Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Third Degree the Third Degree Ned Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree N Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree N Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: All right, welcome back, DFW Soccer. Curious. This is a very special bonus episode of third degree the podcast. I am your host, Dennis McGowan and I am here with two distinguished gentlemen. The co founders of USL Dallas, Atletico Dallas and the current owners of the Dallas Trinity FC, Mr. Matt Valentine and Mr. Sam Morton. Gentlemen, welcome.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: Thanks for having us.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today, guys. You know, we spoke a couple of months ago when you guys first took this over and we're now a couple of months into this and I just wanted to see how you guys are feeling and see where we're at and where we're headed.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah, look, I think that it's two months, it's too early to tell one way or the other. I think that we're still very excited about the opportunity, obviously.
But, you know, from the beginning of all this, Matt and I've always had a much longer, you know, I'd say a long, long term outlook on things. So, you know, I think from where we're at, we've got our, we've kind of got our arms around things right now. We've, we've, we've, I think, got some good pace in the, in the front office towards match day. And so, yeah, I think I feel good about it. We just got to, you know, continue the upward trend.
But it's a, it's a lot of work. I mean, there's no doubt about it. It's, it's not like we walked into a, a situation that was bright and shiny. You know, we got work to do and, but we're not scared of the work and I think that, you know, progress is certainly being made and we'll just gotta keep, keep on that track.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I think just to echo what Sam says, I mean, we're, we're trying to, you know, build off the foundation they have, you know, add support that we can and listen to people and take our time. We have a long term view on everything we're doing. We've had a long term view on everything around Athletico and we're gonna do the same with Trinity.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: So you guys have obviously been planning for Atletico for a couple of years now. This has been, you know, a long term project. It's a, you know, it's been a long road to launch and we're still half a year out, a little bit less than that now at this point. But you guys have really jumped into the deep end now, taking over Trinity and jumping into this sprint season. So two games under your belt. What are you feeling, what have you noticed and what have you learned that you're going to carry over to the spring season for both of these clubs?
[00:02:50] Speaker C: I, I, I think it, you know, it's exciting to have a game to play, to actually have a team to root for, have a stadium to go
[00:02:57] Speaker B: to on a Saturday night.
[00:02:58] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a, it's a, you know, cool. That, that's the fun part of, of this endeavor.
Um, so that, that's been great. You know, it definitely came fast. Right. And I think, I think one thing we're learning, it's only been two weeks, but once you get in season, I mean, it's just a constant. Right? I mean, we don't, we haven't had that and what we're doing, just launching a club, so, so that's an interesting cadence we need to get used to. I don't think I'm, we're fully there yet.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Yeah, you know what I'd say to that is it is a weekly cadence, but we've, we got to stop making decisions inside the week. We got to start planning for the next week, the next month, the next quarter, the next year, and kind of have one eye on the ball and one eye, you know, down the field and have a little bit more vision.
So again, you know, it's, it's, it's harder to do when you're back to back, especially. We opened up home, you know, seven days apart. You know, we got a little respite here between games as they go on the road, but, you know, trying to have a long term outlook and still, you know, get things done in the season has been, you know, an interesting experience because like, like, like, like you said, it's been real easy for us to look down the road, look down the road, look down the road with Atletico and now we're like, even now we got a little respite here. We still got a game and, you know, whatever. Thirteen days back at home.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: Well, and one thing, you know, Sam and I always talk about, as leaders of an organization, we have to as our roles to work on the business, not in the business.
We don't need to be mired down in the details of, of how to manage the stadium better. We got to fix this security or this gate needs. That's not for Sam and I. We have to be looking at what does 27 look like. How do we improve season tickets for 27. How do we reposition. Not reposition or brand it? Do we do anything different? Branding? And we have to be doing that now.
And if we wait and all of a sudden January, February, we start worrying about that because we are so mired in the details of the sprint season, it's too late. We've missed it.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:13] Speaker C: And so, you know, we have a.
Not right or wrong, but we have a much larger staff than what Trinity had even at Athletico Dallas without playing.
So we have the ability as the leaders of the organization to get out of the weeds and try to focus on long term things. That really sets the, that's what sets the club up for real long term success.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: So going into match day one and now match day two, what has looked different and what's been different than you guys may have expected?
[00:05:42] Speaker C: Getting there, you know, I didn't really have any expectations, honestly. And it's so soon, you know, it's only been two games. It's hard to say. I didn't really have any expectations. I mean, I'd been to Trinity games, I'd been to four or five games, so I kind of, kind of knew what to expect.
You know what I will tell you, the Comp bowl is a, is one of a kind, and that's one way to put it. And you know, just getting around the thing, honestly, it's big. I mean, getting around going from the suites down to the media club, I mean, just getting around is difficult, but yeah, it's, it is what we expected to meet.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I, you know, for me it's been, you know, we've, you know, we've, we've made some subtle changes. Maybe you've noticed, maybe you've not. We've gotten rid of, you know, the private suite, the field level suites behind the goal. You know, obviously ticket pricing is, is, you know, what I would say more in line with where things need to be.
[00:06:51] Speaker C: Jersey cost.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: You know, jerseys are a little bit different. You know, we obviously we launched New Jersey not only in New Jersey, but, you know, the cost is a little bit, you know, more fan friendly. You know what's interesting is that, you know, you could tell us you've been to many more Trinity games than I have. So, you know, we have, we have distributed about 35% less tickets through the first two games.
We have sold about 35% more tickets through the first two games.
There was a lot of papering of tickets in and around, you know, the game. So we're pacing ahead as far as actually paid tickets by about 1100 tickets through the first two games, but we've distributed about 2,700 less tickets.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: There were, there were tons of comp, tons of comp tickets.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: And so like, for us, like, we, I don't apologize for needing to run a business. Like we've got to pay players and we've got to pay people.
We've got to sell tickets. I mean, giving away free tickets is, is not a long term strategy. So I don't know, maybe the stadium feels a little less full through the first two games as it did maybe in the previous season. But what I can say is we've sold more tickets. Some of our new marketing efforts are paying dividends already on, on paid people in the st.
And long term, that's healthy.
Do I Wish it was 5000 more paid tickets if two games? Sure, you know, but 1100 through two games, you know, not terrible.
So there are signs that, you know, some things that we're doing, you know, with, with our youth outreach and our, like Matt said, we have more people now in the ticketing department than they had, just those sorts of things. We hope we wake up two or three years from now and you know, we're up to 3, 4, 5,000 paid and you know, the stadium feels better and.
But we got to sell tickets. I mean, that's, there's no, again, I'm not going to apologize for that.
And I hope that, you know, we've made it, you know, more affordable. I think too, in that, in that light.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Well, and I mean, we're very transparent. We said this in that we had a fan forum event and you know, I think it's important for people to know pro sports teams generally lose money and, and I mean, obviously NFL teams are making money and at the highest level, but you know, we've got to get to 6,500, 7,000 tickets or we're losing money every single year. And it's not like we're losing $10,000. We're losing a lot of money. And you know what the ticket situation looks like now. We're nowhere close to getting there. So it's important people know that. I mean, tell your friends, bring people if you want to support women's soccer and have it stay alive in this city and thrive, you have to come to the games. We cannot do this for 10 years with a thousand people per game. We just can't.
But we're committed and we're committed and everyone in my investor base, we know that there's losses to incur and it's important for, for us, that women's soccer survives and thrives in the city. But at the same time, people need to understand, please come support us.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: So when we talked a few months ago, we talked a little bit about what that fan experience is like now and what you guys are planning on in the future for both clubs, what that fan zone might look like and what the future looks like here.
Can we talk about that a little bit more? Because I don't think we went into that too much last time.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Are we talking Trinity or men's team?
[00:10:30] Speaker A: I mean, it's, it's. Yeah, let's talk about both and let's talk about the differences.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: I mean, look, we're.
We were discussing it with the comp bowl today. We're intending to bring in temporary, not temporary bleachers behind the goal. Okay. It's going to be 760 seats, roughly 800 seats.
I think with the, you know, with a decent crowd, it tightens the field up. It'll make it feel less bowl like, especially if those 750 seats are full, you know, which. On. On the Athletic coast side, they. They're going to be full.
So I think that adds a lot to the game day environment. I mean, I want. We're already working on them t fos and flares and, you know, I want the fire marshal to be at every one of the Athletico games.
So. Yeah, that's the environment I want to create. I want, you know, banners, like at an English game, you see them hanging on every single bare space on wall. You know, we want to create that environment as much as we can, but that needs fans. Right.
So that's, you know, first and foremost. But we want to create a raucous, fun environment at both games.
And, you know, in their own way, right. I mean, they're going to have slightly different fan base, but you can still have that kind of.
And you know, one thing I'm surprised I'm going off the. The first game, we went down, I went down, spent the second half right next to the supporters. It was awesome, by the way.
It really was. It was.
Even though, you know, I got on the drum.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Yeah, we saw that Mike Brooks got some great shots of you on the drum.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: It was like, Mike's a great guy.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: There were, you know, I don't know. Well, many were in the stadium. 1500, 2000.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: That night. No, that, that night we were like
[00:12:23] Speaker A: 20, 40, I think was the.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the announcement felt. Yeah, two or something like that felt better.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: When you're sitting down There because the supporter groups loud, they have good chance.
And, you know, I just imagine, you know, let's grow that four times, get that 8,000. That's an awesome experience.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:43] Speaker C: And I think that's realistic. I think we can do it. I think more people need to know about us and people need to, we need to make it cool to come down to the Cotton Ball.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: You guys talked about accessibility, ticket prices, jersey prices. What's some of the thinking that went into that? And how did you arrive at some of these, you know, figures? And let's talk about what they actually are too, because I know we've got some releases out there too. But for those who might not have read what we've written and what you guys have published, let's get that information out there as well.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I think from the very beginning, you know, this was, it's easy to say be fan first. You know, I think every club's, I think kind of the most buzzy things to say is we're fan first and we're for the community.
And, you know, I, I, I think that to do those things is much harder than just putting out a press release. And, you know, so for us, it's always it. We've taken that to heart. You know, when I started interviewing apparel deals and apparel providers and ticketing providers as we were building out Atletico, we always looked at it through the lens of how does this affect the pocketbooks or how does this affect the fan, you know, and for us, you know, the decision to go with Jump, our ticket provider, which is a white label option, you know, it's not out yet, but the Atletico Dallas app will be ready I think here in the next 30 days. The trendy one is right after that because we got a little, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta. Didn't have as much head start with Trinity as we, as we did with Atletico. But both will have their own white labeled apps. And you'll, your tickets will be there, merchandise will be there, everything will be on one singular app. And there's no ticket fee. So the advertised price is the advertised price plus sales tax like there is everywhere else. But there is no venue fee, Cotton bowl fee, you know, facilities fee, where, you know, you buy a $20 ticket that ends up being $32.
So that was important to us, that that is a, their model is completely on its head. It is a, it is a fee we actually pay to jump as a SaaS provider for us to use their platform.
And, and, but it was important for us because I As a consumer, I hate going to games or I hate going to concerts. And I want to buy a ticket for my wife and I. And I go there, 100 bucks. So it should be. I go to checkout, it should be $200.
And now it's $247. I'm like, or 400.
[00:15:05] Speaker C: Yeah, ticket concerts are the worst. I hate it.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: I mean, it's like such a pet peeve of mine. So, like, as a consumer, I hate it. So this naturally felt good to us to provide this to our fans.
We haven't announced on the Athletico side, our apparel partner. We will here in the next probably month or so.
But I can tell you the driving force behind that was how much margin could I get?
How much margin as a business could we get and still have a jersey, an authentic jersey, a jersey that the players wear on the field for under $100?
It was important for us to be under $100. I felt passionate about it.
MLS jerseys right now, the authentic ones, I think are 1:45 or $165. You can get a replica for 1:10, 1:5.
We're not going to play the authentic replica game. What you're going to buy from us is going to be what the players wear.
So that was, that was important.
Price in and of itself doesn't drive attendance. Right. Like, there's a lot of things out there that are cheap that people don't go to or don't buy or whatever. So I'm not here to say that this is a magic bullet, but, you know, for us, making it accessible to people was important. We worked really hard with Cotton bowl, you know, to lower concession prices. I remember going to the Dallas Cup Parade. This is two years ago, right after we did the, the deal with the Cotton Bowl. And I think like a pork, a pulled pork sandwich in a Coke was like $30 or something like that.
And I remember the next day going to Fair park and going, this is, this is no good. Like, we got to figure something out.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: It was more than our ticket.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: So we published, you know, we, we. We've sent them a lot of media and stories about what Atlanta did, you know, eight or 10 years ago when they went to fan first pricing, where everything on their menu is basically four, eight or $10, I think is what it is. Or four, eight and 12.
So we work with the city. You know, those are. Now concessions are a little bit more in line. I think parking for the first Trinity season was 20 or $25. Now it's $14.
So you know, the city, to their credit, has. Have listened because we've got to make. They're a part of the equation.
[00:17:14] Speaker C: Right.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: If we have cheap tickets, but it's still $30 park, it's still not a good experience.
So I give the city credit. Give Bear park credit for working with us and bringing the kind of whole experience a little bit more in lines where people from all over the city, no matter what part you're from, is affordable. And we didn't want price to be an objection.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: And the new jerseys especially. I'm a big fan of the away.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: Me too. It's fantastic looking.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: I'm a fan of Italian football, so the vertical stripes are incredible. Love that. But Trinity kits went from being the most expensive in league to now the most affordable. You're. You went from being, I think, $20 above average to, I think, $10 below the league average. Now that's another big driver. What was the thought process behind that?
[00:18:02] Speaker C: We didn't. I mean, honestly, I had no idea. The stats, we. We don't listen like that. I mean, honestly.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: And we align with the cost of the jersey on the men's side. If you buy an athletic Dallas jersey right now, even though it's just our kind of launch kit. That' $90. So we just said it should be 90. Let's just make it $90.
[00:18:20] Speaker C: Yeah, we, we. I mean, about everything we're doing.
I mean, I'm trying to build a football club now. Clubs that I would want to follow. Right. I want to build the game experience of the kind of experience I want to have as a massive fan of the sport. I mean, that's what I'm trying to do. And that's how Sam and I are on jerseys and tickets. I don't want to go to a game and spend more on a burger and a soda than the ticket price. That's crazy to me. Or. I mean, parking was more than tickets. I mean, that doesn't make any sense to me. So we're just trying to kind of use common sense and what we think. I mean, we're just. You know, this sounds hokey, but just two kids from Arlington.
Honestly, I mean, my mom was a single mom, school teacher.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: My dad. My dad worked at Larry Shoes. Sold shoes. Like they didn't. Shoe stores don't even exist anymore. But, like, that's what my dad did. Worked retail. So.
Yeah.
[00:19:20] Speaker C: So we're just trying to do what makes sense.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: Common sense is important.
But those stats you just read me, I. I didn't even know those until you Just said it because.
[00:19:28] Speaker C: Yeah, that's crazy.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: It wasn't even a second. I love it. I just said to our merch folks, make it the same cost as the atletical jersey.
Yeah, we hurt.
[00:19:37] Speaker C: It hurts margins. It hurts margins on it. But, you know, it's important. We think that it's priced right.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: So looking around the organization, obviously Lee wins coaching, but we've got some. Some great women across this organization as well that were. Some of them came with the organization, some of them you've brought on. I'd love to give you guys an opportunity to highlight some of those incredible women that are powering this club. Yeah.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: I mean, look, our director of ticketing ran loose City's ticketing. I mean, Jocelyn Prieto, she's fantastic. But we hired her with the athletico side before the Trinity thing. And, and hindsight, what a great move. She ran tickets for a club that had a men and a women's team, so she's seen all.
And a youth club. She gives us lots of knowledge. I mean, she. She's fantastic. I just hired a director of finance she started last week, Rachel Nelson, who's been instrumental behind the scenes as a 1099 for Dallas Trinity. And we just hired her for the parent company to oversee all of it on both sides. We've got a controller, a female controller coming in, Amber Freeland. Amber runs our director of PR and communications.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: So we, you know, you know, Becky Jordan, you know, the great people on the field. Sammy, you know, I can go on and on. I mean, Sammy is started part time with us year, year and a half ago, and now, like, she's invaluable to the organization. She's one of those people behind the scene driving everything.
And she's going to trans. She's going to move over. She was doing ops and some marketing, but she'll be on the soccer, men's soccer side with Brian. You know, once we start getting more players in.
[00:21:21] Speaker C: Yeah, we're gonna, I mean, in fact, be curious there. I don't envision there's a lot of head of soccer operations that are women running a men's team because she's going to be running our men's soccer operations.
I mean, Becky Mames is incredible. She's fantastic.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: She is.
[00:21:39] Speaker C: So, yeah, there's, you know, when you look out, I mean, I feel like we might have more women than men. When I look out my office.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: It's a good balance for sure.
[00:21:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: I haven't counted, but I got to hear Jocelyn's story. The other night at The Women in Sports Night panel, which was awesome. I think it was wise that put that on. Is that right?
[00:22:00] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, that's right.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Any other partnerships, panels, stuff like that coming down the pipeline?
[00:22:05] Speaker B: You know what? It was just. I'm working on a deal right now. I'm from the radio business. I think if, you know, you probably have heard me say that time or two, but one of the organizations in that business is American Women in Radio, or now it's called American Women in Media.
And it's, it's a, it's a, it's a membership of media people. And they, they, they're nonprofits called the DREAM Fund. So if anyone in the media business had a medical need or an emergency or whatever, the DREAM Fund always pitched in. And I was a part of that organization when I was in that business. And so I just talked to their president about having an event at the Cotton bowl for our last home game, like a sports panel where they invite their membership to a Trinity game. And we would, we would kind of give them the inside of a, you know, building of a club kind of thing. So, yeah, I, I think those are great things to do. I, I think, you know, for us, it's, it's important that we give everyone, you know, opportunity to, to, to, to speak or to come and listen. You know, Matt, you know, Matt, like Matt said, we don't get overly involved down in kind of the day to day. I give a lot of credit to the Trinity. You know, people that were. Came to us with the Trinity.
That was already planned. So that was a great thing.
I don't want to wake up say, yeah, Matt and I woke up one day and thought we should do this.
But the reality of it is Charlie and some of the people that are still here from DTFC years past, they put that on. And I thought it was a great event.
And in fact, that event gave me the idea to reach out to Jasmine on this other thing because I thought this looked really great. We should do more of those things and we should think about, you know, other opportunities and content pieces that, that would fit not only on, on the Trinity side, but on, on the athletical side too.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: You had the Texas Woman's University partnership as well, that was announced this week. Another big deal. Was that something that also came over for the prior administration or did you guys have a hand in that?
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely. I'd give all the credit to Charlie. You know, Charlie worked on that deal and it was kind of in the works during the transition. And, you know, they they're opening up a new sports management department and it just made a lot of sense for them and it made a lot of sense for us. And you know, so obviously there's alignment there.
The best partnerships, Dennis, are the ones that, that both parties feel like they get something from it. And if it's just a transaction, if it's just like, hey, give me some money and I'll put your logo on something, those generally aren't real long term deals in my experience in the business.
So having a partner like TWU and Dallas Trinity just makes sense for both parties. And I can see that thing really blossoming into a much longer term partnership.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: We'll take a quick look at what's going on on the field. Obviously you guys are not involved in soccer operations, but I'm sure you want to win and you want to fill those trophy cases up with hardware of all sorts of two games in any way too early analytics or thoughts about it?
[00:25:13] Speaker C: You know, I mean, I'm more of our soccer guy than Sam, but, you
[00:25:19] Speaker B: know, I'm pretty, I was, I was pretty into it the last couple.
[00:25:21] Speaker C: I know Sam likes to yell at us.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: Sam was on the drum. You weren't, Matt.
[00:25:24] Speaker C: No, I know, I know I'm not a drummer kind of guy, but I
[00:25:28] Speaker B: was pretty hot at the Sam.
[00:25:29] Speaker C: You always yell at officials. Sam seemed to get a yellow card for dissent about every other game in high school.
But, you know, I think we're playing really nicely.
I like our style.
It's way too early to tell. It's two games, you know, and I'm not going to complain about the refereeing, but could have been better.
And we went.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: First time we've heard that in this league.
[00:25:54] Speaker C: The second goal was about a yard and a half offside. It was very clear if you go back and watch. And then I thought Cam got fouled in the box in the first half when she cut in front of that player. And anyway, but, but so far, I mean, I like our style of play so far.
You know, it's way too early to tell, but we're, we're super happy with Lee and I think the players are really happy with him and his staff and I'm excited for, you know, where it's going to go.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I think, you know, it's, it's. We're playing a possession game, obviously, you know, and I, you know, but with possession games you got to be able to, you know, find the net. And you know, I, I thought after Jasmine's goal there at the beginning of the second half this game too, I thought that'd be a spark and just kind of a gut punch. When we allowed the, the own goal off the. I forgot who was off of. But you know, I think what I'd say through all this is Matt's right. I don't get too lost in the, you know, formations and things like that. I'd be lying to you if I thought I was into that. But I, I am into the games. Like, I'm up there and I, you know, thank God I, we are, we're upstairs and the referees can't hear me because I, I have, I do yell out every now and then and my wife has to throw me an elbow and tell me to, to, to be quiet, so.
But I, I like the style of play. Yeah, we want to win. Yeah, I'd want to win every single game, but it is too early. You know what's interesting is we, I did a player survey recently. I just got the data back yesterday. You know, kind of like a two month check in. Like, what do you like? What don't you like? You know, this. It's totally, it was anonymous in one after the other though, to my surprise, you know, a.
They all love playing the Cotton Bowl. They all love the surface of the Cotton Ball. You know, they all, they all praise the surface of the practice facility, the Dallas Sports Park. The surface that they practice on is great. We got to get them a facility, right? We got to get them a building that they can put their bags, take a shower, eat lunch. Like we got to do that. And I think we're, that's, that's getting done and grounds getting broke here pretty quick, so they'll have that.
But you know, they're, they're also.
All of them were complimentary of the vibe and how they're all gelling together. And so I think Lee's done a good job and you know, putting a team together that a lot of these people, girls didn't know each other. You know, I don't know what the number was, Matt. Maybe I shouldn't say, but the roster was 13.
[00:28:27] Speaker C: Yeah, 13 people, 13 players. When we contract, when we got the roster on July 1, two with ACL injuries, three injured and, and, and none of the players Lee didn't choose and I mean they're, they were already here,
[00:28:41] Speaker B: so we had to, you know, get a squad together and at training camp in like eight days from when we took over the, the club. So I give a lot of credit to Brian and Lee for using their connections and bringing in some really, you know, I think dynamic transfer players that I hope some of them can be here long term. You know, maybe they. Some will, some won't, but. Yeah, it's too early to tell. But I like the style of play.
I think we've got a really skillful players up the middle, you know, for sure.
[00:29:14] Speaker C: Well, in the first game was a gut punch. That goal in the 93rd minute. You know, in both games, I mean, we've controlled the game. It's just a matter of if we can finish and finish the game stronger.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: So looking ahead, a year from now, we will be. You will have a sprint season and the majority of a full Trinity season and the majority of an Athletico season season under your belts. We'll be coming up looking at potential playoff matchups and things like that a year from now.
What does success look like for Trinity both on and off the field?
[00:29:46] Speaker C: I mean, on the field it's, it's, you know, being top of the table. I mean, Brian and I talk about it all the time.
You know, winning a playoff run doesn't mean you're the best team. I would much rather win the regular season in a traditional European style, you know, be top of the table. That means you were successful all season long. So that's really what we're wanting to do on both teams. And, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna commit the resources to do that. I mean, I look at, you know, I look at my payroll on the men's team and, you know, it's gotta be the highest it's in the league. I don't see how it's not.
And, you know, on the women's as well, we're gonna, you know, it's important. We want to put a good product on the field. So that's how I'm going to judge success on the field. Right. Good style. I do want to play an attractive attacking style, and that's super important.
And I think we have coaching staffs that want to do that as well. You know, we're not a park the bus, Jose Mourinho style. I just. It's not what we're going to do.
So that's all that's on the field, you know, off the field. Sam, I'll let you answer that. I mean, you're our chief commercial guy, so.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, you know, I think, you know, off the field, you know, we look at the men's that we're, you know, we're averaging, you know, 9, 10, 11,000 a game, you know, on the women's, we've got, you know, we've got that maybe built up to 3,4000,5000 a game.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: You know, Matt's telling you to crank those numbers up a little bit.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: Oh, I know we are. I'm on, we argue about all the time and you know, on the partnership side have quality partners, people who really see value in what we're doing. Again, I, I, you know, Ryan Mackey is our head of partnerships here and he and I talk about this a lot. Is like, again, I, I mentioned it earlier, like doing business with someone who just wants a logo for whatever reason, that's just not a good partner. Like what, what can they provide to us that gives us equity in their business and vice versa? So we've been able to be pretty, I don't want to say picky, but I'd say thoughtful about who our partners are.
We'll have some really nice partnerships to announce here over the next, you know, six, eight months as we, as we get the men's side to the, to the field.
You know, I think for us it's about leading the league. You know, we talk internally a lot about we're in an MLS market, we're in an NWSL market, you know, but to compete with the finances of those clubs, we had to first compete with the finances and the performance in the usl. So look, we gotta, we gotta beat every USL club with attendance, revenue, partnerships on both sides of the equation, both men's and women's, and we got, we should do that in our first season.
That's, that's our goal is to set a standard in Dallas. We're, you know, it's a monster market size wise, and I think we're pacing towards that. You know, I think on the men's side, we're up to 30, almost 3,500 season tickets.
You know, on the women's side, you know, we got a lot of work to do. That season ticket base is important because it gives you that cushion. You were that Wednesday night game when no one wants to go to. You still got, you know, three, four, 5,000 tickets sold.
It makes those Saturday night games a little bit more, more fun. So look, we, there's no hiding the fact we got a lot, we got a lot of work to do.
But you know, I think a year from now, if we're leading both leagues and merchandise, ticketing and partnerships, I think that we'll be pretty, pretty excited.
[00:33:38] Speaker A: Excellent. Well, gentlemen, I really appreciate you taking some time to come and hang with me today and talking about. About all things Trinity and a little bit of Atletico.
One final before we go. Trinity go on the road to Jacksonville this weekend. What's the scoreline?
[00:33:52] Speaker C: I'm going 2os.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: I would do. I was about to say that. Swear I was going to say that.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: All right.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: This is going to be different. I'll say two one, us.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:01] Speaker C: We're going to win. We're going to win on the road.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: Well, hope so. This has been another episode special bonus of Third Degree, the podcast. Sam Morton, Matt Valentine. Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming out today. Appreciate hanging out with you.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: I got one more thing, Dennis.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: Sure. Throw it out there.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Everyone. Go to DallasTrinityFC.com and buy your tickets to our September 5th game right now. Do it right now. That's it.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:34:26] Speaker A: Let's do it.
[00:34:27] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: Let's get those butts and seats.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: Thanks, buddy.
[00:34:29] Speaker C: No doubt. Thanks, Dennis.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: Third degree, the third degree Net podcast.
Third degree the third degree never gas.
Third degree the third degree never gas.
Third degree, the third degree never.
Sam.
