SoccerWise - Tampa Bay Rowdies 50th Anniversary w/President Ryan Helfrick

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

It is a huge weekend in Tampa Bay as the Rowdies return home for the first time in over 200 days since the devastation of Hurricane Helene & Milton, but not just that they do so while celebrating their 50th anniversary of the clubs founding. Rowdies President Ryan Helfrick joins David to talk about celebrating that legacy, the growth of the game and the future for Tampa & USL. Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Well everybody we've got a fun one here for you on this Friday afternoon looking forward to a great weekend of soccer and it is a huge weekend in the Tampa Bay area because the Bay Routies are home for the first time in almost 200 days. They are celebrating some big things on their 50th anniversary. And to talk to us a little bit about it, we have the president of the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Ryan Helfrich with us. Ryan, thanks for taking the time. David, thanks for having me.

Looking forward to it. You are, I believe, set up in the stadium right now. You're already locked in. I am. I'm looking over the stadium right now, continuing to watch some of the renovations taking place, but definitely getting excited for for Saturday. Let's talk a little bit about you before we get into everything that's going on this week and beyond. You have been a part of this club for quite a long time. My understanding is 2010 you were one of

the first employees as the team came back into the modern generation of pro soccer. Is that correct? That's correct David. So I started my career with FC Dallas and Major League Soccer and have a unique pathway to where I'm at today. So I actually started in ticket sales. So inside sales, I moved my way up to account executive and I was in Dallas for a couple of years. And then I had the opportunity to join the Rowdies when the modern era started in 2010. And I was the fourth or fifth employee, one of the two. And I've been here ever since. So when I started with the Rowdies, I came into the ticket sales department as well, eventually oversaw that department,

moved over to the corporate partnership side of the business, and then moved into VP business operations, to chief operating officer, and now to president. So it's been unique, it's been fun, but I've stayed with the club for a long time. I think one of the reasons why I've really stayed here is the culture that has been created here. And then I think when you're one of the original employees

with a club, you feel a sense of ownership. Now, I don't obviously own the team, right? But seeing the ups and downs, being a part of three different ownership groups, and some people have asked me why I haven't left yet. And the biggest reason really is there's still more things that I personally want to accomplish here with the Rowdies. And it's a club that I've fallen in love with.

And we want to do great things for the Tampa Bay region and this community and give our fans in the region a club to be proud of with the history that we have and we're just really looking forward to kicking off the 2025 season here at home. They say history is written by the victors so just so you know you said fourth or fifth. The longer you stay the longer you can fudge that and you can become the first ever employee the longer you stay because no one can tell you you're wrong, right? No one else was there.

Listen, by those standards, I guess I'm the first employee. There you go, boom. We've already done it. Mission accomplished. Yep, I'll change the narrative on that one. Let's go back over the 15 years then. What are some of the top memories that come to mind?

Like when people say, oh, you've been with this club for such a long time. What does it mean to you? What are the moments you think of? Yeah, I think the top moments that you think of is, one would be obviously the first match that we played in the modern era. In 2010, it was against Austin Aztecs at Steinbrenner Field,

which is coincidentally, that's where the Tampa Bay Rays who own us, that's where they're playing this season.'s where the Tampa Bay Rays who own us that's where they're playing this season or where the full circle right so full circle there so that was exciting the 2012 NSL soccer bowl championship run that that's a big memory in that whole season there were ups and downs and the roller coaster ride to get us to the final to to them beat Minnesota in the second leg here at Allang Stadium.

That was a big one. And then all the relationships that you develop with individuals that you work with and being able to see individuals that you've worked with go on and work in, whether it's Major League Soccer or the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB. It's been excited to see the progression of other individuals' careers. And then again, the relationships they can develop on the team side, right? So we've had some big names here over the last 15 years.

Joe Cole was with the club. Neil Collins, who's now the coach of Sacramento Republic. He played for us and managed here. Short little stint with Freddie Adu, but he was with the club as well, so that was exciting. And then since the Rays acquired us, really being able to go to three straight Eastern Conference Finals in 2020, 2021, and 2022, and back-to-back USL Championship Finals. A lot of great memories there too. So looking forward to creating some more memories

here in the future, and hopefully this year as well. But each and every season has been very unique. You learn a lot of new things. You come to realize quickly, even though I've been here the longest, that you still don't know everything. You know a lot, right? You're trying to learn new things each and every day

and the game continues to evolve, the league continues to evolve, the people and your employees continue to evolve. So it's a lot to manage, but it's definitely fun. It's a challenge and it's something that I love doing each and every day. So I've got a Rowdy jersey up. Shout out to Gabby, one of the best,

for sending it my way. And one of the fun things I get to do in this role is you get a lot of paraphernalia from teams. I have to think over the 15 years, you've gotten some amazing Tampa Bay Rowdy stuff. What is the weirdest or most unique or the Tampa Bay Rowdy's, whatever it is, toilet paper, whatnot in the house that you are most proud of? So I have one.

So I have a jersey in the house, which it doesn't sound that exciting, but it's a jersey that we never wore. So in 2010, we had. And for those who don't know, in 2010, we didn't have the rights to the name Rowdies, so we actually were FC Tampa Bay. So it's an FC Tampa Bay jersey. It has red and white hoops all around it, and then the shoulders have blue with white stars.

We were going to wear it for our annual 4th of July match. And it's signed by the team and it's framed in my office at home. And to be honest, David, I don't think anybody's ever seen it except a couple of people who were part of the organization in 2010 or unless you've been in my office at my house. Yeah. That's that is probably the most that's pretty good. Which is good. I will say there are fans that bring to us memorabilia from back in the original era in the 70s. And there are some, just some odd things that the Rowdies used to hand out.

But that's what they were known for. They were a little wonky, little quirky. They had a great marketing strategy. You know, the fans were called Fanny's. They had a band that was called the Loudies. You had the cheerleaders, the Loudies. So there is tons of memorabilia throughout our training facility in our stadium that if you walked through, you'd say, this is wild. I think having a never worn Jersey is a pretty cool one and a pretty special one I always say to friends when I have stuff like that and nothing as good like this is the retirement plan I'll throw it on eBay and I'm

75 and you'll buy it from me at that point because you're all soccer nerds And I know all of our soccer wise fans are those people as well Especially the ones in the discord hanging out you talked about the original So it's the 50 year anniversary of the Tampa Bay Rowdies. And there's a lot that goes into that. Talk a little bit about the plans for this year. And I think to me, the question is how you honor a legacy, like how you look back over such a huge time span,

one that you've been a part of, but also not been all the way back and try and put it into a plan and a way to honor it and show it. Yeah, so we've been, we've been fortunate and I've been very fortunate. Since I joined the club in 2010, one of the first individuals that I met who was part of the club at the time

and still very near and dear to us and comes out to our matches and supports us is Perry Vanderbeck. So he's a former Rowdies player. He was drafted in 78. His first player drafted out of high school into professional soccer, here domestically in the United States. Played most of his career with us, worked for us again in the modern era, and he still lives here in the Tampa Bay region.

So having him in somebody that I consider to be a mentor and a close friend and being educated on the history of the Rowdies and being introduced to other former Rowdies players, I think the unique thing about this club and the players from the original era is a lot of those guys, once they retired, even if they went off and played somewhere else, a lot of those guys live in this area to this day. So being able to have relationships with them, understanding what it was like starting with the Rowdies back in 75 and what the early days were like, and really being educated

on the history, it gives you a full circle view of how the club was run and how it's evolved over time. So that's been really exciting. We've been blessed as an organization to have so many of those former players and former executives still here in the Tampa Bay region. We started planning for the 50th anniversary, David, 12 to 18 months ago.

I would say probably closer to 18 months ago. This is a big big big year for us You know and really what it came down to is okay. How do we create excitement for the fan base? How do we honor the legacy like you said? Because you have two different errors which make very unique right you have the original rowdy's which played from 75 and and then they went to indoor soccer into the early 90s. You had the mutiny here, which isn't obviously a part of the Rowdies.

And then we came back in 2010. So there was a 20-year gap there, right? So this isn't the 50th year of us playing, but it is the 50th anniversary from us starting professional soccer in the Tampa Bay region. A lot of your listeners and viewers, they may know this, maybe they don't. The Rowdies were the first professional sports team to represent the Tampa Bay region. So we predate the Bucs, the Rays, and the Lightning. We

started in 75, the Bucs started in 76. We played in an Old Tampa Stadium. You hear the stories about the Rowdies and Cosmos, the Rowdies and Strikers, the infamous 4th of July matches against Pele in the Cosmos where they had 45, 50,000 in Tampa Stadium. You see the pictures hanging up in our training facility and kind of takes you back to those days. And then hearing the stories from all the players and the executives creates a lot of excitement. So this year we're going to bring that excitement to Alang Stadium, to our home, and we're going to have activations all throughout the year. We have three dates that we're really going to focus on here at Alang, the first one being on April 26th, that is dubbed our anniversary night. We're excited for that because 50 years ago to that day, the Rowdies kicked off.

So the fact that those dates aligned, it's unique and really cool. We're going to have former players out here from the original era and the modern era. They're going to be participating in meet and greets, photo opportunities, autograph sessions before the match kicks off. And then at halftime we're going to be recognizing individuals from different eras and we'll have a video playing here in the stadium as well. So we're really excited about that.

August 16th is a very unique one for us because that's our OG night. So we'll have a lot of guys from the 75 team come into town for that match. We'll also have a lot of other guys just from the original era. They'll be in town as well, and they'll come out and we'll have several activations leading up to that match and then on game day itself. And then we have something unique here at Outland Stadium

and with the Rowdies, you hear with probably more so your NFL teams, you hear about Ring of Honor. We have something called the 75-10 club. 75 because the club started in 75 or we started playing soccer in 75 and 10 due to the modern era starting in 2010. So we currently have three individuals in that club right now. We have Perry Vanderbeck, Mike Connell, and Keith Savage, Keith from the modern era, Perry and Mike from the original era. On August 16th, we're gonna be inducting someone

from the original era into the 75-10 club, so we're definitely excited for that, and that will take place at halftime. And then on October 4th, we're gonna have our modern era night. So a lot of guys from 2010 up until 23, 24, who can make it back in town or who are still in the area, we'll have them out to the match and we'll have a lot of activations leading up to that as well.

But I think, again, one of the big things for our fans this year is going back to the retro kit, right? What we wore in 75. Give us the collars, give us the hoops, give us the green and gold, and we're really excited for that. We haven't been able to do it. I think the jersey that you have hanging in the background there is something that's about as close as we got to the hoops, and they're great. But these kits that we have this year, they're retro. They're almost identical to the 75 kits, Except we have a front of kit partner instead of just rowdies across one

I'd also assume the material is a little different. I Yeah, it's a it's a lightweight when you have some of those original jerseys, so yeah, like sweaters I have no idea. I mean well it helped that they were probably smoking cigarettes. I mean, that is Yeah, good. Good point. Good point. So I mean, they're so heavy. And it's like it feels like wool. And you know, you just hold it. And it's like, man, if I walked outside in February in Florida, that'd be sweating. So how they played through the summer, I have no idea. But yeah, definitely much better material.

So I'm sure the guys are happy about that. But we're excited about wearing those and bringing those home to Alley this Saturday. What do you say to people? Because I'm sure this is a conversation, listen, it's a conversation I have all the time and I'm not part of a club that's been around for 50 years, but especially in the sports landscape in the U.S.

and outside of soccer, people say, like, you don't have any history. There is no American soccer history. What do you and what does the club sort of talk about in terms of your responsibility and and all of this rich history that does exist that for a lot of people is out of sight, out of mind or deleted or whatever it is. Yes, I think one of the things that we had to continue to do

when the club started back up in 2010 and we did a great job for the staff that we had but we just didn't have the bandwidth or the capacity that they most likely had back in the 70s and again I'm not even sure how much bandwidth or capacity they had back then to be honest with you but the Rowdies were known for their grassroots work in the community and really growing the game of soccer, coming up with fun, unique ways to engage with the community, right? So they had their soccer camps back in the 70s,

camp kicking the grass, right? So it's like, how do you continue these types of things? And when you start talking about, if you talk to anybody in the Tampa Bay region, even if they don't know that we're back, which most of them do at this point, and they grew up here, all you have to say is soccer is a kick in the grass and they go Rowdies. And then they start naming off guys, Rodney Marsh, Perry Vanderbeck, Mike Connell, Farooq Creeche, right?

And Steve Wagerly, Roy Wagerly applied best. I mean, the list goes on in terms of some of the big names who played for this club. So we're very, very well known in the community. And for people, listen, when we travel with the team nowadays, we'll be in an airport. What are you guys, a basketball team, or a lacrosse team, or a baseball team? And when they ask the basketball team, it's like, do we look like we're a basketball team, or you have a cross team, or you have a baseball team. And when they ask the basketball team, it's like, do we look like we're a basketball team? Like, there's no, there's two guys over like 6'3 on the squad, right? So that can be an interesting conversation.

But specifically here in the Tampa Bay region, we have such a rich history. And the youth soccer in this area is so competitive. And a lot of the individuals who are running the youth clubs in the area, they grew up with the Rowdies and they're Rowdies fans and they understand the history. So we probably have it a little bit easier than most clubs do.

But we have a responsibility as well to continue the grassroots efforts, to continue to go back into the community and give back to the community. We want to be the community's club and a club for our community. So it is, like I said, it's our responsibility not only to get into the community and run youth soccer clinics with the youth clubs and things like that and do the hospital visits and work with our partners in strategic ways. All of that is very important. But when we sign players, more than anything, we want to sign good people too who want to

be involved in the community. And at the beginning of every year, we learn what the players' passions are, and whether it's kids, whether it's homeless empowerment and going to feeding programs and helping out there, or whatever the situation might be. And we try to get the players involved as much as possible. We try to get our staff involved as much as possible. And then we're also fortunate, like I mentioned earlier, our ownership group is the Tampa Bay Rays, the Major League Baseball team.

So we have a, I would consider more resources than probably a lot of other USL Championship clubs, which allows us to get into the community even more so, because we can tap into their community team and they'll help us out. So it's been a really cool experience to be able to give back and to give back so much into our community. We're always looking to do more things and become very unique in what we do so that things

don't become stale. We don't want to be a club that just goes out and runs soccer clubs or soccer clinics per se. It's important. It's a big part of who we are, but that's not all we do. We have a food drive coming up here in the next month. We have a week of service,

and we're gonna be doing a food drive with Feeding Tampa Bay. We're gonna be giving back to military veterans as a front office and as a team. So there's just a lot of different initiatives that we have going on, and I think that helps build equity in the community so people know who we are.

You talk about the community and I have to think this weekend's gonna be a big moment, which is Allang Stadium opening up for the first time in over 200 days following the devastation from a hurricane for you to be able to come back. And I know because I've been through events like this and you know I'm from New York. I remember going to the Knicks game after Hurricane Sandy and obviously after 9-11 and all of those things. I know how central they can be as an emotional moment for a community to feel like you've come a distance

from this terrible event but also a time for everyone to come together and be in the same place. What has the experience been like for you and the club working through the last 200 days of not being able to host home games, not being able to train where you want to, not being in your regular space, and then rebuilding for now

what you're hoping is a great next 50 years? David, it's been a challenge. You know, our last match here was mid-September against Pittsburgh. Hurricane Helene passed us. It didn't hit us head on in late September. And I'm looking out over the stadium right now. So right across the street from our stadium, probably 75 feet off the pitch, is Tampa Bay and the water. So as the storm surge came up, I was watching on the cameras at

home that night and at about 930, it was high tide, so it was the perfect storm. The storm surge came in. We took about 18 inches over the entirety of the field and the first level, and then in the first level of the stadium. And then our locker rooms, executive offices, team store, a lot of back of house areas that fans wouldn't see, it's under sea level. And you have to go down six or seven steps to get down there. So that area took on about four and a half, five feet of storm surge and water.

And once that gets down there, there's no way of getting it out unless you point it out, right? So we got to the stadium the morning after the storm. I was here about 4.35 a.m. It was really eerie, to be honest with you. Came in the stadium, all the water had gone back out to sea. The pitch was almost bone dry.

So that tells me two things. One, we have good drainage system, right? But number two, the force of the surge even going back out to sea was so strong that literally the stadium pitch five hours after there was 18 inches of water covering the entire first level, everything was dried off, which was really wild. So we started renovations immediately. We did the remediation. We worked with the city because we leased the stadium from the city.

And again, we're wrapping up renovations this week, so it's super exciting. Listen, at the end of the day, David, it comes down to what happens when your team faces adversity, right? And it's either you come together and you work as a united front and people's true colors start to come out and you see how people deal with pressure and challenge and stress while also dealing with their personal issues at home. You know, we've had employees that lost cars, that lost parts of their houses, or had to move out of their houses

while they've been renovated. And you know, you come into the stadium and it's a place of work and it's a place where, you know, there's so many from within the community that come here to come together and watch football and have a fun night on a Saturday night during the season and you realize that their personal lives have been devastated as well and they don't have houses and they don't know what

they're gonna do and they're fighting with the insurance companies and you just kind of try to band together as a club as as an organization, and work as one. And you start with the community and the people who are part of the club and the people in our region and how we can help. And you balance that out with, you know, working with the city and the contractors in terms of getting the stadium to where it is today. It's something that I wouldn't wish on another club or anybody, but at the same time, I think as you reflect on it,

we've realized as an organization how close we've come together as a group, how much we've been able to rely on each other. And as a leader of the organization, you've had to have, or I've had to have, a lot of tough conversations and challenging conversations to get us to where we're at today. But we've had great support from the ownership group.

We've had great support from the community. And again, like you mentioned, allowing fans to come back this Saturday to celebrate the first match at home since the hurricanes, and that's what our stadium's about. It's bringing people together. That's what football's for.

It's bringing people together. Doesn't matter which side of the aisle you're on, what your beliefs are, what your race is. We want access for everyone, and we're gonna we're gonna support you know our community and we're just we're beyond thrilled to have people back at the stadium this week. I don't think it's gonna hit me. I don't think it's gonna hit the staff because we're so busy right now but once those gates open on Saturday we might have to we might have to pinch ourselves and it

could get get a little emotional because there has been a ton of work that has been put in behind the scenes to get us to where we are this week. Yeah, it's been I mean just from afar. It's been incredible to watch and obviously it was heartwarming the way it felt like other teams in the soccer sphere reached out and you feel that community because we have our local communities, but all of us have the soccer community, which is a big part of what we do here at SoccerWise and what we believe in. We're going to talk about the present, but I want to talk about the future first because

50 years is incredible. And now we're all looking to the next 50. And obviously it's been a big couple of weeks. We get the news that USL is working towards a Division 1 status. We get the news around promotion and relegation and the potential for it to come in. At the club level, what are you guys discussing of what the goals are going forward and where the Tampa Bay Rowdies want to go? Yeah, absolutely. I think first for the goals are, listen, we want to be one of the best soccer clubs domestically here in North America, right?

Not only on the field, but off the field, when it comes to fan experience, when it comes to our stadium location and what we offer fans. But at the end of the day, right, you look at the players, you look at the technical staff, the front office and the fans. I think I haven't spoken to one individual who's not excited about promotion relegation. Now I think the thing that we're still trying to figure out is what's the overall plan, right? So I know it's been voted on, I know we're gonna move forward with it, but you know we're probably still three or four years off from promotion relegation

starting, and once we get the full-scale plan from the league that will help us start to plan and put together a strategy that will help us become one of the top clubs in the country. So I know they're working through a lot right now Paul McDonough who's in charge of the USL and Jeremy Allenball with USL Championship. They're working hard with US soccer and looking at ways to essentially roll this out. We're waiting patiently to hear what the overall plan is, but we're excited for it, right? I think it's something that this country and soccer fans in this country have been waiting for. I think people are wondering how it's going to work. I think we're wondering how it's going to work. But I think, you know, it's

what everybody said. Every game is going to be a meaningful match, right? It doesn't matter if you're playing at the beginning of the year, at the end of the year, if you're middle of the table, top of the table, bottom of the table, right? You're playing for something each and every match and that's something that I think everybody gets excited for. I think the players on our team, they get excited for it because it just brings out the best in people when you have that competitive competitive environment day in day out. One of the things that's happened in the past, not as recently, but in the last 10 years is we've seen Tampa and the Rowdies be connected to MLS expansion with the new sort of around a Division one coming into USL and the setup.

Does that take that off the table for the plans for the club? Uh, listen, I don't think so. Right. I think, you know, listen, there's a couple of things. We're in USL championship now. We still have more to accomplish in USL Championship. We haven't won a trophy since 2012. That's our number one goal on the field is to fill that trophy case.

What ownership decides to do and the direction we decide to go, what we're looking at right now, that could change two or three years from now. There has been whispers of us in the past as an expansion market for MLS. Now there's talks about the D1 league. Listen, we're committed to USL Championship right now. We're excited to be in the league. We're excited to be playing in the league, but you never know what the future holds for the organization and for the franchise. So all we can do and myself as the president of the club is do our best

to put our best foot forward each and every day to make sure that we're putting the best best product on the field and again, creating something for our region, our fans to be proud of. And as long as we do that, the dominoes will fall into place as they may. And wherever that ends up for us, that's up to our ownership group. It is a fascinating time in soccer. Right now we've all lived through what we call the soccer wars and leagues growing and going away and all of that. Is there any worry for

you that there's that loss of, I call it energy, right? There was so much that went into NASL and USL and MLS and all these other sides of things that it loses focus on maybe the ability to run teams at their best or do you think that this all pushes soccer higher in the United States? I think it's our responsibility as club leaders with each of the clubs to continue to push it forward and move it up the ranks. I am a firm believer that in the next quarter century, soccer is really going to explode here in the country. Now, I know it's exploded since I joined Major League Soccer with FC Dallas back in 2006,

2007. If we look at where we were then compared to today, you have seen the growth. I think it's going to grow even more with club World Cup this year, and then obviously FIFA World Cup. But when you look around the country, when you look at youth soccer, when you look at the number of participants on the boys' side and on the girls side, the future generations, the kids who are playing right now, as they get older, as they have buying power, I think you're going to start seeing a shift to soccer. I really do, and I think you're going to see bigger stadiums, and I think you're going

to see more support and more fans. Listen, I know everybody wants to see it look like what it does over in Europe. I don't know that that will ever happen in my lifetime. It'd be great if it did. But at the end of the day, the growth is there. And I really think by the time we're at 2050, they're not going to be talking about the big four when it comes to sports of NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, and NHL. Soccer is going to be in that conversation.

Multiple leagues could be in that conversation. One league could be in that conversation. Who knows what that looks like, but it's going to be in the conversation. And I have a feeling by that time as well, it's going to be a top three sport just with the way that it continues to grow throughout this country. So I'm excited for it. I tell our staff this all the time. At the end of the day, you work in professional soccer because you're passionate about growing

this game and nobody, and it's okay with me if nobody remembers who I am 50 to 75 years from now, but as long as we do our part on a daily basis to move the game forward and make sure that this game is getting the recognition it deserves in this country, then we're doing our jobs. Now we have to continue to push forward. We have to continue to challenge the status quo, but that's our jobs to do. And as long as we're doing that consistently as a united front, regardless of what league you're in, but just as professional soccer clubs, we're gonna be in a good space.

I don't know what people in 1975 would think we'd be talking about. I assume they wouldn't think we'd be doing it via this forum. So we don't know what it'll look like in 50 years, but one thing that hasn't changed is, you mentioned it, that you strive for a championship. And it's been a part of the Tampa Bay Rowdy since the day it came back. I know from

my coverage of the soccer sphere here and I've been on some of those playoff games and open cup games and all of that. Obviously starting with a road trip is never easy for any team in any sport but especially in soccer where home field advantage is so big and the supporters culture and the way it affects a team is so big. What's the feeling inside the group right now, as you finally come back home of what 2025 can look like on the field?

So I think there's a sense of excitement, right? The season hasn't started off the way that we want it to by any stretch of the imagination, right? Four matches in, we have three points. That's not the way, you know, technical staff, players, front office staff, myself envision the season starting. But again, it's adversity. How do we respond to it? How do we come together as a group? How do we become a united front? And how do we put our best foot forward? So there's, there's, you know, from our end,

we are making some adjustments, you know, on the field and how we approach match day. But when I look at our record at Allang Stadium and at home over the last several years, this place has really become a fortress. And I think there's two reasons for that. One is the supporters and the fans that we have that come out each and every week. Two is the heat and the humidity which will take each and every day especially in the summer right. So last year you know if you talk to our

fans I think some would be disappointed about how we played at home. We lost three matches at home last year, right? Not necessarily a bad year. I know the last three matches we didn't play here at Aulang, but three losses at home. That was considered to be like, really, are we losing that home field advantage here? I don't think we are. The next seven out of the next eight are here at Outlang. So this is an opportunity to showcase our talents. I think when the guys get in front of the crowd and our supporters, I think the excitement that will give them a little

bit more juice for the game and give them a little bump to really execute and get what we need, which is three points. These next two months are crucial for the club. They're crucial for the team. They're really crucial for everyone, but we have to take it one match at a time. We can't just look at it as, hey, we have seven out of the next eight at home and we got to get three points each time. We have Loudon United this weekend. They're top of the table in the East, right? So that's what our focus on.

And we need to get three points and that's the expectation. Well, now you get to do the fun part, which is the soccer part, not the building, not the insurance, none of that. And we are all very excited to see it go down. We could do this all day. So I'll have you back on and we are all very excited to see it go down. We could do this all day. So I'll have you back on and we will talk. US Open Cup, we'll talk. USL, Jägermeister Cup, all those other fun things that are coming in as well. But for now, go get ready.

Enjoy the weekend. Thank you for taking the time. And let's do this again soon. Thanks so much, David. I enjoyed it. Well, thank you to Ryan for taking the time to chat with us. Once again, go to the Tampa Bay Rowdies website, rowdiesoccer.com to go learn all about all the special events they've got coming up this year to honor their history. Some fun stuff going on at the stadium and an opportunity to get out to the game and watch a really good soccer team. It has

been put together, you know, with a good group of USL veterans, some MLS veterans, and then some really good young players who are trying to break through and get some opportunity. So I'm excited to watch this game this weekend, as well as the rest of the season. Thank you once again to all of you for listening. Have a great weekend, and we'll talk to you again very, very soon. you