February 17, 2025 • 37 mins
In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler continues our President’s Day Show with Kraken President Tod Leiweke talking about the team’s fourth season, Sounders FC President Hugh Weber on the Club World Cup year ahead, and Rainiers President Aaron Artman.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jointing us right now on the show. Our President's Day
program continues here and what President's Day Show would be complete?
Well out a visit with a boss from the Seattle
Crack and our friend Todd Laiwiki Todd, let's start off
with the question we ask everybody the state of the
union on the Crack and tell us explain where this
franchise is now after almost four years.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, there's a lot to like. I'm certainly excited by
our prospects, the two, you know, and if you follow
the prospects and you go deep, there's some amazing things.
Berkeley cat And who plays in the Western Hockey League.
He's still in the juniors, but he's scoring about two
(00:42):
points every game and he's one of I think we
have thirty six prospects in the system now and so
we're really excited by that because we early on made
a decision that that was how you were going to
build long term competitive team. Having said that, we're ready
to win now too, and we've got to press just
(01:04):
a little bit harder. I love the free agents we
picked up. It was hard losing our captain Jordan Eberley,
who's been going for most of the season, but actually
was downskating with the Firebirds over the break here. So
all in all, I feel pretty good. But you know,
we have an ownership group that wants to go faster
and get there sooner, and it's going to be an
(01:27):
interesting finish of the year. And I'd say going into
season five, that's when you know a lot of folks said,
here's we're going to be a sustained playoff team, and
that's what we expect, is that we're going to have
a team that doesn't just make the playoffs, but stays
in the playoffs. Last thing I'll say is there is
there is a piece of research that goes around the
(01:48):
league every year on how players feel about franchises. Well
that's a hard pill to swallow for some because there
are teams where other players just don't want to get
traded to. We're shown very well in that survey, specifically
on our facilities, and you know that's our amazing arena
(02:09):
but also our amazing training center. So all all in all,
we're feeling good and the break was really nice.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, Todd Lwicky again, as with us on the air,
I want to talk about that that Four Nations tournament.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Incredible man, they did, they had they had ratings comparable
they were They did five million viewers in the US
Canada game. And you know, leagues have struggled to figure
out the format of All Star games, and it's not
easy because you don't want to get injured. It is
(02:44):
an exhibition game. It doesn't count the standings, and you
need to be careful. But hockey is a different sport.
And you know, they they had three scraps in the
first nine seconds in that game, yep, and both teams
showed up ready to play and it was really really
exciting to see that. And what ignited that was the
pride of playing for your country, which was really a
(03:06):
cool thing.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Well, you know, it's funny because I'm watching the NBA
All Star Game format. I guess whatever it was, and
I love how open and honest. You know, people like
Barkley and Draymond Green have become about just sharing their
thoughts on this. But you're exactly right, Todd, that the
winner over the last week or so has been the
hockey tournament without question. And let's face it, you mentioned
(03:29):
it right there, three fights in the first nine seconds.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
People love that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I mean, there's a lot of people that have been
trying to push that out of hockey, but then something
like that happens over the weekend and the whole world
starts paying attention. Is there a part of you that
thinks that there's still is room for that in the
game of hockey.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Listen, that was that was an expression of passion and
pride of their team. And I don't think any of
the guys who dropped the gloves do that for sport.
They did it because it meant a lot. And what
was impressive is those guys And if you if you
went down the roster of the six guys you got
(04:09):
in the scrap, none of them are knucklehead guys who
just are looking for a fight. They're they're standing up
for their team and they're standing up for the honor
of their country. And when you can get that vibe
going in the Holster game, Dude, I've been around long
enough and I can tell you I actually saw Michael
Jordan's jam in the Chicago Stadium. My son had the
(04:30):
poster up in his room once and I put my
glasses up and kind of looked closely, and I said, hey, look, son, there,
I am.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Oh god, I was.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I was wearing some of those big Hudau glasses softy,
and I was you know, my son's like that you
wore those glasses and I'm like, yeah, it looks like
I did.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well, you can tell them a lot of other people
wore those glasses as well. So you're claim to fame
as being in the background for Jordan's famous dunk. Claim
to fame as well the sideline when Al Harris ran
right by me after picking off Matt hasselback in Green
Bay in two thousand and three and we want the ball.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
We're going to score game. So you win, by the way.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Oh my god, Oh my god. I was there too. Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, Todd LIWICKI is with us on this President's Day Monday,
and Todd, how we consume sports is obviously the evolution
is progressing rapidly. What you guys have done with Amazon
has been amazing. I can watch on my phone, I
can watch on my Roku stick, I can watch on
my iPad, and I've become used to it. Right, There
was a little bit of you know what evolution as
(05:33):
far as getting used to it, but I think that
slowed down. Is it fair to say that the evolution
of how we consume television at least for the Kraken.
The progression has slowed a little bit and fans should
get used to at least for a while. The current
platform you have with your friends over at Amazon.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well Amazon's just part of it. We also have a
great relationship with you know, our friends at Tegna who
you know, the King and Kong had been phenomenal partners
and we've seen a ratings increase of times for and
the reason is that fans can now get the games
(06:12):
and we're not asking them to go to places they
don't usually go to pay premium fees. That industry changed
so much as as people cut cord, the table operators
had to charge more. They started differentiating packages, They started
pushing bundles to smaller and smaller bundles to higher premium prices,
(06:34):
and that was what the economics were dictating to do.
The business became stressed. But you were then asking your
fans to go places they otherwise weren't going. And for instance,
a bar owner who once enthusiastic, enthusiastically support the local teams,
you know, go into a bar and say, hey, I
(06:56):
want to watch the Kracking game tonight and ask them
to sort of fiddle around with the channel changer. I
always contend you've got about twenty seconds there, right and
if it's not on and if it's not easy, but
believe it or not, I actually think that that's an
important part of local teams. It's creating play reasons for
people to cheer, and if that's part of your mission,
(07:18):
then you better be accessible. I think what we've found
is that it was back to the future, because that's
actually where I started. All the games were on over
the air. That's certainly what made the NFL so incredibly
successful is all the games have been available free over
the air, at least in the home markets where the
teams are playing. Then they're moving to more pay models
(07:40):
out of those home markets at times, but I still
think the NFL, the preponderance of games are going to
remain on tree over there television. We've done it one
year here and it's been terrific and we're really really
excited about that partnership. And then you've added Amazon and
you can actually, as you said, you could see the
game anywhere anytime. We have this vast territory. So it
(08:02):
is changing, and I think it's going to continue to
evolve rapidly, and where this is in five years, no
one can quite tell.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, yeah, well, Todd Lwiki is with us.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And what we know we're doing now is talking on
President's Day, our annual President's Day Show twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And if there's anything.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That we know about you is that you've got your
hand on a lot of different projects all the time.
You're like the Josea Kendo of sports executives.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Man.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You just play a lot of positions, no question, Thanks
a lot. And I know you're old enough to know
that reference. By the way, but let me talk to
you about what's opening over at Memorial Stadium. I want
to get to the NBA in a minute, but what
is happening with the Memorial Stadium remodel project and what
do you envision that site looking like and being all
about when that project is done.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well, that's a fabulous project. The school district passed the
bond issue, but they pretty much would have torn down
the stadium and built something. It would have been a
perfectly fined high school stadium, but not unique or special
like Memorial Stadium. So then the city chipped in, and
even that wasn't enough because the city's motive was, look,
(09:12):
this is on one of the most cherished sites in
our city, Seattle Center. We can't just build a pedestrian
high school stadium. We've got to contribute. And then we
went out and we fundraise. We effectively took this project
on through our foundation. We're helping develop it, design it,
build it. We're here to serve the school district, We're
(09:33):
here to serve the city. And it's one of the
coolest community things that I could have ever dreamed of
being involved in. The heroes of the story are a
lot of community leaders who stepped up and contributed, and
we raised thirty million dollars, which now gets us to
a budget where we're going to build a world class
stadium that will serve the community, but specifically serve Seattle
(09:55):
Public schools in the Metary League and those kids they
deserve a shot in the arm. And there are a
lot of kids who are going to have incredible impactful
moments in this new stadium. And the softies, you know,
that stadium played an important part in a lot of
people's lives in this town and its best days are
(10:18):
now in front of it. And so that's really super cool.
And I love doing community projects because what you find
in this town is people rally around things and people
get things done. And that's another example of it. We
played an important role, but we certainly weren't the only ones.
There were a lot of people who rallied and rallied
(10:39):
around the idea. That's one of many interesting things going
on in our town. And there's a lot of you know,
the waterfront is remarkable. If people haven't been to the
aquarium and the Ocean Pavilion, it is just amazing that
walkway down from Pike's Market. What's going to happen with
our sound transit system finally connecting to be a game changer,
(11:01):
and so there's a lot to look forward to, including
I think the return of the NBA, But time will tell.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, well, I love that you transition to that. By
the way, you're making my job a lot easier. And
I'll tell you what, man if I had if I
had a dollar for every time you or your brother
have said we don't want to get ahead of the commissioner,
I think i'd have about eighty eight dollars in my pocket.
But it feels like we're getting closer. It feels like
we're kind of waiting on what's oppening with the Celtics sale.
(11:27):
What can you tell the people listening out there about
the timeline for the return of the NBA.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well, I am I am a voracious reader, so I don't.
I don't carry or share or share any inside necessarily
inside information. But I do think the day is going
to come, and I think it's probably sooner or later
versus later that they're going to announced expansion. I think
it won't be just two cities. It'll be But I
like our chances. Our story is incredible, our city is ready,
(11:57):
Our arena is near perfect. I love our arena. Our
arena has the soul, and when basketball is played under
that roof, it has been a fabulous experience for the fans,
for the Storm fans, the Seattle University. But we've played
NBA games, we played some big marquee college games. The
(12:18):
building feels terrific, and so you know, I think the
stage is now set and we're going to be patient.
We're not going to get in front of the commissioners.
But when the day comes this time, we're going to
be ready. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yeah, that's eighty nine dollars, by the way, now in
my pocket. With the with the.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Commissioner, but Todd Liwiki with us. Todd you hired the
man that brought the Seahawks their first Super Bowl championship ever.
And Pete Carroll you you brought hockey to Seattle, the
NHL to Seattle. And I know you're a humble guy.
You'll say it wasn't all me, and you're right, there
were a lot of people involved. Now you're on the
doorstep of bringing the NBA back to town after the
(12:57):
Sonics left, and eight you're getting the Memorial Stadium produce
jecked off the ground. What's next? I mean, what what
do you want to see done? You mentioned a lot
of exciting things happening in our town.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
What's next?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Done?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Your to do list?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Pal? Well a map? After you said all that, I think,
you know, I think that in this town people join
in and support things. And I'm like the best fans
I've ever worked for in my life, the Seattle fans.
And if you give them some to believe in, some hope.
(13:32):
But by the way you bring up Pete Carroll, I mean,
is that incredible Ruth is stranger infection and is one
fired up dude right now? And it's going to be
really interesting to see how that all plays out there.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well, I'll tell you what I'd like to see you do.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And this is maybe outside of your jurisdiction, but if
you could find a way to help get Mike Holmgrin
one day into the Hall of Fame, that'd be phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Brother, Amen, I don't know, you know I I I
think that when you study how Hall's work and how
rules are made, it's really material because under the prior
rules he would have had a better shot, but they
reclassified certain categories and he then had to compete with
(14:17):
multiple other people for limited the spots. There was one spot.
I think there were you know, like seven candidates, and
then under this year's a rule there were vastly more.
And here's this guy. I mean, what more do you
need to do? I mean the guy. Everywhere he went
he won, he won super Bowls. The man was incredible.
(14:39):
He was transformative with the Seahawks, and he set this
franchise up for big things. Make no mistake, he blew
and he basically created the thrust that led to so
many powerful things, that led to a new training facility
that led to the Twelfth Man changing like and you
(15:01):
know when I first got to the Seahawks, there was
a little work to be done. There would to be chopped,
but Homegren grabbed a hold of that thing and in
that new stadium, and he was He's a force of nature.
And then you look at all the people that he
impacted that came out of the home grown tree. No
more prolific tree in the NFL than Mike Omroom, the
(15:22):
amount of coaches that served under him and went on
to do amazing other things. And then in addition to that,
everything and his wife Kathy did in the community. So
that was hard. And in fact I went on with
Bucky in the morning and I was I was feeling
pretty bullish that that was going to be his day
and it was disappointing to not see that happen.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Todd, Before you go, thanks again for doing this. I
want to wrap it up where we began with some
thoughts on the Kraken. I love what you said about, Hey,
it's time to win. You know, obviously the team has
been around now for four years, and let's face it,
fans are getting a little bit impatient, and you love that.
You love that passion from your fan base. Rather have
that than apathy. Any day of the week. But for example,
(16:04):
if the team misses the postseason again this year, are
you in the frame of mind where we need to
consider maybe a major rebuild or continue to retool this thing.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Well, I think we have a conviction. First. I think
when you look at the pieces on this roster right now,
there's we have a lot of we have a lot
of good players, and I think there's some areas where
we can add some strength. I think we need to
chip in some more goals. But we don't think. I
don't think this is a rebuild. This isn't a reclamation.
(16:37):
I think there's a progression that's going to happen near
new coaching staff, lost your captain for a good part
of the season. Yep. Those can sound like excuses, but
those are real things. I think our ownership has faith
in Ron Francis. But mark my words, I in my career,
if you go look, I've been associated with teams that
(16:58):
won and eventually got to the Promise Slam, and we're
going to do that here. And without airing some of
that out, there was a conviction and it's more than
a desire, it's an absolute conviction that we're going to
get there one way or another. And I think that
we feel the pressure, but we also feel the excitement
(17:18):
because we think some good things are coming.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Hey, listen, enjoy the rest of your little soiree there,
and we'll talk when you get back home. Man, appreciate this, pal.
Thanks again.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Okay, my friend, you got it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Thanks again, you bet Todd Lwiki with us on the
radio show. We've got to break the president of the Sounders,
Hugh Weber. We're going to continue our President's Day Show
next on a busy Monday on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Love from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick on your home for
the Huskies and the Creek in Sports Radio ninety three
point three kjr FM.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
All right, boys and girls, Happy President's Day. We are
at the Emerald Queen Cassina, Oh for our annual President's
Day Show. A big thanks to Todd Laiwiki, Kevin Martinez,
Chuck Arnold, Anamar a cause from you, Dub for all
joining us on the radio program. But Jackson, it's time
to bring the producer of the show back in the
mix here and get serious about this thing. What do
you say we talk about your favorite sport MLS soccer
(18:18):
and joining us right now on the show, the president
of the Sounders FC, our friend, your friend, everybody's friend,
Hugh Weber joining us on the program.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Hugh, how are you man, gentlemen, great to be here
doing great.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Thank you well, we appreciate you jumping on with us.
Pretty easy question to start off the state of the
union on this President's Day of the Sounders FC.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
How would you describe that today?
Speaker 5 (18:41):
Pretty hard to believe that we're playing our first match
at home a few days from now on Saturday at
seven thirty. So, as all things go, time is a
very precious commodity. We had a fortunately for us, a
short off season with a very good campaign last year,
going to the Western Conference finals. But all signs look
(19:03):
really positive, not only for our MLS campaign, but you know,
playing in the Club World Cup this year and also
the Champions Cup, so we've got a lot of big
tournaments and the team is ready and looking forward to
competing at the highest level.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Well, we talked to Chuck Arnold, your counterpart at the Seahawks,
about some changes that will be coming to loom and Field.
The potential for the Seahawks to play on grass, and
it sounds like that's not going to happen, but you
mentioned it right there. The Club World Cup this year,
the World Cup in twenty six, give the fans, give
us some idea of what changes need to be made
to lumen Field for those events, and what is the
(19:44):
timing of those changes, Like when will we actually walk
into lumen Field, Hugh and see grass and not turf.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Well, we probably won't see grass until later in the summer,
So there'll be a transition period for the Club World
Cup as we get ready for that tournament. That'll be
a temporary solution for twenty five and then I'm sure
Chuck told you in earnest Loovingfield will go do a
massive renovation to get long term grass in place for
(20:14):
the World Cup in twenty six. So look at it
as a window of time in twenty five and then
a more substantial kind of period where you'll see uh
grass in womenfield.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Okay, huge Jackson here really quickly to follow up on
that long term grass. I was under the impression we
were just talking about grass just for the World Cup
in twenty six, just for that event. Are we talking
about grass that's going to stick around longer than that.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Did I just make a headline?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I mean, this is why you're talking out.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Well, let that'd be a little more specific. So there'll
be what they call temporary grass that'll be an overlay
to the infrastructure that is in place. Unfortunately, that system
does not meet the World Cup requirement. So the World
Cup requires that actually you have all of the appropriate
irrigation and drainage systems below that turf for the big tournament,
(21:15):
and that's what will be in place. That does not
mean that the Seahawks are playing.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
On grass long term.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
That's the decision obviously they have to make, and I
think one that they've been pretty clear about is not
necessarily something they be as a long term solution.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
So it sounds like what we're saying here is that
there's going to be grass put in for the Club
World Cup, the Seahawks play their season on turf, and
then the minute the Seahawks season is over, the grass
for the World Cup goes in matures, grows, looks all
nice and green in place for the summer of twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Is that sound fair?
Speaker 5 (21:48):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Got you well.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Hugh Weber, again, the president of the Sounders, is with us,
and it just feels like forever there's been a conversation
around a soccer specific stadium for you guys, and that
that converce station has sort of kind of died down
since this time a year ago. Where are you guys
at as a club, as a franchise in terms of
looking at a stadium of your own in the future.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
It's a great question.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Again, I think our North Star year ago has not changed,
which is we want to continue to create a fan first,
friendly kind of experience and we believe that that may
be attainable through a soccer specific stadium. But there's a
lot of work that has happened in the last year,
and a lot of work that we're quietly doing behind
(22:34):
the scenes to make sure that we're making the right decision.
Number One, it has to be something that our fans
see is a net plus in terms of the experience
of coming to a match to see soccer in Seattle.
And again, there's a lot of work we're doing in
terms of engaging with our current stakeholders and even future
fans as to whether they might think about other locations,
(22:56):
other than downtown to come to a match. The second thing,
you know, we have to do is all of the
architectural design and whether the land that we actually have
in our incredible site at four or five and I
five and rentin would work. And so there's been work
done there as well, so these things don't sprat out
(23:19):
of the ground overnight. And I would say that we
continue to progress and evolve for that project, and as
we get more more I guess details and what it
could actually be, we'll get more public about how again
and what that that experience could look like.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Well, Hugh, and I'm sure when you talk about the architecture,
you're looking at how many people do we fit in?
What is the c capacity? All those interesting questions, and
I'm sure it relates to you know, you looking at
the attendance numbers that are currently existing at lumin Field,
where you know, in the reality of the situation is
we have seen that kind of slight you know, you
know on the graph decline over in the last number
(23:59):
of years, obviously COVID playing such a massive role in that.
But you know, how do you interpret those numbers of
fans in the building for Sounders games over these last
four years.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
Yeah, there's two actually parts to your question. One is
we have to be going the sport, and I think
the Sounders in some ways were a victim of their
own success. I think before COVID, I think there was
a mentality to kind of double down on your base,
continually speak to the folks that were be entrenched and
(24:31):
the you know, the fully engaged and not be super
you know, focused on the new fans and how you're
finding new demographics and younger families to come to matches.
I've heard from our fans time.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And time again.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
You know, I was a season an inaugural season ticket member,
and then you know, I had three kids, and then
they all went to college, and I took my four
seats to two, and then my wife and I could
go to two matches a year instead of twelve. And
that's the story narrative. And the team hadn't spent as
much focus as we are now on finding that next
generation of fand that is separate apart from what we
(25:09):
think a good matchday experience feels like, whether it's thirty,
two thousand or whatever, you have to have, let's say,
on any given match, I don't know one hundred thousand
people in Seattle would love to go to a Founders match, right,
and then there's only so many feats to get in,
and that's not necessarily what we've been focused on, and
that's been a primary focus for the team since I've
(25:29):
been here for two years.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, Hugh Weber, president of the Sounders, with us on
our on our President's Day show here on ninety three
three KJRFM. And I don't know how else to ask this,
so I'll just ask you flat out. Are you a
fan of the MLS deal with Apple?
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Well, I'll tell you why I am, and I'll tell
you the challenges that we're actually working to overcome, you know,
the MLS if we are to actually grow as a league,
because again our position as being the premi league in America,
the as thet growing soccer market in the in the world,
and the fact fastest are the biggest sports property in
(26:07):
the world. How we're going to grow is by having
relevant and competition and elevation of our perception of our
league more more globally. And the Apple platform gives us
global access in terms of how people can watch our
matches at any given time. So that is the upside
(26:29):
that's the good thing market at Apple is an incredible
marketing machine. I think you're going to see some changes
and how they're promoting their product and how we have
more flexibility locally to maybe use our telecasts. But again
those were the challenges. The challenges, candidly were commercially, like
when we go into bars and restaurants, it takes some
(26:52):
extra effort to get your games on in the background
at again commercial establishments, and that's something that we're super
focused on. But overall, I got to say, you know,
the trend is moving in the direction of people having
access to sports content on their phones, and again I
think I think we're ready, and we're building out the
(27:13):
infrastructure to get there. Q.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I'm wondering the club obviously, the joint ventured to bring
in the rain as part of you know, this whole
kind of group now, and it is, you know, as
I send emails and I you know see it, it's
the Rain logo right next to the Sounders logo coming
out of everybody from Long Acres. And I'm wondering how
the rain being now part of the whole enterprise changes
(27:37):
your job and how the rain being now kind of
in the extension of the Sounders. How that changes soccer
in Seattle under one roof essentially.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
Great question. You know that the way we work has
to change. We have to grow the fan base across
two different properties. These are two very different brands. They
have very distinct which can different fan bases. You might
think that there's a ton of overlap between soccer fans
for women and soccer fans for men, but the actual
(28:09):
data proves that it's not. So it's an opportunity for
us to potentially, you know, share the women's game with
our Sounders fan and at the same time away for
us to potentially again share the Sounders with the Ring fans.
But we have are approaching these very differently.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
It's something interesting in the business which has been a
plus here. Our ability to recruit talented executives and leaders
in the front office has is it exponentially better when
there's a multitude of teams to come in and think
about how we're.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Growing the fan bases across both.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
So we've seen a real uptick and the talent of
people that are coming to Seattle that want to be
part of this kind of enterprise thinking portfolio. And so
we just have to be more strategic and give us
more opportunities for Roath and again there. It's an incredible
challenge for our team. But both are very important and
(29:08):
different for different reasons. We approach the brands very differently.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Got it here, great stuff, Man, appreciate you doing this
on President's Day. Happy President's Day to you by the
way as well, considering you are the president of the Sounders,
so phenomenal job as always, Man, thanks for this and
we'll talk down the road, buddy, Appreciate it, Matthew, look.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Forward and get you guys out to a match again
this Saturday opening match.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Hope to see every one there.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Thanks Don you got Ithugh ever, the president of the Sounders.
We're going to break Aaron Rtman, the president of the
Tacoma Rainiers, will join us next as our President's Day
show wraps up before our spring training recap with Chuck
and Buck from Arizona, Sex Right here on ninety three
to three KJRFM.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Love from the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick on your Home for
the Huskies and the Crooking Sports Radio ninety three point
three JJR FM.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
All right, our final segment for our President's Day Show.
And I cannot think of anyone better to help us
wrap this thing up than our friend, the president of
the the Comarainiers, Aaron Artman.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Aaron, how are you man? What's going on? Doing great?
Speaker 7 (30:15):
How are you doing south?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
We're good, man, We're good.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I apologize for the short nature of our visit, but
we'll do it again soon when we come down there
to the ballpark over the spring and summer. But why
don't we start off by talking about some of the changes.
And let's start with a broadcast crew man, Mike Kurdo,
After all those years stepping aside, and you've hired Riley
pay as your brand new broadcaster. Tell us about her
and why you thought she was the right person for
(30:39):
the job.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
We had hundreds of applicants come in from all walks
of life and all levels of baseball. And first of all, right,
it was really good on the radio. Her cliffs are phenomenal.
She has a great story. You know, she decided she
wanted to be a radio play by play announcer and
worked her way up through the North Woods League, the
Cape Cod League at UNLV while attending college there. And
(31:04):
so she's really good on the radio, and beyond that,
she was a really good fit. You know, we talked
to so many people and kind of had a little
team taking the next voice of the Rainiers, and it
was unanimous that she was the right call.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
So we're really.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Excited to have her on board, and she's going to do.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
A phenomenal job.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
I think people really like listening to her.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, no, I can't wait to meet her and get
a chance to listen to her do a game. People
want to know there is a loyal following that you've got.
I mean, Dick and I are you know on Friday
nights watching the ballpark fill up, there's always a big
line of cars to get in. But everybody wants to
know what do you got planned for twenty twenty five,
because you guys do this this family baseball thing better
(31:44):
than anybody.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Aaron, what's going on down there?
Speaker 7 (31:47):
Well, thank you, and you know, we're just really excited
to fire it up for another Usually we'd have seventy
five home games. We actually get bonus games this year
because the A's are playing in Sacramento and there was
a six game road trip we were supposed to take
in mid June to Sacramento and they need to give
their field time to rest. So we actually have eighty
(32:08):
one home games this year, which is spectacular. So that's
kind of the biggest change as far as what our
schedule looks like. But you know, every year we like
to improve the ballpark and have people show up and say,
all right, there's something new here. And so this year
we're doing two big projects. One is we're doubling the
size of our team store because we've been too small
probably for about ten years with all the merchandise that
(32:31):
we sell and the experience in there. So we're giving
them out a complete revamp. And we are getting a
brand new video board and led scoreboard, so it's a
lot bigger, it's a lot higher resolution, and that'll be
something fan will notice right right when they come in
on opening night March twenty eighth.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
No, I love that.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Aaron Hartman, again, the president of the Rainiars, is with us,
and you know, I think a lot of people are
kind of understanding at a basic level your relationship with
the Mariners. Can you kind of talk more about your
relationship and your day to day partnership with the Mariners
and what that looks like.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Yeah, what a lot of people probably don't realize this.
We're two completely separate entities as far as ownership, and
then we have the professional development relationship with the Mariners,
and so most of our interactions are with the player
development side. The Mariners decide who our coaches are, which
players are going to be in Tacoma, and so that's
(33:25):
that's kind of our main interface. It's not much on
the business side or the marketing side of the sales side.
It's really just the baseball operations folks.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Well eron, listen, man, I got to ask you about,
you know, just the way this whole thing is developed
and progressed, and what the future looks like for minor
league baseball, and more importantly, what the future looks like
for this franchise. We've seen some franchises fold, some franchises
and leagues simply go away. You guys seem to be
as strong as ever. Tell me about what you envision
(33:54):
the next maybe five ten years looking like for the Rainiers.
Speaker 7 (33:58):
So, I think the Major leg Baseball, the partnership with
Major League Baseball where we're all part of one baseball,
has actually been really good. I think we were all
nervous when it was announced. We were used to the
old way of doing things with Minor League Baseball being
a separate entity run out of Saint Petersburg, Florida, and
all of our separate leagues. What we found is it's
(34:20):
actually been super helpful working with Major League Baseball. They've
been good partners, and you know, we've seen our attendance
increase and all the business vectors to increase, so it
clearly hasn't hurt what we're doing. That said, you know,
some of the teams that have outdated facilities or haven't
been able to reinvest in their facilities have a much
(34:43):
harder time because one of the main things this partnership
did was around player development, player safety, and wellness, and
so there's an incredible amount of investment. We've even had
to do some with our partners at the city at
t Coma and the state quite frankly, to get our
ballpark up to speed. But you know, there's some facilities
(35:03):
that are chasing that ghost, for lack of a better term,
trying to catch up to make sure they can keep
their franchises. But overall, I think it's been great. It's
been good for our business. It seems to be good
for franchise values across the country and they've been good
partners to work with.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Aaron Hartman, again, the president of the Rainiers, is with
us to wrap up our president's stage show.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
We got like a minute left.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
And for people that don't know, like a family of four,
you know, go into a major league game, hockey game,
NBA game sometimes can get pretty expensive. Give people an
idea of what a night out on the town at
Cheney Stadium for a family of four would look like.
Speaker 7 (35:40):
Well, you can get into a Cheney Stadium with a
family of four as long as you buy early enough
for you know, twenty eight to thirty bucks for the tickets,
ten bucks for parking, and then the concessions are still
reaconably priced and everything looks better against kind of the
pricing structure of the major league franchises. I think that's
one of the benefits we have as being so close
(36:00):
to the big league market, as we clearly look more.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Affordable, and we are more affordable.
Speaker 7 (36:06):
But it's a great night out for families. And at
the same time we do really good business with businesses
and companies and season tickets and clubs and all that.
So there's a little bit of everything at Cheenie Stadium
at every price level, and I think that works well,
especially today, as things just continue to get more and
more expensive, we've been able to keep our prices relatively flat.
(36:28):
We try not to increase all that often every three
or four years. It's not an annual increase type scenario,
and we think that's important to keep things reasonable for people.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
No doubt, Aaron, you're the man, great stuff, and we
will see you at the ballpark soon.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
My friend appreciate this.
Speaker 7 (36:43):
Pal can't wait till we're doing this in person on
Fridays here about six weeks.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
You got it, man, Aaron Hartman, the president of the
Tacoba Radios. And that'll wrap it up for our president's
stay show man. Big thanks to Aaron, Hugh Weber from
the Sounders, Todd L. Wikey from the Kraken, Anamara Cause
from U Dub, Kevin Martinez from the MS, and of
course Chuck Arnold from the Seahawks. We're gonna break Chuck
and Buck their daily spring training recap brought to you
(37:10):
by Davis Law and the Emerald Quin Casino is coming
next from Peoria right here on ninety three to three
kJ A RFM, Bye
Jointing us right now on the show. Our President's Day
program continues here and what President's Day Show would be complete?
Well out a visit with a boss from the Seattle
Crack and our friend Todd Laiwiki Todd, let's start off
with the question we ask everybody the state of the
union on the Crack and tell us explain where this
franchise is now after almost four years.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, there's a lot to like. I'm certainly excited by
our prospects, the two, you know, and if you follow
the prospects and you go deep, there's some amazing things.
Berkeley cat And who plays in the Western Hockey League.
He's still in the juniors, but he's scoring about two
(00:42):
points every game and he's one of I think we
have thirty six prospects in the system now and so
we're really excited by that because we early on made
a decision that that was how you were going to
build long term competitive team. Having said that, we're ready
to win now too, and we've got to press just
(01:04):
a little bit harder. I love the free agents we
picked up. It was hard losing our captain Jordan Eberley,
who's been going for most of the season, but actually
was downskating with the Firebirds over the break here. So
all in all, I feel pretty good. But you know,
we have an ownership group that wants to go faster
and get there sooner, and it's going to be an
(01:27):
interesting finish of the year. And I'd say going into
season five, that's when you know a lot of folks said,
here's we're going to be a sustained playoff team, and
that's what we expect, is that we're going to have
a team that doesn't just make the playoffs, but stays
in the playoffs. Last thing I'll say is there is
there is a piece of research that goes around the
(01:48):
league every year on how players feel about franchises. Well
that's a hard pill to swallow for some because there
are teams where other players just don't want to get
traded to. We're shown very well in that survey, specifically
on our facilities, and you know that's our amazing arena
(02:09):
but also our amazing training center. So all all in all,
we're feeling good and the break was really nice.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, Todd Lwicky again, as with us on the air,
I want to talk about that that Four Nations tournament.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Incredible man, they did, they had they had ratings comparable
they were They did five million viewers in the US
Canada game. And you know, leagues have struggled to figure
out the format of All Star games, and it's not
easy because you don't want to get injured. It is
(02:44):
an exhibition game. It doesn't count the standings, and you
need to be careful. But hockey is a different sport.
And you know, they they had three scraps in the
first nine seconds in that game, yep, and both teams
showed up ready to play and it was really really
exciting to see that. And what ignited that was the
pride of playing for your country, which was really a
(03:06):
cool thing.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Well, you know, it's funny because I'm watching the NBA
All Star Game format. I guess whatever it was, and
I love how open and honest. You know, people like
Barkley and Draymond Green have become about just sharing their
thoughts on this. But you're exactly right, Todd, that the
winner over the last week or so has been the
hockey tournament without question. And let's face it, you mentioned
(03:29):
it right there, three fights in the first nine seconds.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
People love that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I mean, there's a lot of people that have been
trying to push that out of hockey, but then something
like that happens over the weekend and the whole world
starts paying attention. Is there a part of you that
thinks that there's still is room for that in the
game of hockey.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Listen, that was that was an expression of passion and
pride of their team. And I don't think any of
the guys who dropped the gloves do that for sport.
They did it because it meant a lot. And what
was impressive is those guys And if you if you
went down the roster of the six guys you got
(04:09):
in the scrap, none of them are knucklehead guys who
just are looking for a fight. They're they're standing up
for their team and they're standing up for the honor
of their country. And when you can get that vibe
going in the Holster game, Dude, I've been around long
enough and I can tell you I actually saw Michael
Jordan's jam in the Chicago Stadium. My son had the
(04:30):
poster up in his room once and I put my
glasses up and kind of looked closely, and I said, hey, look, son, there,
I am.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Oh god, I was.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I was wearing some of those big Hudau glasses softy,
and I was you know, my son's like that you
wore those glasses and I'm like, yeah, it looks like
I did.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well, you can tell them a lot of other people
wore those glasses as well. So you're claim to fame
as being in the background for Jordan's famous dunk. Claim
to fame as well the sideline when Al Harris ran
right by me after picking off Matt hasselback in Green
Bay in two thousand and three and we want the ball.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
We're going to score game. So you win, by the way.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Oh my god, Oh my god. I was there too. Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, Todd LIWICKI is with us on this President's Day Monday,
and Todd, how we consume sports is obviously the evolution
is progressing rapidly. What you guys have done with Amazon
has been amazing. I can watch on my phone, I
can watch on my Roku stick, I can watch on
my iPad, and I've become used to it. Right, There
was a little bit of you know what evolution as
(05:33):
far as getting used to it, but I think that
slowed down. Is it fair to say that the evolution
of how we consume television at least for the Kraken.
The progression has slowed a little bit and fans should
get used to at least for a while. The current
platform you have with your friends over at Amazon.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well Amazon's just part of it. We also have a
great relationship with you know, our friends at Tegna who
you know, the King and Kong had been phenomenal partners
and we've seen a ratings increase of times for and
the reason is that fans can now get the games
(06:12):
and we're not asking them to go to places they
don't usually go to pay premium fees. That industry changed
so much as as people cut cord, the table operators
had to charge more. They started differentiating packages, They started
pushing bundles to smaller and smaller bundles to higher premium prices,
(06:34):
and that was what the economics were dictating to do.
The business became stressed. But you were then asking your
fans to go places they otherwise weren't going. And for instance,
a bar owner who once enthusiastic, enthusiastically support the local teams,
you know, go into a bar and say, hey, I
(06:56):
want to watch the Kracking game tonight and ask them
to sort of fiddle around with the channel changer. I
always contend you've got about twenty seconds there, right and
if it's not on and if it's not easy, but
believe it or not, I actually think that that's an
important part of local teams. It's creating play reasons for
people to cheer, and if that's part of your mission,
(07:18):
then you better be accessible. I think what we've found
is that it was back to the future, because that's
actually where I started. All the games were on over
the air. That's certainly what made the NFL so incredibly
successful is all the games have been available free over
the air, at least in the home markets where the
teams are playing. Then they're moving to more pay models
(07:40):
out of those home markets at times, but I still
think the NFL, the preponderance of games are going to
remain on tree over there television. We've done it one
year here and it's been terrific and we're really really
excited about that partnership. And then you've added Amazon and
you can actually, as you said, you could see the
game anywhere anytime. We have this vast territory. So it
(08:02):
is changing, and I think it's going to continue to
evolve rapidly, and where this is in five years, no
one can quite tell.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, yeah, well, Todd Lwiki is with us.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And what we know we're doing now is talking on
President's Day, our annual President's Day Show twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And if there's anything.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That we know about you is that you've got your
hand on a lot of different projects all the time.
You're like the Josea Kendo of sports executives.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Man.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You just play a lot of positions, no question, Thanks
a lot. And I know you're old enough to know
that reference. By the way, but let me talk to
you about what's opening over at Memorial Stadium. I want
to get to the NBA in a minute, but what
is happening with the Memorial Stadium remodel project and what
do you envision that site looking like and being all
about when that project is done.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well, that's a fabulous project. The school district passed the
bond issue, but they pretty much would have torn down
the stadium and built something. It would have been a
perfectly fined high school stadium, but not unique or special
like Memorial Stadium. So then the city chipped in, and
even that wasn't enough because the city's motive was, look,
(09:12):
this is on one of the most cherished sites in
our city, Seattle Center. We can't just build a pedestrian
high school stadium. We've got to contribute. And then we
went out and we fundraise. We effectively took this project
on through our foundation. We're helping develop it, design it,
build it. We're here to serve the school district, We're
(09:33):
here to serve the city. And it's one of the
coolest community things that I could have ever dreamed of
being involved in. The heroes of the story are a
lot of community leaders who stepped up and contributed, and
we raised thirty million dollars, which now gets us to
a budget where we're going to build a world class
stadium that will serve the community, but specifically serve Seattle
(09:55):
Public schools in the Metary League and those kids they
deserve a shot in the arm. And there are a
lot of kids who are going to have incredible impactful
moments in this new stadium. And the softies, you know,
that stadium played an important part in a lot of
people's lives in this town and its best days are
(10:18):
now in front of it. And so that's really super cool.
And I love doing community projects because what you find
in this town is people rally around things and people
get things done. And that's another example of it. We
played an important role, but we certainly weren't the only ones.
There were a lot of people who rallied and rallied
(10:39):
around the idea. That's one of many interesting things going
on in our town. And there's a lot of you know,
the waterfront is remarkable. If people haven't been to the
aquarium and the Ocean Pavilion, it is just amazing that
walkway down from Pike's Market. What's going to happen with
our sound transit system finally connecting to be a game changer,
(11:01):
and so there's a lot to look forward to, including
I think the return of the NBA, But time will tell.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, well, I love that you transition to that. By
the way, you're making my job a lot easier. And
I'll tell you what, man if I had if I
had a dollar for every time you or your brother
have said we don't want to get ahead of the commissioner,
I think i'd have about eighty eight dollars in my pocket.
But it feels like we're getting closer. It feels like
we're kind of waiting on what's oppening with the Celtics sale.
(11:27):
What can you tell the people listening out there about
the timeline for the return of the NBA.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well, I am I am a voracious reader, so I don't.
I don't carry or share or share any inside necessarily
inside information. But I do think the day is going
to come, and I think it's probably sooner or later
versus later that they're going to announced expansion. I think
it won't be just two cities. It'll be But I
like our chances. Our story is incredible, our city is ready,
(11:57):
Our arena is near perfect. I love our arena. Our
arena has the soul, and when basketball is played under
that roof, it has been a fabulous experience for the fans,
for the Storm fans, the Seattle University. But we've played
NBA games, we played some big marquee college games. The
(12:18):
building feels terrific, and so you know, I think the
stage is now set and we're going to be patient.
We're not going to get in front of the commissioners.
But when the day comes this time, we're going to
be ready. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yeah, that's eighty nine dollars, by the way, now in
my pocket. With the with the.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Commissioner, but Todd Liwiki with us. Todd you hired the
man that brought the Seahawks their first Super Bowl championship ever.
And Pete Carroll you you brought hockey to Seattle, the
NHL to Seattle. And I know you're a humble guy.
You'll say it wasn't all me, and you're right, there
were a lot of people involved. Now you're on the
doorstep of bringing the NBA back to town after the
(12:57):
Sonics left, and eight you're getting the Memorial Stadium produce
jecked off the ground. What's next? I mean, what what
do you want to see done? You mentioned a lot
of exciting things happening in our town.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
What's next?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Done?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Your to do list?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Pal? Well a map? After you said all that, I think,
you know, I think that in this town people join
in and support things. And I'm like the best fans
I've ever worked for in my life, the Seattle fans.
And if you give them some to believe in, some hope.
(13:32):
But by the way you bring up Pete Carroll, I mean,
is that incredible Ruth is stranger infection and is one
fired up dude right now? And it's going to be
really interesting to see how that all plays out there.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well, I'll tell you what I'd like to see you do.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And this is maybe outside of your jurisdiction, but if
you could find a way to help get Mike Holmgrin
one day into the Hall of Fame, that'd be phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Brother, Amen, I don't know, you know I I I
think that when you study how Hall's work and how
rules are made, it's really material because under the prior
rules he would have had a better shot, but they
reclassified certain categories and he then had to compete with
(14:17):
multiple other people for limited the spots. There was one spot.
I think there were you know, like seven candidates, and
then under this year's a rule there were vastly more.
And here's this guy. I mean, what more do you
need to do? I mean the guy. Everywhere he went
he won, he won super Bowls. The man was incredible.
(14:39):
He was transformative with the Seahawks, and he set this
franchise up for big things. Make no mistake, he blew
and he basically created the thrust that led to so
many powerful things, that led to a new training facility
that led to the Twelfth Man changing like and you
(15:01):
know when I first got to the Seahawks, there was
a little work to be done. There would to be chopped,
but Homegren grabbed a hold of that thing and in
that new stadium, and he was He's a force of nature.
And then you look at all the people that he
impacted that came out of the home grown tree. No
more prolific tree in the NFL than Mike Omroom, the
(15:22):
amount of coaches that served under him and went on
to do amazing other things. And then in addition to that,
everything and his wife Kathy did in the community. So
that was hard. And in fact I went on with
Bucky in the morning and I was I was feeling
pretty bullish that that was going to be his day
and it was disappointing to not see that happen.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Todd, Before you go, thanks again for doing this. I
want to wrap it up where we began with some
thoughts on the Kraken. I love what you said about, Hey,
it's time to win. You know, obviously the team has
been around now for four years, and let's face it,
fans are getting a little bit impatient, and you love that.
You love that passion from your fan base. Rather have
that than apathy. Any day of the week. But for example,
(16:04):
if the team misses the postseason again this year, are
you in the frame of mind where we need to
consider maybe a major rebuild or continue to retool this thing.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Well, I think we have a conviction. First. I think
when you look at the pieces on this roster right now,
there's we have a lot of we have a lot
of good players, and I think there's some areas where
we can add some strength. I think we need to
chip in some more goals. But we don't think. I
don't think this is a rebuild. This isn't a reclamation.
(16:37):
I think there's a progression that's going to happen near
new coaching staff, lost your captain for a good part
of the season. Yep. Those can sound like excuses, but
those are real things. I think our ownership has faith
in Ron Francis. But mark my words, I in my career,
if you go look, I've been associated with teams that
(16:58):
won and eventually got to the Promise Slam, and we're
going to do that here. And without airing some of
that out, there was a conviction and it's more than
a desire, it's an absolute conviction that we're going to
get there one way or another. And I think that
we feel the pressure, but we also feel the excitement
(17:18):
because we think some good things are coming.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Hey, listen, enjoy the rest of your little soiree there,
and we'll talk when you get back home. Man, appreciate this, pal.
Thanks again.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Okay, my friend, you got it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Thanks again, you bet Todd Lwiki with us on the
radio show. We've got to break the president of the Sounders,
Hugh Weber. We're going to continue our President's Day Show
next on a busy Monday on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Love from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick on your home for
the Huskies and the Creek in Sports Radio ninety three
point three kjr FM.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
All right, boys and girls, Happy President's Day. We are
at the Emerald Queen Cassina, Oh for our annual President's
Day Show. A big thanks to Todd Laiwiki, Kevin Martinez,
Chuck Arnold, Anamar a cause from you, Dub for all
joining us on the radio program. But Jackson, it's time
to bring the producer of the show back in the
mix here and get serious about this thing. What do
you say we talk about your favorite sport MLS soccer
(18:18):
and joining us right now on the show, the president
of the Sounders FC, our friend, your friend, everybody's friend,
Hugh Weber joining us on the program.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Hugh, how are you man, gentlemen, great to be here
doing great.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Thank you well, we appreciate you jumping on with us.
Pretty easy question to start off the state of the
union on this President's Day of the Sounders FC.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
How would you describe that today?
Speaker 5 (18:41):
Pretty hard to believe that we're playing our first match
at home a few days from now on Saturday at
seven thirty. So, as all things go, time is a
very precious commodity. We had a fortunately for us, a
short off season with a very good campaign last year,
going to the Western Conference finals. But all signs look
(19:03):
really positive, not only for our MLS campaign, but you know,
playing in the Club World Cup this year and also
the Champions Cup, so we've got a lot of big
tournaments and the team is ready and looking forward to
competing at the highest level.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Well, we talked to Chuck Arnold, your counterpart at the Seahawks,
about some changes that will be coming to loom and Field.
The potential for the Seahawks to play on grass, and
it sounds like that's not going to happen, but you
mentioned it right there. The Club World Cup this year,
the World Cup in twenty six, give the fans, give
us some idea of what changes need to be made
to lumen Field for those events, and what is the
(19:44):
timing of those changes, Like when will we actually walk
into lumen Field, Hugh and see grass and not turf.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Well, we probably won't see grass until later in the summer,
So there'll be a transition period for the Club World
Cup as we get ready for that tournament. That'll be
a temporary solution for twenty five and then I'm sure
Chuck told you in earnest Loovingfield will go do a
massive renovation to get long term grass in place for
(20:14):
the World Cup in twenty six. So look at it
as a window of time in twenty five and then
a more substantial kind of period where you'll see uh
grass in womenfield.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Okay, huge Jackson here really quickly to follow up on
that long term grass. I was under the impression we
were just talking about grass just for the World Cup
in twenty six, just for that event. Are we talking
about grass that's going to stick around longer than that.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Did I just make a headline?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I mean, this is why you're talking out.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Well, let that'd be a little more specific. So there'll
be what they call temporary grass that'll be an overlay
to the infrastructure that is in place. Unfortunately, that system
does not meet the World Cup requirement. So the World
Cup requires that actually you have all of the appropriate
irrigation and drainage systems below that turf for the big tournament,
(21:15):
and that's what will be in place. That does not
mean that the Seahawks are playing.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
On grass long term.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
That's the decision obviously they have to make, and I
think one that they've been pretty clear about is not
necessarily something they be as a long term solution.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
So it sounds like what we're saying here is that
there's going to be grass put in for the Club
World Cup, the Seahawks play their season on turf, and
then the minute the Seahawks season is over, the grass
for the World Cup goes in matures, grows, looks all
nice and green in place for the summer of twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Is that sound fair?
Speaker 5 (21:48):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Got you well.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Hugh Weber, again, the president of the Sounders, is with us,
and it just feels like forever there's been a conversation
around a soccer specific stadium for you guys, and that
that converce station has sort of kind of died down
since this time a year ago. Where are you guys
at as a club, as a franchise in terms of
looking at a stadium of your own in the future.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
It's a great question.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Again, I think our North Star year ago has not changed,
which is we want to continue to create a fan first,
friendly kind of experience and we believe that that may
be attainable through a soccer specific stadium. But there's a
lot of work that has happened in the last year,
and a lot of work that we're quietly doing behind
(22:34):
the scenes to make sure that we're making the right decision.
Number One, it has to be something that our fans
see is a net plus in terms of the experience
of coming to a match to see soccer in Seattle.
And again, there's a lot of work we're doing in
terms of engaging with our current stakeholders and even future
fans as to whether they might think about other locations,
(22:56):
other than downtown to come to a match. The second thing,
you know, we have to do is all of the
architectural design and whether the land that we actually have
in our incredible site at four or five and I
five and rentin would work. And so there's been work
done there as well, so these things don't sprat out
(23:19):
of the ground overnight. And I would say that we
continue to progress and evolve for that project, and as
we get more more I guess details and what it
could actually be, we'll get more public about how again
and what that that experience could look like.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Well, Hugh, and I'm sure when you talk about the architecture,
you're looking at how many people do we fit in?
What is the c capacity? All those interesting questions, and
I'm sure it relates to you know, you looking at
the attendance numbers that are currently existing at lumin Field,
where you know, in the reality of the situation is
we have seen that kind of slight you know, you
know on the graph decline over in the last number
(23:59):
of years, obviously COVID playing such a massive role in that.
But you know, how do you interpret those numbers of
fans in the building for Sounders games over these last
four years.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
Yeah, there's two actually parts to your question. One is
we have to be going the sport, and I think
the Sounders in some ways were a victim of their
own success. I think before COVID, I think there was
a mentality to kind of double down on your base,
continually speak to the folks that were be entrenched and
(24:31):
the you know, the fully engaged and not be super
you know, focused on the new fans and how you're
finding new demographics and younger families to come to matches.
I've heard from our fans time.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And time again.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
You know, I was a season an inaugural season ticket member,
and then you know, I had three kids, and then
they all went to college, and I took my four
seats to two, and then my wife and I could
go to two matches a year instead of twelve. And
that's the story narrative. And the team hadn't spent as
much focus as we are now on finding that next
generation of fand that is separate apart from what we
(25:09):
think a good matchday experience feels like, whether it's thirty,
two thousand or whatever, you have to have, let's say,
on any given match, I don't know one hundred thousand
people in Seattle would love to go to a Founders match, right,
and then there's only so many feats to get in,
and that's not necessarily what we've been focused on, and
that's been a primary focus for the team since I've
(25:29):
been here for two years.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, Hugh Weber, president of the Sounders, with us on
our on our President's Day show here on ninety three
three KJRFM. And I don't know how else to ask this,
so I'll just ask you flat out. Are you a
fan of the MLS deal with Apple?
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Well, I'll tell you why I am, and I'll tell
you the challenges that we're actually working to overcome, you know,
the MLS if we are to actually grow as a league,
because again our position as being the premi league in America,
the as thet growing soccer market in the in the world,
and the fact fastest are the biggest sports property in
(26:07):
the world. How we're going to grow is by having
relevant and competition and elevation of our perception of our
league more more globally. And the Apple platform gives us
global access in terms of how people can watch our
matches at any given time. So that is the upside
(26:29):
that's the good thing market at Apple is an incredible
marketing machine. I think you're going to see some changes
and how they're promoting their product and how we have
more flexibility locally to maybe use our telecasts. But again
those were the challenges. The challenges, candidly were commercially, like
when we go into bars and restaurants, it takes some
(26:52):
extra effort to get your games on in the background
at again commercial establishments, and that's something that we're super
focused on. But overall, I got to say, you know,
the trend is moving in the direction of people having
access to sports content on their phones, and again I
think I think we're ready, and we're building out the
(27:13):
infrastructure to get there. Q.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I'm wondering the club obviously, the joint ventured to bring
in the rain as part of you know, this whole
kind of group now, and it is, you know, as
I send emails and I you know see it, it's
the Rain logo right next to the Sounders logo coming
out of everybody from Long Acres. And I'm wondering how
the rain being now part of the whole enterprise changes
(27:37):
your job and how the rain being now kind of
in the extension of the Sounders. How that changes soccer
in Seattle under one roof essentially.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
Great question. You know that the way we work has
to change. We have to grow the fan base across
two different properties. These are two very different brands. They
have very distinct which can different fan bases. You might
think that there's a ton of overlap between soccer fans
for women and soccer fans for men, but the actual
(28:09):
data proves that it's not. So it's an opportunity for
us to potentially, you know, share the women's game with
our Sounders fan and at the same time away for
us to potentially again share the Sounders with the Ring fans.
But we have are approaching these very differently.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
It's something interesting in the business which has been a
plus here. Our ability to recruit talented executives and leaders
in the front office has is it exponentially better when
there's a multitude of teams to come in and think
about how we're.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Growing the fan bases across both.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
So we've seen a real uptick and the talent of
people that are coming to Seattle that want to be
part of this kind of enterprise thinking portfolio. And so
we just have to be more strategic and give us
more opportunities for Roath and again there. It's an incredible
challenge for our team. But both are very important and
(29:08):
different for different reasons. We approach the brands very differently.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Got it here, great stuff, Man, appreciate you doing this
on President's Day. Happy President's Day to you by the
way as well, considering you are the president of the Sounders,
so phenomenal job as always, Man, thanks for this and
we'll talk down the road, buddy, Appreciate it, Matthew, look.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Forward and get you guys out to a match again
this Saturday opening match.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Hope to see every one there.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Thanks Don you got Ithugh ever, the president of the Sounders.
We're going to break Aaron Rtman, the president of the
Tacoma Rainiers, will join us next as our President's Day
show wraps up before our spring training recap with Chuck
and Buck from Arizona, Sex Right here on ninety three
to three KJRFM.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Love from the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick on your Home for
the Huskies and the Crooking Sports Radio ninety three point
three JJR FM.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
All right, our final segment for our President's Day Show.
And I cannot think of anyone better to help us
wrap this thing up than our friend, the president of
the the Comarainiers, Aaron Artman.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Aaron, how are you man? What's going on? Doing great?
Speaker 7 (30:15):
How are you doing south?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
We're good, man, We're good.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I apologize for the short nature of our visit, but
we'll do it again soon when we come down there
to the ballpark over the spring and summer. But why
don't we start off by talking about some of the changes.
And let's start with a broadcast crew man, Mike Kurdo,
After all those years stepping aside, and you've hired Riley
pay as your brand new broadcaster. Tell us about her
and why you thought she was the right person for
(30:39):
the job.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
We had hundreds of applicants come in from all walks
of life and all levels of baseball. And first of all, right,
it was really good on the radio. Her cliffs are phenomenal.
She has a great story. You know, she decided she
wanted to be a radio play by play announcer and
worked her way up through the North Woods League, the
Cape Cod League at UNLV while attending college there. And
(31:04):
so she's really good on the radio, and beyond that,
she was a really good fit. You know, we talked
to so many people and kind of had a little
team taking the next voice of the Rainiers, and it
was unanimous that she was the right call.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
So we're really.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Excited to have her on board, and she's going to do.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
A phenomenal job.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
I think people really like listening to her.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, no, I can't wait to meet her and get
a chance to listen to her do a game. People
want to know there is a loyal following that you've got.
I mean, Dick and I are you know on Friday
nights watching the ballpark fill up, there's always a big
line of cars to get in. But everybody wants to
know what do you got planned for twenty twenty five,
because you guys do this this family baseball thing better
(31:44):
than anybody.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Aaron, what's going on down there?
Speaker 7 (31:47):
Well, thank you, and you know, we're just really excited
to fire it up for another Usually we'd have seventy
five home games. We actually get bonus games this year
because the A's are playing in Sacramento and there was
a six game road trip we were supposed to take
in mid June to Sacramento and they need to give
their field time to rest. So we actually have eighty
(32:08):
one home games this year, which is spectacular. So that's
kind of the biggest change as far as what our
schedule looks like. But you know, every year we like
to improve the ballpark and have people show up and say,
all right, there's something new here. And so this year
we're doing two big projects. One is we're doubling the
size of our team store because we've been too small
probably for about ten years with all the merchandise that
(32:31):
we sell and the experience in there. So we're giving
them out a complete revamp. And we are getting a
brand new video board and led scoreboard, so it's a
lot bigger, it's a lot higher resolution, and that'll be
something fan will notice right right when they come in
on opening night March twenty eighth.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
No, I love that.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Aaron Hartman, again, the president of the Rainiars, is with us,
and you know, I think a lot of people are
kind of understanding at a basic level your relationship with
the Mariners. Can you kind of talk more about your
relationship and your day to day partnership with the Mariners
and what that looks like.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Yeah, what a lot of people probably don't realize this.
We're two completely separate entities as far as ownership, and
then we have the professional development relationship with the Mariners,
and so most of our interactions are with the player
development side. The Mariners decide who our coaches are, which
players are going to be in Tacoma, and so that's
(33:25):
that's kind of our main interface. It's not much on
the business side or the marketing side of the sales side.
It's really just the baseball operations folks.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Well eron, listen, man, I got to ask you about,
you know, just the way this whole thing is developed
and progressed, and what the future looks like for minor
league baseball, and more importantly, what the future looks like
for this franchise. We've seen some franchises fold, some franchises
and leagues simply go away. You guys seem to be
as strong as ever. Tell me about what you envision
(33:54):
the next maybe five ten years looking like for the Rainiers.
Speaker 7 (33:58):
So, I think the Major leg Baseball, the partnership with
Major League Baseball where we're all part of one baseball,
has actually been really good. I think we were all
nervous when it was announced. We were used to the
old way of doing things with Minor League Baseball being
a separate entity run out of Saint Petersburg, Florida, and
all of our separate leagues. What we found is it's
(34:20):
actually been super helpful working with Major League Baseball. They've
been good partners, and you know, we've seen our attendance
increase and all the business vectors to increase, so it
clearly hasn't hurt what we're doing. That said, you know,
some of the teams that have outdated facilities or haven't
been able to reinvest in their facilities have a much
(34:43):
harder time because one of the main things this partnership
did was around player development, player safety, and wellness, and
so there's an incredible amount of investment. We've even had
to do some with our partners at the city at
t Coma and the state quite frankly, to get our
ballpark up to speed. But you know, there's some facilities
(35:03):
that are chasing that ghost, for lack of a better term,
trying to catch up to make sure they can keep
their franchises. But overall, I think it's been great. It's
been good for our business. It seems to be good
for franchise values across the country and they've been good
partners to work with.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Aaron Hartman, again, the president of the Rainiers, is with
us to wrap up our president's stage show.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
We got like a minute left.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
And for people that don't know, like a family of four,
you know, go into a major league game, hockey game,
NBA game sometimes can get pretty expensive. Give people an
idea of what a night out on the town at
Cheney Stadium for a family of four would look like.
Speaker 7 (35:40):
Well, you can get into a Cheney Stadium with a
family of four as long as you buy early enough
for you know, twenty eight to thirty bucks for the tickets,
ten bucks for parking, and then the concessions are still
reaconably priced and everything looks better against kind of the
pricing structure of the major league franchises. I think that's
one of the benefits we have as being so close
(36:00):
to the big league market, as we clearly look more.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Affordable, and we are more affordable.
Speaker 7 (36:06):
But it's a great night out for families. And at
the same time we do really good business with businesses
and companies and season tickets and clubs and all that.
So there's a little bit of everything at Cheenie Stadium
at every price level, and I think that works well,
especially today, as things just continue to get more and
more expensive, we've been able to keep our prices relatively flat.
(36:28):
We try not to increase all that often every three
or four years. It's not an annual increase type scenario,
and we think that's important to keep things reasonable for people.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
No doubt, Aaron, you're the man, great stuff, and we
will see you at the ballpark soon.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
My friend appreciate this.
Speaker 7 (36:43):
Pal can't wait till we're doing this in person on
Fridays here about six weeks.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
You got it, man, Aaron Hartman, the president of the
Tacoba Radios. And that'll wrap it up for our president's
stay show man. Big thanks to Aaron, Hugh Weber from
the Sounders, Todd L. Wikey from the Kraken, Anamara Cause
from U Dub, Kevin Martinez from the MS, and of
course Chuck Arnold from the Seahawks. We're gonna break Chuck
and Buck their daily spring training recap brought to you
(37:10):
by Davis Law and the Emerald Quin Casino is coming
next from Peoria right here on ninety three to three
kJ A RFM, Bye
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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