June 19, 2025 • 36 mins
It’s the summer of 2024 — four months since the announcement that MLS is finally coming to San Diego, and just over six months until SDFC takes the field for their first-ever game.
Join us behind the scenes to see what it takes to launch a sports organization from scratch; hear what the soccer-loving people of San Diego really think — and meet the man whose job it is to actually build the team: 33-year-old rookie Sporting Director, Tyler Heaps.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's six thirty PM on a cool, overcast October evening
in twenty twenty four, Sherman hikes Central San Diego. A
small crowd is gathered on the corner of Imperial Avenue
in nineteenth Street, spilling out of the courtyard of what
I guess is a renovated warehouse. Just as stones throw away,
(00:30):
the interstate is gridlock with frustrated Friday night commuters. But
down here on the street, men and women, boys and
girls are all smiles. They're talking, laughing and joking, some
even wearing their dark blue and silver scarves and T shirts, or,
as we're now saying around here, a Sulli chrome. These
(00:55):
people are here to celebrate and to spread the word.
San Diego finally has a major league soccer team. The
venue has been taken over by San Diego Football Club
to host what they call a super fan event.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
There's barbecue, drinks.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And tents splash with Thames like shovels, riptides, and the
locals official club supporter groups selling merchandise and memberships. These
groups are hoping to grow and become the sdfc Ultras,
the die hard fan base of the city's newest sports team.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
My name is John Crosslin. I'm the president of the
San Diego Independent Supporters Union, and we are having our
first ever meet up for supporters. It's kind of like
a well.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I guess, a tailgate, an evening tailgate, like what we.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Would do pre match.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
But we're doing it at a venue here called eighteen
thirty five downtown, and we're getting our members together so
we can start building our culture that I'll learn some
chance and just have a good time tonight.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Like most official SDFC events so far, it's all going
pretty smooth. But out on the street in the fading twilight,
the walls are lit up by the flashing red and
blue of prowling police cars. I guess somewhere worried this
event might get a little rockets. Well, it turns out
John is one of them, and he's about to be
(02:27):
proved right for.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
There it is.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So that fire there, I can say that you remember
how we're hanging out at this.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
Oh you guys.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Oh jesus, what John thought was a car backfiring is
in fact a fire.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
There's another.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Then out of the darkness, a wall of noise and
color comes marching down the street, emerging out of a
haze of blue smoke, comes the glare of flares and
another flash of firewood. Dozens of voices are chanting along
(03:12):
with clackers, drums and trumpets, and wielding template flags bearing
their name Dago Boys. It's unintimidating sight, a vision of ferocious,
full throated support. Well explain why this is a problem
(03:39):
and why John is upset another day.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
For now, all you need to know is that things
are about to kick off.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It won't be long before those police officers are closing in,
watching anxiously as tempers flair, insults are traded, and the
street braw threatens to break out. All this passion, all
(04:09):
this fuss for a club that doesn't even exist yet,
that hasn't even kicked a bo That's San Diego for me,
or as I like to call it, the hottest corner
(04:29):
of the Americas.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So listen here it is.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
In February twenty twenty five, San Diego e FC became
the thirtieth team to enter Major League Soccer, now the
largest professional league on the planet. Launching any new team
is hard enough, but these guys had to do twice
the work in half the time. You see, this is
more than just another Football Club, at least that's the
(04:58):
hope of the club's co owner, under the leadership of
Sir Mohammed Mansour. Right to Dream is an organization promising
to rock American soccer to its foundations with a revolutionary
approach to.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Coaching and youth development.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Anchoring the project in the local community is the Sequon
Band of the Kumgai Nation, the first ever Native American
owners in men's professional sports, and as the only MLS
club officially sanctioned to recruit out of Mexico. I mean,
this thing could really fly, that is, if everything goes
to plan.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Captured in the final.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Months before the twenty twenty five season kicks off, this
documentary series follows the club's race to field their first
ever team. This is San Diego FC Behind the Flow.
I'm Adrian Garcia Marcus. You may have heard my play
(05:57):
by play commentary in Spanish English or sometimes both at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Harness his lightning cracks.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I've called three Super Bowls, eleven World Series, NBA, the Olympics.
But for me, it started in my hometown calling for
an A League soccer team, the San Diego Flash. It
wasn't just my first break, it was a connection to
my first love. See. I grew up between Sandy Sedro
and Peril Beach and Chela Vista, as close as you
get to Mexico and still be in San Diego, right
(06:35):
on the border with the Juana. Like most Latino kids
in southern California, we played all sports, played baseball, we
shot hoops, and we played soccer or football. As the
rest of the world says, San Diego's a soccer.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Town, always has been.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
We've got the best youth clubs in the country, producing
talent like nowhere else. When the USA plays, when Mexico,
when there's a World Cup or a Copa America, San
Diego is always watching. So how is it in nearly
thirty years of Major League Soccer have we not had
a team. Well, now it's finally happening. In twenty twenty five.
(07:16):
My city, San Diego, the wildest soccer city in the US,
potentially is getting what it's always dreamed of to crown
the league's thirtieth season. We will become the thirtieth team.
We're also the most expensive, arriving for a fee hold
your breath, of half a billion dollars. That's no pocket change,
(07:38):
that's the price of ambition. So what's the story, Who's
behind San Diego FC, what do they want and most
important of all, are they going to win?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Let's find out?
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Hold on, boy, I see being Benitos a San Diego
also known as America's finest city and one that's tired
of waiting for its shot at sporting glory. Did you
know we're the biggest city in the country to never
win a championship in any sport.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That has to change. And don't take my word for it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Walk into any sports bar around here and ask anyone.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
As long as I've.
Speaker 7 (08:22):
Been born, they have never won a champion But I
hope in the future one day, you know, San Diego
makes it to those championships and wins it and puts
our name on the map.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Real talk. Some people call it the San Diego curse.
You see, We've had a lot of teams come and
go after losing for a while. They either fold or
they flee. First, it was the Clippers who moved to
LA and that's okay for a lot of people. It
was fine. They're Laker fans anyway. But when the Chargers win,
(08:58):
that hurt man. He loved them so much, and some
of that love went with them. The point is, in
San Diego, we love our sports just as Jamie. She's
at the Blue Foot Bar at seven am on a
Saturday to watch the English Premier.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
League with her husband.
Speaker 8 (09:14):
I think the culture here with sports and the Padres
and the Chargers rip, people love them so much here,
and I think there's so much hard here. And I
do believe that in San Diego, like we ride or
die for our team much more than a lot of others,
like whether they do well or they don't. Like we're
(09:36):
always there, we show up to the games.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
By the way, while we've been waiting thirty years for
a Major League soccer team, Los Angeles has two teams,
two very successful teams, I might add. I mean, look
at the Galaxy. They just took home a record extending
sixth title just last season.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
You can just go to the corner and try to
see out MLS Cup to.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Royce and Fecunda, and that is the hello.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
S Angele's garg say, have long, there's six.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Hell, let's come.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
For most people around here, they're the closest thing we've
had to a local MLS team, which is a hard
pill to swallow. Though there are some who've made it
work for them.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
My name is el Rod and we are at the
Blue Flight in San Diego North Park. This is a
bar that always has a lot of EPO teams show up,
lots of supporter teams.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
We're just talking about that, and.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Sandel has a lot of soccer supporters. I mean, it's
it's it's an awesome city to have an UMLS team.
I'm a hardcore LA Galaxy fan, but I am going
to support the team when they may here. If it's
if it's San Diego want I know, to make it,
I've about a game, But if it's San Diego Galaxy
Galaxy all the way, I'm gonna be in my supporter section.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But I'm happy that they're.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Getting a team. Of course, for the San Diego soccer fan,
MLS isn't the only option. There are those who head
south to our sister city the Wonder for their football fix.
People like this father and son, one born in TJ,
the other here in SD.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
My son my son, and.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Both have been season ticket holders for Shorts, the Liga
MX team down there. Are they open to switching or
are they supporting both?
Speaker 9 (11:21):
We've been bags of THEOLO since you know, says the
team wasn't u in the second yier and then and
then we've got a chance to see them from the
beginning to eventually.
Speaker 10 (11:32):
When they moved up the ladder.
Speaker 9 (11:33):
I'll be honest, I have not followed the MLS because
I cannot go for an l A team, I guess.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
But now things are gonna change, I bet, especially if
it means bringing home that championship.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
As a San Diego, San Diego native born and raided,
we just have to keep the vaid. Every year is
a new year, and every year we hope we can
eventually get that parade one day here.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
The proximity with the one and the possibility of split
loyalties with fans, especially in San Diego's massive binational population,
has an escaped as dfc's attention. In fact, one of
the first things the club did was announced a five
year partnership with Shotos, with exhibition games being played here
(12:22):
in the city.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Smart move right out of.
Speaker 9 (12:25):
The gates, you know himbre San Diego, and I think
it's this is a good for for team goot, team fans,
for economy, for you know.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
For people have a world job, and I think it
is good as way.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
At least these two Sholto fans will be there for
San Diego's home opener.
Speaker 11 (12:45):
Your San Diego Border season ticket holders for about five years,
we are we are still looking to become SDFC season
ticket holders as well. I know my first is going
to be the first game, so we're excited.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
So we've finally got a team. And despite the way,
it almost feels like it came out of nowhere. Usually
these things are announced years in advance. The last expansion side,
for example, Saint Louis had four years to prepare for
their first game, but this announcement dropped in May twenty
twenty three, giving SDFC just twenty months to build an
(13:27):
entire sporting operation from scratch. How and why the timeline
has worked out this way is a story for another day.
Right now, most people just want to know who's flying
this thing and can they pull it off? Well, meet
one of the guys crazy enough to try it. This
is Dan Dickinson.
Speaker 12 (13:45):
At a practical level, obviously, I'm an investor and a
board member and as CEO of Right to Dream, which
is one of the fifty percent shareholders in SDFC. The
key part of our investment strategy is to leverage the
unique model we have it Right to Dream into SDFC,
very differentiated from any other MLS team, any other professional
(14:08):
team from my perspective, and so one of my important
goals is to infuse everything that we are doing and
have done and learned Right to Dream into the SDFC model.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
The name you just heard there was Right to Dream.
Get used to hearing it. They're the guys pulling the
strings on the sporting side, and boy have they got
some big plans for MLS.
Speaker 12 (14:32):
So we feel like it's the most underrepresented market in
terms of potential talent, in terms of fin and commercial support,
and so a great target for our model. And we
think our model is unique and differentiated so that while
it is hard to make money in this business on
an annual basis in terms of cash flow, the key
(14:54):
is having homegrown players, is having you know, talent that
you can develop through your own pipeline, and ours is
unique one has.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
What we have.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Right to Dream is probably the most successful football organization
you've never heard of, a global network of youth academies
and professional clubs that have been developing world class talent
for over twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Players who regularly.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Feature in World Cups, Champions League, and Europe's top divisions.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
There's even a bunch of them playing here in MLS.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
But what makes Right to Dream unique is that they
don't see themselves in the business of developing sporting talent
at all. They say they're building people, student athletes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Social entrepreneurs, community leaders.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
They all just happen to be really good with the
ball at their feet, and once they're in the Right
to Dream system, they're never released period.
Speaker 13 (15:51):
We often say we're in the business of developing communities
through football, and we've become so good at it that
as a result, we end up identify find the best talent, players, coaches,
developing that talent and then also launching their careers.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
This is Sebastian Morua, Senior Vice president of Marketing, Brand
and Community at SDFC and tenure Right to Dream veteran.
Speaker 13 (16:16):
I think firstly, we just knew that the United States
was a market that would embrace our model and bringing
the Right to Dream model into Major League Soccer, which would,
again like we've seen in Ghana, in Denmark and in Egypt,
it would put us in a position to truly transform
the game from the inside right at the highest level.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Part of Right to Dreams bid for San Diego was
a promise to build a state of the art, world
class residential academy out on the Sequan Reservation in Alkoholma. Here,
over one hundred kids, boys and girls will eat, sleep,
and play.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Football the Right to Dream way.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And this isn't some pie dream, some vague hope for
the future.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
This is happening now.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
It's under construction and planning to welcome its first group
of young prodigies.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
In twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And it won't just be kids from southern California either.
Here's the kicker, because of its location, as DFC will
be the only MLS club permitted to scout and recruit
out of Mexico. Take that la joking aside. This is
an organization that places its trust in you. Whether that
philosophy will win them games in MLS is another thing.
Speaker 12 (17:33):
However, Well, look at our models built on supporting and
believing in young rookies.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
We play young.
Speaker 12 (17:39):
And we believe in them, and it's worked.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's proven to be successful.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Dan's not just saying that their whole operation speaks to it,
but out of all their young talents, across the world,
all their young players, young scouts and young coaches. There's
one young rookie they're really backing to shine. It's time
to meet the face of San Diego Football Club Sporting
director and general manager, thirty three year old Tyler Heaps.
(18:27):
Twenty Kettner Boulevard in the downtown district of Little Italy
is where you'll find San Diego FC headquarters. Step inside
their office and this could be any other modern startup,
albeit a well funded one. It's all smooth concrete, polished
surfaces and Florida ceiling glass windows, bright, airy and open plan.
(18:49):
Right now, it's home to both front and back office
sporting staff and sales teams, and crammed into their shiny
new conference rooms, data analysts and scouts are planning as
dfc first ever roster.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
Everybody see this as you want them to make a
bigger on which which view do you want to go
through this?
Speaker 13 (19:06):
Let someone have up the the I'll bring it up
to follow the roster and budget guidelines so we can
see the transfer fe's paid.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
For each boy.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
We should all have our computers hopfully open and bring
out information like this guy's contracts expiring. I've heard this.
I've heard that because we just need to make sure
we're aligned and believe we have the right list. And
then it's also about trying to identify which the players
we think we should advertize.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
That is Tyler Heaps. He's the guy that Right to
Dream have put in charge of bringing SDFC to life.
At thirty three years old, it's his first top job
at Sports Executives, making him the youngest.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Sporting directors in league history.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
This interview took place in early September twenty twenty four.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
And it's doing everything at once. I mean, you're building
a staff, you're building a squad, and you're building process
at once, and I think in that is unheard of
and it's so unique, and I think that's what also
was really attractive about this project is what better way
for me to learn than to learn in this environment
and be able to go through this on a day
to day basis.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
At this point, it's one hundred and sixty five days
to go until match day one. He has no coach,
no team, and no fans. He's also responsible for the
build out of the most advanced training center in football
academy in North America to even stand a chance of
pulling this off. You've got to have grit and you've
got to have drive. Luckily, Tyler came to San Diego
(20:36):
with both.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
Born and raised in Minnesota. I grew up in East
Saint Paul, youngest of five with a single mom. So
my mom raised us tall. So she's the saint in
our life. She's my dad and my mom. So we
were very fortunate that she had in a tremendous work ethic,
and I think that's where all of my core values
and the way I present myself in day today relate
(20:58):
back to is just growing up with that and seeing
the work firsthand.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Back in twenty eleven, Tyler was taking a finance course
in college when the film Moneyball came out in cinemas.
Already hooked on sports data, he started thinking about how
to apply it to his own sport, soccer.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
And then a job at US Soccer arose, and six
years later I kind of created the department and started
running that and then covided, and that led me to Monaco,
and never thought I'd probably go from Minnesota to Monaco,
but that was another unique life experience to see football
at the highest level and to see player development at
the highest level, and then Right to Dream came along
a year ago, and that's where I am now today.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Tyler might have come from humble beginnings, but his rise
has been medior and he never lacked self belief.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
I'll go off on a little side tangent, which is
I don't think I've talked a lot about this. When
I was in my mid twenties, I probably was a
bit niven and I always wanted to be the youngest GM.
It was something I always said to myself, I always
want to be the youngest GM.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
He never actually expected that to happen though. When Tyler
joined Right to Dream in twenty twenty three, it was
as head of recruitment, but mattz Davidson, the group head
of football, took a shine to him early.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
On, and Tyler came in and first of all showed
very high level of skill sets in what he's good at.
And the secondly, he probably was one of the employees
that I've seen that quickest got what Right Dream is about.
That Right to Dream is different. For example, don't buy
players from all over the world because it will be
(22:35):
a challenge with our way of playing, with our working
challenge with languages, et cetera. So we have a quite
guideline there, and Tyler was very quick to cope with
that and push that through. So he showed great more.
I've said, more than you could expect.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
For a year, Tyler worked with Mattz and the Right
to Dream Team, a cruster clubs and youth academies, learning
the system and seeing its impact. When the time came
to start the SDFC project, he seemed like a great
fit as assistant sporting director the number two.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
Yeah, I think the timeline has been a bit a
bit crazy. I would say, I don't think anything was
planned from the beginning. In my initial conversations, there were
always talks that they wanted me to move to San Diego.
I think the fact that I was American and that
I understood the European culture and the transfer market and
player development and everything like that made me an initial
(23:34):
attractive candidate. It's difficult because at the beginning I was
I was the assistant sporting director, and so there was always
the intention that there would be somebody else. I obviously
was in massive amounts of conversation with the Right to
Dream leadership team. So that's Matt Davidson, Fleming Petterson, that's
Dan Dickinson and so forth, And so I was always
operating when there wasn't a number one, it was always Oh,
(23:55):
Tyler's leading on this.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Well, the Right to Dream leadership search for their sporting director.
Tyler quietly got on with the John, here's Dan Dickinson again.
Speaker 12 (24:06):
So yeah, I mean, look at it starts with Tyler,
who just did a fabulous job for us, had an
incredible background set of experiences before he came to Right
to Dream. But having someone from Right to Dream in
that sporting director role was important to us. Obviously came
over and started as an assistant sporting director and we met, interviewed.
I wasn't as involved as others, but a number of
(24:27):
other candidates obviously to be the lead sporting director. And
you know, as you can imagine, a lot of them
come with their own baggage. I mean, they come with
their own set of history, their own biases. Some of
them want to bring their own staff. They've got their
own view of the world. And the more experienced they are,
the more maybe in trench they are.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It had to be the right fit.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
As we'll find out later, there's a lot that goes
into building a right to dream club. But as the
search for a perfect number one dragged on, Tyler continue
to impress.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
And I remember after a few months I did say
to our board and our group so that we had
what I call a sporting director talent in house. Probably
went a little bit quicker than I anticipated, but he
redeveloped fast, and at the end I had no doubt
that he was the right option because he's aligned to
(25:20):
the project. You understand what we're doing, you respect the
model and the strategy. On top of that, he has
a very high skill set, high work ethic and of
course being on top of that being American, understanding league
better than most foreigners probably would would do, worked in
the Federation, high analytical skills. It seemed a very good
(25:41):
match that we didn't offer him the job to be
the sport director.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
After a while, it became clear to the ownership and
the other execs that Mids was right.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Tyler was the man for the job.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
And so whenever a few things happened and I think
I all of a sudden there was no sporting director
now that was that was going to be coming to
this role. It was hey, Tyler, you're now the interim,
go and run with it. And I think that very
quickly they realized, actually we didn't really lose a step
for Dan.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
It was a signature right to dream move.
Speaker 12 (26:12):
And the more we got into it, it's kind of
back to this look at it, and Tyler was involved
in this, and Tyler shined through this process. We're kind
of like, wait a minute, we've got the right guy,
you know, and and again we play young, go get
him Tyler's work.
Speaker 10 (26:45):
Hey, everyone, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Another historic day. That's an after I can see him now.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
On August fifteenth, twenty twenty four, they made it official.
Tyler Heaps became San Diego f's he's first sporting director
and in the process the youngest GM in Major League
Soccer history at just thirty three.
Speaker 6 (27:08):
And then I think the moment where it probably hit me,
really hit me was probably during the press release and
being announced, because that's where now that official title is
on you.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
Welcome you today to the official introduction of Sadio's FC's
first hour sporting director.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And GM, Tyler Heats.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Tyler has over ten years of top level global football experience,
from his rolls out right to dream as Monaco and
Leo Soccer Federation.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
At thirty three, Tyler becomes the youngest sporting director and.
Speaker 7 (27:42):
As welcome to.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Looking out at the people assembled for his press conference,
things started to feel real as Tyler took questions and
best in the limelight for the first time.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
I'm ecstatic to be in this position, to have this opportunity,
and I want to just say thank you to you
guys for your trust in me and seeing what I
can bring to this fantastic organization. Yeah, it's a proud
moment for me to sit up here. It's been many years,
although it hasn't seemed like so many, but my gray
hairs probably show a few more.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Cool as a cucumber most of the time. Tyler admits
now that it was a lot to take in.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
We were never a family that shared a lot of emotion,
and I'm still not a lot of a person that
shares a lot of emotion. But to see my brothers
and sisters and my nieces and nephews call me and say, oh, look,
we're so excited for you, and that was a really
cool opportunity. The baby and the family and hopefully them
seeing me realize my dreams and be able to obviously
(28:46):
fall into a position like this that has so much expectations,
but is also a really proud moment for me.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
It's some achievement, no doubt. But you know, there are
fans in San Diego who have been waiting for this
project before Tyler was even in diapers. Outside the welcome
for MLS's youngest ever sporting director, we spoke to seventy
year old football fanatic Ray Weber. This guy just might
be the city's longest suffering soccer fan. He's been fighting
(29:16):
the good fight since even before MLS, back when it
was an ASL, when Pele was on the pitch and
Elton John in the owner's box.
Speaker 14 (29:24):
Obviously, here we had the Mexican and the Hispanic community
and other internationals living here that understood the sport. However,
anybody that's over fifty years old in this country fully
understands the difficulty that soccer back in the day had
to the challenges that we had to overcome to promote
the sport.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Ray isn't bothered by the age or inexperience of San
Diego FC's new sporting director, as long as he's the
right man for the job.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Like any San Diego.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
He'd loved more than anything to see some silverware, but
really he just wants to to do right by the
people that and maybe stick around for a while.
Speaker 14 (30:05):
A championship within five years, just kind of like we
saw at LAFC. It's a very tall order success, stability
and doing great things on the field on a consistent basis.
But you've got to be great in the community. You've
got to have the right image. And we know we
know teams even in the city that didn't have the
(30:26):
right image and they're gone. So you've got to do
it in the community, and you've got to do it
on the field.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And as for supernatural forces or dark sorcery that might
be working against them, he hopes the Padres can clear
that up before as DFC even takes the field. At
the time of speaking to Ray in September twenty twenty four,
the Padres are tied with the La Dodgers to too
in the divisional series, just a couple of steps away
(30:54):
from a shot at a World series title.
Speaker 14 (30:56):
Well, yes, I've heard of the curse, and we certainly
I've had many teams come and go. We've had a
lot of teams that came close but didn't win championships.
I consider myself an all sports person, so hopefully the
Padres in the next few weeks are going to break through.
But yeah, we've had our challenges, We've lost teams, we've
had teams that haven't gone all the way. So maybe
(31:20):
some consider there to be a curse. I'm not sure
that there is. We just have to keep grinding.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Tyler's not a curse guy either.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
I'm from Minnesota, so I know all about quote unquote curses.
I was born in ninety one, which is the last
time the Twins won a World Series, and since then,
I've had zero winning teams in my lifetime and I'm
a massive Minnesota sportspan through and through, So I don't
like the word curse.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You don't need to tell Tyler what a winning soccer
team could mean for San Diego.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
So, look, it would be unbelievable for us, and that's
our ambition is to bring a championship through the city
and we need to make sure. Obviously, look, the Wave
I think have had success as well, so I wouldn't
say it's all been cursed because they've obviously been able
to come into this market and have success and be
able to carry what what their weight is, and we
(32:07):
need to now make sure that we're able to do
it as well. But yeah, curse is a is a
tough word, and it probably goes a little bit too
far because success in any organization is difficult. But I
do think if you get the right people, you can
win anywhere.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Ray Weber's excited. He's got his season tickets already. But
back in the city soccer bars, some fans still need convincing.
Chris Jobs and his friends are quite happy sticking to
League Guya.
Speaker 10 (32:32):
Mickey's that they're probably gonna suck. Honestly, I don't know that.
My buddy grew up playing soccer, you know. So he
watches European League, Champions League, Mexican League. He keeps up
with all the leagues and what he talks about sety
you got ant see me. He kind of like brushes
them off, like I don't know that right, because I
think he thinks MLS is boring compared to the other leagues,
(32:52):
Like he'd rather watch European League and Mexican League than
American League. He says, American League's.
Speaker 14 (32:56):
Kind of boring.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Marie Gallagher feels the same way no, I don't.
Speaker 15 (33:01):
Yeah, I don't follow over that really well, I started
watching a little bit more when Messi came over. You know,
like I think more premiere players, maybe better players, I think,
because I just don't think the players that play MLS
or the same league as you know, your head players.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Seems like Tyler Sabin Company have their work cut out
to even convince soccer fans to come support as DFC.
At least, Marie thinks having the league's youngest ever GM
isn't a problem.
Speaker 15 (33:31):
I think that's great because he'll have a fresh mindset.
He doesn't have that old schools you know, this is
what we do, and that's what you find with a
lot of any sports team. You got all these old
guys that have the old ways. Get somebody young. They've
got new ideas, new things to do. So that's probably
a great thing.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Back at headquarters, Tyler Heaps has less than six months
to prepare for match day one. You think that game
couldn't get any bigger.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Well, he just found out who their opponent is.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
On February twenty second, twenty twenty five, as DFC will
play its first ever MLS game, and it'll be at
LA Galaxy.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
It just had to be la time to go to work.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
If I had time to think about are we moving
too fast? I think there'd be something wrong with my
day to day. Every franchise that comes into this league
has difficulties, and I think that one of ours is
that we need to build this extremely quickly.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
The only thing he can do is stay focused on
his job and tackle it one day at a time.
Speaker 6 (34:36):
For sure, there are going to be bumps in the road,
but I think my job, especially as a sporting director,
is making sure that we smooth those bumps out as
quickly as possible, and that we try to reduce as
much risk as possible, and that we try to make
sure that we're very clear one in our hirings, two
in our signings, and that we bring in players that
don't need that massive amounts of runway time. Because yeah, look,
(34:58):
the expectations are huge in this project, and it's probably
why I took it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 6 (35:02):
I don't want to be a part of something that
doesn't have those expectations because of how competitive I am
and my background, and so I think I share all
of that with the people that we've hired so far
and now it's a matter of yes, it's coming quick,
and yeah, it's probably in record time if you look
at some of the other expansion teams. But we also
are extremely fortunate and we need to make sure that
we take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Tyler might have the longest to do list in North
American sports. At the very top is hiring the right
head coach for San Diego FC.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Luckily, he's just found the perfect man for the job.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Next time on Behind the Flow, we follow the appointment
and unveiling of sdfc's first ever head coach, Mikey Badas,
a rising starring US Soccer, a youth development genius, and
completely untested at this level. That's right, like his boss, Tyler,
Mikey is also a rookie. The stakes just got hired.
(36:05):
Behind the Flow is a message heard production. I'm your
host Adrian Garciamarkas. The series producer is McAllister Bexon. Mark
Kendrick is the assistant producer. Jake Warren and Sandra Ferrari
are the executive producers. James Cox and Dago Diaz are
the production coordinators, and Rebecca Ware is our sound recorded
(36:25):
The sound editor is Lizzie Andrews. And music composition is
by Tom Biddle.
It's six thirty PM on a cool, overcast October evening
in twenty twenty four, Sherman hikes Central San Diego. A
small crowd is gathered on the corner of Imperial Avenue
in nineteenth Street, spilling out of the courtyard of what
I guess is a renovated warehouse. Just as stones throw away,
(00:30):
the interstate is gridlock with frustrated Friday night commuters. But
down here on the street, men and women, boys and
girls are all smiles. They're talking, laughing and joking, some
even wearing their dark blue and silver scarves and T shirts, or,
as we're now saying around here, a Sulli chrome. These
(00:55):
people are here to celebrate and to spread the word.
San Diego finally has a major league soccer team. The
venue has been taken over by San Diego Football Club
to host what they call a super fan event.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
There's barbecue, drinks.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And tents splash with Thames like shovels, riptides, and the
locals official club supporter groups selling merchandise and memberships. These
groups are hoping to grow and become the sdfc Ultras,
the die hard fan base of the city's newest sports team.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
My name is John Crosslin. I'm the president of the
San Diego Independent Supporters Union, and we are having our
first ever meet up for supporters. It's kind of like
a well.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I guess, a tailgate, an evening tailgate, like what we.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Would do pre match.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
But we're doing it at a venue here called eighteen
thirty five downtown, and we're getting our members together so
we can start building our culture that I'll learn some
chance and just have a good time tonight.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Like most official SDFC events so far, it's all going
pretty smooth. But out on the street in the fading twilight,
the walls are lit up by the flashing red and
blue of prowling police cars. I guess somewhere worried this
event might get a little rockets. Well, it turns out
John is one of them, and he's about to be
(02:27):
proved right for.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
There it is.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So that fire there, I can say that you remember
how we're hanging out at this.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
Oh you guys.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Oh jesus, what John thought was a car backfiring is
in fact a fire.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
There's another.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Then out of the darkness, a wall of noise and
color comes marching down the street, emerging out of a
haze of blue smoke, comes the glare of flares and
another flash of firewood. Dozens of voices are chanting along
(03:12):
with clackers, drums and trumpets, and wielding template flags bearing
their name Dago Boys. It's unintimidating sight, a vision of ferocious,
full throated support. Well explain why this is a problem
(03:39):
and why John is upset another day.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
For now, all you need to know is that things
are about to kick off.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It won't be long before those police officers are closing in,
watching anxiously as tempers flair, insults are traded, and the
street braw threatens to break out. All this passion, all
(04:09):
this fuss for a club that doesn't even exist yet,
that hasn't even kicked a bo That's San Diego for me,
or as I like to call it, the hottest corner
(04:29):
of the Americas.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So listen here it is.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
In February twenty twenty five, San Diego e FC became
the thirtieth team to enter Major League Soccer, now the
largest professional league on the planet. Launching any new team
is hard enough, but these guys had to do twice
the work in half the time. You see, this is
more than just another Football Club, at least that's the
(04:58):
hope of the club's co owner, under the leadership of
Sir Mohammed Mansour. Right to Dream is an organization promising
to rock American soccer to its foundations with a revolutionary
approach to.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Coaching and youth development.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Anchoring the project in the local community is the Sequon
Band of the Kumgai Nation, the first ever Native American
owners in men's professional sports, and as the only MLS
club officially sanctioned to recruit out of Mexico. I mean,
this thing could really fly, that is, if everything goes
to plan.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Captured in the final.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Months before the twenty twenty five season kicks off, this
documentary series follows the club's race to field their first
ever team. This is San Diego FC Behind the Flow.
I'm Adrian Garcia Marcus. You may have heard my play
(05:57):
by play commentary in Spanish English or sometimes both at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Harness his lightning cracks.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I've called three Super Bowls, eleven World Series, NBA, the Olympics.
But for me, it started in my hometown calling for
an A League soccer team, the San Diego Flash. It
wasn't just my first break, it was a connection to
my first love. See. I grew up between Sandy Sedro
and Peril Beach and Chela Vista, as close as you
get to Mexico and still be in San Diego, right
(06:35):
on the border with the Juana. Like most Latino kids
in southern California, we played all sports, played baseball, we
shot hoops, and we played soccer or football. As the
rest of the world says, San Diego's a soccer.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Town, always has been.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
We've got the best youth clubs in the country, producing
talent like nowhere else. When the USA plays, when Mexico,
when there's a World Cup or a Copa America, San
Diego is always watching. So how is it in nearly
thirty years of Major League Soccer have we not had
a team. Well, now it's finally happening. In twenty twenty five.
(07:16):
My city, San Diego, the wildest soccer city in the US,
potentially is getting what it's always dreamed of to crown
the league's thirtieth season. We will become the thirtieth team.
We're also the most expensive, arriving for a fee hold
your breath, of half a billion dollars. That's no pocket change,
(07:38):
that's the price of ambition. So what's the story, Who's
behind San Diego FC, what do they want and most
important of all, are they going to win?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Let's find out?
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Hold on, boy, I see being Benitos a San Diego
also known as America's finest city and one that's tired
of waiting for its shot at sporting glory. Did you
know we're the biggest city in the country to never
win a championship in any sport.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That has to change. And don't take my word for it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Walk into any sports bar around here and ask anyone.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
As long as I've.
Speaker 7 (08:22):
Been born, they have never won a champion But I
hope in the future one day, you know, San Diego
makes it to those championships and wins it and puts
our name on the map.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Real talk. Some people call it the San Diego curse.
You see, We've had a lot of teams come and
go after losing for a while. They either fold or
they flee. First, it was the Clippers who moved to
LA and that's okay for a lot of people. It
was fine. They're Laker fans anyway. But when the Chargers win,
(08:58):
that hurt man. He loved them so much, and some
of that love went with them. The point is, in
San Diego, we love our sports just as Jamie. She's
at the Blue Foot Bar at seven am on a
Saturday to watch the English Premier.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
League with her husband.
Speaker 8 (09:14):
I think the culture here with sports and the Padres
and the Chargers rip, people love them so much here,
and I think there's so much hard here. And I
do believe that in San Diego, like we ride or
die for our team much more than a lot of others,
like whether they do well or they don't. Like we're
(09:36):
always there, we show up to the games.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
By the way, while we've been waiting thirty years for
a Major League soccer team, Los Angeles has two teams,
two very successful teams, I might add. I mean, look
at the Galaxy. They just took home a record extending
sixth title just last season.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
You can just go to the corner and try to
see out MLS Cup to.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Royce and Fecunda, and that is the hello.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
S Angele's garg say, have long, there's six.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Hell, let's come.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
For most people around here, they're the closest thing we've
had to a local MLS team, which is a hard
pill to swallow. Though there are some who've made it
work for them.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
My name is el Rod and we are at the
Blue Flight in San Diego North Park. This is a
bar that always has a lot of EPO teams show up,
lots of supporter teams.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
We're just talking about that, and.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Sandel has a lot of soccer supporters. I mean, it's
it's it's an awesome city to have an UMLS team.
I'm a hardcore LA Galaxy fan, but I am going
to support the team when they may here. If it's
if it's San Diego want I know, to make it,
I've about a game, But if it's San Diego Galaxy
Galaxy all the way, I'm gonna be in my supporter section.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But I'm happy that they're.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Getting a team. Of course, for the San Diego soccer fan,
MLS isn't the only option. There are those who head
south to our sister city the Wonder for their football fix.
People like this father and son, one born in TJ,
the other here in SD.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
My son my son, and.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Both have been season ticket holders for Shorts, the Liga
MX team down there. Are they open to switching or
are they supporting both?
Speaker 9 (11:21):
We've been bags of THEOLO since you know, says the
team wasn't u in the second yier and then and
then we've got a chance to see them from the
beginning to eventually.
Speaker 10 (11:32):
When they moved up the ladder.
Speaker 9 (11:33):
I'll be honest, I have not followed the MLS because
I cannot go for an l A team, I guess.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
But now things are gonna change, I bet, especially if
it means bringing home that championship.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
As a San Diego, San Diego native born and raided,
we just have to keep the vaid. Every year is
a new year, and every year we hope we can
eventually get that parade one day here.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
The proximity with the one and the possibility of split
loyalties with fans, especially in San Diego's massive binational population,
has an escaped as dfc's attention. In fact, one of
the first things the club did was announced a five
year partnership with Shotos, with exhibition games being played here
(12:22):
in the city.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Smart move right out of.
Speaker 9 (12:25):
The gates, you know himbre San Diego, and I think
it's this is a good for for team goot, team fans,
for economy, for you know.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
For people have a world job, and I think it
is good as way.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
At least these two Sholto fans will be there for
San Diego's home opener.
Speaker 11 (12:45):
Your San Diego Border season ticket holders for about five years,
we are we are still looking to become SDFC season
ticket holders as well. I know my first is going
to be the first game, so we're excited.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
So we've finally got a team. And despite the way,
it almost feels like it came out of nowhere. Usually
these things are announced years in advance. The last expansion side,
for example, Saint Louis had four years to prepare for
their first game, but this announcement dropped in May twenty
twenty three, giving SDFC just twenty months to build an
(13:27):
entire sporting operation from scratch. How and why the timeline
has worked out this way is a story for another day.
Right now, most people just want to know who's flying
this thing and can they pull it off? Well, meet
one of the guys crazy enough to try it. This
is Dan Dickinson.
Speaker 12 (13:45):
At a practical level, obviously, I'm an investor and a
board member and as CEO of Right to Dream, which
is one of the fifty percent shareholders in SDFC. The
key part of our investment strategy is to leverage the
unique model we have it Right to Dream into SDFC,
very differentiated from any other MLS team, any other professional
(14:08):
team from my perspective, and so one of my important
goals is to infuse everything that we are doing and
have done and learned Right to Dream into the SDFC model.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
The name you just heard there was Right to Dream.
Get used to hearing it. They're the guys pulling the
strings on the sporting side, and boy have they got
some big plans for MLS.
Speaker 12 (14:32):
So we feel like it's the most underrepresented market in
terms of potential talent, in terms of fin and commercial support,
and so a great target for our model. And we
think our model is unique and differentiated so that while
it is hard to make money in this business on
an annual basis in terms of cash flow, the key
(14:54):
is having homegrown players, is having you know, talent that
you can develop through your own pipeline, and ours is
unique one has.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
What we have.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Right to Dream is probably the most successful football organization
you've never heard of, a global network of youth academies
and professional clubs that have been developing world class talent
for over twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Players who regularly.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Feature in World Cups, Champions League, and Europe's top divisions.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
There's even a bunch of them playing here in MLS.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
But what makes Right to Dream unique is that they
don't see themselves in the business of developing sporting talent
at all. They say they're building people, student athletes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Social entrepreneurs, community leaders.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
They all just happen to be really good with the
ball at their feet, and once they're in the Right
to Dream system, they're never released period.
Speaker 13 (15:51):
We often say we're in the business of developing communities
through football, and we've become so good at it that
as a result, we end up identify find the best talent, players, coaches,
developing that talent and then also launching their careers.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
This is Sebastian Morua, Senior Vice president of Marketing, Brand
and Community at SDFC and tenure Right to Dream veteran.
Speaker 13 (16:16):
I think firstly, we just knew that the United States
was a market that would embrace our model and bringing
the Right to Dream model into Major League Soccer, which would,
again like we've seen in Ghana, in Denmark and in Egypt,
it would put us in a position to truly transform
the game from the inside right at the highest level.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Part of Right to Dreams bid for San Diego was
a promise to build a state of the art, world
class residential academy out on the Sequan Reservation in Alkoholma. Here,
over one hundred kids, boys and girls will eat, sleep,
and play.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Football the Right to Dream way.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And this isn't some pie dream, some vague hope for
the future.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
This is happening now.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
It's under construction and planning to welcome its first group
of young prodigies.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
In twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And it won't just be kids from southern California either.
Here's the kicker, because of its location, as DFC will
be the only MLS club permitted to scout and recruit
out of Mexico. Take that la joking aside. This is
an organization that places its trust in you. Whether that
philosophy will win them games in MLS is another thing.
Speaker 12 (17:33):
However, Well, look at our models built on supporting and
believing in young rookies.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
We play young.
Speaker 12 (17:39):
And we believe in them, and it's worked.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's proven to be successful.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Dan's not just saying that their whole operation speaks to it,
but out of all their young talents, across the world,
all their young players, young scouts and young coaches. There's
one young rookie they're really backing to shine. It's time
to meet the face of San Diego Football Club Sporting
director and general manager, thirty three year old Tyler Heaps.
(18:27):
Twenty Kettner Boulevard in the downtown district of Little Italy
is where you'll find San Diego FC headquarters. Step inside
their office and this could be any other modern startup,
albeit a well funded one. It's all smooth concrete, polished
surfaces and Florida ceiling glass windows, bright, airy and open plan.
(18:49):
Right now, it's home to both front and back office
sporting staff and sales teams, and crammed into their shiny
new conference rooms, data analysts and scouts are planning as
dfc first ever roster.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
Everybody see this as you want them to make a
bigger on which which view do you want to go
through this?
Speaker 13 (19:06):
Let someone have up the the I'll bring it up
to follow the roster and budget guidelines so we can
see the transfer fe's paid.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
For each boy.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
We should all have our computers hopfully open and bring
out information like this guy's contracts expiring. I've heard this.
I've heard that because we just need to make sure
we're aligned and believe we have the right list. And
then it's also about trying to identify which the players
we think we should advertize.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
That is Tyler Heaps. He's the guy that Right to
Dream have put in charge of bringing SDFC to life.
At thirty three years old, it's his first top job
at Sports Executives, making him the youngest.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Sporting directors in league history.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
This interview took place in early September twenty twenty four.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
And it's doing everything at once. I mean, you're building
a staff, you're building a squad, and you're building process
at once, and I think in that is unheard of
and it's so unique, and I think that's what also
was really attractive about this project is what better way
for me to learn than to learn in this environment
and be able to go through this on a day
to day basis.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
At this point, it's one hundred and sixty five days
to go until match day one. He has no coach,
no team, and no fans. He's also responsible for the
build out of the most advanced training center in football
academy in North America to even stand a chance of
pulling this off. You've got to have grit and you've
got to have drive. Luckily, Tyler came to San Diego
(20:36):
with both.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
Born and raised in Minnesota. I grew up in East
Saint Paul, youngest of five with a single mom. So
my mom raised us tall. So she's the saint in
our life. She's my dad and my mom. So we
were very fortunate that she had in a tremendous work ethic,
and I think that's where all of my core values
and the way I present myself in day today relate
(20:58):
back to is just growing up with that and seeing
the work firsthand.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Back in twenty eleven, Tyler was taking a finance course
in college when the film Moneyball came out in cinemas.
Already hooked on sports data, he started thinking about how
to apply it to his own sport, soccer.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
And then a job at US Soccer arose, and six
years later I kind of created the department and started
running that and then covided, and that led me to Monaco,
and never thought I'd probably go from Minnesota to Monaco,
but that was another unique life experience to see football
at the highest level and to see player development at
the highest level, and then Right to Dream came along
a year ago, and that's where I am now today.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Tyler might have come from humble beginnings, but his rise
has been medior and he never lacked self belief.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
I'll go off on a little side tangent, which is
I don't think I've talked a lot about this. When
I was in my mid twenties, I probably was a
bit niven and I always wanted to be the youngest GM.
It was something I always said to myself, I always
want to be the youngest GM.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
He never actually expected that to happen though. When Tyler
joined Right to Dream in twenty twenty three, it was
as head of recruitment, but mattz Davidson, the group head
of football, took a shine to him early.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
On, and Tyler came in and first of all showed
very high level of skill sets in what he's good at.
And the secondly, he probably was one of the employees
that I've seen that quickest got what Right Dream is about.
That Right to Dream is different. For example, don't buy
players from all over the world because it will be
(22:35):
a challenge with our way of playing, with our working
challenge with languages, et cetera. So we have a quite
guideline there, and Tyler was very quick to cope with
that and push that through. So he showed great more.
I've said, more than you could expect.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
For a year, Tyler worked with Mattz and the Right
to Dream Team, a cruster clubs and youth academies, learning
the system and seeing its impact. When the time came
to start the SDFC project, he seemed like a great
fit as assistant sporting director the number two.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
Yeah, I think the timeline has been a bit a
bit crazy. I would say, I don't think anything was
planned from the beginning. In my initial conversations, there were
always talks that they wanted me to move to San Diego.
I think the fact that I was American and that
I understood the European culture and the transfer market and
player development and everything like that made me an initial
(23:34):
attractive candidate. It's difficult because at the beginning I was
I was the assistant sporting director, and so there was always
the intention that there would be somebody else. I obviously
was in massive amounts of conversation with the Right to
Dream leadership team. So that's Matt Davidson, Fleming Petterson, that's
Dan Dickinson and so forth, And so I was always
operating when there wasn't a number one, it was always Oh,
(23:55):
Tyler's leading on this.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Well, the Right to Dream leadership search for their sporting director.
Tyler quietly got on with the John, here's Dan Dickinson again.
Speaker 12 (24:06):
So yeah, I mean, look at it starts with Tyler,
who just did a fabulous job for us, had an
incredible background set of experiences before he came to Right
to Dream. But having someone from Right to Dream in
that sporting director role was important to us. Obviously came
over and started as an assistant sporting director and we met, interviewed.
I wasn't as involved as others, but a number of
(24:27):
other candidates obviously to be the lead sporting director. And
you know, as you can imagine, a lot of them
come with their own baggage. I mean, they come with
their own set of history, their own biases. Some of
them want to bring their own staff. They've got their
own view of the world. And the more experienced they are,
the more maybe in trench they are.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It had to be the right fit.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
As we'll find out later, there's a lot that goes
into building a right to dream club. But as the
search for a perfect number one dragged on, Tyler continue
to impress.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
And I remember after a few months I did say
to our board and our group so that we had
what I call a sporting director talent in house. Probably
went a little bit quicker than I anticipated, but he
redeveloped fast, and at the end I had no doubt
that he was the right option because he's aligned to
(25:20):
the project. You understand what we're doing, you respect the
model and the strategy. On top of that, he has
a very high skill set, high work ethic and of
course being on top of that being American, understanding league
better than most foreigners probably would would do, worked in
the Federation, high analytical skills. It seemed a very good
(25:41):
match that we didn't offer him the job to be
the sport director.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
After a while, it became clear to the ownership and
the other execs that Mids was right.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Tyler was the man for the job.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
And so whenever a few things happened and I think
I all of a sudden there was no sporting director
now that was that was going to be coming to
this role. It was hey, Tyler, you're now the interim,
go and run with it. And I think that very
quickly they realized, actually we didn't really lose a step
for Dan.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
It was a signature right to dream move.
Speaker 12 (26:12):
And the more we got into it, it's kind of
back to this look at it, and Tyler was involved
in this, and Tyler shined through this process. We're kind
of like, wait a minute, we've got the right guy,
you know, and and again we play young, go get
him Tyler's work.
Speaker 10 (26:45):
Hey, everyone, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Another historic day. That's an after I can see him now.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
On August fifteenth, twenty twenty four, they made it official.
Tyler Heaps became San Diego f's he's first sporting director
and in the process the youngest GM in Major League
Soccer history at just thirty three.
Speaker 6 (27:08):
And then I think the moment where it probably hit me,
really hit me was probably during the press release and
being announced, because that's where now that official title is
on you.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
Welcome you today to the official introduction of Sadio's FC's
first hour sporting director.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And GM, Tyler Heats.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Tyler has over ten years of top level global football experience,
from his rolls out right to dream as Monaco and
Leo Soccer Federation.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
At thirty three, Tyler becomes the youngest sporting director and.
Speaker 7 (27:42):
As welcome to.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Looking out at the people assembled for his press conference,
things started to feel real as Tyler took questions and
best in the limelight for the first time.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
I'm ecstatic to be in this position, to have this opportunity,
and I want to just say thank you to you
guys for your trust in me and seeing what I
can bring to this fantastic organization. Yeah, it's a proud
moment for me to sit up here. It's been many years,
although it hasn't seemed like so many, but my gray
hairs probably show a few more.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Cool as a cucumber most of the time. Tyler admits
now that it was a lot to take in.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
We were never a family that shared a lot of emotion,
and I'm still not a lot of a person that
shares a lot of emotion. But to see my brothers
and sisters and my nieces and nephews call me and say, oh, look,
we're so excited for you, and that was a really
cool opportunity. The baby and the family and hopefully them
seeing me realize my dreams and be able to obviously
(28:46):
fall into a position like this that has so much expectations,
but is also a really proud moment for me.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
It's some achievement, no doubt. But you know, there are
fans in San Diego who have been waiting for this
project before Tyler was even in diapers. Outside the welcome
for MLS's youngest ever sporting director, we spoke to seventy
year old football fanatic Ray Weber. This guy just might
be the city's longest suffering soccer fan. He's been fighting
(29:16):
the good fight since even before MLS, back when it
was an ASL, when Pele was on the pitch and
Elton John in the owner's box.
Speaker 14 (29:24):
Obviously, here we had the Mexican and the Hispanic community
and other internationals living here that understood the sport. However,
anybody that's over fifty years old in this country fully
understands the difficulty that soccer back in the day had
to the challenges that we had to overcome to promote
the sport.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Ray isn't bothered by the age or inexperience of San
Diego FC's new sporting director, as long as he's the
right man for the job.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Like any San Diego.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
He'd loved more than anything to see some silverware, but
really he just wants to to do right by the
people that and maybe stick around for a while.
Speaker 14 (30:05):
A championship within five years, just kind of like we
saw at LAFC. It's a very tall order success, stability
and doing great things on the field on a consistent basis.
But you've got to be great in the community. You've
got to have the right image. And we know we
know teams even in the city that didn't have the
(30:26):
right image and they're gone. So you've got to do
it in the community, and you've got to do it
on the field.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And as for supernatural forces or dark sorcery that might
be working against them, he hopes the Padres can clear
that up before as DFC even takes the field. At
the time of speaking to Ray in September twenty twenty four,
the Padres are tied with the La Dodgers to too
in the divisional series, just a couple of steps away
(30:54):
from a shot at a World series title.
Speaker 14 (30:56):
Well, yes, I've heard of the curse, and we certainly
I've had many teams come and go. We've had a
lot of teams that came close but didn't win championships.
I consider myself an all sports person, so hopefully the
Padres in the next few weeks are going to break through.
But yeah, we've had our challenges, We've lost teams, we've
had teams that haven't gone all the way. So maybe
(31:20):
some consider there to be a curse. I'm not sure
that there is. We just have to keep grinding.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Tyler's not a curse guy either.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
I'm from Minnesota, so I know all about quote unquote curses.
I was born in ninety one, which is the last
time the Twins won a World Series, and since then,
I've had zero winning teams in my lifetime and I'm
a massive Minnesota sportspan through and through, So I don't
like the word curse.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You don't need to tell Tyler what a winning soccer
team could mean for San Diego.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
So, look, it would be unbelievable for us, and that's
our ambition is to bring a championship through the city
and we need to make sure. Obviously, look, the Wave
I think have had success as well, so I wouldn't
say it's all been cursed because they've obviously been able
to come into this market and have success and be
able to carry what what their weight is, and we
(32:07):
need to now make sure that we're able to do
it as well. But yeah, curse is a is a
tough word, and it probably goes a little bit too
far because success in any organization is difficult. But I
do think if you get the right people, you can
win anywhere.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Ray Weber's excited. He's got his season tickets already. But
back in the city soccer bars, some fans still need convincing.
Chris Jobs and his friends are quite happy sticking to
League Guya.
Speaker 10 (32:32):
Mickey's that they're probably gonna suck. Honestly, I don't know that.
My buddy grew up playing soccer, you know. So he
watches European League, Champions League, Mexican League. He keeps up
with all the leagues and what he talks about sety
you got ant see me. He kind of like brushes
them off, like I don't know that right, because I
think he thinks MLS is boring compared to the other leagues,
(32:52):
Like he'd rather watch European League and Mexican League than
American League. He says, American League's.
Speaker 14 (32:56):
Kind of boring.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Marie Gallagher feels the same way no, I don't.
Speaker 15 (33:01):
Yeah, I don't follow over that really well, I started
watching a little bit more when Messi came over. You know,
like I think more premiere players, maybe better players, I think,
because I just don't think the players that play MLS
or the same league as you know, your head players.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Seems like Tyler Sabin Company have their work cut out
to even convince soccer fans to come support as DFC.
At least, Marie thinks having the league's youngest ever GM
isn't a problem.
Speaker 15 (33:31):
I think that's great because he'll have a fresh mindset.
He doesn't have that old schools you know, this is
what we do, and that's what you find with a
lot of any sports team. You got all these old
guys that have the old ways. Get somebody young. They've
got new ideas, new things to do. So that's probably
a great thing.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Back at headquarters, Tyler Heaps has less than six months
to prepare for match day one. You think that game
couldn't get any bigger.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Well, he just found out who their opponent is.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
On February twenty second, twenty twenty five, as DFC will
play its first ever MLS game, and it'll be at
LA Galaxy.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
It just had to be la time to go to work.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
If I had time to think about are we moving
too fast? I think there'd be something wrong with my
day to day. Every franchise that comes into this league
has difficulties, and I think that one of ours is
that we need to build this extremely quickly.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
The only thing he can do is stay focused on
his job and tackle it one day at a time.
Speaker 6 (34:36):
For sure, there are going to be bumps in the road,
but I think my job, especially as a sporting director,
is making sure that we smooth those bumps out as
quickly as possible, and that we try to reduce as
much risk as possible, and that we try to make
sure that we're very clear one in our hirings, two
in our signings, and that we bring in players that
don't need that massive amounts of runway time. Because yeah, look,
(34:58):
the expectations are huge in this project, and it's probably
why I took it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 6 (35:02):
I don't want to be a part of something that
doesn't have those expectations because of how competitive I am
and my background, and so I think I share all
of that with the people that we've hired so far
and now it's a matter of yes, it's coming quick,
and yeah, it's probably in record time if you look
at some of the other expansion teams. But we also
are extremely fortunate and we need to make sure that
we take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Tyler might have the longest to do list in North
American sports. At the very top is hiring the right
head coach for San Diego FC.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Luckily, he's just found the perfect man for the job.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Next time on Behind the Flow, we follow the appointment
and unveiling of sdfc's first ever head coach, Mikey Badas,
a rising starring US Soccer, a youth development genius, and
completely untested at this level. That's right, like his boss, Tyler,
Mikey is also a rookie. The stakes just got hired.
(36:05):
Behind the Flow is a message heard production. I'm your
host Adrian Garciamarkas. The series producer is McAllister Bexon. Mark
Kendrick is the assistant producer. Jake Warren and Sandra Ferrari
are the executive producers. James Cox and Dago Diaz are
the production coordinators, and Rebecca Ware is our sound recorded
(36:25):
The sound editor is Lizzie Andrews. And music composition is
by Tom Biddle.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com