The Marcus Walfridson Podcast

Chris is the co-funder at United Sports Properties LLC, he's had stints at MLS, USL and NISA clubs in addition to the Houston Texans of the NFL.

We talk about what is important for clubs that want to be successful, especially at the minor-league level of US Soccer. I would argue that these principles and ideas hold true regardless of which country you are in, and possibly also sport.

You can find Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherkeeney/

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Ron Patel was one of the co-founders of the USL Championship team New Mexico United who launched in 2019 and have the best attendance record in the league. He has been in the game for a while now and is currently a consultant for multiple teams and leagues.

I wanted to talk with Ron because I'm fascinated about the success of New Mexico United. As someone who has done a lot of research into pro clubs in the US, they are an outlier. Profitable, cool and constantly packed stadium. Despite it being a baseball stadium.

This conversation dove into the major reasons for their success as well as some very interesting stuff about the state of New Mexico. 

You can reach out to Ron on his LinkedIn profile here. 

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Sign up to the MWeekly Newsletter. Every Monday you will get a blog post from Marcus that is controversial within the realm of sports business and leadership. Go to marcuswalfridson.com/newsletter to sign up.

Brett is the managing director of ISBI360 a virtual training, sales & recruitment network. He has previously held positions within ticketing for the MLS clubs Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo as well as the NBA and MLS league office.

As a former coach, ticketing and strategies to get people in the building wasn't even close to my thinking before my last coaching job. Trying to get more people to come watch Women's football made me understand that ticketing isn't as easy as it sounds...

Listen to this episode to increase your understanding of ticketing and how to bring more people back to your games. Brett talks about three key factors that we dive into;
1) The importance of the supporters group
2) Your local youth soccer scene
3) Pricing structures

Please leave a rating, review and of course follow / subscribe to the podcast. New episodes are published intermittently.

Every Monday the MWeekly newsletter hits your inbox, sign up for it by going to www.marcuswalfridson.com/mweekly-newsletter and try it out. A short blog post, provoking questions and some inside ball.

This podcast episode is also available on Youtube, check it out here to see Brett & myself in person. 

Liviu Bird is the U23 Men's Head Coach at Washington Premier FC who recently won the Washington State Super Cup and has previously worked as the Video Assistant Coach at the Columbus Crew of the MLS.

We talk about how the development vs winning conversation is wrong, why that is and provide a different perspective. Our focus in this conversation is training soccer players in the 16-23 age bracket, but the principles can be applied across sports.

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**** Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0158KKN1TSQ--cVc5tAyBA ****

Luke is the co-founder and head coach of PDX FC, currently playing in USL League 2 and competing in NISA Independent Cup. He started the club with his brother and wants to be a community based club for the people in Portland, Oregon.

PDX FC did a crowdfunding campaign last year and raised a substantial amount of money. This got me curious and I wanted to know why they chose this rout and learn more about the process.

Visit PDX FC here: pdxfc.com

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You can also WATCH this conversation on YouTube

Keith is the Academy Director for a MLS Next youth club, UEFA A-license coach and my business partner for The Efficient Coach. He's an intelligent young man who thinks outside the box while being able to operate within it.

We talk about what coach education is today, and what it's not. We look into the future and come up with ideas that hopefully finds it way into federation courses soon. If not, we'll just implement them in The Efficient Coach Community. 

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You can also SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on YouTube HERE.

Eric Edelstein is the President of Triple-A baseball team Reno Aces and was the President of former USL Championship team Reno 1868FC. He has a long history of working in the professional sports industry, primarily baseball. However, the 5 years of running a soccer team and the challenges encountered are the base for our conversation.

Things we talk about: Fan-base differences, culture of winning/losing, baseball fan, soccer fans and more.

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You can also SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on YouTube HERE.

Kai Velmer is the president of Florida Youth Soccer Association (FYSA) and has a long history of working in youth soccer. Kai's perspective is unique in the sense that he came to the US as a teenager from Germany. Hence he's experienced both the European model and the American model for youth sports.

We weren't able to stay away from the pay-to-play model, league structures and federations.

Watch this episode on the YouTube channel.

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Peter Wilt has been a part of founding more soccer clubs in the US than you can name. He started Chicago Fire, Red Stars, Indy Eleven, Forward Madison among others plus the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). Currently he's working on his latest startup called Chicago House AC that will play in NISA starting next year.

In this conversation we speak about the importance of hiring great people, community engagement and how you select the right venue for your team. 

Watch this episode on the YouTube channel.

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John is the co-founder of 64labs, founder/starter of many companies, previous managing editor of The Observer at The Guardian and a Youth soccer coach with a B-license and an A-license application on his desk. Our conversation is in the context of his vast business experience and reflections from moving into coaching soccer.

Things mentioned in this episode:
USSF Coach Education

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Check out The Efficient Coach here.