Speaker
But I wonder if he's maybe too focused on some of the big picture items and not always focused on some of the details like these that are maybe getting lost. And hopefully we're going to get some answers and to figure out what exactly happened with this. There's this whole situation going on with an ECS supporter that you alluded to that
00:30:46
Speaker
got banned and there doesn't seem to be due process going on in terms of him getting an appeal and sort of understanding this whole thing. I don't have answers there. I don't know exactly what all is good. It might be a huge deal, it might be nothing, but there was a protest before the March of the Match and the March of the Match essentially was a protest. And this is all stuff that sort of contributes to a feeling of unease and
00:31:15
Speaker
lack of positive vibes around the team. And these are things that probably need to be addressed. And I don't know, I think it, it probably speaks well of the sounders that they're now aware of these things and they seem to care. What they do about it though matters. And, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how they react to, you know, the, how they explain the season ticket package thing, which
00:31:41
Speaker
maybe is not a big deal, but I think a lot of fans, I've heard this refrain a lot over the years and I feel like I'm hearing it more recently is my tickets keep getting more expensive and the experience gets worse. And I think, you know, like right now, I think it's hard to deny that going to games at Loom & Field feel like the Sounders are a tenant more so now than maybe ever before. Yeah.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that that experience of X keeps getting more expensive, and my experience is worse, is consistent across all of society. But it would be nice if these things that are pure luxuries, like professional sports,
00:32:27
Speaker
that
Fan Engagement and Market Challenges
00:32:28
Speaker
people are spending a lot of money on in, you know, not awful economic times, but certainly not great economic times. It would be nice if those experiences could at least keep parity, you know, with how they used to be. And yeah, I mean, I went to the game last week, and the Austin game, and it was a blast, and I'm excited to start going to more games again. But it definitely was not,
00:32:56
Speaker
I hadn't thought about it this way, but you're totally right. It really felt more like the sounders were tenants than it has in the past, and I don't know explicitly, specifically what that is, but it was palpable.
00:33:14
Speaker
Again, I think team starts winning. The vibes get better and this stuff doesn't go away, but it becomes less of a factor. But I do think that the club has to be careful, you know, with, with this kind of stuff, because we're in a very competitive entertainment market. Um, and.
00:33:34
Speaker
you know, if the results are consistently mediocre, like I think we're both optimistic that the team turns it around. But I think we also both admit that there's a chance that they don't and that this is just kind of a, you know, the season doesn't turn out well. And then that's three years in a row that are pretty underwhelming.
00:33:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'd say that I would be shocked if they missed the playoffs, but that's not the bar. You know, the bar isn't make the playoffs. The bar isn't play good defense and get into the playoffs. The bar should be one of the elite teams in MLS. And that's what it felt to me when I saw this roster put together. I honestly felt like it was capable of being an elite MLS team. I still think that's possible.
00:34:17
Speaker
But that also, I think in some ways heightens the importance of focusing on these other issues while we have that, while we have their attention, while it's harder to just say, no, no, go go look at the, how good the results are. Right. Right. Like this is the time to get answers, to, to force the team to sort of explain and to, you know, put it out there that there, there are going to be lean years and
00:34:45
Speaker
And for the club's own good, they need to be paying it. They don't want to let things get too...
00:34:53
Speaker
too degraded, where they're really digging out of a deficit.
Community Growth and Conclusion
00:34:59
Speaker
I'm hopeful we'll get some satisfactory explanations. I don't want to turn this into a show where we're talking about this stuff every week, but this felt like a good time to bring up some of it. My understanding is some of these things are actually going to be
00:35:17
Speaker
addressed at an upcoming, if not today, or like I think this week actually at an Alliance Council meeting. So maybe we'll get find out some more stuff about that. But anyway, this is probably a good place to call it. Aaron, thank you again for joining me. Thanks to our subscribers for supporting this entire venture. I just wanted to share we are on a trajectory to hit something like 2500 paid subscribers in the next month or two, which is
00:35:45
Speaker
kind of mind-blowing that we're at this point already. So it's been really satisfying to see this grow. I'm excited to find new ways to invest in this property and to make sure that Sounder Heart is not going through some of the same issues as the Sounders in that way. We want to make sure that we're creating a sustainable
00:36:09
Speaker
a sustainable thing here that people want to be part of, and so far so good. So thank you to everyone for doing that. Thank you to our sponsor, Fool Pulled Wines. I am Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off for Aaron Campo and Lick It. This is No Saturday at This, and remember, we will never yet alone.
00:37:01
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!