The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Postgame Show: Taylor Twellman

Episode Date: June 13, 2023

Taylor Twellman joins us to discuss all things Lionel Messi, Inter Miami, MLS, and the future of soccer in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. He is one of Major League Soccer's all-time leading scorers. He's the lead analyst for MLS season pass on Apple TV. I'm sure Stugots will tell him in a moment that soccer is dead, but it does not feel that way right now with messy coming to Miami Taylor 12 and thank you for being with us Let's start there though. Can you please explain to me what impact Messies about to have on Miami on MLS and also answer for me the question whether anyone's told messy that he might be playing in Fort Lauderdale and that there's going to be 18,000 people and that he has no idea what he's

actually signed up for. Dan, I can promise you one thing. They have not told him he's playing in Fort Lauderdale. I can promise you that. Now, the moment the shovels go on the ground for Freedom Park and whenever that project gets started, that's what Messi has been sold on. But the answer to your original question, listen, I was born in the NASL days, my father played in the NASL with the Cosmos, Pele, Beckham, Barra, Canalia, and that entire group of

players. And Messi is going to do that times a million. And the reason why is this, he's coming to the United States to Miami, Copa, America's here in 2024. The world cup is here in 2026. The infrastructure and the stadiums and everything that has laid the foundation and the blueprint from majorly soccer teams of having those facilities and having the foundation to grow the game. That is something that Palais and the cosmos didn't have. Palais came here and introduced the game to North America.

Messi's coming here and saying, I'm going to take this rocket to the moon and you're coming with me and he's only going to do that because he's in Miami and the Latino gateway to South America, Latin America, Central America. It is the perfect place for Messi to come to and it's good. He's coming and still when he's got some game left in those legs. Every sports business has come through Miami promising the same thing. Every single one, none of them have had this brand power, this star power and anything close to it. And most of them have failed. Why won't this? Why is this going to be a boon for Apple, for Miami, and for this league, and for the sport?

He's the biggest superstar in the world, Dan. And listen, this is directly from Messi's camp. So any of your listeners that are gonna hit me up on social media and tell me that Michael Jordan is bigger than Leon L. Messi, and it's inexcusable to even compare them, but Messi's camp has said over the last 18 months to anyone that wants to listen. We want to be the next Michael Jordan. The only way to do that, Dan,

is to be in the United States. And so you could have taken the $1.6 billion over three years in Saudi Arabia, but Adidas, Apple, all the other corporate sponsorships would not have been part of that. They also wouldn't have been part of Copa America. They wouldn't have been part of the World Cup. And so this is not going to fail. And it's not going to fail because Messi's coming to the United States won to make his life easier so he doesn't have to travel to play for Argentina around the world. Imagine if he did take the Saudi Arabia deal, the amount of travel would have been exponential.

Now he's in the United States. I can guarantee you one thing. Argentina is going to play a lot of their friendlies in the United States and in this hemisphere. So now his international life becomes exponentially easier. He's going to be a little bit more hungry to make it into the 26th row cup. Still have a massive impact there, but the corporate dollar behind Messi will guarantee this that this is a success and the league and Apple TV, they're going to have eyeballs that they've never had before

Dan, and that's the most important part of this equation. Taylor, you and I both know how long and serious these conversations have gone between Inter Miami and Lionel Messi. A relatively late development in the proceedings was leveraging from the Saudi offer and how the league and its partners, namely Adidas and Apple TV, had to come to the table to get this deal over the line. And by the way, it's not over the line yet. All those deals and numbers are still falling into place as messy has not signed. I don't think there's any chance that this deal is going to be undone because the hard part is already over. But how much scrambling do these partners and the league

actually have to do to get this thing finalized? I don't think it's more lawyers, Mike, to be honest with you. This deal is done. The fact that he has openly said he's coming to the United States, he's coming in or Miami and Major League Soccer. He already agreed to the documentary deal with Apple, so that's already done, and that was Messi's doing more so than it was Apple. And a lot of people don't fully understand the story behind that, but Messi's camp wanted the documentary on Apple.

They didn't want it on Amazon. They didn't want it another platform So they started this process the moment David Beckham got the franchise that in Miami is the moment that Leon El Messi became a real Option for this franchise and for the ownership and the Moss family knew that when they came in and partnered with David Beckham They knew that coming in Apple TV knew that when they went out and spent $2.5 billion over 10 years to get that media deal with Major League Soccer. The Adidas thing is interesting. He's been Adidas. He's Adidas for life. I'm not so sure anything's really going to change on that other than the fact. And Mike, very few people fully understand this. Other than the Argentina, Jersey, his club ball, he's been wearing Nike his entire club in Europe.

So now Adidas has him in Adidas for life. And at least to the end of his plane career, unless he goes back to Argentina and has a send off, who knows what happens after the World Cup in 26. I don't think there's a ton of scrambling. I think this is lawyers. I think Inter Miami's gonna scramble a little bit because I think he's coming a little bit sooner than they may be expected.

Their team's not ready to have success this year. That stadium's not ready as Dan said. They've already announced they're gonna expand it to 22,000. It's gonna be interesting to see how quickly freedom park it's going. But I don't think there's a ton of scrambling. I just think it's lawyers speaking at this point. Oh at this hotel or you have no idea how hard it is to build in this city on time right now

That stadium's not gonna be ready until like the year 3000 Like there's no idea how hard it is to build here. They are not gonna have a stadium built anytime soon They're part of the airport. They're promising 2025. It should be noted that Moss Tech does have a construction background and they erected free, they erected DrivePink in a pretty quick amount of time. 20, 25 though might. That seems impossible, especially one that's oil is boasting. They've built a Boston and less than eight years. 20, 25 is a little, that's reaching for the stars if you ask me.

They can they can front load the schedule, I guess in 2025 with like all away games so they can make that season, I guess. Taylor, how much of this is about Messi's desire to have a normal life, right? That he can't walk the streets of any global city without being mobbed and stopped, but there's a chance in the United States that he can walk down the Starbucks to get a coffee at No One will blink twice. Because soccer's dead. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be difficult in Miami if you ask me, right?

My man, like, I still get it. Like, he can't live a normal life in Paris. He's already on the record saying his life was miserable. His kids didn't like his wife didn't like it. But the options for really Saudi Arabia or Miami. I don't need to do the sales job to you guys, and I don't need to do the sales job for anyone on the show about that.

And so his wife and kids had a huge say in this. But I don't think people are talking enough about the amount of travel at the end of his career to play for Argentina if he was playing in the Middle East. That would have been an absolute nightmare. So he's making the job a lot easier for him to have fresher legs, to have an easier life. I agree his life's gonna be easier,

but this is Leonardo Messi guys. And so other than the fact that he's 5'7 and 160 pounds, and he can probably get in and out of places in Miami a little bit easier, it's still messy and I know that town and their love for football around the world. I'm not so sure it's going to be that easy for that long. We'll be easier than Barcelona and Paris. Absolutely 100%. I just don't know what level it's going to be that easy.

He just needs to live in Fort Lauderdale. That's all it's going to tell you. It's just not in Miami or slightly north. Near the stadium, Davy, he will have no problems in Broward. That will not be an issue. Pembroke, please. Davy's, Dan, he's actually looking at Boyton Beach.

Perfect. I don't know. You mentioned that he might possibly be arriving into the squad earlier than Inter Miami expected. Messi is just a piece of this project. They're glaring holes in their lineup and they were all holding out for this final piece to fall into place, the Messi piece.

I reported back in February that terms with Busskets were all agreed to and we were just waiting on Messi's sign off. We anticipate Busskets, what else can Inter Miami do to help improve this squad that presently sits in last place in the Eastern Conference? I wouldn't touch it Mike until January 1st, 2024.

And the analyst in me, not the fan of the sport and the fan of who who's coming here. The analyst tells me I'm not going to assess inner Miami until January 1st, 2024. I can't I can't legitimately look at that team and say and criticize

them knowing that the penalties that they have, the fact that they made the playoffs last year with those penalties is remarkable. This year they've lost their two best midfielders, they're in last place, rightfully so with this roster. So you bring in the greatest player of all time, arguably, and I still don't think it's going to change that much. I'd be shocked if Fuskets doesn't come now, but January 1, 2024 is I think where all of the chips are going to fall in

different ways. I wouldn't touch Suarez. I'm on the record. I'll stay on the record. His knee is shot. I don't care about what name you're signing because you're bringing in Leonel Messi and more than likely Bousquats. These are players at the tail under their career. In this environment, in this league over the last six, seven years, it's become younger,

it's become more dynamic. You've got younger players. He's got a Argentine teammates that is going to go for 30 million plus from Atlanta and United. It's younger, more athletic, more aggressive. I think Messi is going to come here August, September and a little bit of October. See what this league is. Understand the time zones and the travels and something he's never experienced in his life. And then understand, maybe

I don't want to bring all of my friends and a lot of them that can't run that are on the tail end of their career. And maybe we got got to get younger more athletic. I'm going to legitimately assess this situation January one. Until then, I'm going to allow Inter Miami to get their feet under them, allow Messi to understand what this leak is and you'll enjoy the celebration of the greatest player ever coming here and then legitimately look at it January one of 2024. Taylor, most of the messy to Miami talk has centered on the business aspect. The windfall, the mother load that that Miami is hit down here. What about on the on the pitch?

He's a messy is about to turn thirty six put into perspective. His skill level right now in the context of the league he's coming into. Is he going to dominate? That's a good. That's a great question. Honestly, and it's remarkable because when you say the words 36, naturally, anyone that tells you in football soccer around the world, that's old. That's at the tail end. However, he just won a World Cup six months ago and literally

in the top five leagues in the world in Europe, he's only one player that had 20 plus goals and 20 assists. So he's not at the tail end of his career if, and this is a big if, if you build the roster around him. If you allow Messi to be Messi, which doesn't mean he's defending for 90 minutes, he's more so the playmaker, the creator, then he's going to have a very, very, very successful career in this league. If you surround him with messy and friends, and then it's a bunch of older players, I don't care what anyone

tells you. You can ask GDD a drug, but you can ask lots of ebriamovich. You can ask Steven Gerard, Frank Lampart. You can ask David Beckham. Any one of those names that I just gave you, Terry Enri, when they came to this league six months into it, they looked at me and some others and said, holy crap, this is a different league. This is highly athletic, it's played at a high pace. So you've gotta have something in your legs. That answer to your question,

all depends on the roster they build around Miami. If they build the right roster that is young dynamic and with a few quality players around them, then I think Messi's gonna put up some numbers that will translate to bigger and better business conversations, but more so it's gonna attract better younger players to come to this league because they wanna play with Leon L. Messi and use Major League Soccer as a stepping stone to getting to Europe.

Tell, let's play a quick game of PK for your life, okay? PK for your life, all right PK for your life, right? You can only choose one of these two guys, and the PK has to be executed for you to live, okay? You go in messy or Ronaldo. PK for your life, messy. You live, best wishes. Yeah, okay, thank you.

I thought you would, Stu Godch, you should ask me who is in gold though, because that determines a lot of that equation well Chepp Messing All that out I'll take myself. Well still one well you can that's not the way the game works you went off the board I defying yeah, but who said the rules I make my own rules what are you talking you guys make your rules? Taylor it's chef messing How is the game not messy or messing how how is it?

I mean chef messings a goalie? I mean, but he saves it. Taylor, last thing before you get out of here, I mean, you name the two soccer players. You can name there was not a third that you could have named current soccer player. Can you take me through the and pop it out to Vosey? He's a Houston ashram. Oh, hello. I thought I'm more interested.

Taylor, can you tell me the most interesting part of this from a brand management business perspective? You're watching what Messi just did and your thoughts were, oh shit, he's coming for conquering, for real conquering of I'm going to be the biggest sports brand in the world. We thought, Dan, we thought that the biggest and best red carpet in this league's history

was David Beckham. This is going to be that time's a thousand. It just is. And so the most interesting part to this is that opening game, whether it's July 24, first in Miami or for Lauderdale, if it's in August, it doesn't matter who it is, the amount of people, we've already seen the Instagram numbers go up for Inter Miami, the over millions of people,

we've seen the ticker prices go up 3,000% in every city, look at New England revolution, Inter Miami played them last week and they had 36,000 people there, they had 25,000 before Messi was announced, but it's the red carpet, the amount of eyeballs, Dan, in street cred that is going to come to this league.

That is the most exciting part for anyone that has followed this league for 27 years. But more so to see what that turns into, because there is a runway to the world cup coming here in 26 that I think all of us that experience that in 94, either as kids or as adults it's hard to actually quantify what this is going to mean when the world cup is here that summer tailor good talking to you thank you sir again a reminder he's the lead analyst

for ml s season pass ml s season pass on apple tv thank you sir good to you guys like why Good to see you guys.