The Ben Mulroney Show - Actress Michelle Randolph drops by/Did Toronto get the FIFA cold shoulder?

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

GUEST: Michelle Randolph/Actress "Landman" If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. Canada's Wonderland is bringing the holiday magic this season with Winterfest on select nights now through January 3rd. Step into a winter wonderland filled with millions of dazzling lights,

festive shows, rides, and holiday treats. Plus, Coca-Cola is best. back with Canada's kindness community, celebrating acts of kindness nationwide, with a chance at 100,000 donation for the winning community and a 2026 holiday caravan stop. Learn more at canadaswunderland.com. Welcome back to the, well, welcome back. Well, in a way, welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney show on this Monday the 8th of December.

Thank you so much for starting your day with us. And by the way, Dave Spargala, thank you for starting the show with some pet shop boys. Always. It's always on my mind. Well done. Well done. I love the pet shop boys. And I think a round of applause for the return of the conquering hero.

The intrepid producer, Mike Droulet, is back from death's door. It was terrible. What a week. What a week. Yeah, you know what? And listen, Is it a – Dave, you tell me, is it a coincidence – it felt like we did some of our best shows ever last week? I don't think Felt. I think it was our best shows last week. I think we had our best shows. And is it a coincidence that Mike Droulet was nowhere to be seen? I was nowhere here to ruin it.

And his big – was it big daddy germs? Is that what we called it? Big germ energy. I don't remember any of that. Oh, we changed it. I actually do because – When did you turn a corner? I turned the corner yesterday. Yeah.

Yeah. Saturday was rough. I was like, oh, God. am I going to have another week of this? And then, bam. Well, somebody who is very familiar with illness because it feels like she's always sick. Amy Siegel. Don't introduce me like that.

Our video producer. I mean, I think chronic is the word that, yeah, every day. In the summer you show up in overcoats because you're too cold. And then it gets cold outside and then you layer on with illness. How are you feeling? I'm great. I'm excellent. That's good to hear.

Someone just asked to borrow my coats. So why? Who? What? Michelle Randolph. Oh, Michelle, that's coming up next segment. We've got one of the stars of Landman, which is one of the greatest shows. Yeah. One of the greatest shows on television right now. It's on Paramount Plus. It is from the mind of Tyler Sheridan. So she's going to be joining us to talk.

She's beautiful. Well, yeah, I think if you've seen the show, you know that. We weren't sure what time she was going to get here because she was somewhere else. So if she's coming in here a couple of minutes early, we're going to bring her in early. Listen, we're capable of being nimble on our feet. People have always said that about me. Yeah, like a ballerina.

Oh, yeah. Like a ballerina. Like your daughter. Delicette. Hey, listen, we wanted to start to show off with something fun. And there is no, I mean, every year we now look forward to this, right? We look forward to Ryan Reynolds and the video that he makes in support of one of the charities that's very close to his heart's sick kids.

sick kids hospital and freddie freeman of the uh new york of new york of the los angeles dodgers who also has canadian roots was uh joined him in uh in helping raise awareness for this incredible toronto institution and the video if you haven't seen it you have to watch it freddie freeman don't forget the dodgers broke toronto blue jays uh hearts uh in the world series Freddie Freeman instrumental in that heartbreaking, but he showed up at sick kids to bring a little joy into the lives of these kids who are battling illness. And, well, let's listen to a little bit of the video.

It just happens to be the pride of Ontario and Los Angeles. That's right, Mr. Freddie Freeman. Hey, kids. It's me, Freddie Freeman. What a loser. Trust me, man. We know who you are. You've really got some nerve coming here.

I just wanted to visit because I'm just so happy and so proud of how you guys are. Whoa, who threw that? Go back to your sunshine and traffic, you hosers. You ruined everything. By the way, I love what you guys are doing here. Let's go Blue Jays. Let's go Blue Jays! What a clown.

Let's go Blue Jays! Can he do the list broke? I asked him in March. What are the odds? Yeah, there you go. Listen, there's honestly anything that Ryan Reynolds does for sick kids is, you know it's going to be funny. And the fact that he was able to find a way to take the heartache and the pain of Toronto Blue Jays fans and turn it into something, something incredible. What was the best line out of that?

Do you even lift, bro? I love that line so much. So congratulations to Ryan. congratulations to Freddie Freeman, not for the win, but for being able to take the piss out of himself, as they say. He's got a good sense of humor. Yes, he does. And to sick kids, there is, I mean,

I've worked with a number of hospitals in Toronto. Sick kids is, it's world-renowned, world-renowned for the work they do on children's health, and very pleased that yet again, Ryan Reynolds hit another home run. What a way to start a Monday morning? Yeah, it is. And how do you make it better?

Well, we make it better by our next guest. Very happy to have Michelle Randolph with us. How are you, Michelle? I'm great. How are you? I'm very, very well. I want to tell you, so normally I have to spend most of my mornings staring at my intrepid producer, Mike Drolet.

And so you, Michelle, are acting as a cleansing tonic. Oh, well, that's a nice. I don't get a lot of guests. I'm so sorry. That's a mean comment to you. Oh, he loves it. He's a tough big boy. So much worse has been said to me on this show.

Yeah. By family members. It's said with a heart around it, said with love. Michelle, thank you for coming to town. Of course, yes. I just got here last night, and I've been doing it's the coldest day of the year. Yeah. Oh, is it?

That's what I've heard. You know, on days like today, I just, I start questioning some life decisions of mine. Summertime, I'm very happy to be here. Have you learned about wind chill yet? Yes. There you go. The hardest way ever. Yeah.

Well, welcome. Thank you for being here. And congratulations on all your success. Thank you. Congratulations. I want to talk about Tyler Sheridan, if I can. The mind of this man, impressment, for those who don't know, you play Ainsley on Landman, which hit, which hit me like a ton of rocks.

I mean, I didn't know I needed that show until I started watching that show. And it's, why don't you tell everybody who doesn't know yet what Landman's about? Oh, boy. It's, well, it's about the oil industry and family and chaos. And my character plays the daughter of the Landman. And she kind of makes his life as complicated as his work life. His home life is just as crazy. No, it's a, I remember, I remember before I started watching it, my brother-in-law started, was watching.

And he said, listen, Ben, when you start watching this show, you're going to come to a realization that you're one of a, you're a certain type of, there's certain men, you put them in different categories depending on the power ranking. And I said, what are you talking about? He said, well, there are three characters that you as a man are going to pay attention to. There's the mother, there's the daughter, and there's the lawyer. And depending on your particular power ranking, that's the type of person you are. I think this year we add, we add Demi Moore's character. She had a small role in the first season. But, you know, there is a knock on Tyler Sheridan that he writes a certain type of woman.

But the women that I see on that show are strong, independent women who are very well written, but I can't speak for a woman. I mean, I find them so bold. And for Ainsley and Angela in particular, I just feel like they are so themselves. And I find that refreshing. I love the mother-daughter relationship that they're best friends. And there's really no animosity between the two of them, which is refreshing to see on screen. But yeah, we're portraying a certain type of woman that does exist in this world. And what about, I mean, you've worked with Tyler before in 1923.

Congratulations. Different type of clothing? Fewer frocks, if I think we could say? Very, very different. Hard to compare those two characters and those shows in general. But that's what I'm really lucky that he gave me the opportunity to do. Two completely different characters. But you also, by the time this one came around, you knew, and by the time 1923, you knew who he was. He's a force of nature. He's a force in Hollywood.

And I think it's fair to say that, um, what? every touches is people will watch and people watch enthusiastically. So this is the type of thing that a young actor would want to sink their teeth into. So talk to me about that moment as an actor who was trying to cut through the noise and have people appreciate her work and and who she is to know that people are going to be watching. Like you're going to be on a vehicle that people will watch. I think with 1923, my dad was the biggest yellowstone fan. I'm not sure if you guys are yellow stuff. Uh-huh. Okay, okay. I didn't, I didn't watch it, but my dad talked about it all the time.

And so I was familiar with his work. And then when I got the audition for 1923, I dedicated it to my dad. I, like, I said that to him. I'm like, this is for you. Oh, God, that must have been, he must have been so proud. He was so, he was, actually, I was with him when I got the call that I booked it, because he was watching my cats at my house when I was in Jackson Hole testing for the show. And, um, I just remember sobbing on, in my backyard with my dad, which was a really cool moment. And there's something about, I've been on a number of television sets, very cool to be on a back lot in Hollywood,

but shooting on location must do something different. It must be a different beast. Oh my gosh. I didn't realize going into both shows, like in 1923, Montana, like that storyline, I needed to be there to shoot. I couldn't, the show wouldn't be the same unless we shot it where it takes place. And like Texas is such a character in Landman.

And it aided in all our performances. And also just like as a cast, we bonded so much more. Yeah. When we were all together. Oh, listen, we're going to take a quick break, but you're going to stick around for a few minutes.

Hopefully it'll keep you as long as we can. So don't go anywhere. We've got much more with Michelle Randolph right here on the Ben Mulroney show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. Thank you so much for starting your day with us. And I want to say thank you to my guests. This is very rare that we have anybody in studio.

And certainly this early on a Monday, very, very happy to have Michelle Randolph, the star of Landman, Taylor Sheridan's hit drama in its second season. No, it's Taylor. Okay, okay, let me just, okay, so it's called the Ben Mulroney show. But for some reason today, my producer has been so very chatty, might have something to do with our guest. He's been talky, talky, talk at chatty, Kathy during the break. Yes, he's very excited to have you. He's a big fan of the show.

That makes me happy. I know. Well, yes, every now and then, we're just going to have to turn off your mic. Anyway, thank you so much for being here. So what is bringing you to Toronto? Just promoting the show? Yeah. I mean, not the weather, I'll talk about that.

But yeah, I got here last night, and so I didn't pack enough for this weather. And the hotel actually has a concierge coat that you can, like, they have a program where they... That makes sense. I mean, in the UK, they've got umbrellas. Oh, I guess, but that's different. It's like a full-on coat. Like, that's nice. What else do they have?

Do they have boots? Oh, I hope they do. I don't know if you get the salt on the shoes and ruins the nice shoes. when you sign on for something like this do you know because again with a guy like Sheridan you know how he's going to write his own ticket pretty much like if he wants his show to go two seasons it's going to go two if he wants it to go four it's going to go four

like he's got a vision in his head for how much of his vision are you aware of not much I'm going to be honest I he tells you as much as he needs you to know and you know it was season one he was much more vocal about kind of the characters and what he wanted and where the season

was going and helping us kind of get an idea so we knew the arc and for season two we didn't get the scripts like I got the first two before we started filming and then in the middle of it we were receiving the others and then shooting like sometimes I get the script you know a week before and we'd be shooting it the follow it it's all over the place it moves fast yeah and you know I have to assume that the harshest critics of an actor's accent, right, would be the people from that place. And so how has your, so I can't judge, I'm not from Texas. How has your Texas accent been received by the people of Texas? Really good. Yeah, yeah. Most people are surprised when I don't have an accent. I was surprised when you walked in. Oh, were you? Yeah. I just assumed. I actually really

enjoy doing the accent because it's, it's become such an important part of my process as an actor. because I had never done an accent before and it adds especially with Ainsley a layer to her that just like as soon as I put that on I'm able to be her easily because it's such a separation from myself but I worked really closely with a dialect coach for that and we went through so many different sounds and we ultimately landed upon this one this one accent and and then it was just like finding the little moments where we made the accent, like, uniquely Ainsley. So that was one of my favorite parts of preparing for the role. See, I think that's so cool.

I'm always impressed with actors and their process and how they get there because I try to imagine, especially with British actors, when they come to a North American, they put on a British actor, I just envision that is one more layer of things that you've got to keep straight in your head that might prevent you from, you know, connecting with the material and connecting with the character. So are you saying that as you build out that accent, it just becomes part of the, it's not an extra layer, something you've got to overcome?

No, if anything, I think for me, like all my work is in the prep. Yeah. Like everything I do, I want to get onto set and then let go of everything. And it just becomes natural. So the accent actually, I think, helps so much. It's not something that you think about.

At first I did more so. and now it's just, it falls out of me. You know, there's something really cool about, I have to assume, being an actor today working in television, because back in the day, if you were to do network TV, that would take up about two-thirds of your year, right? You do 24 episodes, but now you get to work on cinema-level television over, how is it, 10 episodes?

10 episodes. I'm sure it's very hard work, but it does allow for more latitude in you, and the people you're working with are some of the biggest, movie stars and biggest stars in the world. I mean, in fact, like, I watched the first season. I was like, there's no way that Demi Moore isn't playing a huge role in season two. She wouldn't have taken this role, this tiny little role in season one, unless it was a set up for a bigger role in season two.

And so to see that validated is fantastic. You got Demi Moore. You had John Hamm last season. You've got Billy Bob Thornton. You've got Colin Fior, great Canadian, by the way. Kayla Wallace, another Canadian. I know. I just found out she was from British Columbia today.

But you've got, so it does allow for you to game. this experience on like cinema level television but you know the next step obviously is is big screen stuff and you're good are you going to be in the new screen i am yeah that's cool as heck i'm really i'm really excited about that um we shot that in Atlanta but then landman we shoot for like five months out of the year so it is nice to have you know seven months of your life yeah no it's true but back in the day if you were to do a big tv show it would take up i'm i mean oh my gosh yeah some of my friends i mean still it's like 24 episode yeah you're there for 10 months out of the year I cannot imagine, especially just being away from your family.

Like being on location is hard in that way. So what can you tell us about screen? Probably not much. Nothing. Too scared. Kevin Williamson directed it who created the franchise. And so it was really, really cool to work with him on it. And what's it like with Allie Larder?

You know how she got her start, right? I do. Yeah, Allegra Coleman? Yeah. She has some pretty iconic stuff. Yeah. So, like, for people who don't know, back in 1996, Esquire Magazine did this promotional stunt where they tried to create a fictitious it girl named Allegra Coleman, and she was the face-up. Oh, wait, I didn't know that.

Yeah, oh, yeah. Go back. Allegra Coleman, go to 1996 Esquire Magazine. There's her as a young ingenue pretending to be this person who was having relationships with David Schwimmer and things like that. And they created this buzz around a fake actor. Wait, this is, I've not heard of this. No, no, it's true. I can't wait to ask her about it. And so then agents were trying to call Esquire Magazine, trying to book this Allegra Coleman person,

and they eventually said the cat's out of the bag. And that's how she got booked in varsity blues. Okay. Well, I know a lot about varsity blues. That comes up often. Of course, it does. But she's had an incredible career as well. She has.

But she must have, like, and, you know, I'm older. She was my, you know, she was my Michelle Randolph, right, growing up, right? So the story she must have for you. And like, she's... Yeah, she gives some great, great advice. Yeah. And I mean, yeah, she's a lot of experience in, with this kind of character, I think. Yeah.

She always plays these really bold, confident women. And so it was more of an, it was intimidating for me to step into as a young, like in the beginning of my career. But for her, she just gave me a lot of confidence in it and was like, just have fun with it. Go for it. And again, I don't want to ask about what's going to happen this season, but general themes and feelings that you're going to be taking us on over the course of the rest of the season. What can you tell me about that? Where is the, if I'm a passenger in the landman car and you're driving, where you're taking us? We are taking you. Well, it's where

the business meets family. That's my, my little log line for this for season two. We're the business meets family. And I mean, it's so hard to speak for everyone else's role. because I would give it away. But for Ainsley, I think she's starting to realize that she can become her own person. And she's so closely connected to her mom and she loves her family, except for her brother. And she does love him, but...

Of course she does. Everybody loves... I mean, yes, like by and large, we all love our siblings. Yes, yes. And we just show it in ways that only siblings can appreciate. Exactly. But, yeah, she's hopefully going to grow up a little bit. Yeah.

Well, that's the thing. Like, there's moments where she's, I'm, I think we're all waiting for that moment, right? When she, because I think she's, she's far smarter than people give her credit for. She's far more confident that people get, like, she's not, I think the naivete is probably. Man, I'm waiting for that moment as everyone else is. Yeah. Every time I get a script, I'm like, where is it? Yeah, it's coming.

Where does she have this, this light bulb moment? It's coming. But she, there was moments of it in season one. Yeah, that's right. When she's with her dad. But then her mom comes to live with them. That's, oh, that's a good point. That's when it goes back.

Then she goes back to square one. That's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point. We play the role our parents sort of sometimes assigned to us. Oh, that's really interesting. Hey, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck with everything.

And thank you for being here. I could look at you and not Mike Drillet for. We missed. You didn't, you didn't join us. Oh, keep that microphone off. Michelle Randolph, the second season of Landman is on Paramount Plus and on everybody's social media feeds. Thank you so much.

Really appreciate. Best of luck and stay warm. Thank you. All right, don't go anywhere when we come back. Who knows? More on the Ben Muleruny show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. Mike Droulet has taken a cold shower,

and we're back from the break. I've never seen you. fan girl like that over anybody. Oh, come on. It was fine. That was great. It was so nice to meet her. It was. What a, it's just interesting stories. I love the fact. We were talking about it earlier with the origin story of Ali Larder. And I was like, I don't know. Maybe she should talk about something. And she didn't know the story. She thought she did. See, I have information. I have information of value to impart

on all sorts of people, including our guests. It's amazing. The world should know this. Well, see, that story's been living rent-free in my head since 1996. I was finally glad to share with somebody. Anyway, welcome back to the show. If you just missed it, we had a great conversation with a young, talented actress, Michelle Randolph, who's one of the stars of Landman, one of the great shows on television. It's on Paramount Plus streaming now. And if you missed it, you can check it out on any podcast platform, including YouTube. We'll have that up very shortly. But look, over the weekend, including Friday, every story was about FIFA, right? The FIFA World Cup is coming to North America,

Toronto, Vancouver, as well as the United States and in some parts of Mexico. And so the draw was a big deal and the determination of which matches would be played. Where was a big story. But the one that Saturday Night Live really decided to sink their teeth on was the FIFA Peace Prize. It's a new prize given out by FIFA. because, you know, when I talk about, when I think about world peace, I ask myself, what does FIFA think about world peace? What's their opinion on it?

Anyway, they gave out the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to Donald Trump. And rather than me go into it myself, let's just listen to S&L's take on the FIFA Peace Prize. President Trump has not yet won the Nobel Peace Prize, but this week he did win the equally prestigious soccer peace prize. At yesterday's World Cup draw, FIFA actually invented a fake peace prize in Trump's honor. And that's why the trophy shows Trump's gnarled hands dragging the entire earth into hell. Okay, I mean, look, every peace prize is a made-up peace prize. You know, like the Nobel Peace Prize was not anything until it was invented.

And I've told the story of Alfred Nobel before. how he was known for as the inventor of dynamite and uh he did not want to be known as a merchant of death and so he decided to invent the peace prize as a way of changing the channel on that you could argue that it was self-serving everything is made up yeah so i'm not gonna i'm not gonna go that far i'm also not going to go so far as to say that he's dragging the world into hell let's give the uh the peace process in the middle east a chance uh to take hold uh but uh but it is true it is very look the best way to Donald Trump's heart is to flatter him. And so this was a way for FIFA to flatter the president. We've talked about it many times. One of the reasons the Zelensky meeting, the

Ukrainian president meeting in the Oval Office went so poorly, was because he didn't flatter the president. And if you know what someone's operating system is, you can succeed. If you know what makes them tick. If you know what gets them through a day, if you know what turns them on and turns them off, then you can help yourself. And Zelensky did not help himself in that moment. A lot of people have since then. And so this is FIFA, just making sure that they know, well, there's them telling us they know which way their bread is buttered.

But let's move on to the draw, right? Because I had, we had Regan Watts on the show on Friday explaining the draw to me. It makes a little more sense today. But now that you've seen it, because you were at home sick watching TV, what did you make of the draw the most boring what two hours was it three hours of television ever it took them forever i tuned in late yeah and expected okay i tuned in an hour almost an hour and a half late expecting oh i'm going to i'm going to find out what i need to know about who canada's going to play yeah they hadn't even started the draw yet it was like it was it was two hours of preamble

an hour and a half of preamble yeah that's that's too much i have no idea as we used to say as our judges on Canadian Idol used to say when people come in and sing, don't bore us, get to the chorus. Yeah, don't bury the lead. I mean, it's basically it's guys standing up on stage pulling little balls out of these bins. But where you so went, like when we see people pulling balls out of bins on TV here,

it's the lottery announcement. And they get right to it. Yeah. So that was not this. Let's listen to a little bit of how the BBC saw the draw. game of the country we'll give a nice photo excellent

and if I can ask you to come in front here for another photo with the paper with the paper with a paper for the paper little bit finished in time for the first match to kick on in June oh I love

yeah well that yeah that's I think listen even the BBC's taking it look the ratings will come in right and they will show high ratings off the top and they eventually

will fall off a shelf and somebody is going to go to the FIFA people and say, all right, your self-indulgence cost us millions of dollars because the investment that we put into it did not yield the results that we wanted. And moving forward, if you ever want to be on American TV again, we have to take the rates. That's what's going to happen. Their world numbers will be fantastic. It's the American audience and Canadian audience that will fall off. Yeah, well, they don't care about the Canadian audience, but they do care about the American because the American audience is directly tied to American endorsements. Yes. Right. And so, so that That will come.

But Canada will be playing Qatar, Switzerland and likely Italy. Italy's got to play a couple of games in a playoff. But it's likely. Italy's the best of a bunch. Look, full disclosure, I didn't follow this at all this weekend because I'm going to be somebody who gets, I'm going to, I'm going to become enthusiastic about FIFA as the world around me becomes enthusiastic about FIFA. But I don't care about it in my daily life.

I'm past the point of screaming that, oh, I can't stand soccer. No, it's part of our lives. And I've gone to a couple of matches at Bimo Field, and it is exciting. But it's not part of my DNA, right? Like, I even, we talked about it during the baseball season. I lost my love of baseball for a while, and it was reignited during that. I've got that in me. I've got love of baseball in me.

It was dormant. I have no love of soccer, but I do like what it does. Right now. So when I got in this morning, I saw that it said, focus is Canada gets screwed by FIFA. That's what you wrote. Tell me why you think that. Well, I looked at the games. It's interesting.

We just spoke with Greg Brady. He said, do you really think that the games that they got were not very good? I'm like, yeah, compared to what they could have had. So we didn't know what games were going to be in Toronto. People were buying tickets blind. And we were like, you might just get, you know, two countries you don't care about. And so what do you, but people are still buying tickets. Yeah, in the hopes that we got these marquee matchups.

So we are going to get Toronto, sorry, Canada versus likely Italy. That will be insane. You think about how much are those tickets going to go? That's Game 7 World Series. Yeah, it's game 7. But now that we've got like Ghana versus Panama. Firstly, we got Ghana. We got representatives of Ghana coming.

So something tells me that if this city knows what's good for it, they will host some sort of event at San Kofa Square. Finally. There is actually value. We have people from Ghana. It was named after Ghana. There's no real connection from Toronto to Ghana. but now the Ghanaian, the Ghana team?

The Ghana team from Ghana is going to be in Toronto. Let's bring them to the square named after their people. They're going to be like, why? That'll be the best if they just look at the, they go, why? Yeah, exactly. I don't see anybody here from Ghana. But apparently the Ghana-Panama game, match, sorry, match in Toronto, dropped over 50% on Stubhub after the team announcement.

Because it's what could have had. Like, Greg Brady was saying, oh, this was a, Gone is a good team in Panama. These are some decent teams, but they're not what you could have had. We could have had England versus Croatia. That's a huge game. Or England versus Ghana. England, anything England is going to be a big sell because they're one of the top teams in the world.

And what I told Greg Brady is, look, you may be smart enough to know how this works. But at no point during the conversation, as people were dreaming big about this stuff, did anybody with knowledge come in and sort of throw some cold water on these high expectations? Nobody said, hey, guys, we only have 45,000 seats here. There's no way FIFA is going to give us one of those high watermark matches. They're going to play those at Foxborough. They're going to play those at one of the big American stadiums where they have the capacity. In Texas with the Dallas Cowboys.

Right. They never said any of that. So they let us imagine, like, Blue Sky, the best possible scenario, and then this happened. But we're also, Senegal versus either Bolivia or Serenam. Does that excite you? Look, like I said, I'll get. excited when other people get excited. I'll be excited by proxy. But until then, it's a wait and see. easy-to-build set comes with rolling wheels,

26 blocks, and easy-to-read building steps, compatible with other megablocks sets for endless big building fun. Shop 3-1 megablocks at Walmart for ages 3-plus. You know, I don't know why, but I feel compelled to editorialize a little bit on Dave Bargala's musical choices as he brings us in from breaks and the fact that he's playing, what is the highway.

Yeah, life is a highway. Yeah, by Tom Cochran. One of it, I mean, it's one of the great Canadian songs ever. The video's amazing. And I never understood why it need to be remade by that country group in the States for cars. I don't even know where you're going with this, but I, yeah, okay. It was remade for the movie Cars by Rascal Flats. Okay?

And the remake is, I mean, they tweaked it. They just tweet, they didn't make it their own. You got to tweak it. But no, no, you've got to, I think if you're going to make a song again, you have to make it your own. All they did was, I mean, he's, I mean, he's, one guy, Tom Cochran, and Rascal Flats is two guys. Oh, is it? So that's it. It went from them, one to harmonies. That was it. One guy, is named Rascal?

The other guy, Flats? Yeah, I think so. I think so. Mr. Rascal, Mr. Flats. Anyway, all to say, that's the version you should always play. Never play Rascal Flats. I have a lot of love for Rascal Flats, not doing that song. I won't play because this is the first I've heard of it. Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm glad. Thank you. Okay. It's from the Bent. Let me just mark it down. Bandless, Benel Rund. Okay, let's, we want to hear from you at 416, 877. 0.6,400 or 1 at AAA-225 talk because a lot of people's expectations and hopes and dreams

and desires about hosting some huge FIFA matches for the World Cup next summer were dashed when we heard what we were getting. And somebody who knows more about this stuff than I is our good friend from the morning show, Greg Brady. And he said, well, if you know, if you knew anything, you should have expected this because the size, the capacity of BMO Field just doesn't warrant, you know, having, you know, England play, for example. And I don't think that's good enough. I don't think people actually managed our expectations as a fan base, if you will, and I'm throwing myself in there for the sake of the conversation.

So I want to hear from you. Are you disappointed? Are you upset? Are you p-oed, as they might say, a 416-860-6400 or 1-3-8-2-25 talk? Did you buy tickets on the hope that it would be worth it? And you're looking at the cost that you paid and said, you know what, not worth it. And there is one match, the fact that Canada, you know, we could be playing, are we playing Canada, Italy? It's, we don't know until Italy plays a playoff in there, in Europe.

They have to do two games. But we're pretty sure. Like that one's going to be, that will be seminal, seminal, right? Because the Italian community in Toronto is unique. It's special. And having, I mean, you've got, do you have dual loyalties as it relates to soccer?

Maybe, you might. So that one will be interesting. but everything else, it's sort of like a, meh, me, I mean, they're vital games that need to be played in order to get to the games that are going to matter, but until then, it's sort of like, meh, but we'll have to see. We'll have to see and we'll have to see whether the amount of money that we as a city invested in this is going to pay off into sort of long term, long term benefits for the city. But we've got to get, we've got to get to the Wayne Gretzky of it all, right? Because I guess the way it worked was as part of the draw, They brought in some of the best players from the other sports that make up the constellation of stars in North America. You had hockey represented basketball, football, and baseball, right? And so you had Shaq and you had Tom Brady. And he had Wayne Gretzky. Wayne Gretzky was there to read some of the names.

And there's some people online that are none too happy, none too happy. None too happy with Wayne Gretzky's reading of the names. Let's listen to Wayne. Okay, we've got the winner, Denmark, North, Macedonia, Czechia, Republic of Ireland. Oh, yeah, listen, people are giving him grief because I think he called Curacao. What do you call, what do you call Corosau? Coraco. No, Caraco.

Caraco. And you know what, listen, I personally find it adorable. I like it's it like it is what it is but hey let's um we've got that we got some calls here so let's bring george in the conversation george what do you think uh did we were we sold a bill of goods by FIFA uh good morning ben good morning have soccer fans not been following FIFA for the last 30 years are one of the most corrupt and all business driven organization ever what did we think we were going to get in Canada in bemo field real quality soccer come on either you're living in reality or most people are living in offer reality. And George, George, I take your point.

Like, I absolutely do take your point. But had we had this conversation a while ago, had 10 years or 8 years ago, we got the, I mean, it was nine years ago that it was announced that the World Cup was coming to North America. Eight years ago, if they said, listen, guys, Bimo Field isn't going to cut it. And adding an extra 10,000 seats is not going to cut it. If you want to have those big, big, marquee matches. You as a city, you as a province, you as a country, need to have a conversation about investing in a massive stadium. And you can decide whether you want to do that or not. But unless you do it, we cannot guarantee that you are going to have the matches that you probably would be expecting. Like, don't you think that would have been a helpful part of the

conversation so we could have all gone into this thing with our eyes open? Ben, we can't even figure out bike lanes and speed cameras at this point right now and finish and finish a cross-lates across, you know, you know, 19 kilometers. They know, these things are already pre-planned, big envelope for flowing across-desk. The United States is not going to lose this opportunity. People, wake up. Pay your cell phone bill. Not $2,500 for one game.

People are three months behind on their cell phone bills. Get with reality. So, wait, so you're saying that as a, like, are you suggesting a protest of FIFA? There's nothing you can do with FIFA. A FIFA, Olympic Organize, the Olympic Committee, where have people been living in the last 60 years?

Don't they pick up a newspaper? Don't they know how these organizations work? I get you. George. They're going to make us feel good because we live in Toronto. George, I want to thank you for giving us a healthy dose of cynicism

on this Monday morning. Thank you very much, my friend. You take care. All right, who do we have next? We got Frank. Hey, Frank. Welcome to the Ben Mulrini show. Happy Monday.

Yeah, morning, Brian. How are you? I'm good. I mean, you can call me, Brian, but I'm Ben. Okay. Oh, sorry. It's all good. I'm losing it. I'm losing. Listen, the only part that really bothered me the most is that John Torrey made a deal behind closed doors.

We didn't get the vote on it, and neither did the counselors look at the deal of the vote on it. I'm going to, what was the deal? Like, why are we paying for all this? Because we never got to. Yeah, I think, listen, I'm, I'm, again, I would be lying if I sat here. Yeah, Frank, thank you for the call. I appreciate it. I would be lying if I said that I had followed the ins and outs and the particulars of it this morning on Greg Brady's show. I learned that we were, you know, that the city council never brought it to a vote. I don't know anything about that. Do you know anything about it? No. No. Well, they did this. I mean, they voted for it. They wanted to bring it here. It was part of a bigger deal. And it's costing a lot of money, right? Yeah. Let's go back to Wayne Gretzky for a second. Because Wayne, I think, accurately and fairly, Yeah, he butchered some words, so what. People do it all the time.

But he posted, I think in reaction to him getting roasted, a picture of him receiving a soccer jersey from Tottenham, where he said, I received one soccer jersey in my life. It was a Tottenham game, and they spelled my name wrong. They wrote Grette Skye. And yeah, and they got the number 99 right. But look, you know, people are taking this way too seriously. and also they're taking it way too seriously

but FIFA itself took the draw way too seriously if we could have if they as the Brits say if they could take the piss out of it a little bit oh we got time for one more call hey Peter welcome to the show hey good morning yeah FIFA awarding the the World Cup games to any

world city including Toronto is never meant for local people to go it's the games are awarded to a city like Toronto based on having a great five-star hotel stock and five-star restaurant stock meaning a nice place for the world elites and I got nothing against world elites but for world elites to come

to the games and the tickets are priced according to that. I see well listen again it's hard to argue with with that I mean FIFA does not have a great reputation and we saw the results and I think it has more to do with the capacity of BMO Field but I do appreciate that

thank you very much thank you everyone for calling in and we'll be following the FIFA story as it continues, but I suspect it'll continue to disappoint certain people who have really high expectations. Your day starts right here. The number one place to be in the morning. We've got the news you need. Take that team Canada approach.

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