Halford & Brough in the Morning - Mike Klassen On A New Whitecaps Stadium & Canucks Practice Facility

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with Vancouver City Councilor Mike Klassen (1:24) about a potential new Whitecaps stadium, World Cup prep, as well as a possible Canucks practice facility, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

802 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halfordd Bruff Sportsnet to 650. Halferd and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3000 five star reviews, visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. Vancouver city councilor Mike Plassen is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three of the program. Vancouver city councilor Mike Plassen is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off our three. Our three of this program is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers.

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as mentioned, Vancouver city councilor, Mike Klassen here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Mike. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. Previous segment, we spent a fair bit of time talking about the potential White Cap Stadium at the P&E grounds. So let's start there.

What is the latest on the White Cap Stadium file? So there's been a lot of active work happening behind the scenes to try and create space so we can get the stadium happening. I've been working with other counselors. Counselor Kirby Young and I have been championing this this particular file for the last few months. We want to see it happen. I also serve as chair of the P&E board but I always sort of am quick to remind people I'm not speaking on behalf of the P&E and speaking as a

Vancouver City Councilor here but it's just having that sort of connectedness to the fair itself allows me to have a bit of that perspective because you know anything that happens down in Hastings Park is really going to have to involve the P&E as well and the city and the province so it's a it's complicated and now we're talking about the Swayl about the first nation who are looking to come into the scene as well. In short, those conversations are happening.

We have created an opportunity for this to happen. We are working closely with the Whitecaps organization and the province to try to make something happen. Can you clarify a few things about the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the

slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the slayings of the So we're working closely with the White Caps organization and, and trying to, and the province to try and make something happen. Can you clarify a few things about the Tsleil-Waututh deal? I know it's not done yet, but are they acquiring, is the band acquiring the land or the lease on, on the land? At this stage, my understanding is it's the

lease only. The property of Hastings Park and that particular area in the, um, the, the Northwest corner that is involves the racetrack, uh, are owned, uh, first of all, the city owns the Hastings Park land, that particular corner, uh, where the racetrack is, is in a trust that we co-manage with the province. So any kind of decisions that get made ultimately are going to have to be approved by the provincial government. But we're again

working very closely together and it sounds to me that there's a lot of eagerness particularly and I heard your discussion earlier on about the sense of urgency around this. I think from what I'm hearing, the Premier and others are, like us, just very eager to make sure that we keep this team

and we create exciting new opportunities. We're one year out from FIFA World Cup, literally the biggest sporting event this city has ever seen. And I think it's just apropos that we're talking about this and talking about the future of that space, because I think it's very exciting. Well, how far has the process gone on a stadium?

Because if you were hearing the discussion, you were saying, you probably heard me saying like, you know, there's a lot of stakeholders involved here. They heard me saying like, you know, there's a lot of stakeholders involved here. For a piece of land like Hastings Park, which is, you know, one of the crown jewels of Vancouver, there's going to be a lot of people with their opinions on where that land, you know, what you do with that land. You know, how quickly can this thing get done? Well, I think in terms of speed, I think the most, the thing that could probably act as a bond soonest is really kind of nailing down some kind of agreement as to whether we're going to move forward with this. And like I say, we've got some strong voices

at City Hall that want to make it happen. And I think I'm just getting a general sense that everybody is kind of rowing in the same direction. But as you point out, it's extraordinarily complicated. I mean, just thinking of the racetrack alone, I always really hedge when I talk about the future of the racetrack, other than to say that, you know, it has been there for a long time, but it's in terms of its popularity and its profitability,

it's really gone down. And so, but that's a discussion that has to happen between the operator, which is a great Canadian and their employees. In terms of the MOU with the Swale of Tooth, it's literally just a piece of paper at this point. I mean, it's a signal that they want to be involved in the gaming license piece of that that whole puzzle that we're trying to put together here. But, you know, when you think about professional women's hockey coming here in the fall, the new amphitheater, which is going to be a showcase for the FIFA fan zone, but also a great place for for concerts and just picturing a stadium down there in addition to all of those pieces and more with watching the sun go down over the North Shore Mountains, I can't think of

anything more radiant and wonderful in terms of future of a park that has huge history in terms of sports and entertainment over generations. So we'd like to build upon that and it's really just kind of imagining the possible. You know, Mike, I'm born and raised in Vancouver and it's been almost 50 years now. So I've seen a lot of change in this city. And I often tell people like, if you want to go and find out what Vancouver used to be like,

go to the peony. Like, there you go. That's what Vancouver used to be like, go to the P&E. Like, there you go. That, that's what Vancouver used to be like, which is a good thing, but it's also like, do they need to make some changes to the P&E and bring it more into the modern era? And I would include, you know, Hastings Park, just in general.

Where do you see that parcel of land going? What is, what is your vision? What is the vision of land going? What is your vision? What is the vision of the city? What is the vision of the province? Because there already is some great stuff there, but the potential for that piece of land is just incredible. It's, you're absolutely right. I'm also a born and raised Vancouver kid.

I actually used to sell the Peony Prize programs at the park when I got out of high school. So, you know, my vocal chords is still sore from all the yelling I did back then. But it's, I can tell you where I sit when I'm sitting in that board table. I go, here's the things that we need to do. Like we have to imagine, you know,

a great culinary experience. We have to imagine great music. experience, we have to imagine great music. There are old buildings there that could be updated and retrofitted. All of that takes money and partnerships and there are private partners out there that want to be a part of this. And for us, it's just kind of imagining the possibilities. The other key thing, a lot of people point this out, is transportation to and from the site. I mean, right now, if you go to BC Place or Roger's or any jump on the SkyTrain, there's no SkyTrain going there right now. But there is talk about in the short term rapid bus direct connections. FIFA is going to be a

real test for that when we start doing shuttles between Renfrew station up Renfrew, which is a very wide street and could allow for the capacity of a bus lane or something like that, a dedicated bus lane. So these are all things that we need to think about, but gosh, you know, it really is a bit of a blank canvas right now. And you're right, the P&E has got a lot of history behind it, but it also needs to come into the 21st century. And I know a lot of work is happening.

I heard conversation about the expansion of Playland. That's a part of it but I do think once that amphitheater gets built people start going there and we start seeing the new professional women's hockey and we get sort of settled on the future of the track and the potential for a Whitecaps. Boy, I think that just, you know, the sky's the limit in terms of what we can really do with that incredibly part, important part of our city. We're speaking of Vancouver city councilor, Mike Klassen here on the Halford and Bref show

on Sportsnet 650. Mike, you already started in part answering this, but I wanted to follow up because we are officially now at the one year mark out. The countdown begins one year today is the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I know there's gonna be the ceremonial clock that's gonna tick down and there's a lot of work

that the city has to do. What sort of work does the city still have to do with regards to World Cup planning and the World Cup being just a year away? Oh, I can tell you, our teams are working incredibly hard but I have huge confidence in the leadership that we've put around getting ready for this event. I have very strong memories of the 2010 games.

I got sort of my hands in the mix when I created a where to be for free guide for the 2010 games. I can remind people that coming up to January of 2010, most Vancouverites could care less about the games. The tickets had already been sold. Everybody's being told to stay home and watch it on TV until they realized there were things that they could do with their families at low cost and go out and enjoy the city. And that was when things really exploded and took off for the

2010 games. So I've been really been championing for how do we do that here? How do we make sure that our plazas, our streets are active and safe and secure too, because big events like these can sometimes create some challenges for security, but we're working on that as well. So the FIFA Van Zone, I think is gonna be spectacular and having tens of thousands of people arriving in our city to enjoy the sports and enjoy our city and

take that message home with them that this is a great place to visit or even start a business is I think a huge opportunity. What are the financial challenges for the city or a better way to ask that question is how are we going to pay for it? Well the province is ponying up for the majority of the costs But there's I don't think we need to shy away from the fact that the city is going to have to you know cover some costs we've we're we've agreed to a Few million dollars with regards to security, but I imagine just a time and another investment. This is Will probably net out out from the city standpoint is maybe a financial

loss but it also is an investment in the future and I'm convinced just based upon the experience we had with the 2010 games. Right now, I mean it's said that the city of Vancouver, Vancouver, the name Vancouver is the second largest global brand next to Canada, within Canada with an estimated value of 30 to 50 billion US dollars. We have to use that brand to make sure that we're starting companies, businesses, expanding trade and we're in a whole new paradigm now with global economics. I think Vancouver is really poised to be a real leader going forward and the FIFA World Cup will be another

springboard in the same way that 2010 games and Expo were and putting us on the world map. So I'm really excited about it. I think the city should be excited about it. And I think a lot of people are gonna have a great time. And I just think about my old neighborhood of Clarnie where they have the practice field going up right now. If any of your listeners go by 49th and Kerr Street,

anytime soon you can see that it's all dug up right now. But that's gonna be the practice facility for FIFA teams right in the heart of East Vancouver. So I just think there's gonna be some really exciting anticipation for the games themselves and a huge fun time once they arrive in a year from now. That's going to be fun for the lawn watchers because I like watching a grass field grow. There's a couple of fields around Vancouver by the way that have a lot of dog holes that

have been dug in them that you got to take a look at because. Yeah, for sure. Anyway, I'm just joking here. I want to ask you about the Canucks practice facility and whether or not you've spent any time with the Canucks trying to figure out a solution for that. I can say there are conversations going where they are at at this point is unclear, but there is a strong expression of interest. So for the professional women's hockey league,

the Agridome will be their practice facility. It makes sense for me, but we have to sort of see whether it pencils out for the Canucks organization to be a part of that as well. But I could just see it. I mean, again, it takes money to invest. I mean, I've seen some great shows in the Agridome over the years, but it's a little long in the tooth itself.

But if you come in with future focused organizations like those ones and make those investments into it, you can have it really sparkling and being a great place to to accomplish all that what you need and also turn around a public benefit at the same time. So again, you know, there's a lot happening right now. I wish I could talk about more of it because some of it is just, you know, we have to wait for the ink to dry on some things and other other ones are early conversations. But I'm very bullish on the future of the Peony and the whole Hastings Park. And I know a lot of people are, too, and people like us who grew up in the in the city remember it fondly and I and I think fondly about its future. Mike, I understand that you're busy.

So with that, we'll let you go. There's a lot of things on your plate. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, thanks for coming on that. Vancouver City Councilor Mike Lassen here on the Halford and Brev show on Sportsnet 650. We really appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks for having me on. Yeah. Thanks for coming on that. Vancouver City Councilor Mike Klassen here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet

650. So because today is the official one year out from the start of the 2026 World Cup, all of the major news outlets are doing their stories on like there's so much to do. Yeah. It is hilarious to read the Associated Press's article on everything that FIFA still needs to do. So as of today, there's still no announcement on general ticket sales. Apparently, FIFA is still toying with the idea of doing variable pricing because they're doing

it with the Club World Cup instead of having a flat rate across the board. No announcement on the location of when or where the draw is going to take place. Supposed to be around Christmas time, I think. Sposed to. Yeah, yeah. They got a case of the sposed tos. Well, they gotta do the draw. I mean.

Just they haven't announced it. It's not like they're not going to, but all this stuff still needs to be sorted out. They still haven't made an announcement about security arrangements. They've avoided most details about that, and this is probably the most complex World Cup they've ever had in terms of security

because they've got to go more venues, more countries and more teams than ever. And more matches. It's 104 matches, right? The last time that they had the World Cup in the U.S. in 94, it was 64 matches. There's now 40 additional ones. And you think about the logistics of getting people

into stadiums, getting them past security for 104 matches. Is there any tension geopolitically wise? Like security is going to be fine, right? The nice thing is that everything's good geopolitically. No one's fighting at all. Everyone's getting along and they're holding hands and they're singing. And all the 48 countries that come to the United States, Mexico and Canada,

they're all going to be like best buddies, right? Just harmony. Have they done the multiple like best buddies, right? Just harmony. Have they done the multiple country thing before or is this the first? Japan and South Korea hosted before. The European championships have been spread throughout different countries before. So it's-

I know just from listening to people talk about the Memorial Cup and why they wouldn't host it in America is because there's so many challenges with the advertising and getting all that in order because it's, companies want different You know advertising strategies in the different countries and is this a huge mess? How are they gonna do this with three countries with the biggest tournament? So they're doing it they've never the three countries and then while also expanding the field they're doing it's like they're growing

They're doing all the growth in one World Cup It's like instead of doing the try hosting thing on its own with a reduced field, they're like, no, we're going to expand the field even more teams. Right. Like, for example, Uzbekistan and Jordan have punched their ticket to their first ever World Cup. Yeah. And that just happened a couple of days ago. I think 12 teams have already qualified. Ecuador. Shout out to Pedro Vite, Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder.

He and Ecuador punched their ticket yesterday So to do Brazil so to did the soccer ruse of Australia? They Zealand has as well. Could you imagine the the all Oceania? Is that do we ever come up with the proper pronunciation on that Oceania? Oh, she played the robot voice memory Oceania So it's New Zealand and Australia going for the first time So yeah, there's a bunch of teams that have already punched a ticket. So many more still to go, but there's so much stuff.

Even the small minutia like Adidas hasn't announced the match ball yet. I joked about the mascots, but they haven't announced the mascot. Yeah, like every World Cup has a mascot. This one's going to have one as well. It's not real till there's a mascot. No, that's what, you know, maybe you could recycle Quachie and Miga. Miga, what were those guys? They're great. Who is the other one?

I can't remember, but they were pretty good mascots. Quachie was one of them. Yeah. For an Olympic mascot, they were some of the better ones. There was like an otter that had to take the ferry over from Victoria. He had a whole backstory. He didn't have a reservation, so he had to do a walk. He wasn't a full standing mascot either, right he was like Sergei Gonchar being like he was an associate mascot that showed up once in a while because he was reliant

on BC fairies you can't be a full time sorry to all the people that work for BC fairies that was an easy joke there was just sitting there anyway all this stuff still needs to get done. So it'll be very curious over the next 365 days to see how it all unfolds. Yeah, the city of Vancouver's got a lot of stuff. It's got to take care of as well. I'm glad we got some clarity on the Slavittooth Nation's MOU with regards to the casino floor, basically, or the casino operation

at the track, because that was very confusing yesterday. We didn't know exactly what was what. So thanks to my class and for coming on and clarifying that. OK. What we learned time, we've got a few minutes before the break. So you know what? Why don't I kick it off? Because I've actually got a real fresh what we learned. This just came down over the last 20 minutes.

Begrudgingly, congrats to Colorado avalanche defenseman, Cale McCarr, who has won his second career Norris Trophy. If you sense some disappointment in my voice, it's not because I don't like Kale McCarr. He's a great defenseman. He's Canadian. He's going to help Canada win gold in 2026. But anytime he wins a Norris, it comes at the expense of our beautiful boy, Quinn Hughes.

Quinn Hughes finished third in voting for this year's Norris T comes at the expense of our beautiful boy Quinn Hughes Quinn Hughes Finished third in voting for this year's Norris trophy behind of course McCarr and the runner-up Zachary Ensky from the Columbus Blue Jackets Quinn Hughes only received two first place votes McCarr received a whopping 176 Wuren Ski 13 Hughes to they were the think it's incredible that he got two first place votes when he only played 68 games.

It is a bit of a feather in his cap. We'll see who those votes came from though, because you know how those always go. Someone decided. What do you mean by that? Sometimes local writers who have been gifted, and I want to use the term gifted because it's an honor, not a right, but it's been gifted to you to vote on the professional hockey

writers association with the awards. Um, so Quinn, you've got two first place votes. The weird part is that someone, well, there's two votes. There's two second place votes out there that caught my eye. Someone this year thought that Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman, Victor Headman was the second best defenseman in the NHL, which whatever, I guess you can make the case. Someone also thought that Thomas Harley was

deserving of a second place Norris trophy vote. And he got one as well. Uh, anyway, there's your, there's your winners, Kale McCarver, the second time. Someone gave an Adam Fox a third place vote. You can go down to that. Yep. Someone gave a Shay Theodore or fifth place vote. You can go down. Yep. Someone gave a shade theater or fifth place vote.

Someone thought that John Carlson was the fourth best defenseman in hockey this year. When it gets down to the fourth and fifth place votes, I don't really have that much of a problem with them when it kind of alters the, the, you know, voting tabulation and when you really kind of throw away a first place vote, which I don't think anybody did here.

But anyway, congrats to Kale McCarr on your second Norris trophy. Hopefully Quinn Hughes will get his second Norris trophy next season. Moot Count me. Okay. I'll say my, what we learned for the other side, just a reminder, get your, what we learned into the Dunbar lumber text line, 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you

or online at dunbarlumber.com. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions and their schools out and summer here game. Kick it off with the BC Lions summer camp game on January, or sorry, January, Saturday, June 21st at 4 PM for details and tickets. Visit them online at BC lions.com. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on sports net six 50. Hey, it's big Nazar.

Have your say and join me on the people's show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays three to four on sports net six 50 or wherever you get your podcasts. ["It's What We Learn Time"] Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time.

It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. 8.31 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough of Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com.

We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. piece of Campbell and Pound, visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. We got a lot more of what we learned to go.

I know I already started with letting you know what we all learned. Cale McCarr has won his second Norris trophy, beating out Zach Wrenski and our beautiful boy, Quinn Hughes. Do you think Zach Wrenski deserved more votes than Hughes? Yeah. I mean, I played not, I didn't watch a lot of Zach Renske, so I don't know. He was really good. I know he's really good. I actually thought it would have been a little bit of a closer race. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, because it's not close at all.

He's way ahead of Quinn Hughes in votes, which surprised me, because I'm just like, is he that? Did he have that much better of a year than Hughes? Because Hughes had a pretty damn good year. I mean, Hughes was hurt. He just didn't play enough. It happens sometimes. Anyway, we got more of what we learned from our side of the table.

Jason Braff is going to start. Jason, what did you learn? I learned that the US opened, US open at Oakmont is going to be hilarious to watch. Why? And we're going to see some big, big scores from some very good golfers. Apparently Rory McElroy went out and played

a practice round at Oakmont and shot 81. And he was like, I thought I actually played pretty well. So this is a course that is known to be very, very difficult. It's a course just outside of Pittsburgh. So it's like a hard work in blue collar course. And, uh. It's actually built out of coal.

Yeah. They are, um, they are bringing up the rough in a big way to the point where if you miss the fairway and you go in the rough, you're going to find your ball because there are spotters out there, but you may not be able to actually see your ball when you're hitting it, because it could be completely buried. There's also the fact that the greens are going

to be lightning fast. And if the wind kicks up, this is a course with like no trees on it. It's very exposed. So I actually don't know how traditionally windy it gets there, but if you see pictures of Oakmont, you're kind of like, wow, like there's, it's, you know, in theory, it looks like you should be able to just bomb your driver everywhere on it. But because the rough is up and because some of the bunkers are quite tough as well,

I think the players are going to have a lot of trouble with it. And I'm going to ask you, Halford, as a casual golf fan, would you rather watch a tournament where the guys are making a ton of birdies and eagles and you're like, wow, what a great shot. Wow, this guy's like 30 under. Or would you rather watch the best players in the world struggle badly and maybe the winning score is actually over par? The latter, as a matter of fact, I just went to go look it up.

How many majors have been won with a score over par? There's been a few. I thought it would be more of a rarity. I think Brooks Koepke did it in 2018 at the US Open with a score of one over. That's been a few. I thought it would be more of a rarity. I think Brooks Koepke did it in 2018 at the US Open with a score of one over. That's kind of cool. That means it's a real challenge. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's really difficult. I mean, they're not like it's not difficult to win a major, but I would like to see, of course, choose some guys up. I'm reading this right now. In nine previous US Open's at Oakmont, only 23 players finished under par in nine tournaments. That's crazy.

It's tough. Is that like a point of pride for the course designers? Definitely. I would. Yeah. Definitely. I would make it even more difficult. They've made a bunch. Put snakes in the rough.

They've made a bunch of changes to Oakmont over the years. And I think they finally dialed it back to what it originally was. And I saw the former head pro, this is sad that this is how I spend my day, but I was watching the golf channel and the former head pro at Oakmont was talking about how they've kind of brought it back to how it originally was. And that includes the rough being way up.

And apparently the members enjoy playing the course when it's really, really tough. Okay. And sometimes you have members that are like, And apparently the members enjoy playing the course when it's really, really tough. Okay. And sometimes you have members that are like, uh, I don't want to go out there and shoot 140. But I think the members at this course, it's a point of pride that.

It's like a badge of honor. It's a tough course. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, so, uh, I'm sure I think we were going to talk to Adam Stanley on, on Friday. So one round of, of, of the U S open will be in the books when we talk to Adam Stanley on Friday. So one round of the US Open will be in the books when we talk to Adam.

So we'll see how the course is playing there. Give me a moocow. Why don't you go laddie first and then I'll finish. Well, we all remember the handshake line at the end of the hurricanes Panthers series. How could we forget it? Paul Maurice pulling a fast one on Rod Bryndenmore about not wanting to put coaches in the handshake Panthers series. How could we forget it? Paul Maurice pulling a fast one on Rod Bryndemore

about not wanting to put coaches in the handshake line. Yeah. Rod Bryndemore has finally spoken but he spoke a little bit after the game but he was still kind of in shock and grieving the loss of his season. So he's cut off guard. He's had some time to reflect on it.

He was on the Cam and Strik podcast. Okay. And he sort of vented a little bit and he says he's never going to skip the handshake line again He spelled it out 100% Hey listen, I don't want to get in the line. It's about the players and I totally agree with that Like I tell it is about the players. No shit. We're just sitting back there. You know, we don't participate I'm not out there blocking shots and getting my head beat in I get it. So I get his perspective on that

You know, I think about it now So I get his perspective on that. I think about it now, I got asked about it at our end of the year, presser here and I'm like, you know what? I shouldn't went in the line cause that's what I wanted to do. And it's about, it's just showing respect, right? Like it has nothing to do with anything, but you know what?

We're in it with the players. I don't care what you say. Even though I'm not out there, we invest in it. I care about these guys. It's just full of respect. That's it. You know what? I, you know, I'm a grown man here. I'll make my own decision forward, but I, I, I adhered to him because he had won. Like I felt like, you know, he, they won, they get the right to do it. But now that I take a step back,

now that I've had time to think about it, that's not going to happen again. The I'm a grown man I'm gonna do what I want really resonated with me because that was the first thing I thought I'm like all due respect to Paul Maurice and you know his level of respect for things like How about respecting what the other dude wants to do in the moment instead of telling them what to do? Rod bent the knee to him and he regrets it yeah, he regrets it and I don't know whose side you're on but It's all really stupid. I Don't know whose side you're on but I'm on neither because this is a dumb conversation

I love the pushback to Paul Maurice lecturing everyone though. It's like, all right Thanks, dad, even if you want to even if you want a lecture I was like alright. Thanks dad. Even if you want to even if you want a lecture Don't go over and do this big demonstrative gesture where you're like telling someone what to do it after he's just lost Maurice likes to make things about himself sometimes Oh, did you get that but he's got a bit of an ego maybe he's great coach. Well, he is funny Oh, he's very I'm kind of a of two minds because I thought it was kind of funny when the reporter asked him about Barkov and he said, you know, Barkov, no points in the series, like, what do you think?

And Maurice wrote, yeah, we're going to trade him. Okay. That's funny, right? That's a sound bite. And I feel like if I was in that position, I'd probably have a lot of those kind of smart Alec-y responses too. Well, a reporter asked him about it.

But it's also like a fair question. Yeah. You know, and we kind of just, like what do you think about Barkov's game? And I actually don't know if he went on to say. What's his way of answering without an answer? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what it comes down to.

I'm sorry, I don't have the audio. I want to say with Jackie Redmond, asked him on the bench about like Sam Bennett and his possibility of leaving. And so he was trying to underplay it. Like, oh, no, no. Nobody wants to take him. He's got Ebola.

He's always injured. He's a terrible player. You shouldn't take him. Obviously, joking. No, no, we want him to stay here. It's deflection. It's his way of deflection. Please do not leave us, Sam Bennett.

But he's definitely got that sense of humor. I think he's got the confidence just to say whatever he wants, you know, but there is some pushback to the lecturing. And I thought that was unfair to put Brenda Moore in that position. I can't I don't know his thought process. You imagine beating someone in a sport, you know what I'm going to tell you how to do around just for a second here, right after in the seconds after. You can see Rod was like What?

Handshake police what's going on here trying not to cry right now. You're telling me what's going on here. Okay mooc out again So my what we learned is that the analysts that we're getting in sports now are becoming too good I'm gonna play some audio from last night. This is a live look in at the Yankees Royals game. They weren't doing commentary. This was just MLB network. Yeah, I think what it was was they cut to the broadcast. His judge was on a plate. Yeah, Matt Veserge and was doing the play by play and former MLB first baseman

Yonder Alonzo was doing the color. So what happens is it's Noah Cameron pitching for the Royals. Starts the game well, he gets Paul Goldschmidt out, then walks Trent Grisham on four straight pitches. So all of a sudden you're like, he's losing his control a little bit, and then up after Grisham comes Aaron Judge. Now I'm gonna try and break this thing down.

Let's start the clip rolling. This is when Judge comes to the plate. Listen very carefully to the audio, especially the analytical work from Yonder Alonso here. Take it away. Aaron Judge is on a pace this year, folks. Ready? For 58 homers and a 396 batting average.

He's gonna go deep right here. The way he took that pitch right there. I mean, this is gonna be loud 38 homers and a 396 batting average. He's going to go deeper here. The way he took that pitch right there. I mean, this is going to be loud when he decides to swing. They stop it right there. So now the counts one and oh, so now Cameron's throwing five straight balls. He's maybe getting rattled and yonder starts picking up

on this, right? Let's keep the clip rolling here. Six straight misses. The problem is if you're a judge, do you want to do the right thing and take a pitch right here? Or you're sitting 2-0 and it's got to be right place, right time, where exactly you want it and you're going to unleash on one. Okay, so now it's 2-0. Hitters count.

Yonders set this entire thing up up listen to what judge does next two balls in those strikes That might be the best color analyst work I've ever heard in my life. That is unbelievable. Breaking it down, pitch by pitch, exactly what he saw and then boom, the moment that he takes, he's like, okay, something's going

to come in the zone here because he's throwing six straight balls, bang, judge goes yard. When you think about big home runs, what are the ones that come to mind first? Because there are two that I think about. Um, Jay Buhner at Yankee Stadium hit an absolute bomb. I don't know if anyone remembers that one. It was like 480 feet.

It was crazy. It was to center field and then it went like there was an ambulance parked out in center field at the old Yankee Stadium. I think it went like over the ambulance. The ambulance needed an ambulance. The other one would be Kansco into the upper, upper deck. Yeah, that would have been my pick.

At Skydome. Canseco's at Skydome is unbelievable. Like you couldn't even believe it, it's like, wait a minute, how did that even happen? Stanton had one with the Marlins as well, that still sticks with me, it was over 500 feet. Yeah. So that one yesterday, you know how many feet it traveled?

469. Ooh, nice, very nice. Very nice, very nice. By the way, the other part I wanted to add onto this is that the analytical work in sports is getting so good now. It's, you know, cause it really first started, I think when Tony Romo broke onto the scene, and remember he had that penchant for calling plays

before they even started. So this thing with Yonder Alonso is great. I listened to Andre Agassi work, The French Open. I don't know if anyone else watched. He was unbelievable as an analyst. He had this breakdown of Alcraz's backhand and it was a real subtle thing. Like, I don't know how he picked up on it,

but it was the way that he would load it up and almost like cock disarm at a different position to hit his backhand. It was the most enthralling tennis work I I've ever heard like I'm a tennis guy So a lot of it. What was he saying that you're like? Oh, I didn't kind of know he was talking about how he like Reinvented his backhand with the most subtle change in the degree And it would be the minutia would be to the point where you're like if you were only hardcore into tennis you interested By it, but he made it so approachable and digestible that I was like, I know tennis now

I'm a tennis inside is great work Can I rain on your parade here for this the clip that we just played I guess well is it it was a 2-0 count You know that batting averages go way up when the hitters are up and they got a guy at the plate Who's you know on pace for record breaking home run numbers? So I wouldn't say it's the most outlandish prediction in the world that he would go deep there, but nice call nonetheless Well, you certainly did rain on it Thank you for that. That's good. Is there anything else you'd like to pee on on your way out Give me a minute some research

move out It would have been cool if it was like oh and two is like I still think he's good Yeah, that would have been impressive. Thank you, bro. I was surprised that he was able to throw a strike after 60 Let's fire the matrix Humanoid submission what we learns as always brought to you by AJ's pizza on East Broadway You got to try this bar pie 14 inches of cracker thin crust not 14 crackers As I've said earlier topped with tomato sauce matzah and cheddar only at AJ's pizza order online at AJ's dot pizza. Rich with what we learned.

I have learned that it just seems like in the city of Vancouver getting through the bureaucratic process of say, looking at a new soccer stadium, we'll take 10 times longer to get done than any other city on the map in the world. It is such a drawn out process here. I hope no native tree frogs live close to the P&E. If so, it's over. Yeah, it's hard to get things done, but. Isn't every city like that though?

No. No. Really? No. In terms of building stuff? Nashville, they just build stuff whenever they feel like it. Not to the point of Vancouver. I'm serious.

Nashville, they just build. Yeah. Every time I go back to Nashville, there's like a new part of the city that's just been built. But I do think it was interesting that Mike Klassen mentioned we are in a new paradigm here and our politicians are going to be tested because everyone knows that Canada has to do a lot

better from an economic standpoint. We can't just rely on the US for trade and for our economy. And part of that is just going to be pushing projects through and getting them done. And is there risk in that? Yep. Yep. Sometimes when you push through projects, you're like, we didn't think about this and this is bad and oh my God, the cost overruns are crazy, but I think there is a new

push and this goes federal, provincial, civic, get things done because we can't sit around and just wait and we can't just, we can't be reliant on the Americans for our economy because they're a bit of a wild card right now. I don't know what's going on down there. And we can't just be's going on down there. And we can't just be reliant on housing to drive our economy.

It's like, what if house prices went up a little bit more? Would that help? Would that help everything out? We can't just like, what do you guys do? Build houses. Got to break a few eggs to make it almost. Will you have some shells? Yeah. Maybe. Do you guys are you guys innovative?

Yeah, not really. We got houses. I do more of those. By the way, I did mention we can sell them and because they always go up. Yeah, helps. That'll never stop. I you know what?

I mentioned Nashville because they do have a soccer specific stadium and it is actually actually, I was reading this big article in Sports Business Journal talking about the Don Garber era in MLS. And his signature is like, calling card is that during his tenure as MLS commissioner, there's been this massive uptick in soccer specific stadiums. Because when he inherited the league,

they were all playing in these, like there's football lines on the field, there's 60,000 seats and only 10,000 of them are filled. So football lines on the field. Right. It was so bad. Right. And what they're doing at Yankee Stadium still is so bad. Anyway, Nashville built the soccer specific stadium, the largest ever soccer specific stadium in the U.S. And they said, like, this is where the sport has grown to, that you can have this self-sustaining grant that they're going to have other tenants there and stuff, too, but primarily soccer-specific stadium in a

country that is built on the bedrock of big football stadiums, big baseball stadiums, and then arenas. Having a soccer-specific one is the way that this league is going. The Whitecaps will be left in the dust if they don't. And, I mean, take the whole civic part of it away because Vancouver is a tough place to build and grow. The league is also going in that direction.

So you're working on two fronts there. You know, it's funny, uh, when it comes to the topic of BC plays, because I remember thinking when they were doing that Renault, they're going to spend whatever half a billion dollars on renovating BC place. I'm sitting there going, the CFL is going to smaller, more intimate stadiums. They're building new stadiums in Regina and Winnipeg

and Montreal had seen some success moving into the McGill Stadium and MLS, the same thing, smaller, more intimate. But then I also thought like, I'm glad BC Place is here because I've been to, just in the last little while, I've been to a bunch of sellouts at BC Place. Yep. I went to two white cap sellouts for Miami. One was better than the other. Significantly. Just went to Snoop Dogg at BC Place and it was cool to see that mostly full. Yeah.

We're going to have the World Cup. There have been a bunch of concerts that have been full sellouts at BC Place. Obviously, Taylor Swift, ACDC was here, Coldplay, concerts like that where they were just like the stadium is full. And we're a big enough city. And we've said this before, we're in a tough position here because we're a big enough city where it's nice to have a big stadium.

Sure. So you get the big acts that come through, right? You get Taylor Swift, you're able to host World Cup games. You're able to be a venue for that sort of thing. But for the main tenants, it's not ideal. No. You know, in a place like, um, you know, let's talk about Dallas, right? Like, obviously you need the big stadium for the Cowboys.

Sure. But you also get so much use out of that stadium for other things. Like NBA All-Star game can go there and all the college football games can go there, bowl games college football games can go there. Boxing. Boxing, right? So it is a bit of a, you know, in Vancouver, you want to have both. You want the big stadium for the big events, but you want the smaller, more intimate stadium

for the CFL and the MLS teams. This one's from Keef, hashtag WWL What We Learned. For a league that wants to make the NHL award show more entertaining I don't know why they keep announcing these awards ahead of time Keith I don't think they want to make the NHL award show more entertaining I don't think the NHL wants to do an award show anymore I think one of the best things that the NHL has done it did acknowledge that they're not good at award shows They've never been good. I've never walked away from an NHL award show being like,

they did a really nice job with that this year. They've always been bad. And they just decided finally, finally someone heard the message and they're like, let's stop trying. Let's just make this the most muted, basic thing that we can possibly do. So I even have one. Well, you got to announce some of the awards. I'm surprised.

I do it on social media They might go that way Andy they actually might I and I would be totally fine with it I don't think you need an I like how the NHL has finally clued in and just be like do we need an all-star game? Yeah, what do we do it? Do we need a word shows like every time we do these things? We just end up getting killed for them like let's are we the baddies Let's stop doing them yeah, you know and We just end up getting killed for them like let's are we the baddies? Let's stop doing them yeah, you know and You know the all-star game is a little bit different because I do think kids like it But for the most part I watch that stuff. I'm like god. I flip it off. I turn it off

I can't I get I see Well, I do that but I should get you know how you know how bad this is? I get second-hand embarrassment. Oh yeah, for sure. Watching. That's part of the experience. Watching the awards show. Same with the NHL awards, yeah. The skills challenge.

Yeah. I'm like, oh, this isn't working. Oh, that guy's out there struggling. This is terrible to watch. I'm flipping over to the golf channel to talk about Oakmont again. The last time the skills comp was like- That's my safety channel, the golf channel. Yeah.

The last time the skills comp was genuinely interesting for me personally, at least, was the year the Sedines and Datsuk did that, you know, with all the things they got to stick handle around on the ice. I can't remember what the thing was called. You don't know what it was called? Obstacle course. The obstacle course, thank you.

And Datsuk was just like absolutely outstanding and the Sedines killed it as well. Like that was like the last time I was invested in. Like this is so good. Here's the difference though. If you want to go watch that stuff now, we got YouTube. Yeah, that's true. Like there's so much stick handling stuff on YouTube

that you're gonna be like, oh yeah, that's cool. So when they do it at the All-Star game, you know, Patrick Kane, stick handling is incredible. But when he does it, it was like, yeah, I saw that on TikTok or whatever. And I could see it again if I wanted to. I can go to a- It's not novel anymore.

The trick shot guys are almost better at it because they've been practicing the trick shots the pro guys have. For sure, that's what they do. Omar with what we learned, the emergence of sea lobs makes Demko expendable even if it is not ideal, isn't risk part of swinging for the fences.

Omar wants to gamble. I like your spirit, Omar. Here is one thing that I'm gonna end the show with. If Stuart Skinner does not get it done for the Oilers in these Stanley Cup Finals, what do they do there? And do they possibly call up Vancouver about Thatcher Demko?

Oh my! Demko for McDavid? You are so... I gotta clean up that mess. Just like Jan Pro. From conference rooms to kitchenettes and everything in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected. For a free quote, visit them online at JanPro.ca.

We gotta say goodbye for today, but we will be back tomorrow. Signing off, I have been Mike Alford, he's been Jason Brough, he's been A-Dog and he's been Laddy. This has been the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.