Inside Soccer
Inside Soccer
MLS is Back - Marc De Grandpre, GM, Red Bull New York
Marc De Grandpre joins Inside Soccer to discuss club marketing, reactions by staff and team to Covid Pandemic, ESoccer, Youth ID and Development, MLS is Back event, and more.
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Unknown Speaker :Welcome inside soccer listeners from around the globe to inside soccer episode nine. There's never been a better time to get inside soccer and learn from the decision makers and people who have the careers and livelihood tied to this great sport. So much is going on across the globe that affects our little world of soccer and that's what we're focused on here. like no other podcasts. We've only been broadcasting for four weeks and we've already been Brought you top us executives, veteran media gambling experts Hall of Fame players, supporters, groups and EPL executives and today we continue that young tradition of bringing you the best in the sport. It's now time to turn our attention to our own domestic league. The MLS is back literally the name of their tournament in Orlando. And they're in the process of getting players to Orlando and training now and getting ready to play this tournament soon. So it's time to focus on MLS and try to get some better insight as to what's what's going on through the minds of the leaders there and the challenges that they're facing. that some of them we've talked about over the last couple weeks. Some I'm sure will be new, but we're very, very proud very honored to have the president and CEO of Red Bull New York, one of my favorites mark the Grand Prix mark, welcome to Inside soccer.
Unknown Speaker :Thanks for having me, Bill. And congratulations on the start of your podcast.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I appreciate that we're having some fun with it. And, you know, it's it's like some sailors were just sort of out to sea ramen around. And wherever we go, that's where we go. So same thing here today. You know, as always, I've got a lot more questions and we have time, but we've committed to about 30 minutes. So we'll try to keep it to that. And at the end, if we need to, we'll do a little quick fire. But the listeners here are getting used to me saying that each time So anyway, let's get started. Take a minute or two and just introduce yourself to our people and let them know a little bit about your professional background and how you ended up at Red Bull in New York.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, no problem, Bill. That's a great question because I didn't take sort of the normal path to becoming an executive in sports. I think as you know, I started on the product management side. My first job was with Mike Bauer hockey. I was a product manager And then I got my MBA and I was part of the original team that launched Red Bull in North America, the brain to drink. So built that brand up from 1999 to 2006. And then when the team Redbull decided to buy the metro stars, I was lucky enough to be in the New York area at the time and the owner came in, bought the team from AEG and you needed someone to go and run the club and he asked me to go do that for him. So I was lucky enough to be there to see the transition was what was an amazing experience. Right, we took the metro stars. I think the purchase was finalized at the end of February, early May, and we had a game in early April, and our owner wanted the Red Bulls to play 30 days later, so that 30 days sort of experiment of transforming a franchise literally overnight from everything from the ticket stock to the branding in the locker room to the uniforms, everything you know that goes into a franchise. We did it in 30 days. And we had our opener in April and it was success. And then I worked with the soccer team till about the first quarter of all eight. And then I decided to go back into this CPG world. And in 2014 Redbull found me and asked me if I was willing to come back and help grow the club again, and I jumped on the opportunity to be back there. So I didn't go through the route of the League club, starting through sales and all that and then climbing my way up. I literally worked through the marketing side, and then found my way here, and I've loved every minute of it.
Unknown Speaker :But it sounds like that was a great opportunity. I mean, you're coming from a brand marketing position and you're entering into a team that's owned by a large marketing group, if you will, you know, they produce products, but there are large marketers throughout the throughout the across the globe. And you're familiar with that and you've got 30 days to do it. So I'm guessing that marketing back came in very, very handy more so than maybe someone who traveled in traditional route at least in the early days.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I think the important piece of my background came into play really in the early days, right, that 30 day window was to think about how we're going to communicate to the fans, how are we going to appeal to them, right. It was a big company coming in to take over a team that had built a strong fan base over the short years. And I think we've been able to win them over by committing to providing them a great experience. And as you know, we were the first ones to build a truly soccer specific Stadium in North America. And that was a big investment on our part, but it was also part of our our plan to show our fans that we were committing to doing the right thing for the game of soccer in North America. And then we went on to develop our youth training programs and our academy again committing to the sport locally and that helped us sort of win over our fans over the years and the team has been I'd say fairly successful since we've bought since Red Bull bought the team. I mean, I think they've missed the playoffs one year since we bought him and I've won three supporter shields and it's been a fun ride for sure.
Unknown Speaker :It is a beautiful stadium Harrison, New Jersey. I remember in the early days of AEG sitting through a few meetings and answering some questions, but I have to be honest, I wasn't really part of that development. But I can remember looking at the plans and thinking man, this is pretty special. And they sent me out to do a little walk around the site before anything else was there and that was interesting. But you know, I'm still waiting for an exit to be put on the road there but that was that was how it was supposed to happen. But it is a it is a beautiful, beautiful building. And a great experience. I've been fortunate to be there. So share the one or two things that just really surprised or shocked you after you took over the entire team. It's something you just weren't expecting you're like, holy cow, I didn't know it's gonna be like this.
Unknown Speaker :I was surprised. That's the, I think the concern from our fan base that we would that we were just buying club to help promote our brand, right the product itself. And we read that was probably the hardest challenge we had that we didn't expect. Because truly our owners vision is to help grow this game, invest in it and make it want to at the same level of the Global Game, right? You see soccer in Europe that he believes that it couldn't become that North American. That's why he's invested in it so much. So that was one of the big challenges. And number two was engaging, ultimately, the metro stars fast to see the good also in this change for them and this opportunity. And that was basically working a lot on sort of shifting their mindset and understanding that you know, we are going To invest for the right reasons. That was difficult and getting the stadium done right, as you talked about, and getting just piles in the ground was a monumental task.
Unknown Speaker :That was not
Unknown Speaker :for the week, and to get there and see that happen. And then getting the training facility done. It's been a huge, I guess, satisfying process, but also a challenge over the years. And I think our biggest challenge is, you know, being in Metro New York, it's tough to get people share of mind right when you are a soccer still, it's not at the forefront of the NFL, Major League Baseball at the NBA. So we're fighting against so many different variables in New York. That's unlike any other market in in in the country in the world, I'd say, between Broadway and everything else that's going on. So it's a really difficult and a fun challenge to to get people to interested and excited about the game, and I think we've done a good job. And I see the next, you know, before COVID, obviously, we're seeing this momentum going in the right direction, that by the time the World Cup comes to the US, it's going to be sort of that tipping point for soccer in North America. And that's, that's where we need to be, and prepare for that moment.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, those are all great points. And early on in that, in that segment there, you mentioned the fact that there was a lot of people who did not believe that the ownership group was committed to the sport that this was some sort of marketing play. And I know for those of us on the periphery, like you know, there's a lot better ways to spend your money than this. If, if you're only interested in selling beverages. This is not the way to go. Right. I mean, this guy believes in soccer now, you see that throughout the world and, you know, here but also in Germany and obviously in Austria, but they have committed to the sport and I think you know, they've done a good job of being patient and continuing to invest in Obviously everyone on the ground and under you and your leadership, I've done a good job of building that trust that they need to continue to invest in it. And it's coming home for him. So that's great. So let's, let's move a little bit. Let's move up to today. Let's, let's move to January, because it is the, it is the topic of the day. And so you're in your offices. It's early January, you're planning on the 2020 season, and all of a sudden, boom, everything changes. Walk us through what that was like from being in your seat.
Unknown Speaker :It was I mean, it's been somewhat surreal, right? We it was the 25th anniversary year for MLS right this year. We come in, we've got a lot of great things going on. We do some great activations, the launcher in New Jersey, we go down to Florida, the team looks good, it's young, it's hungry. Chris is really Chris our head coach Chris pharmacy has really done a great job of engaging the players and setting ourselves up for success. We started To season pretty well we win at home and then we go on the road should have won that game, we end up tying, and we feel things are going well, but we see this the momentum of COVID picking up right globally. And as I told you earlier, at one point, I think it was late February or very early in March, we made a quick pivot and set up a COVID Task Force and some people in the office were like, why are we doing this mark? This is, you know, it's not gonna happen, don't worry. And we start setting up a process. Okay. How are we all going to work from home? Do we have all the right systems? Is our technology capable of handling the bandwidth that we're going to require for all home? In what we literally put buckets of Okay, what are priorities? What are nice to haves and what can we put on hold? And we set up two distinct sort of priorities for the organization the moment we met that day, why number one was if it hits our first priority, will be To take care of our employees, keep them healthy, safe, protect our fans, make sure they're okay and our partners in the community. And number two was, if we get to the point where COVID hits, we've got to make sure that our, our protocols to keep our buildings clean our facilities clean our CDC or above standards, and those two things have sort of guided our decision ever since. And we're, I'm proud to say that we're a team that hasn't laid off anyone. We've kept everyone employed and engaged. And it's really something that we were, we weren't going to touch right when I told the leadership team, the employee related costs is a bucket we will not touch. So we're gonna have to save a lot of money because obviously the business model just change quickly. Make sure you cut wherever we can, and if we're gonna have to cut into the bone. We're gonna have to do it to save everyone's employment and, and our point of view there is that we know that they're our most valuable asset, our staff and we really focused on making sure they're engaged. As I told you earlier, we're talking often About the communication levels have been through the roof throughout the organization, the teamwork, the collaboration on how to pivot the business. As you know, our training programs, you know, we run camps, we are the largest youth training program of any sport in North America. How do we take all that and do it virtually, we pivoted there, our sales teams did a great job of coming up with a plan to make sure our season ticket holders, you know, weren't handcuffed into having to pay this year and not get anything out of it. So we rolled over everything that was great. Our partners we engage with providing them new opportunities and platforms, virtually to gain value from the deals. And it's, it's been turned upside down. But as I told you, I think it's made us a better organization. And when we do come back to all being in the office, we're gonna have to make sure that we maintain that level of communication engagement. We have a newsletter twice a week going out to the staff with everything that's going on around the organization. We have an all staff meeting every week also and then The leadership team convenes every morning to set the standard for the day. And those are the things that we're going to have to implement once we're back, face to face in our new reality if we're ever all together, right, who knows how it's going to end up being, we're going to have various shifts because we have all proven we can work from home and be really effective. So we came into 2020 expecting one thing now it's, hey, we've got a tournament, we got to go to Florida, make sure the guys are prepared, and then come back and hopefully play as many games as possible. In front of fans or without fans, we still don't know that.
Unknown Speaker :That's a I mean, we talked a little bit about this before we went on, on the air here, but it's really refreshing. Congratulations, kudos to you, but your whole staff for realizing you know, we're in a different day. We're in a different situation we need to make this work. And it sounds like commitment that everybody on your team is making to each other and to the mission. is just is just unbelievable. Really I mean, I've just not heard this from anyone yet and I'm sure there's some others out there but Gosh, that's, that's enlightening. It's refreshing it's, it's it's really cool that, you know, you feel that way your people feel that way they've, they've put all that work in. And I agree with your last point I think this pays off, you know, over and over again when whenever we get back to playing whatever that means there's gonna be a lot of confidence in that organization knowing that excuse me, you guys have been engaged. You've been preparing for whatever is going to happen. And now you're ready to go. So that's that's congratulations again on that. So let me let me ask you a question. Oh players, everyone worries about players and you know, they are unique lot. Players. But in you mentioned earlier, you've had communication. Chris has had communication with them throughout this whole period of time. But they are on they're on a clock, they're on a body clock. They're on a training clock, you know, they're constantly sort of looking at their entire year and where they're supposed to be at any given point in time. How have they been, as far as, you know, accepting the circumstances they're in and doing the work, and now they're gonna play? I mean, how's everybody feel about what they've seen so far?
Unknown Speaker :That's a really good question. I think. Let's start with the last piece our they feel about going to play I think they're excited to go to Orlando. Get back together. I think what the players miss most and you touched on it is, you know, as a player, you have your routine daily, you get up breakfast training facility, you're together. And it is truly the sort of that team environment on a daily basis, so they missed all of that clearly. So Chris, set up these zoom calls with smaller groups, and then Would it be those smaller, larger groups they still did. They tried to keep the routine as close to what it was before, as possibly close as it was before, when you think about their video sessions, they had them daily with, you know, if they're looking at defenders goalkeepers, all those things, they would have their video sessions. And then they would have team training sessions, literally where a fitness coach would have all the guys on zoom in their apartments or their house, doing some form of work just so they could have that interaction. And then the players themselves set up sort of these coffee chats where they would get together just to get together via zoom to stay connected. So they were in shape. And we've been tracking where their fitness levels were at. You know, I'll say at the end of the first part of our season when we played Salt Lake, and where they were when they came back, and most of them we're at the same level, if not better, so it tells you that they were committed to the workouts, we were Giving them and obviously with technology as you know, they're inputting how they feel every day so we get a sense of what their mood was, and their mood was always fairly positive. And as we're getting closer and closer to this tournament, things have just gotten much better and they're excited. They're ready, Chris. Chris has tuned up and ready to go. We're going early to Orlando. We're leaving tomorrow the team is leaving. So they have 10 days to prepare, get acclimated with the weather, the bubble environment down in Orlando and be ready for Atlanta on July 11.
Unknown Speaker :It's hot, bring some sunscreen and bring a lot of cold towels man it is it is it is full full on summer right now is unbelievable.
Unknown Speaker :They train data they practiced or had a scrimmage Sunday night at Red Bull arena at 1030 because they have a game at 1030 down in Orlando so they wanted to get their bodies acclimated to that. And our captain has been really Sean Davis has been phenomenal. Community community Getting with the players and with the staff and integrating the players as I told your over earlier on our all staff meetings we integrated the players really drive connection so they didn't feel you know, isolated and alone and I think it's helped get them so prepared to go down to Orlando
Unknown Speaker :it must help as well to see Bundesliga CPL getting started again. I mean if you're a player you're like, hey, let's you know they're starting in other places in the world. Let's get going here.
Unknown Speaker :Oh 100% I think everyone is you and I and everyone loves the game is so excited to see see soccer and see the league right we're going to be back and we're hopeful that it it goes really well and our team you know, we've got fresh young legs so the heat is obviously going to play pay its toll on everyone and hopefully our guys are, are fresh and energized. Yeah, we're excited for you know, the the Women's League. excited to see them go off. See, as you know, we're we're partners with the sky blue and they train at our facility. They've been trained at our facility, we would hope to see him at Red Bull Arena in the fall. But obviously, they're just doing their tournament. But it's exciting to see that happen.
Unknown Speaker :We're trying to get them on next week to sort of get an update on how's it going and the things they've learned from getting back out on the field. So that'll be interesting. If we can get it aligned. Obviously, they're also very busy the same as you guys are. So quickly, let's talk about the fans and what I mean you got a lot going on, you're communicating, you're planning you're executing the best you can in these situations. And you've got a group of fans. And I got to believe you don't know. We playing Are we not playing after Orlando? are we selling tickets? We're not selling tickets. What what's what's that like?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I think that's been also one of the biggest challenges for the staff is the uncertainty of you know, COVID every day transports going so communicating with our fans. As I told you, we've been upfront you know, if if you're not comfortable with The season Whatever may happen, you can ask for a refund or roll it over to next year. After Orlando, we're pretty confident we're going to get as many games as possible as we can into have a real season and playoffs and the league is working on that model. But what we've done with our sales team and our services team is really they've been focusing on every day just a call checking in on our fans, how are you doing? How's your family because obviously, their families have been impacted, right? We're in New Jersey and New York, one of the the epicenter of this outbreak in the US. So we've really focused on just simply just Hey, checking in, is there anything we can do for you, anything you need from us? And I think that's gone a long way with our fans to the point where some of them are saying, hey, I want to pay in full this year because I know it's gonna help you keep your job. And they're really committing to helping the organization. So we've received so many great emails and notes or messages like that from Our staff, our fans, it's really it reinforces that our strategy has been good right over communicate, care for them, take care of them and do what's right DNA. We've told the sales team, you know what's right. Just make that decision when you're on the phone call with that fan.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, that's, that's really, that's really good advice. I mean, and you're right, you're limited to what you can do so over communicating, being honest with them caring about them, because they care about you as well. I mean, those are things that I'm afraid others will overlook, but they're so crucial because it's gonna come back as well. So a great job with that. So look on the way in or this morning, I saw this was a question you were ready for. I saw your eat champions. So yeah, what what the heck does that mean to an old timer like me? What's a new champion? So
Unknown Speaker :you know that MLS has a each team as an FIFA player that plays on the on a console, yep. So they have the season where there is an MLS Cup and our player. George has been really great. We brought him in this year. He's he just went through the tournament, and ended up in the finals and won the MLS Cup, which is the second year, the third year the League has had it, I believe. And it's think about there were 62,000 people watching this event, Sunday, right. So that tells you the magnitude and the interest in eSports. And obviously, MLS. So it was pretty good for George for our team to win the cup here. And it's just another way for us to connect with our fans. And hopefully these fans who are watching online, we can get them to engage with us and be in the stadium eventually, right? Because it's a younger audience and we'd like to get them to not only watch us online, but come out and see our players but George's The best of the best you know he's
Unknown Speaker :you mentioned you brought George is George compensated for what he does?
Unknown Speaker :Oh yeah, he's under contract with us just like an athlete just like a player. Absolutely.
Unknown Speaker :And was he a Red Bull fan? Or is he like a gaming expert that you've you've branded you bought him on the open market?
Unknown Speaker :No, he's a Red Bull fan. So he he goes to a Delphi or went to a Delphi played soccer. I think he got injured so couldn't finish out his career playing soccer there. It was always a fan of our team. And our we have someone in that space that helped us connect with him. And yeah, it's just like any other athlete that you you sign to your team, right. So he is an athlete and he athletes for us and he's been a great representative. You know, virtually in the game and outside of the game. He's just a great young man. That's awesome and I
Unknown Speaker :love the attention is brought you know MLS in all series, I didn't know that was the tournament was going on. And although I'm not a player I get it. And I, you know, I saw this stuff was NASCAR and a racecar drivers as well. And I think it was a good placeholder. Well, will it continue to grow? You think once you're back on the field or it was a moment of ray of sunshine and it'll pass?
Unknown Speaker :No, I think it's been from the first year to now it's been growing. You know, the content it generates for us. Online is phenomenal throughout the year, and George competes globally. So I think it's gonna keep growing because you've seen other sports franchises invest in in eSports teams. This is just, I think the start of Esports and the growth of it over the coming years.
Unknown Speaker :All right, well, Georgia is my new guy now, so I had to get a George jersey or something I don't know. Then we got figure that one out. Okay, so look, we're pushing the time. I've got a few Things hit. We can do the sort of quick fire. You don't have to go into too much detail. Team goals for Lando, what will what will constitute success they're
Unknown Speaker :playing in the last game of the tournament.
Unknown Speaker :So the winner got on right? Yeah. Okay, good. Luck it out. Look for the rest of 2020. Deep down What do you think really happens?
Unknown Speaker :I think we get through Orlando it's a huge success for MLS and then we come home and we play games. You know, most likely. I don't know yet if it's gonna have some fans or no fans, but we're gonna play games and have our season and have the playoffs and have an MLS Cup champion.
Unknown Speaker :When will MLS Cup occur? Do you think now is it pushed back to like early December like it used to be?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I think if you you know, logically, if you look at the timelines, it would have to be pushed back to early December. Okay. That's all Yes.
Unknown Speaker :Okay. This isn't, it will be hard to quickfire. But yeah, walk us through you. Use ID in development or Red Bull New York. I really wanted to spend some more time on this. But you know, what's sort of important? And how do you go about it? What's your philosophy? I guess I mean, anything you can share?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah. So you know, we have, you know, for your audience, we have a youth development program that is legitimately the largest Youth Development Program across all major league sports. So we touch about 45 to 50,000 kids a year in the metro New York area. So that is the base of sort of our development platform and youth ID. So we have coaches and scouts that look at these 45,000 kids. Then we identify usually the top, I'd say 1500 to 3000 kids, put them in elite development platform. And then from that 1500 to 3000 kids we do into look to a smaller group, obviously, that we believe has the future potential of being a pro soccer player. And then we enrolled them in our academy that's fully funded. So we have a network of coaches that manages these 40 to 50,000 kids, then we have scouts also in the community that are looking at players. And that all funnels into our pyramid that leads to our academy and then our USL team, and then the first team in MLS. So it's probably the the one thing we do, I'd say best is this youth development platform. And it becomes basically a pipeline and a funnel for us to just find the best athletes and soccer players
Unknown Speaker :may have just answered my next last question. All right, two more.
Unknown Speaker :In a normal year, that's even possible to remember what that was like in a normal year, what would your top two or three priorities be throughout the year?
Unknown Speaker :So obviously, the fan experience fan engagement and growing, keep growing the engagement in the fan bases is going to be a priority as we keep going and driving towards the World Cup like I talked about earlier.
Unknown Speaker :Number two is in Investing in
Unknown Speaker :our human capital and our staff and making sure that we have the best staff to execute on our strategies and help them develop our strategies. And number three is making sure that our infrastructure remains sort of a benchmark, the stadium, the training facility, and everything we can provide our players and our staff to have the best experience, which ultimately translates back to that first point which drives fan engagement, partner engagements. And more people falling in love with the game and growing this game. Ultimately,
Unknown Speaker :enter all the Red Bull clubs
Unknown Speaker :communicating or coordinating or looking for best practices on the field and off the field with each other.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, from on the commercial side and in the sporting side. There's weekly contacts meetings, to make sure we're just leveraging best practices. from around the globe, and it's it's one of the unique advantages we have in Yeah, in soccer.
Unknown Speaker :Yep. And last next last one, what is Red Bull New York do better than anyone else.
Unknown Speaker :I'd say it's one as I told you, our youth training programs, it's simply, you know, second to none. We've had the guy who runs it Dave jervis. He's been to the NBA, the NFL to talk about what we do. We have set the standard there in terms of recruiting the right coaches, the right standards. And I think what really sets us apart there is that we don't solely focus on soccer, but we focus on developing the player on the field and off the field through, you know, leadership skills, anti bullying, sensitivity training, and all those things that are really important, especially in today's age. So really proud of that. And I would say it's, it's unique to us.
Unknown Speaker :Absolutely. Awesome. Last question. And this is have been great, any great stories or shenanigans to share with our listeners.
Unknown Speaker :I mean, there's so many, so many so many. I could just tell you that throughout this pandemic, we've had a little bit of fun in our meetings, either from, you know, doing some karaoke or, or other skits and all that. And I'll tell you that our academy coaches, I mean, literally phenomenal. So we've seen all sorts of skill sets that we would have never found found out through a normal daily routine, and people have been able to share and open up and it's great to see all this come together. And we have some unique skill sets.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I want to come up and work for you guys. Look, I really admire your work and your leadership at Red Bull New York. And Mark, I want to thank you for taking time out of this busy time of the year to come join us and share with our inside soccer listeners. Again, much success and thank you for joining us and I'm sure all of us will be following you closely now and We'll be looking for you to hoist some trophies here at the end of the year.
Unknown Speaker :I appreciate the conversation bill. Always a pleasure. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker :Inside soccer fans tune in again Thursday. invite a friend to listen for more MLS discussion, and be sure to catch all the past episodes which can be found on www inside top sports.com Thank you