The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Postgame Show: Inviting Your Tournament To Messi

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

After ESPN broadcast a Monday Night Football game solely on ESPN+, Dan discusses how soccer fans have been impacted by the MLS's decision to put its games on Apple+. Inter Miami is having a historic season, but does anybody know about it? Also, Messi just kinda got Inter Miami invited to the FIFA Club World Cup and nobody knows why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. world's number one vodka and is an official vodka partner of the NFL. And this year Smirnoff is giving fans and select areas of the country a chance to win the ultimate game day experience from tickets to sideline passes and much more. Just head to wedogamedays.com until November 15th, 2024 to enter for your chance to win. That's wedogamedays.com. Smirnoff, wedogamedays. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff number 21 vodka distilled from grain. 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age.

No purchase necessary. 21 plus ends November 15th, 2024. See rules at website for participating area and other important details. Sponsored by Diageo Americas, Inc. New York, New York. As streaming changes, Dugats, and viewing habits change and there are disruptors on how it is that customers are consuming sports.

Last night something happened that I haven't seen happen a lot, which is there was a Monday night football game between the Chargers and the Cardinals, that a lot of people were suddenly searching for, where is this 9 p.m. Eastern time start, and how do I find it? It was just on ESPN Plus, because our last days at ESPN, as we were trying to explain to them, that we were their big digital property, and they tried to transition awkwardly into digital

and now Zach Lowe is out to sea all of a sudden when Zach Lowe has a valuable entity there, an audience that travels with him. The habits of people are changing so much that there's a soccer team in Inter Miami that exists behind the Apple paywall and I wonder how many people are paying attention nationally, not internationally, to the fact that Inter Miami just had the best regular season in MLS history.

Messi scored a hat trick the other day in 11 minutes. They've got the first team in the history of MLS that has 220 goal scorers because... You're laughing that it's a joke? You can't have a hat-trick in 11 minutes. I mean, it's impossible. He is playing in a lesser league. I mean, only the world's greatest soccer player could do it. It's like doing it against children. Well, that's...

I mean... I think you kind of gave the answer. Only the greatest soccer player could do that. It's like doing it against children. Well, that's I mean, I think you kind of gave the answer. We only the greatest soccer player could do that. Do it in a real league. He'd actually gone quite some time between club hat tricks. I mean, it had been a thing about him and then he erased all doubt. Stugats is not wrong. Not knowing a minute of anything about soccer other than it's dead because no one scores He is not wrong when he says this team of ringers for inter Miami playing behind a paywall are beating a bunch of plumbers comparatively It's they're doing it younger younger plumbers though. I swore this doesn't have kids I know means he's supposed to be old and done, but it tells you the difference of talent between Premier League soccer and what we're still playing in the states.

They're a damn good team. They set the record for points in MLS and after the match that they most recently had where they celebrated the supporter shield, which is how clubs pretty much everywhere else on the planet, how leagues pretty much decide everywhere else on the planet that you are the best club, you have won. Here in the States, we get down with playoffs. We like that, that's fine. That's actually what Billy's gonna use

to judge Messi ultimately. But the FIFA president was just like, and guess what? You're in the club World Cup, why? Ah, it's good enough for me. I've seen your resume. They have never been clear about what the qualification process is. And they just decided, by way of you guys winning

the supporter's shield, that's good enough for us. You're opening the whole thing at Hard Rock. Enjoy. So wait, he doesn't have knees, so does his shin just go straight into his quad? He runs like TARS? Basically, Messi sends in a cross, and it goes off of his torso.

He's TARS, Mike. He's just boop, boopop boop boop boop. Yeah, oh, from Interstellar. Yeah, it was a callback. I think he's just quads. I think at this point in his career that Suarez is just nubs and that Messi pelts things off of his torso and nubs and they also go into the goals so that they have two 20-goal scorers for the first time in league history. Even though those guys have missed games and stuff, it's not even like they're playing all the games.

No, Dada Martino's done an incredible job. They've had additional competitions and they've been without Messi for an extended period of time. They've had to rotate in and out and they just keep chucking along. But I just loved how FIFA that was. In that we have this huge,

instead of doing the Confederations Cup where they take the one singular champion from each qualifying region to warm up a host city or host nation for the World Cup the following year, they decided, which is actually pretty cool, we're gonna have a World Cup but with just clubs. Okay, cool, what's a qualification process? You leave that to us.

Well, Chelsea's in it, Chelsea's in it. Chelsea's not even in the real Champions League. How's Chelsea in it? Well, you know that pandemic Champions League? That's good enough for us. What? I think it's fine. I think Stugats is right when he says

put Vanderbilt in the 12 team playoff. Thank you. And if Messi's on your team, just let them play important games. Just figure, build the- Because you have them. Build the tournament around Messi instead of inviting Messi to your tournament.

You invite your tournament to Messi. There is no way Messi wasn't playing in this tournament. They would have found some way. Oh no, no, there was a Leagues Cup. They won last year, that's good enough. Oh, host city, they get a bye. They would find a way to get Messi in this thing. Mike, I do want to better understand behind a paywall

and the damages of behind a paywall. The messy enthusiasms in South Florida are fractured, Stu Gotz. This is an international city. And the many different nationalities here do embrace inner Miami. But some of those nationalities don't necessarily have everything you need

to pay for Apple Plus and To watch his games behind a paywall When you see a soccer tournament played here and people are climbing through the ducks and stuff and we look like a third world country We are an international city and some of our fans are poor some of our hispanic fans are poor but they care very much about this player and i ask mike now as someone who was priced out mike ryan makes a decent living in miami he was priced out by the gouging that this club was doing because they're trying to build an economy around messy a stadium around messy and you do that with winning he was priced out on gouging that this club was doing because they're trying to build an economy around Messi, a

stadium around Messi, and you do that with winning. He was priced out on tickets, right? Yeah. Yes. Okay. I was priced out on tickets. What did you think he was priced out on? Well, I just, I think Dan's talking about paying for the streaming services.

I've been able to follow them and it should be noted that Apple TV some time ago decided, hey, if you just subscribe to Apple TV, you get the MLS package for free now. Because before it was you had to have both and then pay an additional fee to have the MLS. Now all you have to do is pay Apple TV's subscription price and you have access to MLS, so maybe that makes things better.

I think that, I didn't agree with the gamble that Major League Soccer took. I've said this a couple of times. I think you maybe make that bet after a World Cup, but people really discount how huge that thing is going to be here. Our show finds a way to get obsessed with the World Cup when it's happening, when they don't move it

to the middle of football season because they want to acquiesce to the Middle East because of the money that's pumping in. But it's a major event and it is a huge launch pad for that sport in this country. And I think you take the years in advance of that to get as many people possibly in the tent. You have the world's greatest player and he's still kicking ass. He is still amazing. He's still,

hat trick in 11 minutes. He's still Argentina's best player. He's still... Young plumbers. He's still the guy that helped lead Argentina to a World Cup over a year ago. He is still that dude when he is healthy. I think you use that opportunity to get as many people in the tent and they haven't been super inclusive.

And that's a huge disconnect in this country with the sport. I'm not just talking about how accessible it is on television, I'm talking about how accessible this sport is to play. There is a major difference about how easy and accessible the game of soccer is overseas in other countries than what it is here, because you have the

pay for play model and it's such a racket. All these traveling teams, there is essentially a fence drawn around the sport, when all you need is a ball. That's why the major ground that the U.S. soccer program needs to clear is accessibility. Messy needs a second World Cup, right? No, he just needed the one. No, we're better off winning none.

I have two gods on this one. You think Ronaldo's better off for not winning one? Yeah. I can't believe he continues with this argument after two days. It's Greg. Guy, what are you doing? He finds it from every angle.

Every angle. You don't get up and leave after that. Look, he feels like he. You don't turn your back. You don't do that. He nails it. You don't do that. It don't feel like anything. It's it's soccer is dead. No goals. And now I just say Messi needs a second World Cup. He does it. You can't be the greatest soccer player. They happen every four years.

I mean, it's hard. I mean, come on. What? You hear that, Mike? I mean, give me some soccer, but give me the all time greats who have only won one World Cup. Go ahead. Good question. List them. Pe a Pele I mean he won like three okay but Messi Messi is really really fantastic and he needed the World Cup to cement his legacy and he got points and talking about all of this was simply Miami gets behind winning energy this is a team Miami does but this is in Boca this is a team that... Miami does, but this isn't Boca. This is a historic team,

and you, not that long ago, were ready to pay any price just about to be a part of the electricity that should presently be coursing through your body because Inner Miami has the best team with the best players. Miami historically always gets around that and it doesn't seem to have climbed on to your bandwidth right well that money had to go to Kim Ward that's what happened isn't it it's work businesses Boeman Maradona 1-1