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Episode 341: YachtCon - Adrian Hanauer
76 Plays3 years ago
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction to Full Pool Wines and Their New Book
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food. Lots of it. Fulpel's unique writing style is applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books.
Meet the Seattle Sounders Players
00:00:32
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. What? Hey, Ocean! Let's go! Jordan Morris getting in behind Florian Youngford. Jordan Morris! Scores!
00:00:50
Speaker
And how's this for a save from Steph and Fry? Here comes Roy Deers from the middle to crowd it to Seattle. What do the Tigers dream of? They take a little Tigers in. It's the Sounders and an S-Com. I feel a lot better than Bob.
00:01:18
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills the greenest green in Seattle. Like a beautiful child growing up... I didn't know what it was. Is that what you young people call twerking?
Adrian Hanauer on Yacht-Con and New Training Center
00:02:01
Speaker
Sounders Majority Owner, Adrian Hanauer. Welcome to Yacht-Con, Adrian. Thanks so much, Jeremiah. It's great to be here. Yeah, so I'll give a little rundown of the plan for Yacht-Con this year. This is an audio-only
00:02:04
Speaker
I have no idea.
00:02:17
Speaker
aspect of it. We are going to be doing an interview with Garth Loggway before the season as well. But what we are really doing is holding off on doing a lot of the big stuff this summer. We're hoping to be able to get back together in real life and have like a proper event where we get to shake hands and laugh and have a good time. But in the meantime, I thought it was a great opportunity to get Adrian on because you've got some you've been able to make some announcements that
00:02:45
Speaker
we've been thinking about for a long time behind the scenes and now they're out in the open. I have to imagine there was a sense of relief maybe to actually be able to unveil these plans which the big thing was the training center at Long Acres and of course this brand refresh or I don't know the
00:03:07
Speaker
visual identity exploration. The March to the 50th thing is the official name. But how does it feel to have this stuff out in the open now, Adrian?
00:03:18
Speaker
It's great, Jeremiah. Now I don't have to hide from your interviews anymore. Right, exactly. COVID isn't an excuse anymore, and we've got some things to talk about. No, I mean, look, I don't know about relief. I'm just super excited.
00:03:37
Speaker
I'm excited about the next five years, generally, but certainly this announcement of our training facility at Long Acres, the mixed use project, the march to the 50th, and what the 50th anniversary of the Sounders could look like.
00:03:58
Speaker
Just all the different activities that we could, you know, that we can imagine and use to celebrate 50 years of Sounders history. You know, we've got a World Cup coming to North America and fingers crossed.
00:04:19
Speaker
Seattle will be a big piece to the puzzle. And, you know, I'm just I have a lot of belief in the next five years of improvement and competitiveness with our league and, you know, League's Cup coming in a big way in 2023.
Vision for Sounders' Long Acres Development
00:04:38
Speaker
So anyway, a lot a lot to look forward to, but for sure anchored in a home for the Sounders that we were able to announce last Wednesday.
00:04:47
Speaker
Well, let's let's sit on that for a little while. You know, you and I have had many conversations over the years about how, you know, the one piece that felt like it was missing from the sounders was someplace that you felt like you could call home. And that was some of what was behind the ideas that got thrown around about. I think that's one of the things that fans also think about in terms of not having like Lumanfield is a great facility. It's
00:05:14
Speaker
Probably the best locate I think it's one of the best locations and in all of North American sports. It's, it's a really wonderful facility in a lot of ways, but it's very obviously not the sounders home in that it's like there's signage and all kinds of other things that that say as much and and
00:05:32
Speaker
At Starfire, even though there's a big sign that says home with the sounders it's it's still a shared facility as well. Does this feel like to you when you imagine long acres does it feel like it is that proper home that makes it feel like some, some real sense of permanence for the sounders.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, for sure, Jeremiah, I mean, and you're right. We have really not had a home in the way of something that we built to suit, you know, something that was designed by us, for us.
00:06:06
Speaker
for our fans for generations. Now, you know, all everything is trade-offs, right? To your point, Loom & Field is amazing for a whole bunch of reasons and we have a long lease there and we love being there. As you know, I'm a never say never guy. So you never know what's going to happen 10, 15, 20, 30 years from now.
00:06:33
Speaker
Hopefully it'll be some other owner who's got way more money and wants to spend a jillion dollars on a on a stadium but for now we are we're just absolutely
Community Impact of Long Acres Project
00:06:48
Speaker
jazzed site to lay down roots, plant a flag at the former Long Acres site. You know, the one thing that I think came up at the press conference but I'm also really excited about is that the sounders, although we may not own
00:07:07
Speaker
100% of the training facility, we own a piece of the entire mixed use project, this 160 acre blank canvas. And that gives us influence, gives us a seat at the table to figure out what this community will look like. And we think we've found a fantastic partner in Unico, partner
00:07:37
Speaker
landlord, but we think that we will end up with a world-class facility and a lot of flexibility to do other things on the campus that maybe we haven't even imagined yet, but we'll also be part of this 50-year exploration with our fans. So yeah, just super excited. Yeah, someone who likes to
00:08:03
Speaker
get into urbanist subjects, I found the entire development really exciting. I think the idea that there are going to be potentially 3,000 multifamily dwellings there, that it's going to be apartments, that there's going to be mixed use, that it has transit access, that it has freeway access, that it's going to have
00:08:23
Speaker
elements that encourage walking and biking and doing all these kinds of things, that it's near trails. I mean, I think it's a really exciting development, even taking the Sounders piece out of it, but that the Sounders are part of it makes it even more exciting. What kind of, like, I don't know, when you let your imagination run, what role do you think that a Sounders facility has in a larger development like this? Well, I think, I think
00:08:51
Speaker
not to put words in Unico's mouth, but I think they loved the idea of the sounders as a, you know, beloved, cherished community asset at the heart of this community, that we would help
00:09:11
Speaker
you know, help design and design the community, but also be a magnet for office tenants, retail, people who wanted to live there. And so, you know, I think, again, not to speak
00:09:29
Speaker
You know, it's hard for me to brag about the sounders but I think that they really saw that that provided an anchor, you know, an anchor tenant to this amazing facility. And then, you know, they've been great about
00:09:44
Speaker
providing to, I wouldn't say carte blanche, but you know, they're open to any idea about how things might connect to the sounders on the campus. You know, it may not come as a surprise that the sounders center at Long Acres
00:10:06
Speaker
may not be the final name of this facility because we are in business and we have to generate revenue. And these facilities generally end up having a naming partner attached to it. And again, I know you didn't ask this, but just the opportunities to build
00:10:33
Speaker
a really amazing youth soccer program, you know, camp program on this campus. The ability to partner, you know, there will be undoubtedly restaurants, pubs, things like that to be able to partner with those tenants.
00:10:54
Speaker
Um, you know, we're talking to a bunch of different sort of active user tenants. I can't kind of go into more detail, but
00:11:04
Speaker
Sorry. That's okay. That's the good stuff. Yeah.
Fan Engagement and Community Living Near New Facility
00:11:11
Speaker
So anyway, I think that we believe, and sorry, one other that maybe we'll have fans that want to live in those apartments and be able to come check out training and then walk to the train and go to games. Maybe they work on campus.
00:11:31
Speaker
So, you know, just tons of opportunity and, and almost, I mean it is such a blank canvas that sometimes, you know, we have to try to stay focused and make sure that we don't pass the window by and the sounders facility doesn't get built on time so
00:11:50
Speaker
Um, you know, we have to keep our eye on the prize. Well, I have, while we're here on this point, I have two suggestions. I want to pass along. They're free. You can, you can do whatever you want. But the first one is we got to make sure to save the Spencer's sport house sign that I drive past all too often on 99. Uh, and, and maybe that's the name of the pro shop. I don't know. I don't want to put too many words in people's mouth, but we've got to save that sign one way or the other.
00:12:17
Speaker
You're mentioning it. I guarantee Brian will be in my ear soon. Okay, good. Perfect. Perfect. And then the other one is, I'm guessing that this establishment had a place in your heart as a long time Seattleite.
00:12:34
Speaker
I'm not saying you need to bring back literally cafe press, but something like a cafe press that is, of course, a recently closed or recently closing Capitol Hill institution where you can find a good cup of coffee, get a drink, and watch soccer and eat food that is much too good for the setting that's better than it has any right to be. But something like that intersects those things just feels like it's a little bit too perfect.
00:13:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny. You bring cafe press up. It's so sad. When I read about it, I called Jim Droman, the owner, immediately begged him to reconsider. You could have offered him free space at London. No, but look, we absolutely want
00:13:25
Speaker
you know, great spaces. I am I'm a food guy. So hopefully, hopefully we end up not having to go far from home on that campus to get to get good and interesting, unique, unique food and watch games to your point. And by the way, there's a great opportunity. I think we talked about it at the press conference to do viewing parties, whether whether you do in a way
00:13:54
Speaker
game viewing party there or you have you know you meet up park there meet up take the train to the to the game you know we could we could create some really cool experiences that way as well no it seems like very easy to let your imagination run and in some ways
00:14:15
Speaker
It almost feels like the possibilities are limitless in ways that really haven't been, like in the realities that just haven't existed as possible for building things around soccer fandom in general, but Sounders fandom in particular. It was, I came away from that event.
00:14:33
Speaker
really, really excited. Like I say that genuinely. I know it's sometimes easy to get caught up in the hype around something like this, but it feels like some real possibilities and it all feels very plausible. And that's what I found most exciting. And one of the things I suspect people are hearing with maybe two minds and one of the best things about Starfire
00:14:56
Speaker
is maybe also one of the challenges of Starfire, which is that it's so publicly accessible. And from what I'm hearing, it sounds like in some ways it might not be quite as accessible, but it'll be far more useful for the average fan. That when fans, like while I can, anyone can go down to Starfire and watch training, that's really the extent of what you can do there for the most part.
00:15:19
Speaker
because everything is not open. It's not all accessible. There's limited activities as it is. But this place, it seems like it might not be open all the time, but when you go, there's really a destination there.
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's right. And I would say it's still a work in progress. As I mentioned, we want to be a very accessible club, but sometimes at Starfire, it can be a little bit of chaos. And I'm just more of a fan of controlled chaos. And as the players
00:16:02
Speaker
become higher and higher profile and the games and competitions are more meaningful and we just need to be able to control the environment a little bit more. But absolutely, we will create experiences and opportunities for our fans to connect and mix with our players.
00:16:29
Speaker
And to put it another way, as the cars in the parking lot get nicer, you have to be a little bit more aware of how they're taken care of. Is that a maybe a broad wave? I don't know if it was you or it was Garth who mentioned something about how when players like that you've had
00:16:47
Speaker
You've been running late at times to catch flights. But also, I imagine it's got to be a little stressful for, you know, a roll really does some nice cars to leave them out at Starfire for a week or whatever it might be. Yeah, look, I mean, secure. Let's just call it security. Security is really important to to the the individuals and their belongings and
00:17:11
Speaker
You know, nothing is is for sure and you know I'm sure we'll have our issues that at the new facility but but but certainly we should have sort of designing but from from scratch we should have some opportunities to control the environment, a bit better.
00:17:31
Speaker
fewer players like D'Andrei Yedlin driving their old Subaru's and the mixing in effortlessly in the parking lot. Somehow, I don't think D'Andrei is driving that old Subaru anymore. No, I don't think he is. I imagine that you're right. He's probably left that one behind a few years ago. But along those lines,
00:17:53
Speaker
What is it about how does this space sort of change the direction of the like I don't think at least my perception is that Starfire is never actually cost you guys a player like I don't know I've never heard of a player saying I'd come if you had a nicer training facility.
00:18:11
Speaker
But does this change the paradigm for future signings? Does this potentially change the kind of player that you can attract? Is that important? And how important was this element to potentially attracting the World Cup in 2026?
00:18:28
Speaker
Yeah, so I think you're right that we have not missed out on a player. Although sometimes you don't know what you don't have. So maybe there is someone out there who thought because we didn't have a new world-class purpose-built facility that
00:18:53
Speaker
They weren't going to engage us. So you never know. But look, I think that I for me, I focus on our on our current players, like just, you know, this will not I'm not sure again that this will ever convince a player 100 percent to come out because player, you know, they want to live in a city that they want to live in, want their families to be happy.
00:19:21
Speaker
I think way down the list is what the training facility looks like, but also players do want to get better emotionally, physically, tactically, technically. They want to be happy and just having a great space for your workday.
00:19:46
Speaker
It's important. Our players spend four or five, six hours at the facility. And we want it to be a good facility for them, a good space. And I think Garth mentioned some of it, whether it's sports science or just
00:20:09
Speaker
gym, new gym with all the needs fulfilled, good flow of spaces, convenient, you know, being able to roll off the taping table, go do an activation and walk right onto the pitch, come off the pitch and get their dreaded interviews with you and you and the Motley crew. Yeah.
00:20:37
Speaker
Being able to get to a nutritious meal quickly and easily, to your point, convenient parking.
Sounders' Strategy for Potential World Cup Hosting
00:20:46
Speaker
So it all matters. And just, you know, it's just an expectation, I think, in today's game in our league that you have a quality facility like that.
00:21:02
Speaker
And of course, high on your list, I'm sure, was enhanced media facilities. So that, you know, I remember you promising way back in 2014, maybe, like we might put in some media facilities here at Starfire and it was like, Oh, really? Yeah, sorry. Sorry to come through with that.
00:21:24
Speaker
I think I just heard you right. You said I might, we might. Right. Not that we would. No, I don't think you ever promised anything. It was more of a, wouldn't it be great if we had better training facilities? And it's like, yeah, it would be great if we had better. I would love to be able to actually get on the wifi here.
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah, no, exactly. So we will. Yes, you are. You are. I'm not sure you're priority number one. No, you weren't the last on the list, Jeremiah. Well, I was impressed. I will say Tom Riley did a good job of speaking to his audience when he was giving us a tour and making sure that we knew that that was something that was on the on your guys's minds.
00:22:03
Speaker
Did he promise anything that I need to be aware of? I don't think he promised anything. It was all vague, and I think it was just more of an implicit promise that you'll be taken care of, but there was no actual promises made. These are the things that my listeners, I'm sure, are really worried about. But the other part of that question was, how important was this element to the World Cup bid?
00:22:35
Speaker
Um, look, every, every added infrastructure facility. Opportunity that the world that that FIFA can take advantage of is a positive. They, again, I think I mentioned they, they toured.
00:22:56
Speaker
the, you know, the raw land and facility six, three months ago, four months ago, five months ago, and saw the early renderings. So, you know,
00:23:12
Speaker
But we didn't, you know, we're not doing this for FIFA and the World Cup. This was for the sounders and our fans and our players. And so it just happens that the timing should be good. We will be up and running and FIFA, you know, can definitely use this as a site in addition to Starfire.
00:23:37
Speaker
Do you imagine that, I don't want to spend too much time on the 26 bid because it's still formally undecided. I get the sense that you feel confident about it, that the sounders feel confident, that the bid committee feels confident that Seattle will be picked, but also very cognizant of the fact that nothing's been decided yet. But do you imagine that there will be
00:24:01
Speaker
legacy aspects to Loom and Field that fans will appreciate beyond just the whether or not the World Cup is played here? Well, I think that, you know, there's going to be continued
00:24:16
Speaker
I can't specifically tell you what legacy projects will exist after the World Cup. Again, FIFA is most concerned with sight lines and the pitch. And so they provide some pretty technical detail on what they want and expect.
00:24:39
Speaker
um you know we we obviously working with the stadium the Seahawks and the stadium because it is their their stadium uh you know intend to fulfill their requirements uh you know i'd be i'd be getting out a little bit
00:24:56
Speaker
ahead of things, we have to win the bid first, and then we will begin to figure out timing and, and how that all relates to the sounders and, and whether the sounders play on some grass or whether we don't.
00:25:13
Speaker
uh and and and any modifications to the stadium that might that might benefit uh our our fans in the long haul uh but there are you know i i actually again i i saw an interview uh recently with chuck arnold president of the seahawks
00:25:30
Speaker
There is a plan to install new larger video boards. I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't the beginning of some other investment that will upgrade Loom & Field.
00:25:51
Speaker
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00:26:10
Speaker
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00:26:36
Speaker
This was sort of alluded to at the, at the sort of bid event that you guys put on a few months ago, or the bid, I guess the site visit that FIFA was was engaged in. But just to clarify it, it sounds like
00:26:51
Speaker
Grass is not an issue for the bid that you guys have a system worked out whether or not you can give a lot of details, but there will be some sort of like semi-permanent grass put in. It won't just be the tray system or like saw that will be rolled onto the field. Is that accurate?
00:27:08
Speaker
No, that's accurate. I mean, FIFA has very specific details on the kind of field that they expect, and there is a plan to get there.
Exploring New Visual Branding for Sounders
00:27:20
Speaker
So changing gear into the other aspect of the announcement that you guys made the other day, and the one that in some ways I was, you know, as a
00:27:31
Speaker
nerd in this way, I was super excited about. I did an interview with Taylor Graham that ran previously about this process, but I'm super enthusiastic about this visual brand re-imagination, exploration, the visual aspect of March to the 50th. And what
00:27:56
Speaker
ultimately was behind the decision to explore the brand identity, the visual brand of the sounders. Well, look, I will try to fill in a little bit, but Taylor is way better at articulating this than I am. But, you know, I think that really it was two things. One,
00:28:20
Speaker
we're going to be celebrating 50 years and we wanted to do something that is the beginning of the next 50. Because I can't tell you that if we make a change that that'll last 50 years, but hopefully it'll last a while. And the second is this sort of acknowledgement that when the sounders, the MLS era sounders were launched,
00:28:47
Speaker
We really didn't think about, I mean, obviously the name was chosen, Sounders, but the history of some of the visual representations was not taken into account. So it's an opportunity to take this next year or so or six months and do the work
00:29:17
Speaker
interface with our fans. And, you know, if our fans say, hey, we should leave it exactly the same, it's perfect. Well, if that's what our fans are going to decide, then then so be it. I'm not convinced that's the case. Believe it or not, I, you know, I occasionally snoop around on on sound or at heart. I you know, I think that
00:29:43
Speaker
There's a decent number of people who also believe that it can be different, evolve, maybe better. I've actually seen some things that, you know, again, not that this is, this will absolutely not be an Adrian Hanauer decision, but on it, you know, I,
00:30:01
Speaker
And look, I'm a traditional guy, and I don't like change generally, but I don't love our shield. I just don't. And beyond me not loving it, it's got some technical challenges, and it doesn't provide a lot of flexibility in the way we use it. So I hope that in this process, our fans help us
00:30:28
Speaker
find something that works better, but I really, if our fans love it, it stays.
00:30:37
Speaker
Well, I will be open on where I stand. I'm looking forward to a change. I think that the visual element of the brand has served the club well, but I also think that, like you, there are some aspects of the crest especially that
00:30:58
Speaker
don't scream modern right now and I think could probably use like the double shield thing drives me crazy. The wood mark on top of the shields drives me crazy. But we don't need to get into all that. Like some of the angles drive me crazy.
00:31:14
Speaker
Look, some of this also maybe Taylor went into it. Maybe I'm not supposed to say this, but like when you put that logo under a microscope also and literally look at like certain letters are taller than other letters, like the width of, you know, letters is different in certain areas. Like it's technically it's not, you know, like
00:31:41
Speaker
completely lights out perfect. So, yeah, it's just one more thing. And I'll be the first, like, as a limited partner in the Kraken, I think that was an amazing brand process. I love the fact that you can break the visual representations up into multiple uses and mix and match. And some of it's great on
00:32:11
Speaker
you know, on the chest of a, like a shield on a polo shirt. And some of it is great on the, across the, you know, the back of a shirt, you know, just different ways to represent the brand and the marks.
00:32:29
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm with you on all that. I am curious, though, you know, one of the things that that you alluded to that you said here, and that we focused on a lot in the discussion with Taylor was how the process behind that crest was effectively divorced from the history of the club. What do you remember about that process of coming to the visual identity of the current sounders? Well, if I'm honest,
00:32:58
Speaker
I kind of remember I was up to my eyeballs and trying to figure out how to put a soccer team on the field. Fans may not remember that you were the GM of the U.S.L. team and the majority owner, and then you were part owner and GM of the Sounders up until Garth's hiring. Exactly. But go on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:33:25
Speaker
super under qualified for that role, by the way, for basically every role I've ever had. And I think that really, I was focused on soccer. I'm not sure I was involved, but I wasn't leading the charge. There was a marketing group, marketing department.
00:33:52
Speaker
You know, it was at a time also when, you know, there wasn't a big push to connect and ASL teams to MLS teams.
00:34:05
Speaker
we weren't embracing those histories. And I think that that has changed with the timbers and whitecaps following and obviously the earthquakes, relaunch. And obviously some teams in some markets have chosen to make that connection and some have gone their own way. And I think in all cases, not in all cases,
00:34:34
Speaker
in every case is unique. But I'm definitely, I'm super happy, thankful that we were not stupid enough to change the name and involve the brand.
00:34:52
Speaker
So you obviously were a fan of the, you've told the story many times about how you were a fan of the NASL team. You obviously were intimately involved in the USL team. And yet when the Sounders came into MLS, especially early on, there wasn't a distinct connection being that the team was trying to draw back to that time. But I feel like that started to change at some point.
00:35:17
Speaker
Do you have much memory of how that change started to happen and what your feelings about like that change were? I don't I really don't have a strong recollection, Jeremiah, of, you know, like there was no moment. But I would say that, again, when we when we came into the league, there was really no
00:35:46
Speaker
The league didn't.
00:35:48
Speaker
like recommend against any connection to the NASL days. They also didn't suggest a connection. It was at a time when there really wasn't that connection being made. You had a group of owners, you know, Joe Roth as the majority owner had some recollection of the Sounders, NASL days, but he obviously didn't grow up here.
00:36:17
Speaker
And I think just it was just over time, probably talking to our fans and, you know, seeing, you know, becoming more like everybody becoming more steeped in the in the history. And and and so I think it was probably just an evolution over time. And and, you know, then
00:36:43
Speaker
You get a guy like Taylor Graham, who is now a very senior executive in our organization and and has all that history Alex Caulfield is, you know, tremendous at being a
00:37:00
Speaker
a culture carrier, Maya Mendoza extra, you know, like we've added some people who have some pretty deep history and knowledge, probably more so than me. And so I think it's just kind of gotten into everyone's DNA at this point. And so what's your personal hope to get out of this process of the branding exercise?
00:37:29
Speaker
I think just to understand how our fans feel. Well, look, I want to get a spectacular set of primary, secondary, tertiary marks.
00:37:44
Speaker
Again, if that is the existing shield or some iteration of it, that's fine. I would like to be able to extrapolate those marks into
00:38:01
Speaker
a broader array of merchandise and ways of representing the logo on signs and in stadium and in broadcast and digital media, have our fans be able to engage in different ways other than just this one very specific shield.
Fans' Influence on Sounders' Branding
00:38:25
Speaker
having our fans be able to maybe get a little more educated on the history of the club, you know, for those who aren't already. And also
00:38:40
Speaker
We need to have calls to action, things like I'm a huge fan of give us your full 90 and that call to action to our fans. And I think that a great club brand needs things like that. So can we get
00:39:05
Speaker
call a call to action out of this process. Can we get great ideas for celebrating 50 years. Can we get great ideas for building for the future, because you know certainly this exercise is about looking to the past, but it's very
00:39:26
Speaker
equally so about how we build our fan base, deeper roots, heading into the future. And I don't imagine that you have the exact answer to this question, but what's your sense of the feedback been so far? I assume it's a lot, first of all.
00:39:53
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think that I can give you good information yet. Taylor may, but you know, it is like it's sort of real time. So look, I don't, to your point, I don't think anybody has thrown up on the idea of this. Like some people say, now don't change it. It's not broke, don't fix it.
00:40:18
Speaker
But, but no one has had like a violent reaction which, which I think is good. Yeah. And, and we will go through a good process. And again, wherever I love it because this isn't me choosing a new
00:40:38
Speaker
Mark or logo or name or something. So I feel pretty good that our fans will keep us from doing something stupid. And by the way, that said, whatever we do, not everyone will like the conclusion.
Adrian Hanauer's Journey with the Sounders
00:40:54
Speaker
I can guarantee you that. Whether we keep the existing shield or we went completely a different direction.
00:41:05
Speaker
Well, while we're talking about the legacy of the Sounders, something I've always been curious about, what ultimately, like what got you to invest in the Sounders initially when you first got involved in the club?
00:41:20
Speaker
God, you know, Jeremiah, I, I would love to say that it was this lifelong dream, and I, you know, like it was all planned and calculated. But I would say complete chance.
00:41:37
Speaker
I was on an airplane in 2001. The guy next to me opened up his laptop. I saw the sounder's logo. I'd kind of lost track of what was going on with the sounders at that time. Started talking to him. It turns out he was the general manager at the time of the sounders guy named Brad Camara.
00:42:02
Speaker
They were looking for investors at the time. I'm looking at you. I did air quotes for investors, but they were looking more for people to donate money through philanthropy.
00:42:23
Speaker
Our family was in a, I learned enough to believe that it was a really nice community asset playing at Memorial Stadium. We were able to put some money in. I started going to the office trying to understand the business a little bit. And eventually, Brad Comer, the general manager decided to leave. And the majority owners at the time kind of looked at me and said,
00:42:50
Speaker
look, man, you're like, you broke it, you fix it. And, and so I, you know, the timing worked out that I was able to spend a bunch of time in the office and working on the business and working on the team. And, and I don't know, Jeremiah, like,
00:43:22
Speaker
you know, we were able to win a bunch of championships and win games and add some more fans and sponsorships and lose less money. And then started trying to figure out a way to bring MLS to Seattle. So that's really the way it happened. And, you know, if I hadn't sat in that seat on an airplane, there's no chance that I would,
00:43:36
Speaker
that for whatever reason, I was pretty good at it. Again, like I've told you, I'm not very good at very many things but, but running that
00:43:50
Speaker
have this history with the Sounders. Well now I need to, where were you going or where were you coming back from on this fateful trip? Yeah, I think I was coming back from LA for something. I honestly can't remember where I was coming back from. I think it was LA.
00:44:08
Speaker
So one of your other, and I should say this here, it feels like a good spot to say this. I don't know how many of our listeners realize this, but the sounders have enjoyed an unbelievable amount of success since you got involved. Like you downplayed a lot, but the
00:44:25
Speaker
And organizations only miss the playoffs twice in 20-odd years that you have been involved with the club. Of course, you can go all the way back to the NASL days. I think I counted it up recently. The Sounders organization has only missed the playoffs something like five times in 35 years.
00:44:41
Speaker
But one of those fateful decisions, one of those, the first seeming or the most public of those decisions that you made was hiring Brian Schmetzer. And it doesn't sound like you guys had any sort of pre-existing relationship before that, right? No, no. Have we missed the playoffs twice? Yeah, you missed it in I think in 2000.
00:45:06
Speaker
six and two thousand maybe only once maybe it's only once
00:45:12
Speaker
I think it was once. I think you're right. I think it might only be once. We missed. I think we missed in 2001, but I got involved at the end of that. OK, so I may have been crediting you with 2001 as missing. All right. So I apologize for that. I have such a bad memory that you could have said three times and been right, but I'm going to make sure the record shows. Well, I missed it once.
00:45:38
Speaker
And it was a, and I will just add this branch of I add it is once because I asked Brian semester one time talk talked about this last year and it was the result he could recall the points that you dropped against the Montreal impact, you know, in a game on a, they came off a late throw in or something like a goal that
00:45:56
Speaker
ended up being a 2-2 tie instead of a 2-1 win that ultimately cost you the playoffs. Anyway, go ahead. Look, this was a good opportunity to mention all the people, well, not to mention all, but a lot of people that came before and
00:46:18
Speaker
built the foundation, for sure, I'll forget tons. But whether it was the coaches and players, Alan Hinton and Jimmy Gabriel and John Best and Bernie James and the Walt Daggetts and various owners, general managers,
00:46:44
Speaker
coaches, players. But again, I inherited this amazing legacy in history. And then to your point, made a few good decisions on hiring people, none better than Brian Schmetzer, who we've been working together now, whatever it is, 21 years. Is this our
00:47:11
Speaker
Is it missed? Have we done 21 years together? This is the this is the 21st year, I think. Right. Since 2020, 2002 was the year you hired him. Right. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And, you know, look, it's and its credit to the fans as well. I mean, the fans obviously amazing history, knowledge,
00:47:36
Speaker
passion, commitment. That drives the players and their wanting to succeed. There's real pressure and high expectations. We set the bar high. Obviously, once you get that success and momentum, it's sort of self-fulfilling as well and creates a virtuous cycle of
00:48:03
Speaker
players want to play for winners and coaches want to coach for winners and people want to work in the organization of a winner and successful organization and I've just been lucky to have great
00:48:19
Speaker
you know, co-owners and the people that I've worked with, you know, whether it's, again, I mentioned Maya Mendoza X drum, Taylor Graham, Tom Riley, Ryan Garth, I mean, just, you know, Craig Weibel now, I could go on, but
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah, so and I get to be the traffic cop and just kind of make sure that hopefully people end up in the right positions doing the right things. So I am curious though, how did you get connected to Brian? Like what was the thing that
00:48:56
Speaker
ended up you with YouTube meeting at this, I think it was like a tallies on Capitol Hill or something. Yeah, no, it was Neil Farnsworth, who was the who was the majority owner of the Sounders before before I became majority owner.
00:49:13
Speaker
I think in, I don't know, 2006, five, six, seven, no, yeah, somewhere in there. And he just said, hey, you should, if you're starting from scratch, you know, thinking outside the box, it was almost purely on sort of culture, culture, character. And, you know, talk to Brian. Again, I know he loves telling the story. He blew me off a few times.
00:49:40
Speaker
when I called left messages because he thought I wanted to hire him to run our camp program as opposed to being the head coach. It was an out of the box hire. He was coaching kids at the time. He was running a construction company, wasn't he? Yeah, and doing construction on the side, but it definitely has worked out.
00:50:07
Speaker
for both of us, all of us, all of us fans.
Keys to Success and Public Scrutiny in Sports Management
00:50:10
Speaker
What do you think makes him such an effective coach? If you were to dial it down into like a trait or a skill? I mean, if it's one thing, it's how he deals with people. Just, you know, he just, he cares.
00:50:28
Speaker
He listens. He asks good questions. He's willing to make tough decisions and have tough conversations.
00:50:40
Speaker
It's the way he deals with people. They want to play, work hard, play hard, or work hard for him and, you know, sorry, play hard, yes, play hard, work hard, whatever. So that, you know, that is, again, if you had to, if you only gave me one characteristic, that would be it.
00:51:05
Speaker
I'm curious, what do you think makes you good at this? Oh God. I know you're dying to talk about yourself there.
00:51:19
Speaker
I can answer that in a few ways. I mean, I am super freaking competitive. I hate to lose as much as anybody, embarrassingly so at times, throwing tantrums.
00:51:44
Speaker
Not that I remember you being particularly upset in 2013 and the timbers press box, but anyway, go ahead.
00:51:56
Speaker
No, so I'm super competitive. I'm also, I'm pretty analytical and I'm good at data and math. I think that's helped and served me well. I think I recognize a good culture and good people.
00:52:20
Speaker
um you know maybe i'm um uh you know my my fault would probably have i'm not enough of a hard ass um you know that that um sometimes there are some
00:52:38
Speaker
I'm willing to go the extra mile and maybe give someone the benefit of the doubt, maybe a little more than they've earned at times. And so again, if we're talking about good qualities, I'll throw some bad ones at you as well.
00:53:05
Speaker
I think I'm on the right level of risk taker. I'm not a massive risk taker, but I'm also not willing to take a risk. And that's served us well maybe in some player decisions. If someone hasn't had success somewhere else,
00:53:34
Speaker
I'm willing to say, well, that might not have been the right environment for that person, and people can change. So anyway, okay, anyway, change the subject, and I won't let it talk about me anymore. Well, I want to sit on this for one more question. Was there ever a point that you actually thought
00:53:57
Speaker
this is this is too much like whether it be during those usl days or and some of the harder times of MLS that you thought like okay it might be time to get out of this like once a week yeah for the last 21 years
00:54:13
Speaker
I mean, look, this is not a business for the faint of heart. There's all and look, every, every business is. But, you know, I'll tell you, Jeremiah, the one thing that that that frustrated me more than anything in the beginning, especially in the MLS era, is one
00:54:35
Speaker
you know you can do a really really good job of preparing like doing everything right organizationally but the ball you know hits the outside of the post instead of the inside of the post and you lose and you miss the playoffs and you like and you're the dumbest you know organization on the planet um
00:54:55
Speaker
And if the ball hits the inside of the post and goes in, well, then you're heroes and you know, you've made all the right decisions. So just, you know, that that luck chance that is involved in our in our sport and sport in general. And the second thing is I'm, you know, look, I am I'm not very
00:55:15
Speaker
social, I don't really like that much attention. And, you know, this is a very, it's a pretty, pretty public
00:55:26
Speaker
enterprise we're in and when things don't go well, you know, it's on the front of the sports section. And I don't I don't really like that. So, you know, and and and being in especially in today's day and age with social media message boards, you know, any idiot in their underwear in their parents basement can, you know, seem like an expert in
00:55:56
Speaker
general management of a soccer team and make people believe that you're an idiot. So anyway, I've gotten thicker skin, so I'm able to deal with it. But yeah, it's hard, but it's super fulfilling. I'll tell you the most fulfilling
00:56:22
Speaker
things that happen to me or when people wander up to me that I don't know and tell me about some player interaction or a rave foundation field that's gotten built that's made the community better or some experience somebody had at a game or like
Future of Fan Ownership in American Soccer
00:56:44
Speaker
a family enjoying MLS Cup 2019, you know, and having this experience that's etched in their minds for their life, for their entire lives, a camp program where they get to meet one of our players. Because those are the things that I got to experience as you know, starting as an eight year old going to NSL games and
00:57:08
Speaker
And so those are the wins and losses. Obviously, we live and die by them, but the reality is that it's all the other stuff that is the important part of what we're doing. Well, while you mentioned the Ray Foundation, I just want to say I recently took my kids to the, I think it was the first
00:57:30
Speaker
mini pitch that you guys build up in Yesler Terrace. And that park is spectacular. And I know it was built with partnership with the Seattle Housing Authority. And I just, it's easy to imagine a future that looks a lot like that and to be excited. And I hope that you've gotten some pleasure out of those types of mini pitches because the mini pitch does seem like, I mean, it was a genuine,
00:57:57
Speaker
like there was just a pickup soccer being played there, which is not something that you see at every park. And it was pretty exciting to see a wide variety of kids and adult, kids and adults playing together in this particular, when I was there. And it's, so it was pretty exciting. So I hope you get to experience those side of those good things too, because it does seem like you've been able to bring some joy to people. One thing I wanted to,
00:58:24
Speaker
maybe close on here and I appreciate it all the time you've been giving us. We can't close on providing joy to people. We have to close on something controversial. Right, exactly. But, you know, you dabbled in getting a fan ownership aspect into American soccer.
00:58:45
Speaker
What do you think is the, and I don't know what the current, it seems like the current state of the Sounders Community Trust is in limbo at best, but what do you think the future holds for fan ownership in American soccer and MLS in particular?
Pandemic's Impact on Sounders and Community Engagement
00:59:02
Speaker
Is there a future for it? Wow. Okay. Couldn't end on a softball.
00:59:11
Speaker
Look, Jeremiah, let me...
00:59:17
Speaker
Just ramble, because I haven't, if I'm honest, I haven't thought about it recently. I haven't talked to anyone who would be able to speak about it authoritatively. There are legal challenges. There are investor accreditation issues. Their leagues have an opinion. Obviously, the individual teams have an opinion. FIFA probably would have an opinion.
00:59:46
Speaker
There are a lot of organizations that would
00:59:53
Speaker
need to sort of be involved. And look, that said, obviously, there are fan trusts in all over the world that participate. So look, let me do a little more digging, and I'll get you a good answer at some point in the near future. Well, I'm sorry for blindsiding you with that one.
01:00:22
Speaker
You can blindside me with anything I just, you know, I may or may not answer it very well. No, no, no, I think that was, I think that it's an interesting subject that I don't know that I expected you to have a ready-made answer for, but maybe it's a conversation to get into in the future, but I do want to ask
01:00:44
Speaker
And we will close on this is the pandemic was and is to a certain degree been a been a challenge for sports organizations like the Sounders. It's not like certainly you guys haven't suffered the worst of it all. But what do you think you learned about it does seem like the organization came out of it with some
01:01:06
Speaker
Positive changes. I mean, you guys really leaned into your social justice aspects. I think you made an effort to really get out into the community. What do you think the lasting efforts of that experience are going to end up being for the Sounders going into their next 50 years?
01:01:26
Speaker
Well, you know, to your point, you know, the story. I'm not sure the story has been completely written to this point. I think that we will find that, you know, fans like once once it is
01:01:45
Speaker
as over as it can be over, that, you know, their fans will appreciate, you know, the little things, just being able to go to a game, go to a movie theater, go to a restaurant, like,
01:02:02
Speaker
just and and to connect with other people and their families. And so I do think that there will be, you know, the pendulum will swing back to activities like that. I think it'll it'll swing away from people believing they need to sit in an office 60 hours a week to get ahead and have a fulfilling a fulfilled life.
01:02:32
Speaker
So, you know, I guess the other thing is just kind of seeing people come together. I mean, you know, obviously this country is pretty torn apart in ways, but in some ways, you know, seeing people come together, seeing people sacrifice,
01:03:02
Speaker
The, you know, our organization. Again, I can only speak to the people that work with us, day in day out but the, you know, the willingness to fight through this battle through to, you know, get us to the other to the other side of this.
01:03:25
Speaker
or within, you know, view of the other side. I'm just so grateful to the people that work in our organization and our fans because, yeah, this has been, you know, it's definitely left a mark on, you know, the sounders and the organization and financially, but
01:03:50
Speaker
We're very confident that with the connection we have to our fans and the people that work in the organization, we're going to see our way through this and we'll be stronger for it. But again, I don't know that we know all how this thing ends completely.
01:04:14
Speaker
I'll be able to, again, give up maybe a little bit better answer because it will be more in the rearview mirror. So yeah, the funny thing is that I had when I had.
01:04:23
Speaker
started putting together questions for the interview we had discussed possibly doing last year, not to harp on that. But I had a question like this last year, not knowing that we would it would have been even far more premature than like at the time it felt like, oh, let's get to the rear view mirror. But who knows? But I do think I do want to say I think that one of the things that I found really reassuring about
01:04:48
Speaker
This time was that I felt like the Sounders had started a lot of the things that they leaned into before the pandemic. You know, notably one of the last Sounders events I remember attending was that was that opening at Yesler Terrace and the Rave Foundation and
01:05:06
Speaker
I guess it was well, it was a little bit before that, but it was one of the last like non-game day event kind of things that I attended anyway. And so I want to say that I think the sounders have done a good job of kind of
01:05:23
Speaker
leading from ahead in some of these ways, and that it wasn't just responding to public pressure. I think a lot of it was founded in genuine principles. At least you've done a good job of convincing someone like me that they were that way.
01:05:40
Speaker
I want to say that it's been easier, I think, to follow the sounders than it has been to follow a lot of other organizations. And I think you deserve a lot of credit for setting that standard and for leading in that way. So I wanted to close on that note.
01:05:57
Speaker
Thank you, I mean look all the compliment appreciated, we can always do more we can always do better in every area. You know, we, we have lots of warts and flaws and and.
01:06:14
Speaker
And I guess that's what makes life interesting. But I appreciate it. Look, I guess maybe one of you asked what my strengths were. Maybe one of the other ones is that I was born and raised in this area. Born in Seattle, raised in Bellevue, Mercer Island, Seattle, Winston University of Washington.
01:06:37
Speaker
This is my home and I care about it deeply, deeply, deeply. And so this isn't, it's not really a hobby for me. This is life and the lives of my community. So I appreciate it. And hopefully we can keep doing more and our fans are proud to be associated with the organization and part of the family.
01:07:07
Speaker
Well, with that, I wanted to say thank you so much. You've been more than gracious with your time. You are a returning guest to Yacht-Con. You were one of our first ever guests on Yacht-Con way back in 2013, I think is when.
01:07:23
Speaker
Is that right? 2015, maybe it's 2015. And so I really appreciate you doing this. I appreciate that you've been as accessible as you've been and that you've done what you, as much to facilitate an event like Yacht-Con, I think requires an organization to be a willing partner in it. And I can't say thank you enough for creating an environment where something like this can exist. So thanks for doing this, Adrian.
01:07:54
Speaker
and hopefully we're able to do everything you do. My pleasure, it is a lot of fun for me and hopefully we get to do some more of this stuff in real life in the summer. So until then, thanks for doing this and remember you'll never yet alone.
01:08:13
Speaker
Green Douglas spur where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
01:08:50
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!