Carrick Memories And Season Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:23

It's funny because I was just asking uh Rachel about uh high school and Carrick. And if she knew Wayner. Because you know Wayner's from Carrick, which is around here. I mean, I know you know Rachel, but he he's he's still a yelser.

SPEAKER_06 0:41

I know of him. I didn't know him. He's probably a lot older than you. Yeah. Yeah, he's older.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Oh my god, yeah. Yeah, he's older than I am.

SPEAKER_06 0:48

Like, and that's really old.

unknown 0:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Uh so you're see you're in season now. How how long is the season again?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Better part of 10 months. 34 games.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Joke.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

34 games. We gotta do better. I would love to do better, trust me. I would love a longer offseason.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Oh, the ri Now you say the River Hounds are are going up in class. Yes. From from what to what?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

USL Championship League up to Division One.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

And uh what other teams are in Division One?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Like So basically, this is um a this is all through promotion relegation. So you can apply, right, to enter into this division if you can qualify.

SPEAKER_06 1:33

So we're gonna learn so much.

Moving Up Leagues And Seat Math

SPEAKER_02 1:36

What did you just say? So you have to you have to apply, and if you qualify, you you move up a division. And you qualified.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

We qualify. Basically, you have to have 15,000 seats, is one of the requirements.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Okay. And you're going from 5,500 to 15,000 in a couple in the next couple years.

SPEAKER_06 1:53

And what class are you now, and how many classes are there?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

USL, we're the USL Championship League, and next division would be there's the Division III, which is below us, and then uh MLS above us.

SPEAKER_06 2:07

Okay, so you're in middle class. Yeah.

unknown 2:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Soccer's crazy. There's so many leagues and divisions.

SPEAKER_06 2:14

So if I get 15,000 seats anywhere, I can apply? Technically.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

You gotta win some games. 15,000. You do, you do.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Like I said, it's true. There's a lot of lipstick. You have to have a team. You also have to have a team. You gotta get your team first. Do you have to have a team? Call Tuffy. We just have to have a team. How about if we had a stadium here and then we you and I build one right across the mond?

SPEAKER_06 2:39

Yeah.

unknown 2:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:41

Just a bunch of bleacher seats. Holds 15,000, maybe 10,000, 5,000 standing room only. You know, we want to keep it family friendly. That's that's crazy. What made you guys do the jump?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Just the opportunity. I mean, we're we're at capacity most of our games now. We're finding ways, especially during playoff games. We're we're playoffs. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 3:05

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah, I remember our last playoff game of the season last year. We actually had to cut ticket sales off completely the day before. We were hurt a little? Yes, and no, because number one, you never want to have to do that to the fans, but it also says, listen, there's a demand here finally after all these years, right? Like how how I mean, I know probably uh obviously better than the group here, how how hard we had to fight to get soccer recognized in Pittsburgh. Like we're not recognized as like a professional sports team's sports team. It's just you are now. We are now. I definitely we've seen a change, we've seen an increase in season ticket holders and ticket sales since the championship uh last year. But that's it, it didn't come easy. Like I was telling you, Tuffy has owned this team for 14 years. And when I say it's it's been an experience of blood, sweat, and tears for anybody who's kind of been there from the from the ground level. Um it's it's nothing short of that. It's in terms of just support and backing and just getting the recognition. I mean, we we won a championship last year, and that took 26 years to acquire that. You know how much time and effort and talent and uh financial investment goes into that. Like it's it's draining. And I and I I I see it firsthand. Like I was telling Greg, we don't have investors or silent owners, or you know, we it's it's all this this mom and pop feel still, and we're trying to expand it and develop it into something great because there's the aspect of the the academy, the youth, right? Soccer has seen youth soccer has seen soccer. Exploding. It is, it is. I want to say there's 15, or I'm sorry, 50,000, about 50,000 kids in club soccer in Western PA currently enrolled. What?

SPEAKER_05 5:07

Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, so we're considered, you know, with the pro team in the academy, like we consider ourselves a pathway to the pros for these kids. And and they see that too.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

So exactly what I was saying about the person. Well, go back to Rachel about the academy. Explain the academy.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

So the academy is, I mean, we have from grassroots, like we're three, four years old, we're starting these kids out, which is obviously the like the fundamental stages of the game, but that's that's the most vital time to get them involved, right? That's where they're they're literally three or four. Yeah. And we we take them up to 18 years old, and we a lot of our a lot of our kids leave our academy, they stay with us throughout the the course of the academy, and they you know get called up to division one schools.

SPEAKER_06 5:56

Explain the academy. Are you talking about like room and board, like, or is it just a training center? Like training. So soccer has terms that my my brother's big into it. Uh coaches a really big team in Birmingham, and he tries to explain it to me. It's just a little bit different, even the terminology. So academy means like training center, more or less.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

The academy is our River Hounds Development Academy. So that is where we're literally taking those kids from the grassroots level, training them up, and uh, you know, running our own tournaments.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

That's a brand new facility just outside the city, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Yeah, that place is gorgeous. Where is it?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

This is in Coriopolis.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

So we have a training facility that we we built in uh 2022. We finished in the end of 22. So we've only been open a few years out there, but it's the practice facility for the pro team and the training facility for our youth academy. So we currently have one indoor soccer field with two soccer fields outdoor. And so that's basically FNB Stadium indoors, same size, yeah, um, FIFA regulated. So the the idea there was to make this the training facility for the pro team, but also a national tournament site for the youth academy. These kids travel all over the world, all over the world. So we wanted to bring that here. Fields are challenging to come by. We see that. We, I mean, some of the magic that we have to work sometimes to fit all of our training on there as well as like the external interests that we get. I mean, you name the sport, we get we get a call for it. So fields are hard to come by. So our thought was, well, let's develop a tournament site. And when it's all said and done, we'll have six outdoor fields with one indoor field. And we plan to put two domes on two outdoor fields because now that we have this indoor facility, we're at capacity in the winter months. So our thought was originally we would have these outdoor fields, and that would just be what it was. Well, now we see there's more of a demand for the indoor throughout the winter months. So the plan is to put a dome on two of those, as well as the the indoor to just try to help supply the demand. They're they're just hard to come by.

SPEAKER_06 8:21

So you have to just for a funny real quick. That's right. You said any sport? So professional lawn darts?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

We haven't seen that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:35

So how long did that take to come to life? Actually, let's go all the way back. You said 26 years was like the the start of the River Hounds. Like, were you were you when did you get involved? And how did that come to be? And when did it actually start becoming something special, not an anxiety?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

So the team has been around for 26 years. Um like I I was telling God.

SPEAKER_06 9:01

I'm sorry, Riverhounds. I'm sorry.

unknown 9:03

I did not know.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Uh yeah, 26 years and used to play at high school stadiums, high school soccer fields. And this stadium here, which is now formerly High Mark Stadium, now FB Stadium, as of last week, was built in 2012. And Tuffy, our owner, acquired it in late 13, maybe early 14.

SPEAKER_06 9:27

And that's why.

Sellouts Championship Momentum And Recognition

SPEAKER_03 9:28

That's when I left, uh Yeah, I didn't know. Oh I left. Thanks a lot. Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

So so to answer your question about when I started, I started a little over six years ago and kind of been through been through kind of the the ringer with with the whole process of it just, I want to say it just needed revamped and revitalized and restructured. So I want to say that the best way to describe it is we kind of ripped it down and then rebuilt it. And in in probably every sense of the word, but a physical aspect outside of like the building. Like the organization just needed the right people and uh with the right idea and the the same the same goal, the same, same end game. That didn't happen overnight. I'm sure that didn't happen overnight. Um, so I feel like we're there now. It's it's on its way, especially with the expansion. Uh so it doesn't feel like as much of an anxiety as it used to. And when Tuffy and I talk about this when we go back to what what what it was just even three and four years ago, it's worlds apart in terms of the organization and obviously the talent for the team as well. So that all just that all everything that we put into that allows us to expand in every kind of aspect of of the business that we have over there, right? So we're able to acquire better talent, right? When we sell more tickets, that it all kind of bleeds into each other. Um and sometimes, you know, it's the chicken before the egg, and you have to invest in the more expensive player to draw to attract and draw the fans. And but but you just have to sit and wait on the return, and we're seeing that. We're seeing that. Like I said, we're selling out probably about 90 to 95 percent of our games on a just an average season over the past three or four years.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

That is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

That was not the case.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

What's the projection when you put 15,000 and what's gonna happen? There's no way to know that.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

There isn't, but I feel like she has, but there isn't, but I think there's been enough homework done to constitute You must know. Right, right, for for that league to be established and for this to become a reality. Yeah, I think there's been enough homework done for the league to say this is this is a requirement, this is necessary.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Uh-huh. So the league looks at it and says this is Pittsburgh's got this market. We should build 50,000. Uh how many home games, Rachel, will we in in in 27, whenever the stadium's built, how many home games will will though be this season, do you know?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Uh I want to say we'll still be at 17.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

17. Okay. So you're looking and one of your jobs, by the way, you're I mean, we're talking to Rachel Williamson, who's the GM at FNB Stadium now, and you're not like a lifetime soccer person, which is why Yeah, we don't know that part of the story.

SPEAKER_06 12:37

Oh no, so we're we got to the thing.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

She goes to Carrick High School, and then you end up doing sweets for the penguins, right? Right. And and that's where I met Tuffy.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So I remember the first well, not the first time I swept him off his feet.

SPEAKER_06 12:50

I'll take it over. That's what you did.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

I'll figure it out.

Academy Pathway And Training Facility Build

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Well, he had mentioned our soccer team to me once, and I said, What soccer team? Yeah, what soccer team? Right? Like, that's what Marcus said. Like, what fair enough. What are you starting from the breaks? What are you talking about? He said, uh Pittsburgh has a professional soccer team. And really, nobody knew it was like fight club. We can't talk about fight club. Nobody knew, right? Nobody knew. So he invited me over to a game one time, and I I remember coming over, and there had to be less than a thousand people in at the at the game in the facility. And it was just I thought I was just gonna be really like honest. It was just a flat atmosphere. Um there this what seven or eight years ago? This was yeah, this was about seven or eight years ago.

SPEAKER_06 13:40

That sounds about right. Soccer really took off right 2021. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yep. So I started to go to a couple more games, and then you know, we would just conversate about like the growth and the struggles and the pain points that he was experiencing. And I I think just through like our conversation, and and I became more interested, and then he became more interested in my interests, and that turned into hey, would you be interested in a full-time job? And at the time, I really wasn't, if I if I could be honest, I wasn't, but how many years were you at the sweets doing sweets?

SPEAKER_02 14:17

10, 10 years. 10 wow, premium sweets.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Yeah, so I was there the first year that they opened Esconsal Energy Center.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

So I met him maybe two years into that. So I've known him, known him for the better part of maybe 10 or 12 years now. Um, and we just had a rapport and a friendship from from day one. And and I think that's just how this all developed through conversation and then just the interest. And I was just intrigued and I always wanted to learn more. And I think he he was just venting, and I I took an interest in it, and we we kind of grew this shared passion. And then I like I said, he he had asked if I was interested in a full-time job, and he's such a good person, and he's he's a good friend of mine that he was one of those people that like you can't say no to. You just and I thought to myself, well, if I go and I I do it for a year, at least I'll say that I didn't, I could tell myself I didn't say no. And uh I started in food and beverage, and uh I was three months in and we hit COVID, right? Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

So you're kidding. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Three months in, we're a week away from our home opener and COVID hits.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

No way, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

So shut everything down and just had to, it was just the waiting game, right? So when we finally get, you know, we're they tell you two weeks, and we're thinking this is all gonna turn around in two weeks. Well, fast forward six months, we I mean, God bless him, he kept everybody on payroll, but at some point we had to cut our staff. So at that point, when we cut RGM, I inherited about 90% of those responsibilities just really by default.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

So it was kind of baptism by fire to say the least. Which probably was a weird blessing.

SPEAKER_06 16:12

I've heard that a lot in the COVID era, people taking on responsibilities and then seeing issues because they didn't know any better. Right. Is that kind of what happened? Absolutely. I heard that a lot in the baseball baseball realm, people being thrown in because whether they showed up during the time or whatever, they're like, dude, so much.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

100%. That's what it was. It was and to be honest, Taffy didn't know much about soccer either.

SPEAKER_06 16:36

He didn't really know what we bought a soccer team, brought to Pittsburgh, and didn't know anything about soccer.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

No, he was already in Pittsburgh, though, right? He's in Pittsburgh. This team was here.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

The team was here, the team was here. His kids were in the academy, and that's how he got involved. Right. Okay. But it was what I'm saying is it was a first for him, too. Right? That's not his world. He's he's an oil and gas guy. He's constructing.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Great name, by the way. Right?

SPEAKER_03 17:03

I was just gonna ask was when did the golf course come into play?

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Uh 2018? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

2018. I think 2018.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

No, no, I want to say 2018 is when he he got the club.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Uh he owns a gorgeous course for the record. It is. It's really because he's done a lot of really nice work.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

We'll come see you, bud. Yeah, that's out in Connellsville. You have to see it. He's done a lot of work to that course.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

That is the he is the best par three in Western PA.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

Quote.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Private, private, turned public. It's a beautiful course. Anything Tuffy does, he does top notch. Yes. He's he's that's just his, he has a vision. I always say, like, you could stand next to him and you could both look at the same thing, and he'll you you'll see a totally opposite because his vision is just it's it's unique. It's unique to his gift. It is, it is. And I tell him, like, you know, you live the you live the dream, we we live the nightmare.

SPEAKER_05 17:57

Like, that's nice.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

But it but it's great. He has big ideas and he has uh the ability to execute them. And if you're on it, if you're on his team, it's it's a good team to be on. Um, which is why I'm still here almost seven years later. And I don't I don't plan to go anywhere. We have a a great relationship and a great friendship, and that's that it's just it works for us. You know, it works for the idea. He supports the ideas that I have for the venue as far as my role there.

SPEAKER_06 18:30

I oversee through walk through the food and beverage, taking over so much and kind of that process, what you saw and how it led to this. So if you don't mind, that was kind of loaded, but I think you can handle it.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Yeah, I can follow it. So started in food and beverage, and then, like I said, three months in, kind of shut down, then restructured probably six months later. And baptism by fire had to figure a lot of this out. Resources were limited, but you know, I always say, like, I may not have done it before, but I'll find a way to do it. I'll figure it out. Whatever it is, I'll find a way that's our type of people right there, but I know it. The information is somewhere, you just gotta find it. Yeah. So, um, and I'm also a type of person that if I see something that is dysfunctional or inefficient, it's like a tick for me until until it I can fix it. And I think I saw a lot of dysfunctions there and a lot of inefficiencies, and therefore a lot of uh money being wasted, right? And and I and I just I saw the detriment and I saw the path that it was going. So I just felt compelled to help any way that I could.

SPEAKER_06 19:40

And so where'd you start? Because like I understand what you're saying, I can see all that, but like it's so hard to pick. Like, I'm gonna go there first. Like, how did you pick when you have all this stuff right in front of you? You're seeing it, like, how'd you say I'm gonna start right here?

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Do you mean in terms of like what what the when you started seeing so much? Uh I guess.

SPEAKER_06 20:01

Like, what's the priority, right? Because you're it you're so new to it. He obviously doesn't have really any reins on you saying you should do this first. So you kind of have this like open playbook, and you're like, I'm gonna pick this. That had to be hard.

Rebuilding The Club From The Ground

SPEAKER_01 20:15

So I think even this is probably true still today. I work from uh a place of priority. Like, what is the most detrimental timeline that I have to work from in terms of sensitivity to the organization? I work on a variety of tasks in in one day, you know, especially over the like the course of a week or let alone a year. And they're they're so wide range that I I could I could not close my computer for 24 hours and I I would be busy. But I I really had to figure out number one, I had to give up on the idea that what my day is planned, the way that I day plan my day when I go in in the morning is going to go that way for that day. Once I gave up that, I became very pliable as to whatever fire I have to put out, let's put that out, and then what's the next priority in terms of preventing the next fire? So again, with with limited resources, I could say sometimes it feels like it's it's the 20% doing the 80%. So you're never not busy. You don't you never you're never short of a of a list of things to do. Um and so as far as how I execute, it usually depends on what's top priority. So take a month, a month, uh beginning of March, or I'm sorry, beginning of February. What's my priority? Well, and six weeks I have to open a stadium, right? So I have to prepare this whole property that's just been shut down for two months. I have to prepare this whole property and get this open and make it look better than it did when people walked in this time last year. And what can we do different this year that we didn't get to last year? And how can I change the experience or how can I beautify the property even more and then start to work backwards from that deadline in terms of how long will this project take? And what do I need? And what and what resource do I have versus what resour resources do I need? So really I'm kind of like on the on the fly thinker. And um my my thinking and my uh thought process is usually uh let's recognize the problem as quickly as we can, but let's execute to the solution even faster. Like we can talk about the problem all day long, and you're always going to have them. But how quickly can we get to the solution? So you never know what it's a stadium, it's a facility. Things go wrong every every week. There's something that I'm I'm met with that I've never dealt with before. But again, there's gonna be a first for everything. So a lot of times it's it's common sense, it's applying common sense and uh just being thorough and realistic in the time that it takes to get something accomplished. Uh I'm grateful that and lucky that we have a construction company that is able to assist any any play that I need to get something, to get something done there as far as it relates to the facility. So that is really how I as far as like the venue is concerned and the property, that's that's how I work there. My other role is all of the revenue outside of soccer. So I always look at it like this. We have 17 games a year. So that's 17 guaranteed in 10 months.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

No, 12 months.

SPEAKER_06 23:56

Yeah, 12 months. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Yeah, but her your stadium's over for 12 months. Could be.

SPEAKER_06 24:02

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

You wanted to. Because that's your point here, but you're trying to look to increase revenues the whole year. That's a cool job. And she's looking at 17 dates. Minus 365. What do we do the rest of the way?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Exactly. So when I think about that that ratio, it's they they kind of it's obvious where the most weight is put, right? So uh my my fight a couple years ago was all right, let's let's just stop and and revisit this the structure. Somebody really needs to be dedicated and devoted to the stadium because the team, even though it's 17 games a year, consumes all of the resources.

SPEAKER_06 24:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Right. So, and I felt it. And what I was struggling with was the pull from the team and everything that it took to get the place ready for game day and the fight to focus on the revenue and the people knocking on the door saying, We we want to come to this venue because it's such an awesome venue. We want to spend money with you, and me saying, I'm sorry, I can't get to you because I have to get to these two games a month. Right. So just stopping. Oh, that had to be just hair pulling. It was, I'm telling you, it was it was a fight. It was it was challenging because no common sense, as you would say, right. So, like I said, you go to you think about it, it's simple math. 17 days out of the year, you have guaranteed revenue. Well, what are you doing for the other 11 months of the year? If nobody's focusing on that, then you're not doing anything.

SPEAKER_05 25:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Right? And if each department is dedicated primarily to the team, well, then I think we have our answer for the next 12 months out. Nobody's really taking that time. So revisiting the NTR department and saying, Well, how let's just start over. Let's let's look at our marketing. What are we doing to make people aware that HighMark Stadium, well now FNB Stadium, exists as a rental venue. We have a banquet space, we have, we have a bar, people rent the field, people can rent the parking lot. There's and we do all of that now, but what are we doing? How do people know we're here? People didn't. Nine times out of ten, I walked somebody through that venue to show them. Every time I was met with, I never knew this was here. And that and that stood out to me. Like, why? Why don't you know? Why don't you know it's a beautiful venue? It's 4,000 square foot banquet space that overlooks the city. Why don't you know it's here? What are we not doing? We're not doing something right. So really just allocating resources and separating that to the two entities and saying, okay, let's look at this from two different aspects. We need to book the space here, and we need to figure out a marketing strategy to do that. And we need to have dedicated resources to be able to execute that and get in front of the right audience. So that came with, like I said, taking a look at what our marketing efforts were and mark what our marketing strategy was, putting a spend towards that. And we get a lot, and we've done, we always have, we get a lot of inbound interest. So that's and that even almost makes it worse because they're there, they're here waiting. And we're saying, well, we can't get to you, right? So that that much was, I would say, easy because they're literally knocking on the door. So once we were able to set some things aside for the for the venue, it allowed us to get a little bit more creative. So for instance, how long did that actually take? At least at least three years.

SPEAKER_06 27:27

Yeah. It was like we went through that really fast, and I guarantee you that took a lot longer.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

At least three years. And it was it was a fight. It was a fight. It was a fight. Uh it's it's it's more appetizing. It it's it's sexier to work for a sports team than it is for a venue, right? Like, let's just be honest.

SPEAKER_06 27:44

But the bills. There's bills, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 27:47

You have to pay those, I think.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

But but who sees those, right? Only a few people see those.

SPEAKER_06 27:54

Do you think it'd help if they opened it up though? I always think that, like, hey, you know what I paid yesterday? Look at this bill right here.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

I know. Believe me, I wanted to do it so many times. It's not a bad idea. Social media campaign.

SPEAKER_06 28:04

Look at my bill.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Yeah, so many times I wanted to do that. Um, but we eventually got there. We have a great team, we have a great marketing team. Uh, we we've seen a lot of of growth and new talent come in, and we're attracting the right talent. The talent it wants to stay. So I think I feel like we're in a good spot for for both for both aspects, the the team and the facility. And now what this has allowed me to do is start to focus on some some of these bigger ticket items, such as festivals and concerts. We haven't done those in in years, and there was a reason for that. That was intentional.

SPEAKER_06 28:42

That's an overhaul too.

From Suites To GM During COVID

SPEAKER_01 28:43

That's a lot of oh my gosh. Uh complete. It it's consuming. I work you'll you'll work all through the weekend and evenings for these, because it's it's such a it's such a a big risk. Such a big risk that you have to cross every T and dot every I. And but it but it could be worth it when you get there. But you just have to be thorough and you have to take your time. But the key is you have to have the time. You have to have the time to be able to take the time. So that this has allowed me to focus and lean a little bit more into that. And we'll see some festivals in the in the in the uh fall this year and definitely in 2027, because the idea there is to kind of splash music as far as concerts and festivals back into the stadium as kind of like a a segue into this expansion because when we expand, we be then become a 20,000-person capacity venue for outdoor concerts in the city. Right now, that doesn't exist. No, that doesn't exist. You have to go to uh Starlake. Starlake.

SPEAKER_06 29:50

Wow, which is a disaster.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

That is, nobody enjoys that. Yeah, that's a cool venue, but man, you gotta start prepping for that now. And that's right. Jeez, that's gonna be unbelievable. That'll be an incredible outdoor venue for concerts. Absolutely. Really cool. You're right, it doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

Right? With that view, with the view, wow, and that's a and that's a good point because when we when we met with the architects and we and we went over the concepts and we went over the ideas, and we gave all of all of the requirements that were necessary for the build, I think they were met with some challenges. Like, how do we do this? There's no way to go out. You hit the water, you hit the road, you hit the parking lot. We're we're at the footprint is so limited. We can only go up. And for a split second, we considered relocating. And then we thought of the view. And we were like, we can't we can't sacrifice that, we cannot walk away from that. How do we make this work? So we've we finally got there, and I don't know if anybody's seen the renderings, but they're absolutely incredible. And I mean, I it's just imagining a concert there.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

You probably can't wait for that.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

I can't. I can't. It's gonna be amazing, it's gonna be awesome. Um, but again, that's that's the other exciting component of it. This is not just about Division I soccer.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Yeah, this is about hosting stadium.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Exactly. Yeah, this is about hosting concerts, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

It's like this place. Right. Here at the distillery, the drawing room. Right. Yeah. How about that? I mean, how long have you been a cigar smoker, by the way, Rachel?

SPEAKER_01 31:21

About a year.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Yeah. About a year. Uh, how did you discover this place?

SPEAKER_01 31:26

I heard about it just through like conversation.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Well, well, how how far from the I mean we easily walk to your venue.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Yeah, we're less than a mile. I mean, they're they're at the we're literally opposite ends.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

I didn't realize they call this the South Shore.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Yes. I did not realize that.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Well, we're so hooked on the North Shore. But we don't know much about the Mon. But now I'm learning more about the Monday.

SPEAKER_06 31:47

We're the North Siders, Greg. We're the North Siders. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

It's really cool. Uh so anyway, and so you uh know this this.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Yeah, I heard about them just through like you know, talking to different partners and neighbors. And I just popped over one day. Uh and I walked in and I met John. And MIBO!

SPEAKER_02 32:09

John's right there laughing at us. Okay, John, very funny, hilarious. Okay. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah, so I got a little bit of more information and how, you know, what it was just intriguing to me, their bit their business model here and the concept, right? Like this complex with all these 170 years old, this distillery. Right. Incredible. Right, and and it's it's beautiful, it's amazing what they've done with it. And we're obviously everybody but John, of course. Of course.

SPEAKER_06 32:35

MIBO.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

So anyway, yeah, so so it's part and parcel to the point about the views that we get here.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

And and you get at the stadium. Right. How huge that is.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they have they have an awesome view.

SPEAKER_06 32:50

I mean, it's You're being quiet now because you walked over. I see you. Um cigars. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Finish the cigars.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

It's called You're On Hold My Cutter. I don't know if you're aware of that. I am. Do you know that you're on hold my cutter right now? Were you aware of it?

SPEAKER_05 33:04

You just got pumped. I did.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

I mean, I didn't want to surprise. We waited, you know, half hour into the show to tell her. You are on Rachel Williamson. You are on hold my cutter.

unknown 33:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Uh so congratulations for that. I know that uh all the time. It's a rare feat to be. See, these are little things that Rachel has to worry about over at uh FNB Stadium. Do our not that our lighters, do our lighters work, but do uh the dispensers work at the uh soda machines? Yeah. Um well. Rachel, what is the uh do you have one in six or seven years? Do you have one moment that you'll never forget? Like do you when you get together with your cohorts, people that work under you, and so on, you say, we'll never forget the time when Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

We'll never forget the time when we hosted Toby Keith concert back in 2019. Toby Keith? Back in 2019. And that's a redneck form there right there.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

That's impressive. The late great Toby Keith. No way. What would so what why why would you never forget?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Just because it's so great or to your point, like the the undertaking. Yeah, the stress. But the end result, the the pictures are worth they're they're puts on a great show because very entertaining. He sold the place out. We had 9,000 people in there. That's awesome. So picture thousands of people on the field, every seat full, premium sold out, uh, massive stage, and him out.

SPEAKER_05 34:32

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Yeah. So yeah, it was it was a lot of work. Um, but it was worth it. And that goes back to my point. It can be done. That's what we can do. Yeah, right. But it's just it's a crawl to walk, walk to run approach.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

And that's that's where we're going. But nothing back in.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Nothing stands out in terms of like a near disaster. Like we're supposed to have a t-shirt giveaway and they didn't get here until the morning of. Or uh uh, I guess you're too organized to ever have that something like that happen.

SPEAKER_06 35:04

Um, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Go ahead, do the disaster.

SPEAKER_06 35:08

I mean, yep, I got it. No problem. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

Nothing stands out with like so it's really it's really not that stressful. What about stress? You really aren't that stressed at all. Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh, you couldn't be chaos.

SPEAKER_06 35:23

You know what about like the edge of yikes? Like you're right there, you don't think it's gonna work, and then just nailed it. You have to have one of those. Don't say Toby Keith.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

Bad weather one night. Like we thought we were not gonna be able to play, or uh man. No, no, no, never, never issue. I'm I'm sure knock on wood. I'm really I'm sure there are.

unknown 35:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:46

I'm just kidding. Let me think about it. Yeah, I want to think about it.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

I wanna ask Let me think about it.

SPEAKER_06 35:51

First, first event that you you hosted in in your new role, and then the build-up like what did you do to get to Toby Keith? Because you had to have some trial and error, like listen, audio visual stuff, like it's hard enough to do two, three chords. I can't imagine all the events, all the shifting, whatever you're doing. But like, just name some of the events that actually have like happened there.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

But but but before the events plural, I want to just go back to Toby Keith because I met someone several years ago at a radio station who met the the late great Toby Keith, a big Toby Keith fan. So I shouldn't speak out of school. He passed away a few years ago. But he's looking down. I couldn't. I have now I this this gentleman, this from owner of a radio station, told me, I asked him, you know, I love the talk about the inner workings of stuff like this. But he said Toby Keith was extremely difficult to and I won't speak worse of that, but it was not. Oh do you remember anything about that? No, okay.

SPEAKER_06 36:50

No, we can't. All right, go back to the events. She's a lady.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_06 36:53

No, it's always a little different.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

So, okay, so that the the concert went off great. But what other events? Yeah, let's work back to the back.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

I don't want to say the concert went off great. Uh oh, don't back up. It was well executed, but we had a championship game the next night. Uh, now we're talking.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

See, that's stressful.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

You have that back?

SPEAKER_03 37:11

And we're ever having an event. I want Rachel behind the because she is cool as a cute. She can't even remember the shit.

SPEAKER_06 37:18

Yeah, toad the film clean in, trampled the field, there's divots, gold ankles the next day. No, no.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

All this stuff that we're gonna do. It was even worse. It was even worse. Go ahead.

unknown 37:29

Show them the show them the panic face.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

John, John, a member of our audience, John here, who manages the drawing room. What show them the what now?

SPEAKER_05 37:36

The panic face.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Do you have a panic face? John does too much. Actually, you come to the drawing room, it erases panic face. That's uh that's the selling point. Yeah, I've heard that.

SPEAKER_06 37:47

Yeah, it draws you in a different way. Yes, that's why I come here.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Really good.

SPEAKER_06 37:51

You're welcome. Yeah, write that down.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

So anyhow, so that had to be somewhat stressful.

SPEAKER_06 37:57

Oh my gosh, it was so stressful.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

We we had Yeah, it sounds like it's so stressful.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

We had Yeah, I guess we did have a game the next night.

SPEAKER_06 38:04

Yeah, we didn't championship game the next night.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Concert of championship games.

SPEAKER_06 38:09

And have you ever played in the championship prior to that? I'm gonna say no. Yeah. Yeah, okay, I didn't know. Yeah, absolutely. I'm learning on the fly. So it's just like whatever. We're champions. That's the next day. We got Toby here, we'll figure it out type thing.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Well, we had no choice. We had to figure it out. We had that's we worked till right, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:30

We worked till you always had to figure it out.

SPEAKER_06 38:32

And yeah, if you put yourself in that, I do that a lot in my life. So yeah, that's the way to do it. But did it go off without a hitch or did you bullish?

SPEAKER_01 38:42

It did, by the grace of God. I mean, we were we had we had the we decked the whole field, right? Because that ruined the field. Exactly. So we decked the entire field. All of that had to come up obviously in time for the game.

SPEAKER_06 38:56

As the event coordinator, are you paying for that or is that coming in? Like, is that that's a production cost? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

So so that's a good point because that's also been a challenge in terms of that category when you talk about concerts.

SPEAKER_06 39:14

Because I didn't realize that until that Johnstown stuff. It blew my mind. I'm like, wait, what? We have to do what to get this here?

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 39:21

Why?

SPEAKER_01 39:22

That has presents a challenge for us specifically because we're an outdoor venue. So it increases.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

It increases the production cost. So it's easier for an artist to just say, no, thanks, we're gonna go across the river, we're gonna go to stage AE because half of the production lives there already and they don't have to deck a field. So we've always had that fight. So to your to your point, like that it's a it has to be done. But I think what we did in the past was we may have over-protected the field and learned that it's a little bit more durable than than we thought. Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 40:00

So it is, yeah. I always think that is kind of funny. I'm sure it is.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_06 40:04

Like we have backyards and we trample it to pieces and play soccer on it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Yeah, I mean, they're they're they're made for wear and tear. I mean, obviously, you can't put certain equipment on them and and drive vehicles on them and tractor trailers, but you also don't need to deck where people are just standing and hanging out and drinking, right? So, I mean, that's a better to to cover that field, that's probably a better part of$100,000. The entire field. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Mind-blowing. Oh my goodness. I did not know that.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Yeah. So wow.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

That night, he's out there till four o'clock in the morning tearing up the what a strike. Wow. Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

That is so cool.

SPEAKER_06 40:45

So it should be.

unknown 40:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

I mean, Rachel, what about weather concerns?

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Listen, that's out, that's the nature of an outdoor venue.

SPEAKER_06 40:53

It just that's like rain insurance. Just go on, Greg. Rain, shine, yeah, sleet, help, and then we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

Nothing you do about you just love yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:02

Rain insurance.

unknown 41:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

Did you is that the biggest crowd you've ever had there?

SPEAKER_06 41:06

Toby Keith, yeah. Yeah. Who's who's like uh I want to hear some other events that are there so you can promote it, and also maybe I can get invited sometime, you know? Like, wouldn't you want to like to go to an event? Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

Yeah, I'll buy a ticket.

SPEAKER_06 41:20

Yeah, but I'll help support a ticket. Like with the 9,000 capabilities.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Even think it in the future. Buy a cigar, buy a drink here at the drawing room. Not hard to do. Anyway, go ahead. More of a player.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

So one of the things that I did, and he knows about it, is when I first started there, I wanted to see good views. Oh, this isn't a sell-out crowd, but I wanted to see combat sports.

SPEAKER_06 41:48

Yeah. Like an outdoor like wrestling event or MMA. Boxing fights.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

Well, you aren't you gonna do something like that?

SPEAKER_06 41:55

We did it.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

You did it already.

SPEAKER_06 41:56

You did it? So thanks for the invite.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Here we go again.

SPEAKER_06 42:02

Don't worry, there's more. I appreciate my my phone works. Email. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

We'll get you to the next one. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

But we did it for the first time last July, and it was incredible. It was so we so the first two fights we did at our indoor facility just because it's boxing? Boxing. Cool. Wow. And then with the same promoter, same main event, we brought it to High Mark Stadium, and we put everybody on the field, just like we would at any other venue. We did the ringside, we did the reserve, the VIP, and people loved it. We ended we ended up lucked out with great weather.

SPEAKER_05 42:49

Good crowd.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

And and at the the backdrop, the city at night couldn't be beat. And I I made it a point at the end of the night to go and talk to the fans, the security guards, the police, the bartenders, everybody who had something to do with that night. And I didn't receive one negative comment. The police loved it.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

They were unbelievable.

Making Money Beyond 17 Home Dates

SPEAKER_01 43:12

They thought, like, this is this is the the venue for something like this. We love we loved this style of event because um it's combat sports. Like who people love it. Pittsburgh, that's that's yeah, they love boxing. It's a it's a boxing, it's a boxing city. What's the one that uh it's never been done at High Mark Stadium either?

SPEAKER_06 43:33

Where like just like normal dudes fight swing?

SPEAKER_03 43:36

Normal dudes? UFC stuff.

SPEAKER_06 43:37

Oh, um no, it's uh Port Noy and those guys.

SPEAKER_03 43:41

Oh, I think Barstal. Like Yeah, you should have you should you should do that.

SPEAKER_06 43:46

We get some I'll get in the fight. It'd be fun.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Oh, that McHenry would go in there in a heartbeat. Heck, he'll go in there and box somebody.

SPEAKER_06 43:53

Yeah, of course. That's what they do. It's just a bunch of regular. I think it's called regular Joe's. Something like that. Is that what it is? Yeah, and they just They literally sign up, they get picked, they go in there, and they last for like three minutes max before they're just laying on the mat. They just beat the city. Arsenal would love it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying, you're welcome. That's a great event. That'd be fine. I would do it. Absolutely. I guarantee that would something like that. Yeah, we'll bring in a Cincinnati red. Let's go. Beat the crap out of that. Red Cardinal. Doesn't matter. Red Cardinal. Put them both in the room. Yeah. Actually, I want meatball. I want meatball. I'll just throw some gluten at him. He'll fall over.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Meatball and McHenry.

SPEAKER_06 44:36

Yeah. Right? That's a good one. Meatball. FNB Stadium. I gotta have the like. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:43

He's building his Fort Stadio. Yeah. Somebody back here said Fort Meatball. That's crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

Fort Meatball. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:51

Yeah, that'd be great. What about like, what's the weirdest event you've done? Have you ever done midget wrestling or little people wrestling? We haven't. One of the coolest events I've ever been a part of, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

We did a um mini kiss, which was like a mini kiss concert, a post-game, which was it's a cover band, but they're midgets and they're the you did it already? Mini kiss.

SPEAKER_06 45:15

That's outstanding.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Was that an opening act for the uh the soccer?

SPEAKER_06 45:20

We did a post-game.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Soccer man.

SPEAKER_06 45:22

We I played in Arkansas Little Rock. It's hilarious. We had probably 2,000 people in the stands. Every single player, I'm a double A. They start walking out from left field. It took him at least three minutes, little legs, just walking out, walkout song, full song plays. They get in. It was outstanding. I mean, all in, beautiful. Little biddy ring, about this size. It was so fun.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 45:48

Off top rope. I wanted to jump in so bad, Greg. I did. So I was just saying, mini kiss. Wrestling could be a hit.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

I'm with you.

SPEAKER_06 45:57

You could have one of them in a cannon. Just saying. Cannonball covet. I hear you.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

I could have mini kiss. No offense. No offense. Minikiss could have been shredding during the wrestling match.

SPEAKER_06 46:08

Right. Right? I'm liking it. I think we have we have our next event. We do. We're on to something. Yeah. Let's do it. I did not expect Minikiss. Yeah. I didn't know that existed. That just made my life a little better. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Rachel, how do you know your patrons for these soccer matches? Because you said you went and talked uh for the boxing match? The boxing match. How do you know what feedback do you get? How do you get it from fans of soccer? How do you know what you're doing is right and how do you tweak it? We do a constant surveys and spot there. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 46:46

Do you always go talk to the people too?

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Uh not always, but uh I I try to interact with fans at some point at each game or event. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

When you were in the suites at PPG and you were hosting, were you thinking about stuff like this?

SPEAKER_05 47:05

Always.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

You were. And so Tuffy saw this. He knew that you had insight because what you're at this venue and you're seeing people, you know exactly, and I'm sure in the back of your mind you're going, gosh, I wish they would do this or that. And now you're able to implement this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

I think that's how it evolved. We don't do that. I think that's where the conversation how it all happened.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

Okay, he's asking you questions about it. You you know what that's going on. Just the back of the conversation. How you would do things, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

And just suggestions or feedback, right? So he comes to a game and he goes, he goes up to his suite, and he's in that same area for the entire game. So he doesn't interact with the t ticket taker. He doesn't interact with the concession stand worker, he doesn't interact with an usher, he doesn't act interact with the uh clerk in the in the merch store, right? So he doesn't he doesn't know that to know that something could be better. And that's he should have.

SPEAKER_06 48:05

I always think that's a disjustice. It's like the Solomon effect, he had the ear of his servant, right? Because the servant will tell him, makes him tell him the truth, but like he wants to talk to him because he wants to see the whole realm.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Right. And I think that's where it started. I did experience that, and my feedback wasn't so great at the time. Again, I'm just being honest. So but he knows but he knows this. But he knows this. So it is there's no secrets, right? This is this is what had to happen. Yeah, you have to know, you have to know what's wrong in order to fix it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 48:39

And um the only way you can figure out what's wrong is walking in it. Right. To really understand.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Because what I did was I looked at it, I took it in from like a consumer standpoint and aspect, and then I took that to him. So I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but this was my experience. Knowing you and knowing that you do everything first class and top-notch, I don't think this would be satisfactory to you. So that is where it kind of turned the light on for him to start to think about the operation as a whole, not just what's happening on the field. And that that is just as you say that one more time. The operation of what? The operation as a whole. As a whole, as a putting it together, correct, not just on the field without people in the seats, it it you don't survive. You don't survive.

SPEAKER_06 49:31

I like soccer. I played soccer as a kid for a little bit, it was a goalie, loved it. My brother's obsessed, and it's kind of like baseball, but baseball always has moving pieces, a lot of strategy. Soccer can go a long time of dudes running back and forth, nothing happening. So entertainment matters. Yes, for kids, they love playing it 100%. So, like, how do you keep them engaged, right? Like, what are they doing? How how is this, you know, keeping them involved throughout the game? Because if they're going wild, mom and dad aren't coming back. Right. So, like, that makes sense. And how would you know that if you're not in the middle of it?

SPEAKER_01 50:06

Right. So, really, like getting an assessment of the of the total experience, like what is what is the experience for the fan, and how can we do better? So then we finally got to the survey, right? And there are some things that you're you're always gonna have somebody that's just gonna complain, just just that they have a voice, right? But then there's stuff that's really legitimate that they come up with good ideas for us, yes, right? And this is something that they've experienced at an at another soccer stadium or another ball field that hey, maybe we should try that too, or that that actually makes a lot of sense, and and it becomes worth the investment for for the you know the longevity of of our operation. Um, so just kind of taking each aspect, whether it's the experience for the kids, the experience for the parents, uh, the experience for the employees, that matters too. Like you have to Yeah, because if you want to keep them. Right, right. So that's why I say like we kind of just ripped the roots out and and and started over. And it it it took a long time that that doesn't happen overnight, especially when you have like a small staff and you're all working to the greater good because you care and you want to see it succeed, and you know that uh, you know, I've I've always looked at our owner as um with with a great respect, and and it's uh it's honorable what he's done. He hasn't walked away, he could have just gave up on it and and sold it off. But I think where his passion is is with the kids in the academy and giving them the opportunity to play club soccer and it's the roots to the fruits. Right exactly, exactly, and giving them the idea and the option that one day they could play for a professional team. So I think of all I again, I've known him for probably 12 years, of all the of the businesses that that he's involved in in all the various industries, I think the one that pulls on his heartstrings is soccer. I think it has everything to do with the kids. And is that because probably because of the impact? Uh yeah, I think it's the yeah, 100%. And he just sees that there's a need, and anywhere he can help fulfill that, that's what he's committed to.

Concerts Festivals Expansion And Field Costs

SPEAKER_06 52:26

I I have a kind of a roundabout question about the product on the field. You guys just won the championship last year. Have you seen the growth on your end enhance the talent that's coming here to play and wanting to stay? I've always thought that correlates. Like, if I'm looking at a city, I'm like, I'm a free agent, where do I want to go? Like, I want to know what's there to do. What is my family gonna do during the game? Like all the things that really cause headaches. Like, obviously, when I walk on the field, I'm playing, but I'm not spending most of my time there. So, what are what's my family doing when I am doing that? And I don't think that's thought about in sports very often. I know some teams that have done it and they got really good really fast. Like, whether it's events, right? Because what family doesn't want to go watch fireworks on the field, what watch the Jumbotron and watch a movie or a blanket? Like that matters, right? Absolutely, because you're going to a new city, you don't know anything, your family is the team, right? And I was kind of alluding to did that really help maybe even the product on the field get enhanced with you guys doing more events, enhancing the stadium, not just the product from the field, but helping that?

SPEAKER_01 53:41

I think it probably works both ways.

SPEAKER_06 53:42

That's that's kind of what I'm saying. I don't know how to say that properly, but it seems like it would go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

It does, it goes hand in hand. Um, we thought of it really from both aspects. Like, well, we you have this audience here, right, because of soccer. But what else can you offer them outside of soccer, right? So, what can we put in front of them? A couple years ago, we did a um a bounce house, like a beats in bounce, where we just cater to uh kids for a day and come out to high high mark stadium at the time and you know, have like a field day. You get to play where play on the field and made like an amusement day out of it, right? Like leaning into that demographic that's already our audience that already exists. And then taking the audience that already exists for the on the event side of things and offering them maybe a uh a group discount rate for to get their their company out to a soccer game. Again, that's another one where we hear, well, we've never done that. We've never been to it, we've never been to a soccer game. They get out there and they're blown away because of the atmosphere and the energy. Yeah. And you know, that's what we always say. We're not necessarily selling soccer, we're selling the experience.

SPEAKER_02 54:55

I was gonna ask you, that winning is not that important. It's it's it's secondary.

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Right. It's it's selling the experience.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

It has to be. No, and it's not in soccer. Like the it's you're selling the experience, and you you can't uh impact necessarily wins and losses anyway.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Right. So that's not to say that Pittsburgh doesn't love a winning team and you have to win.

SPEAKER_06 55:19

And I think a lot of like, oh, when we get there, well, where's there? Right. Right. If you're not looking ahead, not aiming, there is looking ahead and aiming. So I think it it is hand in hand. Like if you're winning on events, you're getting people there, people are gonna show up just because of that happy experience. And then if I'm a player and there's more people there, and I'll be able to do that. I mean, that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 55:40

I think you add you add the different different value. Yeah, yes that brings a perspective. Winning helps, I'm sure. 100% soccer. Um I I relate it to spent five years in the minor leagues up in Buffalo, and a minor league baseball franchise, they're they they rely on the big league team to supply the players. So wins and losses, it helps when they win, no doubt it helps. But generally, they have to prepare for every day. Isn't in fact their slogan was every day is an event, which you know, no no great shakes, but that's to be honest.

SPEAKER_06 56:11

A lot of those games are more fun for a family as like aspect because they have something going on all the time.

SPEAKER_03 56:20

Right, yes. Also, how home you said earlier, it's still got that homey feel. It does when I worked for the wild things, like that was the coolest thing. Like, you can't get much closer to professional baseball. Yeah, they're killing it, and the way that those guys interact with the fans and the way that the fans are on the field, like you can't really beat that. So I think that's cool. They really make you earn it too. Yeah, yeah. What's your your favorite thing about Pittsburgh?

SPEAKER_06 56:45

Oh, you gotta tell me your. You didn't answer my question either. Rachel, who do you want to read?

SPEAKER_02 56:53

But you've really never left Pittsburgh at all. No, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_06 56:57

When you're from Carrick, you don't leave, John Town.

SPEAKER_02 56:58

That's true. I know, yeah, no. It's in your roots. Yep. Yep. CarPower. You're a Yinzer and you don't have the Yinzer. You're a Carrick and you don't really have a Yinzer accent.

SPEAKER_06 57:07

We were just talking about that. She's like a like not northern, not Pittsburgh, like Midwest.

SPEAKER_02 57:14

Is that under the radar Yinzer?

SPEAKER_06 57:16

Under under the radar, like she kind of flirts with the Pennsylvania area.

SPEAKER_01 57:20

Yeah, I don't. I've been told I don't have it, but it's but it's something like it's it's it's recognizable that drunk area. Tournament in there. Yeah, yeah. Say tournament. Tournament.

SPEAKER_06 57:31

Tournament.

SPEAKER_01 57:33

No, tournament. Tournament.

SPEAKER_02 57:35

She says tournament.

SPEAKER_01 57:37

Tournament. See?

SPEAKER_02 57:38

Told you. That's it. Say still mill.

SPEAKER_06 57:42

She can't say it.

SPEAKER_02 57:43

Still mill. Say giant eagle.

SPEAKER_06 57:44

Giant eagle.

SPEAKER_02 57:45

Oh, you say giant eagle. Power. Yeah, there's no eagle in there.

SPEAKER_06 57:50

Pretty good, see? She said her best.

SPEAKER_02 57:51

Say creek.

SPEAKER_06 57:52

Creek? Crick. I don't say crick. I don't. I don't even know what that is. That's in my neck, not water.

SPEAKER_02 57:58

I think she could get she could get away with not being the injured, so we have to. You'd have to really dig deep. Yeah. Good stuff. Really good fun.

SPEAKER_06 58:05

Absolutely. You have to tell me. What's the dream event? I think I honestly lean towards like concert-wise. Like I'm thinking 20,000. Like I like need to breathe. Ever need to breathe? There are 20,000. Like tight, maybe 30,000 max. Like I'm trying to think of who would be that dream to bring in that would just be like we did it. We did it. This is the big one.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

I know it's a little out of our probably our capacity, but I think I would love to see Chris Stapleton there. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 58:40

Nice. But like I I was in Nashville a while, um, seven years we lived there, and I think that's becoming like their thing. Like big ticket items want to do smaller events. I've recently heard the same.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

I've recently heard the same.

SPEAKER_06 58:58

Some of my buddies that are in it, they're more into the worship side. They've kind of stepped back and they love doing the smaller events because it reminds them where they came from. Yeah. And they enjoy it again because they've lose their love for it. So who says you can't?

SPEAKER_00 59:10

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 59:11

And they love, I think Stapleton loves it here. Rumor has it. I don't know. Maybe I'll call them.

SPEAKER_01 59:20

We do have something unique. We have something unique this year, which I'm really interested to see how it goes.

SPEAKER_06 59:25

Yeah, tell us about some of the events this year.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Yes. In September, for the first time, we're doing a um a faith-based festival. Cool. Which is going to be interesting. An all-day festival. Haven't done it before. We've we've done events with different various religious organizations, different churches where they host their service outdoors on the field, which has been cool. But to see like an actual the uh Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is putting it on. And they have a couple Christian acts that are gonna play throughout the day. And I'm really curious to see how that goes because I think there's a market for that in Pittsburgh, and I think that's grown.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:02

And I think it's Saturday night at PNC, Faith Night, uh projected 20,000 people that are gonna stay after. Uh it's it will get you connected with the people that are throwing around involved. It's yeah, we did it yeah, that'd be awesome. 13 years ago was the first one, I think 14 years ago, and it was awesome. But then I went to St. Louis. There's 40,000 people that stayed. The stadium was full. See? It was the coolest thing ever. I mean, they were they were really good. Mike Matheny talked, Lane Wright talked. It was it was special. No act, it was just all wow, like see, that's different. That's the first time I'm hearing that. Yeah, I did one in Colorado. There's 25,000 people. I have a coolest picture on the back of the dugout, uh, with our their lesser version of you, Greg Brown, um, asking questions, and and it was really cool. And we got interactive with the fans and ended up going about an hour over. It was a blast. They're I think there's a market. I think there's it's a huge market, yeah. Yeah, and there's a lot of sports ministries here.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:07

Yeah, that's what I that's what I'd love to see. A sold out when we expand a sold out.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:11

Yeah, not like the South, but it's there's a lot of right, there's a lot of people here that would show up. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

Yeah, those do a sold-out country show and probably a sold out.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:22

So, when are we gonna have an outdoor hockey event there? Because that would be slamdog.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:29

So that's something that we looked into over the past couple years because to your point, 12 months, right? So, what are we doing in November, December, January? Well, we looked into that. We we looked into to putting a ring on the a rink on the field, and it was done year, it's not not it's not.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:48

We had the winter classic here years ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:51

We did, right? Where and Heinz.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

At Heinz, yep. Yeah, I'd love to see that. Whatever it is now, Acker Shore.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

It was great with Heinz, though. I was there, it was great.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:59

Were you? I didn't go. Oh, yeah, it was brutal.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:01

It was brutal. It was like 10 degrees.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:03

That was the original. You suck it up. I did, I did, I lasted the whole game. I think it might be that was the first one, wasn't it? We had one. I think so. Because didn't we win it in a shootout too? I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:14

Yeah. Here you go, swing. I got one. Ice soccer.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

So if you actually look that up, there's like wild places like this. There's no way Russia, dude.

Fan Feedback Dream Events And Closing

SPEAKER_06 1:02:25

Oh, I just feel myself splitting my pants. Yeah. Oh. Me ball, you split your pants every night. So yeah, let us know some of those events. We'd love to, I'd love to help. I'd I think Greg probably would too. We love we love the city. What's uh we always ask this question. I'm surprised you haven't asked yet. You're gonna be able to do that. Best thing about Pittsburgh, best sports memory in Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:58

Well, first of all, I you know, it's okay, by the way, if your answer is no. No, you answer that question. Were you a fan growing up of any particular fanatic? You don't have to be. You really didn't get into the penguin, stealers, or pirates. You just get into the city.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:10

You just fell into the streets over there, like got lost one day, loitering.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:15

That's how Pittsburgh does, people.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:16

Seriously, right? Yeah. I I didn't sports is just part of the culture. I mean, we I'm the youngest of five. We all played sports, but but it wasn't we way to go.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:29

Fort Fort Michael created havoc.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:32

We were we were into football, baseball, basketball. We all stayed active. And you know, my dad always watched the pirates, so the game was always on the radio, and we heard it, we were surrounded by it. It was part of like probably listening to him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:46

Stop it.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:47

What?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:47

That's cool, ain't it?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:48

It why dude?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:49

You're the voice.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:53

When were you listening to the radio? You say your grandfather or your father?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:56

Oh. Okay, well, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

Yeah. Yeah. We were surrounded by he's he's timeless.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:05

And your father was from this area too?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:08

He was yeah, he was from Mount Lebanon.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:10

Yeah, he grew up in Mount Lebanon.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:12

Both parents from the area. Grandparents from the area. This family goes way back. Yeah. So it's, I mean, yeah, it's it's in your blood, Pittsburgh, sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:22

That's why she could say still milk. You struggle. I can't. I'm from Tennessee. We don't know what that is. He's a yelter. Yeah, we farm. Um but so like, is there a memory with your dad maybe at a pirates game or something that stands out? Oh yeah, he's an intense fan. Um, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:44

I mean, I I've I've went to games when with him when you were playing.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:47

Oh god, not again. Michael, geez Louise, practice a little more. Now he's watching me on TV. He's like, shut up, too positive. Right? I get it. Yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:59

Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:01

Fair weather fan. We went when you were playing. And he's he's an intense fan.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:08

You were. You were. She said, No chance. No chance.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:11

Maybe like fifth favorite. You said you were. Yeah. I'm somebody's favorite, Greg. Somebody out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

Rachel, thanks for being on Hold My Cutter. That was awesome. I mean, this I can't imagine. Down down the road, there won't be a time when somebody says, next time, they'll say, What's your most memorable moment? Either at FNB Stadium or just around event, and you'll say, I was on Hold My Cutter.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:34

Yeah. I I think that's what she was trying to get out. She's choked up a little.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:37

I understand. I am too. We all she keeps going to her eye.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:42

Can't believe I'm here.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:43

Special moment.