MLS Next Pro

I think they have something like 1,500 fan owners that have a piece of this club.

They have also fought off the LA Galaxy when the city of Irvine, who controls Championship Soccer Stadium, which is where they play, was considering giving the stadium to the LA Galaxy's MLS Next Pro or Second Division Entry or whatever that was at the time.

That was 2022.

I think we talked about that.

We want to talk about LAFC, too, as they advance to the conference finals.

You know about MLS Next Pro.

This is uncharted waters as they knocked out Houston, and then they knocked out the number one seed in the West, Austin FC, in their place.

A 90-plus-two-minute goal from Sebastian Nava.

Yeah, take these positives.

There's been nothing.

LAFC 2 has not really made any headway in MLS Next Pro, and now they have.

So this is a very exciting moment.

But I feel like based on everything I've seen this year and obviously talking to you, I mean, they're they're equipped to win the MLS Cup.

Yeah, and I think the one thing that gets overlooked, or not just overlooked, but forgotten about in a sense with BJ Callahan, his mission was to identify young talent, bring in young talent, help develop that Huntsville franchise, the MLS Next Pro, and create this younger talent that they can rely on for years to come so this window never really closes.

And that's what everyone tries to do in the world of sport, for sure.

But I think what B.J. Callahan has done, he's brought in certain pillars to this offense and defense in this sense.

And there's other guests, like the one I'm about to introduce, who we will just pester until we beat him down and he says yes and agrees to come on the show.

But when we speak to Tom Glick about what he's got going on, you can understand why why he's been so busy so tom glick is the chief executive officer of hometown soccer holdings a partnership between kkr and major league soccer that was formed to centralize and scale the commercial operations of mls next pro where they launch in clubs and targeted markets developing purpose-built stadiums and strengthening the league's fan experience and commercial capabilities Tom is also the managing director of Rockledge Sports Advisory.

Tom has held senior positions at a number of top sports organization, including president of business for Chelsea FC, president of Tepper Sports and Entertainment, president of the Carolina Panthers, president of NYC FC, chief commercial officer and managing director of City Football Marketing, President and CEO of Darby Football, Darby County Football Club, Chief Marketing Officer of the Brooklyn Nets, and a VP at Teemo at the NBA.

But wait, there's more.

We've been more than two years in planning and incubation and now are nearly six months young.

We're a joint venture between Major League Soccer and KKR.

We are the commercial engine of MLS Next Pro.

MLS Next Pro is a really important league in the soccer ecosystem.

Gabriel Lessa – 18-year-old left-footed winger who was in the Philadelphia Union and then eventually Atlanta United Systems.

He was a standout in MLS Next Pro last year.

And then according to Tom Bogert, and probably most people could infer this anyway, but Tom's done the legwork, Atlanta wanted to keep him and bring him up through their system.

But he wanted to go and play.