Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #101 - Keith Baldwin bought a bar in Detroit and is turning it into a Soccer Bar!

Transcript

I Hate Soccer #101 - Keith Baldwin bought a bar in Detroit and is turning it into a Soccer Bar! · I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth

0:00
SPEAKER_02: Every man in the world has said these five words at some point in their life.
0:07
SPEAKER_02: We should buy a bar.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: Keith Baldwin just did that.
0:11
SPEAKER_02: He bought a bar in downtown Detroit and he is turning it into a soccer bar.
0:17
SPEAKER_02: And his main primary focus is the World Cup.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: And it's going to be the World Cup uh spot to watch World Cup games.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: And it's in downtown Detroit.
0:27
SPEAKER_02: It's actually going to be a mile from Detroit City FC's new stadium.
0:32
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, uh those fans love to walk to the stadium uh from wherever they, you know, pre-game at.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: He's a former coach.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: He used to coach for uh the Wolves Hawks, he's coached for Liverpool, Michigan, and he also coached for the Nationals for a time.
0:49
SPEAKER_02: And his daughter is a division one player uh down in Florida, and we just discuss what's going into the bar and just developing you know a culture of how we need more soccer bars.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: And uh I mean, I am come coming from Buffalo.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: We have Mesquai, uh, which is a big soccer bar in downtown well in North Buffalo.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Uh but Detroit is kind of a vacant space when it comes to soccer bars.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: We have everything else when it comes to soccer, but we don't have a soccer bar until now.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh the Regal Eagle, it's uh it's opening uh officially this Wednesday, two days from now.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: So check out the episode.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: Please like, share, uh, subscribe.
1:39
SPEAKER_02: And if you're in the Michigan area, in the Detroit area, please go and check out the Regal Eagle.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be a blast all month, all year.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: Right after the World Cup, we go right back into EPL.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: So enjoy getting to know Keith and uh go get a beer.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: I hate soccer.
1:58
SPEAKER_02: I mean, one, you've gotten a lot of work done since I came here.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: What was that, two weeks ago now?
2:04
SPEAKER_02: About two weeks, yeah.
2:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, two weeks ago, and then I mean did you ever watch uh How I Met Your Mother at all?
2:12
SPEAKER_02: No, I I haven't.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: I know what it is, but yeah.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: But there's like a line in it.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: It's like every man says five words once in their life, and it's like, we should buy a bar.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Man, it's like, what made you want to do this?
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's it's funny.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: I got a really close friend who's always said we should buy an English bar, man, do an English bar.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: But I've said that's kind of really the last thing I want to do, but just because I got other things going on, but uh, and uh I and also he's a really good friend.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: I knew he was uh uh full of it because I knew if we had one, he'd just drink there, he wouldn't be involved in running it.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: So I always kind of reminded him of that.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: But when I saw this property, um I have another business and I wanted to get a uh location downtown for that business.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a business uh yeah, it's merchant processing.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't really need an office for, but I could buy a corporate building and I wanted one that has uh an apartment type thing, so I could always have a place downtown.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: And I was looking in Eastern Market, didn't see kind of what I wanted, like expanded the search, and this building in Southwest came up.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, it's a bar, and it's got an apartment above it, and it's kind of in a cool area, right by Corktown.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: I have some customers around here, I know this area, and I was like, Well, I guess and the stadium's moving here, I guess it wouldn't be that hard to make it a soccer bar.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: So I kind of went back to my friend and said, uh, hey, I found that bar you've talked about for 10 years, but I know you're for the crap and that she won't invest when it comes to it.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: So you can still come drink here when I do it.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Is he helping?
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Is he no?
3:47
SPEAKER_00: Of course he's not.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: I love him though, but uh he will come drink here.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: Man, I mean, how you gotta be careful of like the freeloaders of like just the people that just want to come and oh he'll be buying these things.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: I'll give him one free.
4:03
SPEAKER_02: Oh god.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: So when I mean technically you're already open, yeah.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: So I have the liquor license.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, we've been quietly open uh for about a week with some days closed.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh kind of my first day of inviting people in was the Crystal Palace Conference League final.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like we're having a we're investing a lot of money into the parking lot and our beer patio, having it reconcreted, re-asphalted.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: So you don't really want people coming until that's done.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Like they they're welcome um with this weekend gone.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: I know this podcast is going out Monday, Tuesday.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Um so we're quietly open this weekend gone.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: We'll be open full time from Wednesday.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: So the whole World Cup and forever, um, this this bar is open now.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: I mean, and you said last time that this is there's no soccer bars or football bars in Detroit.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: In my in my opinion, there isn't, and I don't mean that as a bash to anyone's uh uh sell sell uh show soccer games.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Like to me, you know, a rising tide lifts all ships.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: So I got plenty of love for McShanes, Thomas McGee's, Dog and Pony, all those guys who show soccer, but I think they might admit they they have other focuses as well.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they are bars that show soccer games.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Our focus as we set up is we are a soccer bar.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Our focus is showing soccer games and providing good beer, good entertainment, uh, good drinks, not just beer, and uh a great beer garden atmosphere.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: So our main focus is soccer, you know, it's not just something we also show.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I love everyone that's been involved in the soccer community, and those guys showing those games when others didn't have really helped, you know, giving fans a place to go over the years.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: And with with the stadium, I mean you're gonna be a mile from the stadium, is that not?
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Just under a mile, yeah.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: You basically come out, go across along Verna a little bit, and left on the 20th, and about another half a mile, you're at the stadium.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: And that's a big piece of Detroit City FC, is the walk, is the walk from wherever they are to the stadium.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: And if they have multiple places where you can go pre-game, that just improves the experience for everybody.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I I would assume that uh, you know, they'll be walking from different bars.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: I think ours is a cool walk.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's uh because you go over uh 7596, so you could go with your flags and your smoke over the freeway, and then you uh turn left on 20 if you go under a railway, railroad bridge, and then you're kind of there.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's a it's a cool place to come from.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: I mean Andrew Okay.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: How long have you been in Michigan?
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Just over 20 years, and in the States about 28.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: 28.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: And then and you were in Portland?
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I came, I was doing my college degree in England, and uh it was a sports management degree, and then they basically said, uh, you know, we're giving you a chance to do your FA coaching badge, you know, um in the summer, they're putting on a course here.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: So me and a group of friends did it, and I enjoyed coaching.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: And from that badge, the guy says, Hey, MLS Camps is recruiting guys to come out.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: And so about 10 of us applied.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: We got hired by MLS Camps.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: All my friends got sent to their kind of their hotbed in like Connecticut.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: I think one went to Atlanta, and randomly, as a 20-year-old, they said, You're going to LA.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Okay.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: So I did LA for the summer.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: I was crazy.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: I'd never been to America before.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: And then one week I'm coaching in Palm Springs where there's Ferraris and cars driving down uh you know the the the main drag.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: And then 20 minutes away is a place called Banin, uh, which is maybe it's a bit harsh on Banin to say it looks like a third world country, but it it couldn't be more different to Palm Springs, and it was just like the juxtaposition of those two places in America, and and you know, it was just it was just really interesting.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: And uh I went back, did my final year at uni, came back out, was lucky enough then to go coach in Hawaii and uh San Jose and San Francisco.
8:00
SPEAKER_02: Which island?
8:01
SPEAKER_02: Which island?
8:01
SPEAKER_00: I was um eight weeks on uh nine weeks on the big island, two on Maui.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: No, sorry, nine weeks on Oahu, two on Maui, one on the big island.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: I love the big island.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: I've only been to the big island, but I love the big island, and soccer's good out there.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, I haven't been back, unfortunately, but yeah, I mean people loved it.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a big Asian influence on those islands, so uh yeah, people people really enjoyed soccer 27 years ago out there.
8:25
SPEAKER_02: One of my best friends did the MLS camps, uh Paul Stanley.
8:29
SPEAKER_02: He's from England, and he's I think he's like in China now.
8:34
SPEAKER_02: He's like teaching English as a second language, but that's how he got over here.
8:38
SPEAKER_02: And he toured basically he was in multiple different spots.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if MLS does that stuff anymore.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, it was North American soccer camps who had the agreement so they could brand as MLS camps.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they are anymore.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: That was quite a while ago.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: Back then it was two big camps, like Britannia or British soccer camps, and then MLS camps.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, a lot of people got their start out, some ended up finding finding love and getting married and staying out here.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Some of us just uh somehow put it together to stay out here.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, um, but after my second stint, yeah, my visa ran out.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: So I went back to England um and I worked for six months, saved up some money.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: I knew I'd done fairly well, and I then applied and got the job as a regional manager, and they flew me back out and I was in Nashville and I ran the south for MLS camps and kind of just stayed out from there ever since.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: And then what's why Michigan?
9:30
SPEAKER_01: Why did you stay in Michigan?
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh well, yeah, long story short, you know, left MLS Camps, eventually ended up in a sales business, and I was in the south, moved to Birmingham, Alabama for that.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Then that company moved to San Francisco, and I moved with them, and then from San Francisco, they opened up a location in Portland, Oregon, and I was out there um door-to-door business-to-business sales, full commission.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, you know, just making it work, you know, trying to build a team, as it were, and then uh eventually did enough to get promoted to run my own office slash franchise.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they offered me San Jose, but I was like, I want to go somewhere completely different.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: I've been to San Jose.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: So I waited another month, and they're like, one of our clients wants to open in Detroit.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, yep, never been there, so I'll go.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh took two people, we started an office and uh grew that office quite big in six months, but then I went back to England and the and uh my visa wasn't in my thing properly, and then got stuck for eight months, eight weeks, and it was full commission.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: My salespeople and another office enticed them away, and I came back to like an office of one after 10 weeks because people didn't know if I was coming back.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Had to kind of but I had met a lady then, and but then I had to move to um uh uh Philly and then from Philly to Jacksonville, from Jacksonville to Atlanta, and me and this lady who had been dating for six weeks stayed long distance for two years.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: She got pregnant with my daughter, who's now 19, and we came back and we eventually got married, had another kid.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: But uh, that's what brought me back to Detroit.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I've always liked Detroit.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's to me, it's there's other great places in America, but Detroit's great, Michigan's great, and it's a good base.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to get other places from here as well.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, especially like Delta.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:12
SPEAKER_02: I mean, hub and whatnot.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: But where is your daughter playing right now?
11:16
SPEAKER_00: She plays for Stetson D1 school in Florida, like an hour north of Orlando, 30 minutes inland from Daytona.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: And she's a what, a freshman or sophomore?
11:26
SPEAKER_00: She just finished her freshman year.
11:27
SPEAKER_02: How did it go?
11:28
SPEAKER_00: Great, yeah.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: She got tons of playing time.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, she started off as a defensive mid, but then ended up really as a main defender for them.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Really?
11:36
SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, she's center back?
11:39
SPEAKER_00: They moved to a three-back system and she's uh she's left-footed, good with both feet, but yeah, she's kind of left of the three backs when they play that system.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: Got it.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: And she played at Hawks?
11:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, uh yeah.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've been in Michigan.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Oh, one second.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not a problem.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: This episode is brought to you by the North American Soccer Expo.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: If you remember last year when I had Alexi Lawless on, so many of you were blown away and kept on messaging me like, how did you get Alexi Lawless to talk to you?
12:08
SPEAKER_02: And to be honest with you, it was the North American Soccer Expo.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: The expo has workshops and seminars and field presentations from top coaches and industry experts.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: I will be there this year 100%.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: I'll be set up on podcast row.
12:25
SPEAKER_02: In addition to the podcasts that I'm going to be filming there, I'm also going to have an open hour where any coach at the expo or anybody at the expo can come sit down at the chair and have a one-on-one 15-minute chat with me, and you guys can just come and chat and talk about whatever you want.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: North American Soccer Expo, July 30th to August 1st, Novi, Michigan.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: I'll see you there.
12:50
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that has to happen all day, every day.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I mean, I don't keep it locked most of the time, but yeah, we've had people walk in, we've had people walk in thinking I'll just give me a report, and then they see the knot and they walk out.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, no, come in and have a beer, like come see what we're doing.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, like we want you to be local again.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: So we were talking about your daughter and her youth.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: So I was coaching at the Wolves Hawks when they were still one club, and so she kind of started there.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Then I got a good offer to go uh coach at Liverpool.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: It was the first year they became Liverpool from the Bloomfield Force, and then uh as the national started, I went over there and my daughter followed, and uh then she played there on a really good 07 team, and uh then she finished off her last couple years at Liverpool and ECNL and then off to college.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: She went.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: And are you coaching right now?
13:39
SPEAKER_00: No, I've coached really ever since I've been in America these past two years.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: I've kind of taken off.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I do some private coaching, but as a team, you know, you kind of, I think as most coaches like, you kind of put your heart and soul into it, and uh it takes up a lot of time.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: And you know, as I was moving and you know, I got divorced, you know, as and I got my daughter's last year of uh soccer, so I wanted to follow her around and I didn't want to have to be tied down to a team, and and then uh then this came up and that came up.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: So I definitely like to get back into coaching, but um these last year and a half and this coming up year is uh kind of a break for me from team coaching.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: Right.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: Just looking around.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: I mean, okay, so obviously you're a Crystal Palace supporter.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
14:24
SPEAKER_02: Is it hard for somebody like you to put up a Manchester United like jersey and stuff like that in your bar?
14:31
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm sure like when you were a kid thinking about like a bar or whatever, you're like, no, no Liverpool stuff, no man you stuff, just a Crystal Palace bar.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: I I'm a bit less tribal these days.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just you know, maybe I've just mellowed a bit.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: I just got a lot of love for my club, but then I love like you know, we love the game, right?
14:52
SPEAKER_00: We love the passion supporters have for their club.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: So Man United kind of used to be the evil empire.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Now we just kind of uh it's we've all taken a bit of pleasure in their struggles the last 15 years or whatever.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Liverpool the same.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, but you know, I just like the passion of it all, and I like the game as a whole.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, I do jokingly say uh no Brighton fans allowed in here, but you know.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: What did your daughter think of you starting a bar?
15:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh I vote, you know, I think she's amused by it, maybe.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe in on the inside she likes it and is uh, you know, it's hard to get stuff out of her.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: But I think she uh hopefully, you know, though I I kind of my mission statement with this is that uh people it's a place for the community to come, debate, um, have fun, talk about anything, uh whether it be soccer, you know, and people say don't tell talk about religion and politics.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, talk about religion and politics if you're here, but just be able to talk about it.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: I want people to be able to converse, make memories, talk about soccer, debate, all the stuff soccer fans debate.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: And you know, as you um grow over the years, I'd like for it to be a core memory of hey, remember when we watched World Cup 2026 at the Regal Eagle.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: And I had a good friend actually uh shout out to Gio with the Carpathia Kickers.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: He stopped in the other day with his kids to tell you?
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: He stopped in with his kids, took a picture by our front door, and says, I want to take a picture of my kids here every four years at the World Cup.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of what we want.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: We want this to be a core memory over here as people grow up.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: I think it will be, and it's just such a unique spot.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: What was it before?
16:31
SPEAKER_00: So this was this is this has got a long history.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: I've actually just found out more and more about, but I think it was around since like the late 20s.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, a lady Giovanna bought it in I guess the 70s, single mom, raised the kids, made it an Italian place, found out that she had a full kitchen and some other things.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, 13 years ago, she sold to a guy who just kind of took it over, didn't put the ton into it.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: He had other businesses, but he just kind of let it tick over and ran it as a as a bar, uh, but you know, just a bar without doing too much with it as it wasn't his main focus.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: And and then we've taken it over and uh you know, cleaned it, redone it, uh, repainted, we like really just kind of done a lot to it in a short amount of time.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh but what the main thing I really liked when I saw this building was the the the back patio.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: And uh so we've been focusing on the inside and the outside.
17:24
SPEAKER_02: Right.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was when I went to Utah, I uh had some friends out there and we went to this uh bar uh that uh one of their friends owned, and they had like the a back patio that was very similar in size to yours.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: I need to get some pictures and send it to you because it's like okay, this is this is Keys, this is his vision.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like the exact same style, but I love like the screen out there, so and you're right, you can see the game from very far away.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've doubled the size of the back patio, especially by the end of Tuesday when our asphalting is finished.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: So we've doubled the size of what it is, and uh yeah, you can see it and stand and sit outside, and uh, we obviously got big screens inside, and uh the biggest thing for me is we we're gonna have the sound on.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: That's what I was just gonna ask.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Is like, are you gonna play if there's not a game on, is there just gonna be music playing?
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean a little slogan I've came up on or thought with is sound on, atmosphere up.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: So you know, so you can watch the game, listen to the commentary.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, between games, we have a jukebox, we have the ability to put background music on.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Right.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, you got the jukebox for music as well.
18:33
SPEAKER_02: Do you do you have like your favorite bars growing up, like in your 20s and stuff, that you're like, okay, I like this, and like you've just put that in your memory bank and just like remember stuff?
18:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know if I was scouting out bars for a future bar back then or just going out with friends.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, you just you remember good times, actually.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, got news this morning.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: A college soccer friend of mine tragically passed away, and I hadn't seen him in about 10 years, but it was last at a bar with a group of mine college soccer friends.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: He was a guy he kept in touch with in uh on Facebook and stuff.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, bars is as long as it's just is a vessel to create memories, right?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: So it's not so much about the bar itself, it's like is it a place you go to you feel comfortable where you can create memories?
19:20
SPEAKER_00: So I mean, uh yeah, is it we're trying to make it a comfortable atmosphere for people and something that they'll want to come and spend time with?
19:28
SPEAKER_02: I mean, Buffalo, where I've been the last 11 years, they have one big uh soccer bar, and it's 7 a.m.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: or 9 a.m.
19:40
SPEAKER_02: open on Saturdays and Sundays, and it's really kind of it's kind of turned into an arsenal bar, which is annoying.
19:47
SPEAKER_02: But that's just me because uh I've always had run-ins with those like fans, just like being pompous, but now they hick they can actually flaunt something and they can brag about something.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah, yeah.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: 22 years, but hey, they won it, so there you go.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
20:04
SPEAKER_02: But uh, yeah, and those crowds can be uh crazy and just huge and packed out the doors, and like I can envision this place being the spot for because people think Detroit, and they think people that don't know, they think that Detroit's dangerous and not safe and not good community.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: That's could not be further from the truth.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I hope that percentage is significantly going down, not even every year, every month.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when I first moved to Detroit, yeah, it's a don't go below eight mile type thing, but maybe naivety in my old time and Detroit.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: I've never felt particularly unsafe.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think everyone's seen the development, everyone's seen uh a lot of things.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't gone on the uh river walk all the way basically from here to Belle Isle, you should.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing, it's beautiful what they've done.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I mean, Detroit is in my opinion safe, especially downtown, and then there's crime in the suburbs too.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
21:03
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, um, I I have no issue being here.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Right.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
21:09
SPEAKER_02: And all this stuff that all this stuff is yours, and then everything else that's hung up is pretty much donated, except the the Mexico, Canada, and USA kit.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we try and uh everything we're putting on the wall, we want there to be a story behind.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: So obviously the Crystal Palace things, um, it's basically all mine.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, however, um this one got donated, the the white one, if you can see that behind me, that got donated by someone I met at a chamber meeting, nothing to do with this bar.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: We just ended up talking.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: He said his brother went to England 30 years ago and bought a couple of soccer shirts back.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, which ones?
21:43
SPEAKER_00: And he sent me a picture.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: It was like a Saint Etienne one and then this Crystal Palace one, both in perfect condition from like 30 years ago.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, Well, I'm owning a bar, I would love that palace one here.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, he donated it.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: And then um the signed Lacroix one got sent to me by the club this year.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: This montage of Ezekiel.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: Sent by the club?
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, sent by the club.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: I know some people at the club don't have amazing and don't claim amazing connections, but I'm able to reach out to some people.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: It's a very great family club.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: I grew up playing with a guy called Leon McKenzie.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: He uh made it pro, scored a lot of goals for Palace.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: He actually scored, went to Norwich, scored against Man United.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: He's from a boxing family.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: Um when Palace came here in 2023, I was able to uh get them get my team, I coach at the time, a private session with them at Oakland University.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: It was just us.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, the team was amazing.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: And you know, you mentioned Arsenal.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: It's hard for me to have any to not have feelings for Arsenal right now because of Ezra.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Like as a person, you know, Eze was more than you could want meeting these kids.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: The eye contact, the unlimited time you spent with them.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: It was like just this guy just gets it and is an amazing person.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: I wish I was that evolved in my early 20s.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Right.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: How is your relationship with Detroit City FC?
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Well, good.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: I've known Dave Dweh here for quite a while.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we played men's soccer against each other for a long time, known him.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: He's a he's a great guy, and uh yeah, let him know the plans and he's excited.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously, DCFC is trying to create relationships for a lot of people, and I let him know that our main wall over here is gonna be a DCFC wall.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: So we have our big screen over there.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: We have he gave me a bunch of uh um vintage DCFC jersey.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: I say vintage, some are from last year, but all the ones, and we we've nicely framed them.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, we're gonna put some scarves and pennants up, but this wall is the DCFC wall.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: We want to be a home for DCFC fans, um, fans, you know, for the home games and for watching away games for the men and women.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a good idea too.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: I mean soccer sometimes I worry.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: Okay, like Buffalo, right?
23:51
SPEAKER_02: Buffalo is trying to do this USL championship or whatever, and they're trying to build a stadium and everything, and it's following through, and it's not gonna happen.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: They they're originally said that okay, 20 2027 is gonna be our first year in the league.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Well, no, they just announced nope, not happening.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: But here, there's something different here, and it's is it the grassroots growth of Detroit City FC?
24:20
SPEAKER_02: Like, what is it that and then I was out at Utah with MLS next, and they were talking about how Detroit, how does Detroit not have an MLS club?
24:29
SPEAKER_02: But it could, it could definitely be supported here, but there'd be friction between Detroit City FC and whatnot.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: But like, how how has it worked here?
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I you know, there's a few different points you make there about how it grew, MLS, why it's not here.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: I definitely have my opinions on that, but you know, how it grew it very organic, you know.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: It was amazing.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: They've got castech, they got a few hundred, and they're you know, the game three or four, they got like a thousand, and then it just grew.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, people want something grassroots like that, and then you know, the the image of it kind of even before the lions adopted the the grit logo, Detroit des C DCFC felt gritty, you know what I mean, and like people like that, and Detroit likes that.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: As you see how the Lions have used that, we like kind of that gritty pull yourself up kind of uh, and that's what DCFC's been, and uh people see it.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, in terms of no MLS, I mean back in the day they talked about um you know the the the jail site and putting an MLS stadium there, and then but then they changed it to Ford Field, which I think Phil was like intentionally killing it because MLS obviously wants uh soccer stadiums, and you know, there was a whole thing.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: We do have four pros teams here, which gets competition, and I think especially when the Tigers are not doing well, I think uh the DCFC would get more fans than the Tigers if the Tigers are doing poorly.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: So I feel they're not doing yeah, right now, you know, but it's American sports, it changes each year.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: So but you know, but again, it's I think Detroit has enough uh sports happy people to support five important teams.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, so I I think I think it's impossible for it not to come.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: I I have no idea if DCFC ever plans to be, but if they do they will have a soccer specific stadium, which I know is uh um a prerequisite, so right, you know, who knows what the future holds.
26:24
SPEAKER_02: Where is their uh training facility?
26:27
SPEAKER_02: And like their indoor facility, and don't they have a bar too?
26:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, the DCFC fieldhouse.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's a cool uh older uh Detroit ice rink complex with two ice rinks and an area upstairs.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and yeah, their their little area upstairs is a is a bar, is a cool area.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, they have an indoor field and a rink field, uh, but they're like 7v7 size.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: Where is that?
26:50
SPEAKER_00: It's on uh it's uh it's in line with Belle Isle.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: It's uh like Lafayette and uh I forgot the cross street right now, but it's right there.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: Is that stadium gonna have concerts as well?
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Did the ECFC one?
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Um I I couldn't say it's I'm sure they're going to.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but if you're gonna do the expense of a stadium, I would imagine you could make it multi-use.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: I think it holds ten to twelve, maybe.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: I think it's time to hold ten to twelve.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think it's a venue that's viable for that.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: How so when I did my facility, uh it was a nineteen seventy two build, but uh it was dilapidated, it was like just destroyed by the previous company who it was like granite countertop, okay, and they had to cut it with like water and stuff, and so there was a lot of water damage in it.
27:43
SPEAKER_02: So the owners of the property had to put in about a hundred thousand dollars to get just to get it up to code.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: So I had to uh so I basically got to design it myself.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: This building.
27:59
SPEAKER_02: How how much work did you have to get it to put pass and everything like that?
28:04
SPEAKER_02: Or was it already good?
28:05
SPEAKER_02: It's already good to go.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I haven't had to do like a whole bunch of reinspections.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, when you get a liquor license passed to you, you have to qualify for that, which is you know, you how hard is that?
28:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not a new liquor license, it's a transfer.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: So that makes it a lot easier.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: But like if I had a criminal record or certain other things, which I do not, then uh then that would make it harder to get.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, but no, we've we've got all that.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, the building is an old building, there's areas that have needed to be shored up.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then you know, uh, I used a real estate agent, I used an attorney, um, and so it dotted my eyes, crossed my T, did surveys, had inspections, and really it's uh yeah, it's good good bones, as they say.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, what's the capacity in here?
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh in here officially is 49 inside.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Um outside is the same, um, but uh we are double in that area, so that's gonna be a hundred outside when we finish doing that.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: A hundred outside.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: And uh that's within the big ones, you know.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: We can I I feel 150 in the complex as a whole, as you want to call it, is uh is a is a good thing.
29:15
SPEAKER_02: And uh and that's gonna be perfect for DCFC games.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: But with DCFC games, I mean our immediate thing is the World Cup Cup.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: We're looking forward to many different fans of in different international teams coming down here in big groups watching it.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: You know.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: How many people have already like knocked on the door thinking that you're open?
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's a few people wander in.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: We encourage it, you know.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, sometimes they turn around to go back out.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, come in, see what we're doing, have a beer.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:41
SPEAKER_02: You know, God.
29:43
SPEAKER_02: I can't wait.
29:45
SPEAKER_02: Uh what?
29:47
SPEAKER_02: All right, obviously, England games are gonna be huge.
29:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, what one's gonna be bigger?
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Where are we at?
29:54
SPEAKER_00: USA.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, we are in USA, but I'm in Mexican town.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: So I think we're looking, hey, we're looking forward to supporting the USA.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: We know it's rivals, but uh Mexico games are gonna be massive, USA games are gonna be massive.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: I got some good uh Japanese friends in the Novi area.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: They're actually gonna feature they're my sleeper, yeah.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: They're my Kamada from Palace.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: But we we actually spoke to a rep yesterday.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: We've ordered a bunch of sake, we're doing Japanese parties uh for those uh Japan games.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, we want you know all the different groups coming down, but yeah, Mexico games, England games, uh Japan, uh all of them.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
30:32
SPEAKER_02: USA What are you doing for marketing?
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're doing quite a bit on social media.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: I have uh someone in charge of that, and the team, you know, with the website's not really, it should be up by the time this goes out.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I mean there's only so much I can do.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I know a lot of people, so we've been getting the word out, but yeah, we got a presence on Instagram at the Regal Eagle Detroit, okay Facebook The Regal Eagle Detroit.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, uh and through the adult league I'm involved in the MUSL, people know about us.
31:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh I know a lot of people in youth coaching, people know about us.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: Of course, so I feel like everyone's kind of ready to come.
31:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, just the soccer community alone, uh, it's huge.
31:12
SPEAKER_02: And we wonder, again, going back to the DCFC and their success, the soccer's community here is massive, and it's old.
31:21
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's first or it's second and third generation by now.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you know, uh, there's so many good players come from here.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, Michelle Cooper now's in the US team from here.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: You got Michaela Johnson, Chloe Ricketts, Liddy Jacyl, you know, all up and coming players, all in the US group.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh Keely Titmus as well.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so and I know I'm missing out.
31:43
SPEAKER_02: No, and that's just the winning side.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm we're missing out more than half of them as well that have made it to trade province.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: So Detroit and its clubs produce players.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, you've got uh Malik now, who's made his debut for Philadelphia Union, he started in this Detroit area.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I I don't know per capita if we uh produce more people, more players than Chicago, you know, but we're both hubs and we both you know do a great job of uh doing soccer here.
32:10
SPEAKER_02: So you didn't go like on a on a soccer bar tour or anything like that, like of trying to get ideas.
32:18
SPEAKER_02: This is all just your vision.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've I've gone to the soccer bars over the years.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: I you know, I mean I talked about when I first went to LA, I have a core memory of uh in '98 celebrating Sol Campbell's extra time goal against Argentina that wrongly got disallowed.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: That game.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: That was Beckham's red card, right?
32:36
SPEAKER_00: No, was that little red yeah?
32:39
SPEAKER_00: No, he got the red card in South Korea, didn't he?
32:41
SPEAKER_00: Or was it 2002?
32:43
SPEAKER_00: I think it was 2002.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: But this was the Michael Owen goal.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: This was the Mercury Owen goal game.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: And uh then Argentina scored that well-worked free kick at halftime, and and uh yeah, then we lost on penalties.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: That that old story.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, but that was a George Bestes bar, Besties, you know, so that closed a few years later.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: But I've been to bars in Manhattan and other, I've seen what they do, but some of them are much bigger spaces.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, I wanted this to still feel like a house because it's kind of got that house feel, yeah, and be a bit more intimate.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, you know, we're we're gonna have a scarf wall out the back where some people hang all their scars from the ceiling.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's quite the right look, you know.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, but we we want people to bring stuff in as well.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: We've got a space on the wall for like four by six pictures that people take here.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: We may put a regular's wall up, um, you know, like some of the people we just mentioned.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, when they come in, we'll do a picture of them and put them on a wall.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: So we want it to feel kind of when you come in, uh, we want it to feel like yours.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: I got a message from a lady yesterday saying, Any chance you can make it a Sheffield United bar?
33:49
SPEAKER_00: And I sent back, I actually got a picture of me and Chris Wilder.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: I was lucky enough to go watch his training session a few years ago.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: Said, hey, look, I got a lot of love for blades, bring in, bring in the scarf.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: I said, even better, bring in a sign shirt by Sean Bean.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: But you know, we won't be a Sheffield United bar, but we want it to feel like it's your home.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: It's a football bar.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: So if you like football soccer, it's it's your home.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh no food.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh no food in the we are not cooking.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: Right.
34:15
SPEAKER_02: I do have the taco truck.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: We have the taco truck.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: We have a fantastic pizza place over the road, Sicily's pizza.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: My my my truck in my parking lot, he makes fantastic food, and we have the ability to bring in guest vendors, and we have actually a grill out the back, like a proper Mexican grill, like with fireproof bricks and oven out the back that we can do uh special cooking events on as well.
34:38
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's good to know, and good for everybody to know, and it's gonna make your life way easier.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: The food I don't have room in here to cook.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there is a grill actually we've just removed, but it's uh doesn't uh we don't want to be uh cooking on the on the blacktop here, you know.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: Um I'm the guy at the bar that always if there's a game on one of my biggest like one thing that drives me nuts when I'm at a like a bar is we're watching uh let's say we're watching a basketball game, and then after the game is over, they leave the channel on whatever it's on, and then all of a sudden reruns of like fresh prints of Bel Air is on.
35:21
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, can you turn this to like the other game that's on?
35:24
SPEAKER_02: So like I'm very like I'm all I'm always the guy, but like, can you turn it to ESPN?
35:30
SPEAKER_02: Can you turn it to FS1?
35:31
SPEAKER_02: Can you turn it?
35:32
SPEAKER_02: Can like are you gonna like train your staff?
35:35
SPEAKER_02: Like, okay, here's today's schedule.
35:37
SPEAKER_02: I think the bar in Buffalo does that, where like they'll post somewhere.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: We're we're not to cut you off, but we're working with our web guys right now about how important our event page is that people just click on the date, know what games are being shown, and that is vital to our website.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: Right.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: I want that because sometimes I've gone and like, is this is they showing the game?
35:58
SPEAKER_00: And know that when we show the game, you're gonna be able to hear it.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: On our main screen for a soccer game, we put the volume of the main screen.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: We have five other screens, so when there's four or five different games on, we can have all those different games on, but only the main one will have the sound inside and out.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: Luckily, in the World Cup, most games, I mean, except for the last group stage games, there's not games going on at the same time.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: Not much crossover, no.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: Right.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: So that's perfect.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that I think uh like on the first Wednesday, there's a 12 o'clock kickoff, and then there's a 1 p.m.
36:31
SPEAKER_02: kickoff.
36:31
SPEAKER_02: So there's a little staggered, but it's not that big of a deal.
36:34
SPEAKER_02: But when you get into September or August, it's gonna be like, okay, are you gonna be more EPL than like Bundesliga?
36:45
SPEAKER_02: Or if somebody comes in for some reason, okay.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: So the bar in Buffalo is called Masque.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: So you think Barcelona?
36:52
SPEAKER_02: So for some reason it naturally became a really big um low liga bar.
36:57
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, what are you gonna do?
36:59
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna prioritize by I guess the quality of the game as well.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, English Premier League is a focus.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: Yep, and actually next year, as next year there won't be as many there'll be a less less crossover time games than ever before.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: Because you've got three teams in the Europa League now, the two that qualified by their league position, and Palace are in it because we won the conference league.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: So they're all playing on Thursdays, so they then can't play on Saturdays.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: They they'll be scheduled on Sundays and Mondays.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: Those three teams.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: So there's gonna be, yeah, I read an article on it the other day.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be less Saturday games than ever before in the EPL because of the three teams on Thursday nights.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: That's good so yeah, yeah.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: So the games will be spread out, it'll be Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday games for the EPL.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: And uh, yeah, that no disrespect to Hull and Brentford, but if it's Hull and Brentford or a Classico Derby, we might we might put on Barcelona, Real Madrid, of course, you know.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, we will we'll try and take into account the importance of the game, Serie A.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, um I've got a few, I'm a big Palace fan, but I went to Juve Inter, so Juve is my team.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: I went up to Scotland, so uh, and I actually got a chance to meet everyone.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: I was in a tiny town, Stran Ra and went to the field, and we kind of had fun with everyone I did like it was it happened to be deadline day, so I made the staff huddle around me as I'm signing.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: Like I was doing a deadline day picture.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Everyone there was great.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: So my Scotland team is not Celzico Rangers, it's Stran Ra.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, so we'll have different leagues, different fun things going on.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: What about MLS?
38:35
SPEAKER_00: MLS, uh, I don't know if I truly have one that I overly pull for.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: Right.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: I do kind of like Columbus.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: I've been there since when it was the old crew.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: I have an old crew staff with the old logo.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I think Nashville's a cool story, is the MLS.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh I do I when I first came out with the uh MLS camps, we went to the Rose Bowl and worked uh LA Galaxy games and uh got to you know see Kobe Jones and I actually met a young Landon Donovan players out there.
39:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I met a young Landon Donovan up in San Jose, went out for a beer with him, and he was super it was like a few of us and a few of the Earthquake players, and uh so that was kind of cool.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I mean I'd probably say I kind of do look out for the crew.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: I know there's rivalry between Detroit and Ohio, but uh yeah, I'm I'm kind of waiting for Detroit to get its MLS team before I uh and I obviously heavily I heavily support DCFC, but yeah, that's where my American soccer allegiance is, DCFC.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna air MLS games?
39:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, sure.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean that's the nice thing is that you can start early morning with England, and then it's like Bundesliga, then there's we're gonna air Mexico, Mexican League games.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, those start at like 10 p.m.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, so in MLS games and yeah, we'll there'll be soccer games on a lot.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: And in terms of other sports, you know, we we got a lot of love for the Lions and the Pistons, we'll show them, um, but again, not on the main screen if it conflicts with a big soccer game.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you know, trying to keep trying to keep our vertical where it is, we've decided we're not gonna show Tigers, we're not gonna show Red Wings, just we just don't want to dilute it, you know.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, so soccer, soccer, and other sports.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we'd love rugby groups in here, we'd love cricket groups in here, uh, Formula One, we can show all that sort of stuff, but obviously there's kind of an order of priorities.
40:27
SPEAKER_02: Got it, and like the long term, this is what's fun because you're in the building process, and and then it's like it's gonna become a I don't want to say caught, but it's gonna become like a like a court following.
40:47
SPEAKER_02: I it has the possibility of that.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's one of our goals.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: We want people, there might be a guy out in uh Portland, Oregon, who likes soccer bars, and just like people want to visit every baseball stadium, maybe they want to come, they heard about this really cool bar in Detroit, they want to come visit, you know.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: And people come to Detroit for business, a big international crowd for the car industry comes here.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, um, we've been taught to visit Detroit as a group, and uh, we're definitely on the radar to be uh international people to be sent here.
41:17
SPEAKER_02: And what's good is that it is a 12-month sport, it really is because you got the international every year.
41:24
SPEAKER_02: There's an international tournament.
41:26
SPEAKER_02: I mean, next year it's the Women's World Cup, and then the year after that it'll be the Euros, and then we're right back in the World Cup phase again and and whatnot.
41:35
SPEAKER_02: And it's just non-stop the possibilities.
41:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's I'm excited, and everybody should be excited.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: I have like I mean, how pe how has the feedback been so far?
41:47
SPEAKER_02: People have been like, what are you doing?
41:49
SPEAKER_02: Or then people are like, dude, this would be awesome.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's been really, really positive.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean, as I say, the the soccer crowd and you know has been very positive, but uh you know, this goes straight to the locals.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, people wanted this building done up, you know, it's just been sitting here, the awning was moldy, um, the awning was torn.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this building looked like it needed some love.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: And now you look outside, we've painted it, we've put an awning up, it's you know, do we've redone the parking lot, so it aesthetically it looks better.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: People like the energy we're putting into it, and they're like, Yeah, I mean, right around the corner from me, Clark Park, down the road, Patton Park, everyone's playing pickup soccer there.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: People are excited to come here.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, even if you're not and we want to be a place that even if you're not really that into soccer, it's just a really nice atmosphere for you to come have a beer in the beer garden, you know.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: And who was it?
42:39
SPEAKER_02: Um the your assistant that works here.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh, was it John?
42:44
SPEAKER_02: Julie's my manager, yeah.
42:45
SPEAKER_02: Julie, she was talking about her league and how all the Detroit basically boroughs, they all have their own team, and then they go somewhere after those games.
42:57
SPEAKER_02: Boom, here's the place.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: And again, like uh we're trying to you know take the uh the attitude that a rising tide lifts all shit.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: We're not asking you to come here exclusively, right?
43:07
SPEAKER_00: And they they bounce around different bars in different neighborhoods, but yeah, we definitely would love to be a focus because soccer's our focus and we love that neighborhood league.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: Julie's involved in it, I know people in it.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: Are you gonna have an age restriction?
43:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, I think like um at a certain time we have to be over a certain age, but certainly during the World Cup, like um, you know, even late into night, we can have young kids in the beer garden.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, in the beer garden, it's set up for everybody to be able to watch.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, obviously there's a main channel where the screen is, yeah.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: There's an area off to the side where we're gonna put cornhole and there's space so you know kids can stretch their legs and not disturb people watching the game, and they can come spend 10 minutes watch a game, and they can go play cornhole in the corner or do something else.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I mean, definitely families are very welcome here.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: What was the first World Cup that you remember?
43:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I remember a But I know 82 like the back of my hand because of uh I was born 77, but I got the VHSs of uh Hero.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: If you I think you've watched Hero and they're aided by Michael Cain for 86.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and there was goal A, which was the VHS for 82.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: And uh I must have watched those a hundred times each.
44:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I love Socrates and Platini because of that France game in France-Brazil game in '86 and '82.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there were some amazing games, Rossi.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, and the the enduring image, and we used it on our site coming soon, uh, is of Tardelli scoring that goal in '82 in the final for Italy.
44:36
SPEAKER_00: Um if you don't know what I'm talking about, just type in Tardelli score in his face and his celebration.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, he said you'll love this place as much as Tardelli loves scoring the goal.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's to me, it's the most iconic celebration of um how much you love the game, you know, how much and what it like what it would mean to you to score in a World Cup final.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, we all know now that we're not going to score in a World Cup final, but you have that dream for a while before you realize that it might not happen for you.
45:04
SPEAKER_00: Right.
45:05
SPEAKER_00: And to see a player embody that dream like Tardelli does, I think I think it's all of us.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we know so I never made it big as a player, but I'm the game has given me so much, the game brought me to America, the game's given me so many friends.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: It'll get emotional because one of the one of my friends died recently.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: It's an American but like uh I just found out this morning and uh he was a soccer college friend.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: He's a former sponsor, right?
45:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: And uh I hadn't seen him in like ten years, we were in touch on Facebook.
45:48
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's really affected me like I didn't think it would.
45:51
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: But it's it's the sport that does bring everybody together.
45:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we didn't differ we didn't need to see each other every six months or every year.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: He's in England, Ireland, I'm here, but he died and his wife died a year ago of cancer, and he died of a heart attack a week ago.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: It's tough, man.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: It's tough.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: And and that's that's why I admire like people going after whatever it is that they want to go after.
46:20
SPEAKER_02: And like you're going after this.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: It's like we're only here for a short time.
46:25
SPEAKER_02: It's like we're either moving or we're standing still.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: It's like we gotta we gotta do something, we gotta do something bigger than ourselves.
46:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's important, it's the legacy you leave behind.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: And I think this guy is is upsetting to me and a lot of people because he's a one of those people that nobody had a bad word about.
46:43
SPEAKER_00: He was the nicest guy ever, and that's that's his legacy, you know.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, well, what a person Noel was, you know.
46:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and yeah, you just want to leave something, you want to try something.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: So if something fails, and I've done plenty that's failed in my time, but at least I'm trying, you know, at least we're trying, at least we're doing something.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: But is it really failing?
47:02
SPEAKER_02: I think it's like learning, you learn by failure.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: It's learning, it's so like I closed my my business in Buffalo, yeah, and like, oh, I failed.
47:12
SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, it didn't fail.
47:13
SPEAKER_02: I did it, I was pretty successful, actually.
47:15
SPEAKER_02: It's just like I kind of like I was ready for a a change, yeah, like a new challenge, and that's what this podcast has become.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: It's just being able to talk to you in a bar in downtown Detroit, and it just challenging myself, and that's you uh starting a bar that every man has wanted to do some at some point of his life.
47:39
SPEAKER_02: You know, I used to joke.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: So one of my buddies is a really good uh uh chef, right?
47:46
SPEAKER_02: He was a uh he's a craft services, and I'm like, and he's uh he can make any food just amazing.
47:53
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, dude, we're starting a bar.
47:55
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be a soccer bar, it's gonna be a Kansas City Chiefs bar, and then you're gonna be the chef.
48:00
SPEAKER_02: And then one of my buddies is was in the military.
48:02
SPEAKER_02: He's like, okay, it's gonna be a military bar, it's gonna be a chiefs bar, and it's gonna be a soccer bar.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: And then obviously it never happened because I mean, he's he's the one that's in Utah and stuff like that.
48:14
SPEAKER_02: But we all dream of doing something like this, and it's a go for it.
48:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes people have very specific dreams of like I want to do this or I want to do that.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: But I think if you have dreams around maybe your values, then when opportunities arise that fit into your values and it's a worthwhile opportunity, then then you can act on it.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: And in terms of failure, I mean, I I can't recommend enough that people try different things.
48:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and I credit a lot of things where I've had success in my past to the fact I did door-to-door sales, full commission, business to business for two to three years in my 20s.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: You people telling you no, you get appointments and you think you're gonna have a big sale that day, and then it falls through.
48:59
SPEAKER_00: Learning to deal with disappointment, learning to deal with like managing your attitude, uh, prioritizing things, um, you know, not getting too emotional, not getting too high and excited, not getting too low in the dump.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: Sure, feel those emotions, but learning the bigger picture and and learning the things that uh you know a full commission sales job could give you.
49:19
SPEAKER_02: Has that helped you with vendors of like the the liquor vendors and stuff, being able to know how to say no?
49:28
SPEAKER_02: Because I feel like I would get pressured, like I'm gonna buy everything that somebody tries to sell.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: I I just I just I mean, in this stage of my life, I'm 48, nearly 49.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I got a pretty good sense of who I am.
49:40
SPEAKER_00: I guess you know, as you we grow up, the you'll look at things in your 20s and 30s where you wish you did things different, or you're like, oh, but you know, you gotta forgive yourself at times.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: But so I just try and I have a certain value, I try and be very, very fair.
49:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I do that.
49:55
SPEAKER_00: Like um, the painters did a fantastic job.
49:58
SPEAKER_00: There was a couple of areas where at the back I felt that they didn't do what they said, and I like, hey, everything was fantastic apart from these couple areas, I'm not gonna pay for this, which really was your issue, not my issue, and that's what it is.
50:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, um, yeah, I didn't feel pressured, I feel pressured to do the right thing, you know.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: So, and I try and take accountability for many, many things.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if it's like I I should have acknowledged that, I should have figured that out, uh, yeah, I'm not gonna argue about that at all, you know.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: And in terms of beer vendors, I uh or liquor vendors, I haven't found them to be pushy.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: They come and they offer you stuff and they give you stuff.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of fun, really, what I've experienced so far, you know.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they're gonna be very supportive actually for the World Cup, like Modello and all these others, obviously.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: And they that in terms of people who are uh very excited about this place, it is the beer companies, the people who rep Heineken, Heineken Champions League.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: We've been desperate for a soccer bar.
50:53
SPEAKER_00: We have so much money to channel into a soccer bar, Modelo, Corona.
50:57
SPEAKER_01: How do they uh how do they function?
51:00
SPEAKER_01: How do how do they do that?
51:01
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna come do massive activations, you know.
51:03
SPEAKER_00: We want to do all your Mexico games.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do drink specials or bring a DJ.
51:07
SPEAKER_02: Remember the tequila, the tequila rap that was there when I was there last time.
51:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, did you end up getting that tequila?
51:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh, yeah, we got some of his.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do uh quite a bit of different tequilas down here.
51:17
SPEAKER_00: What beers are you going to have?
51:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh the strong Mexican ones.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: So obviously Modelo and all its variations, Sun Tisekis, Corona, no, no soul, no soul, Corona Pacifico.
51:28
SPEAKER_00: They're the four and all their different variations.
51:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
51:31
SPEAKER_00: We'll have Yingling, um, we'll have Sam Adams, we'll have um uh right now we're just uh we're setting up draft in the next month or two.
51:40
SPEAKER_00: You are gonna have yeah, but not right away.
51:42
SPEAKER_00: We're mainly 90 90% bottles, 10% cans, um, and we will be setting up a draft bar out back coming up.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yes, and we it is on the list to get like your Carlings, your Carlsbergs, your some German beers, your IPAs, some of those.
51:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we want to mix and be beers that are traditionally soccer beers in Europe as well.
52:02
SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna get heaters for the winter?
52:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh we have there's a furnace out back.
52:07
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that that roofed area out back can be heated up and closed in.
52:12
SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
52:12
SPEAKER_02: Because you know, you know, the winter's here.
52:15
SPEAKER_02: And there's and there's still gonna be people that want to come on a Saturday morning in December and watch, you know.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, we don't have another World Cup ever in December.
52:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was ridiculous.
52:27
SPEAKER_02: But man, I'm excited.
52:29
SPEAKER_02: How can you not be?
52:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's gonna be a great World Cup, and you know, there's pros and cons of it being expanded from 30 to 48, but on the on the pros, it's you know, Curacal's in it.
52:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, what does that give a nation like that?
52:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's angry, and uh so there might be some games which are a bit lopsided, and but you know, even the small nations now, like San Marino used to get beaten 9-0, 8-0.
52:52
SPEAKER_00: Now it's within two or three when they play most countries, you know.
52:55
SPEAKER_00: So I don't think there'll be too many crazies, but you know, remember let's not forget Germany beat Brazil 7-1.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: So anyone could get beaten pretty heavy in their day.
53:04
SPEAKER_00: I remember that game vividly.
53:06
SPEAKER_00: I was in Brazil for that.
53:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the Brazilians weren't happy.
53:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, really?
53:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
53:11
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I remember at the end of that game, Mezet Ozil had like a sitter, and then he tried to do something like fancy, and that led to the Brazilian goal, and then every it was seven-nothing at the time, and it would have been eight-nothing, and then they concede, and then everybody's yelling at Mezet Ozil, and that was uh that was like one of those lessons that I taught my players to be like, hey, always take it, always be professional in your finishing because you know, I uh just that little lull could lead into something bigger for the next game.
53:43
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, this game was well on hand, but I'll always remember that.
53:47
SPEAKER_02: I mean, do you have a favorite England?
53:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh it would be amazing to see them win.
53:52
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't want them to win on US soil.
53:55
SPEAKER_00: That was okay, you can throw teabags at us or something.
54:00
SPEAKER_00: We don't care if we're if we're holding the if we're holding the thing.
54:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, uh, you know, and then some of it comes down to players.
54:07
SPEAKER_00: I'd like I'd love USA to do well because it's home and Chris Richards and that sort of thing.
54:12
SPEAKER_00: Japan and My Sleeper, there are lots of people sleeper.
54:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean Daiichi Kamada from Palace there.
54:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they're in a tough group though.
54:21
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough group.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: Sweden, Netherlands, and one other.
54:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and you can never write off the Germans.
54:27
SPEAKER_00: I don't uh you know here's my not dark horse.
54:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe it's a bit more wishful because uh I haven't for never forgave Maradona for that handball.
54:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't think Argentina are gonna do that good.
54:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't either.
54:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they're gonna go too far.
54:40
SPEAKER_00: Brazil, who knows?
54:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, they don't have the superstars, but that's not always there of of yesteryear anyway, you know.
54:47
SPEAKER_00: So we've seen to see with a foreign manager how they do.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, because that's never really happened.
54:54
SPEAKER_02: How do you guys how do you feel about two?
54:56
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm fine.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah I'm fine.
54:58
SPEAKER_00: It's it's okay.
54:58
SPEAKER_00: It's you don't think that's like you don't think that's a big deal?
55:02
SPEAKER_00: Hey, well, I I think the big difference with him is his attitude is really good and he says really good things.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: When Capella was in charge, his attitude was all wrong.
55:11
SPEAKER_00: He was just he didn't he didn't he pompous, then he didn't he everyone all the players disliked him.
55:17
SPEAKER_00: Um he didn't build relationships, you know, and uh yeah, so but Thomas Tuffall he embodies you know wants to win just because he wasn't born in England, and you know, the traditional German uh rivalry.
55:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's kind of quite a bit in the past now, you know.
55:35
SPEAKER_00: But it's still fun to beat each other when we play each other, you know.
55:38
SPEAKER_02: My f my favourite are are uh France, Spain, and England.
55:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think I think it's gonna be them.
55:45
SPEAKER_02: This England team, and Harry Kane is probably is he the best English player of all time?
55:51
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think Wayne Rooney said uh he thinks he might be.
55:55
SPEAKER_00: I think at this stage he has to be, he's definitely in top two.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: Um who's won?
56:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but he's Irish.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he is?
56:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, best George Best was more than Irish.
56:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have yeah, it's hard when you go back in the day because you got like uh great players like Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, how do you really compare that game, that that game then without the Champions League, without other things, without the volume of games to the modern day game.
56:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, you can compare it, but it's not always, you know, hey, was Bobby Charlton a a better player than Harry Kane?
56:31
SPEAKER_00: That's just a very hard comparison, you know.
56:34
SPEAKER_00: But I do think for what Kane's done, for the fact I love that he went to a different country and has done it there.
56:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what he's got 61 goals this year or 60 or something.
56:43
SPEAKER_00: This is it's ridiculous numbers.
56:44
SPEAKER_00: It's insane.
56:45
SPEAKER_00: You give Harry Kane the ball anywhere around the penalty area, you think it's more than 50% he's gonna score with his next touch.
56:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like like Messi felt the pressure too.
56:54
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a pressure for him to deliver in a tournament.
56:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's done okay in past tournaments, but he's not in the when the big knockout games he hasn't.
57:04
SPEAKER_00: And same with the Champions League when Spurs, and I know it was a bit unfair to him because he was still a bit injured, but in the big, big game, you know, um he's done fine, but he hasn't dragged a team over the line.
57:17
SPEAKER_00: My dark horses are Japan.
57:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think Portugal.
57:21
SPEAKER_00: I I yeah, but can you call Portugal a dark horse?
57:24
SPEAKER_00: The Euro Championship.
57:26
SPEAKER_00: And they've we all know they're stacked, you know, like you know, we know they're stacked.
57:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, yeah, like the teams you're naming, like Netherlands.
57:36
SPEAKER_02: They're they're another one that can't be named.
57:38
SPEAKER_02: It's not really a dark horse.
57:39
SPEAKER_02: Japan's a dark horse.
57:41
SPEAKER_00: Netherlands, we want to be good because we remember that we all love the shirt and we all remember Cruyff, but then there's not that good.
57:47
SPEAKER_00: And then we're a total football, and we're shoved that as coaches, we're shoved that down our throats by Ryanus Michaels and whatnot.
57:54
SPEAKER_00: So we want the Netherlands to be great, but I don't I think they're good.
57:58
SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna I'd be very surprised if they go deep in this tournament.
58:02
SPEAKER_00: But you know, with tournaments, you need a bit of luck, you need a good like Arsenal had a great run to the final, they definitely deserve to be in the final, but they had the easier side of the draw.
58:12
SPEAKER_00: You need that, but then Paris won it all, going through the hard side of the draw.
58:16
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, you gotta beat people to win these tournaments.
58:19
SPEAKER_00: So uh it just depends though, you get people at the right time, this sort of thing.
58:25
SPEAKER_02: You got here in '98.
58:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
58:28
SPEAKER_02: So you missed '94 being here in Pontiac.
58:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
58:34
SPEAKER_02: And I was only nine or ten years old, but I heard like how vibrant Pontiac was and how the cities around the Silverdome were.
58:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know everything, but I I think it was kind of similar.
58:54
SPEAKER_00: So you know how it's tough for all cities to host the Olympics because you've got to pay the IOC so much money to host the Olympics.
59:02
SPEAKER_01: It's not just like you gotta pay for it.
59:04
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they get they get they get part of the hotel revenue, they get part of the you know, FIFA, the IOC, these places, they they get it's not a a free boom to your economy.
59:15
SPEAKER_00: You pay a lot of money to have it in your city.
59:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have to ask yourself why Chicago not got it.
59:20
SPEAKER_00: They obviously decided in a city like Chicago to pass or for one reason or another.
59:26
SPEAKER_00: So um it would we would all love it if it's here, you know, just like the Super Bowl or some other thing, you know, create so much energy.
59:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's it's not, but it's fine, it's in the country.
59:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, we can all drive to Toronto.
59:39
SPEAKER_00: I got friends going to Dallas for the England game.
59:41
SPEAKER_00: We all got different things going on.
59:43
SPEAKER_02: Are you going in any games?
59:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh I kind of made the decision because mainly solidified by this place being open, I'm not really going anywhere.
59:51
SPEAKER_00: I do have a friend who has four tickets for this semi-final in Atlanta.
59:56
SPEAKER_00: And if England is in that, he said they'll sell me one face value.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_00: So if England is in the semi-final in Atlanta, I'm gonna hold him to that and try and go down to that one.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_00: And that's a major possibility.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's hope so.
1:00:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh for your sake.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I mean, and so I mean, I'd like to go regardless, but we'll see what that matchup is.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's a couple games in Toronto that are really coming down in prices, so I'm like, you know what?
1:00:20
SPEAKER_02: It might not be here for another 30 years, and like I'm not gonna be able to move when I'm 30 in 30 years.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_02: So like you were talking about your when you were talking about your friend.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_02: Might as well might as well.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_00: You never know, right?
1:00:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can't do everything like you're dying tomorrow, but you can keep it in your mind that you know, life short, and you know what it, you know, what are you waiting for on certain things?
1:00:44
SPEAKER_00: It's like my I kind of make fun of my dad, he's kind of got that drying dishumor.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_00: He turned he'll be 81 in September, he's in good health, but you know, I said something to you, Oh, I'm fully aware it's five minutes to midnight for me.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's kind of five minutes to midnight for us all, you know.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like you know, you know, so you gotta kind of act like uh yeah, take a chance, you know.
1:01:05
SPEAKER_00: Don't don't take your life savings and bed it all in black down at MGM, but you know, take a reasoned chance and uh you know what's the payoff?
1:01:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, hopefully this place is here long after I'm gone, you know what I mean, and people still making memories and people uh still doing things.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think what what my World Cup is gonna look like is I'm gonna I want to come out to watch parties like here and and watch here USA games later on in the tournament.
1:01:34
SPEAKER_02: Like if it's like if if the third group stage game is a must-win, I'm probably gonna watch it at home.
1:01:41
SPEAKER_00: That that is that is that is that is true.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_00: That uh a lot of it in my past I've stayed and watched games at home because I like that focus, and that's part and you're more than welcome to, you know, that's people's thing.
1:01:52
SPEAKER_00: But we will have the sound on here.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_00: The reason I don't go to a lot of bars in the past for games I want to focus on is I want to listen to the commentary, I want to listen to the sound of the ball being kicked, I want to listen to everything and be in that game.
1:02:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, that's something that we will have here if you really want to lock in on the game.
1:02:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, you can lock in and do it with other people locking in here.
1:02:14
SPEAKER_00: But just on your World Cup point, yeah, I know people moan about the price and it's a valid thing, but one of my most pinch myself moments, I was in Manaus and I saw England play Italy.
1:02:25
SPEAKER_00: And when Daniel Sturridge scored, that that I jumped on some poor Brazil guy in front of me and gave him a bear hug.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_00: And even though we ended up losing the game, unfortunately, in both England and Italy, didn't make it out the group stage.
1:02:37
SPEAKER_00: But I was like, I can't believe I never imagined I would be lucky enough, you know, to be in Brazil in a stadium watching England at the World Cup.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_00: Like I just, you know, I didn't have I didn't I didn't imagine I just thought that was something when I was young, it's not that I I grew up in nice upbringing, but it's like I just thought that was stuff other people did.
1:02:59
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, so if you can go to a game and see your team at a World Cup, it's it's a cool feeling.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_02: How okay, when uh you went to a uh Palace game this year, right?
1:03:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've been back.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_00: I've been back quite a lot.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_00: I did I wasn't able to unfortunately go to the final in Leipzig, but I went back to the semifinal against Shaktar.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_02: So I I haven't been to Europe to watch a game, and but I feel like they are more focused on the game.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_02: Where if you go to a Tigers game, your people watching, you're not watching the game.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_02: You're not like it's different sports.
1:03:37
SPEAKER_00: It's different sports, and it basically baseball's longer, you're gonna be able to do that.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_02: So do you think it's the sport, or do you think it's American versus other other countries?
1:03:47
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's it's the sport, I'm gonna say.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_00: I you know, and Americans maybe who are late who are new to soccer, have maybe developed the habit of watching American sports and wandering around like you can at the Lions on timeouts, and you can at the Tigers.
1:04:03
SPEAKER_00: But if you grew up watching soccer, and even the ones who come late to soccer, I think they realize you don't want to miss it.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, you've got half time to do your other other things, you know.
1:04:13
SPEAKER_00: We're just 45 minutes, let's watch this now.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh you're not constantly going to concessions and coming back.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, can you bring beer down?
1:04:21
SPEAKER_02: Can you bring drinks to your seats?
1:04:23
SPEAKER_02: Not in England, though.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_02: No, yeah, not in England.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_02: You gotta drink it in a coarse way, you gotta drink it up there and then bring it back down, or then come down.
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's pros and cons of that.
1:04:32
SPEAKER_00: You gotta down your beer quick and everyone rushes there at halftime, or you know, people will miss the sometimes the last three or four minutes of a half to get in that beer line kind of quick.
1:04:42
SPEAKER_00: Can you gamble at games?
1:04:44
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
1:04:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a bookmaker.
1:04:46
SPEAKER_00: Don't they don't they have like a the Yeah, there's bookmakers there when you gamble on you know, but I guess you could do that here now without your freaking phone.
1:04:54
SPEAKER_00: Before the phones, yeah.
1:04:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't, you know, I'm sure people do it more on their phones now, but before phone gambling, there was always a little shuttered window where you go and put your bet on for the game.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:05:04
SPEAKER_02: Because I always just wonder just the culture and everything, and I mean, and that's what this is.
1:05:10
SPEAKER_02: I already feel like the culture, just because the the paint job is perfect.
1:05:16
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it is DCFC colours, right?
1:05:19
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah.
1:05:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, we got we got a strong influence of the Burgundy in gold.
1:05:23
SPEAKER_00: We did paint the walls of Dark Navy just because we liked its look and we thought the jerseys would pop against the Dark Navy.
1:05:29
SPEAKER_00: It has.
1:05:29
SPEAKER_00: But on our um DCFC wall, all the shirts are mounted with burgundy mats on uh behind them.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I mean that's that's the the idea is to have it uh kind of feel cozy and then, but you know, the colours of the jersey.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_00: We all love good looking jerseys, no matter what the team.
1:05:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this fanatics sent this to me, so I have a large following on uh Instagram, and one of their raps was like, Hey, fill out the survey.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_02: It was like give me your all your information.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_02: Your sizes and stuff like that, and we'll send you a like a gift for the World Cup.
1:06:03
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I didn't I didn't think it was real, so I was like, okay, whatever, toss it away.
1:06:10
SPEAKER_02: Fanatics, boom, sends me this, and I'm like, you know what?
1:06:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna wear this today because this is gonna air Monday, and it's gonna and and people were like, Oh, nobody's excited for the World Cup.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm getting jacked for it.
1:06:24
SPEAKER_00: Don't have peaked too soon, but now with uh you know, with less than a week to go, it's like I'm ready, baby.
1:06:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready.
1:06:31
SPEAKER_00: Are you stressed about like getting uh everything ready to how you want it to be?
1:06:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, again, kind of going back to trying to be a bit philosoph philosophical.
1:06:40
SPEAKER_00: Stress is uh was joking about I don't I I understand I have first world problems.
1:06:45
SPEAKER_00: I allow myself one first world problem, which is when I order a cappuccino or a cartado, if you put too much milk in it, that's an issue.
1:06:53
SPEAKER_00: I didn't I did not order a latte, but I realize that is a first world problem.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_00: All of this is like it's in a lot, you know, whether it's coordinating painters, asphalt, awnings, getting them here on time, getting the guy to close on the building properly, and other, you know, and I could list a million things um and I feel good about how it's all coming together in such a short period of time, but you just make it happen.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_00: The World Cup's given me a deadline.
1:07:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful it's given me a deadline, you know.
1:07:20
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, and it's funny because you know, my girlfriend, we're moving in together, she's putting a house up for sale.
1:07:27
SPEAKER_00: We actually went up earlier this week, and sometimes she'll be like, This is just such crazy timing, we're both so busy.
1:07:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting the house ready and this and that.
1:07:34
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, but you could look at it like we're condensing it, and in a month after the World Cup, after your house is sold, we're a lot more chill.
1:07:42
SPEAKER_00: We're not dragging this out for eight months, that's you know, so it's like stress, stress is a privilege, pressure is a privilege.
1:07:49
SPEAKER_00: You hear that in soccer.
1:07:50
SPEAKER_00: It's like you know, certain stresses aren't, but it's like overall, it's like I'm certainly not complaining about getting a place ready like this.
1:07:59
SPEAKER_00: The Regal Eagle.
1:08:02
SPEAKER_00: Where did that name come from?
1:08:04
SPEAKER_00: Well, um one thing when I started my company 16 years ago is uh Regal Payments.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_00: So I do credit card processing, and uh just like anything with I'm sure you know tons of realtors, right?
1:08:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, lots of insurance people, credit card processing.
1:08:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm not the only show in town.
1:08:21
SPEAKER_00: You gotta, you know, um be good at what you do and understand that even though there's competition, you can do well.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_00: And that's the same with a pub, a bar.
1:08:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like that's why I it's not about um my I'm not in competition really with others.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm there, we're all kind of a community.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_00: I have what I have that I think helps me stand out, they have what they have that helps them stand out.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, but they just kept the regal because it's personal to me, you know, and I'm from England, but in regal payments, um, when I do private soccer coaching, I've called it Regal Soccer Training.
1:08:53
SPEAKER_00: I just did Regal, you know.
1:08:55
SPEAKER_00: So um, and then I'm a Crystal Palace fan with the Eagles, and I think it rhymes, and drunk people can go Regal Eagle, and they can kind of remember it.
1:09:04
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, okay, and it it lends itself to a nice logo, so there we go.
1:09:10
SPEAKER_00: I love it, I'm excited.
1:09:12
SPEAKER_00: And I've had so many older Americans and when they tell me now, and I say, Oh, yeah, I've had people tell them this because only old people that you know Freeze Company had the Regal Beagle.
1:09:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, you're the 872nd person who told me that, but I do know, but we're the Regal Eagle.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_02: All right, man.
1:09:30
SPEAKER_02: And everything is online, everything is on Instagram and Facebook.
1:09:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we would love a follow, we'd love a share, and we would love for you to come down and start making this place your own.
1:09:40
SPEAKER_00: Bring a scarf.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_00: We'll, you know, everything you give us, we can't guarantee it's going up because we're trying to be careful in a placement, but we want things from the community, we want to take pictures, we want a wall where um all of that is.
1:09:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and another thing, um, talk about soccer and uh things around the game.
1:09:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I have my Sabudio up here, which is personal to me.
1:10:00
SPEAKER_00: I played that with my dad, you know, core memories of doing that in the conservatory.
1:10:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, we'd had a league table and I still got the teams.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_00: But um, I when I was back in England, I purchased a complete Italy 90 panini sticker book, and I have quite a few of them.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna do a big panini swap day here.
1:10:19
SPEAKER_00: So, kids, adults, adults do it too, big kids.
1:10:22
SPEAKER_00: So if you in a couple weeks, we'll release the date for that.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_00: But you can bring your swapsies and we'll do a big swap in the backyard, and we'll do an event for it.
1:10:31
SPEAKER_00: So there's so much around the game, and so much, you know, um, things that we did.
1:10:36
SPEAKER_00: Now there's those beanho boards.
1:10:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so many, so many things that around the game that you know help people create memories.
1:10:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
1:10:44
SPEAKER_02: With scarves, the bar in Buffalo, they basically just have this big coat rack, and then people just put it on there, and it's like, eh, that's pretty cool.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_02: It gets full, and they have to like take or they had uh add layers to it, I think, because it's just everybody would bring a scarf or wherever they went.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_00: We're figuring it out.
1:11:03
SPEAKER_00: There's one side of the uh of the back patio that uh I want them on.
1:11:09
SPEAKER_00: I tried using heavy duty velcro, but the surface of that side it's just not lending itself well.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_00: So we'll figure it out whether it's a staple gun or something to put them all on that side.
1:11:18
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we definitely want a wide variety of scarves, but ideally something that means something to you, you know, not just something you just ordered online, but something that means something to you.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_00: Something there's a story behind.
1:11:30
SPEAKER_00: There's a story behind 90% of these shirts here, and uh, you know, like the Newcastle one that's in the top corner.
1:11:37
SPEAKER_00: My grandma and some of my family's from Newcastle.
1:11:40
SPEAKER_00: I used to get the bus up there, um, the coach uh in my summers during the teenage to spend time with my grandma and my great aunt.
1:11:47
SPEAKER_00: So my great aunt actually bought me that Newcastle shirt in 90.
1:11:51
SPEAKER_00: That's the 93 to 95 shirt, and I remember it costing 30 pounds back then.
1:11:56
SPEAKER_00: It's what shirts are now, like a hundred or something.
1:11:59
SPEAKER_00: And she was a lady who just lived on social security, and she, you know, she was a lady you say you like something, she gives it to you, and so that you know, apart from Newcastle, it just reminds me of her kindness and her legacy, and just you know, legacy is a lot of things we talk about and the stories behind things.
1:12:17
SPEAKER_00: So how how does it how did that work with your family?
1:12:22
SPEAKER_00: Like when so you got some Newcastle, you got some palace, like I never thought about that because I just assumed that one family is all Palace fans or I don't I don't I don't think many of that I think Newcastle because it's more one per city, although Sunderland's not that far, I think there's a lot, but like in London and growing up, like Palace um made the first division in '89.
1:12:46
SPEAKER_00: Um they won a playoff against Blackburn.
1:12:48
SPEAKER_00: That's when I kind of solidified being a Palace fan just before then.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_00: That was the right and bright area.
1:12:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I uh before then I flirted with Tottenham, I flirted with uh Liverpool, you know, but and I flirted with Chelsea, but then you know, Crystal Palace I committed to.
1:13:02
SPEAKER_00: And you some of my family are Arsenal fans, some of them are Newcastle fans, a couple of Liverpool fans.
1:13:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, just you just all give each other a good ribbon on it.
1:13:13
SPEAKER_00: What's the story between behind the man you jersey?
1:13:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, um, so one thing I did to kind of get buy-in, I I purchased this whole building and everything, and but we've created a separate bar entity, and uh one of and I offered uh 5% for a certain investment to get four or five investors who are very connected here in Detroit.
1:13:31
SPEAKER_00: We've got a great ownership group, and one of them is a Man United fan.
1:13:35
SPEAKER_00: So as a token, you had to.
1:13:37
SPEAKER_00: So one of the little things I say, okay, if you do this, then I'll put a I'll put a shirt of your choice up there.
1:13:42
SPEAKER_00: So one's a Manu fan, we got a West Brom shirt coming up there as well, and uh, you know, we got a little mix.
1:13:49
SPEAKER_00: One's one's a Palace fan as well, which makes it easy.
1:13:53
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
1:13:54
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for coming in.
1:13:55
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate uh your excitement about the place and looking forward to seeing you here.
1:13:59
SPEAKER_02: And I yeah, I can't wait to get this out, and then and it's perfect timing next to uh air Monday, right into the World Cup on Thursday.
1:14:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we understand you may have plans for the first weekend or whatever, but there's lots of games.
1:14:13
SPEAKER_00: Come down, check us out, and uh then check out Detroit.
1:14:16
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to get on the greenway from here, easy to get on the river walk from here, and and have a great day downtown.
1:14:23
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
1:14:23
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
1:14:24
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thank you.
1:14:25
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
1:14:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:14:27
SPEAKER_03: I hate soccer.