Butts in Seats & Brains in the Game: The Business w/Tanner Clay

Welcome to Cannon Crew, a weekly podcast discussing the Charleston Battery. Your host, Granite, will be joined by other defenders of the fleet from the Black and yellow supporters section, and together they will help fortify and conquer. They are the Cannon Crew.

Welcome to the can of Crew podcast. I am Granite. Today we're doing something a little bit different, a little bit special. You notice there's four people staring at you on the screen. First, I'm going to ask how Ryan's doing. I like doing that because love to be here.

Love to be here. How are you?

I'm doing well. Patrick, how about you?

Good. Just surviving all the rain and this lull of soccer where nothing's happening.

Well, there's a lot of stuff happening, apparently. We're going to talk about it. Well, we're going to talk about a different aspect of soccer. And we're joined today by Tanner Clay. Tanner, how are you doing?

Fantastic. Thanks for the time. I've been tuning in, excited to get on here myself.

I appreciate you taking the time to join us today. We want to just talk about the business of soccer, you know, and some specific stuff. I know you don't want to give any opinions to the battery, so any opinions you say on here are yours and yours alone. Unless you want to change that. But anyways, I'm assuming that's the way it is. So all you massive listeners out there, Tanner, speaking from his vast knowledge and experience, not just from where he currently works, but where he has been through in the past. Let's talk a little bit about your background. You played a little football for cfc. Go Cougars.

Yeah, I did four years at the College of Charleston. Originally from the Phoenix, Arizona area, so grew up playing youth soccer out there and yeah, was. Was blessed enough to get a scholarship to play at the college underneath the legend of Ralph Lundy. I actually played with his son, too, a couple years. And yeah.

After that, you eventually wind your way working for a pro team.

Yeah, I mean, I. I've always coached, like, youth soccer, you know, after graduating and just always trying to figure out how to stay around the game. You know, it's kind of cool. You know, everyone, I guess as. As a youth player, you want to go pro, right? But you quickly realize you're not the 1% of the 1% eventually. So, you know, I started coaching youth soccer here locally and, you know, in 21, after three or four years of just working business jobs, an opportunity came to work for the Battery as an account executive. Just a LinkedIn opening and, yeah, just ran with it and a Couple promotions since then. I'm here, I am now.

And fantastic. So you've. You've learned a lot about the business side because you're on the other side of the wall, not from the player aspect, but from the kind of revenue aspect. So you, You've had a lot of discussions, you've heard a lot of discussions. So it's not necessarily college degrees got you where you are, but just kind of the experience that we wanted to, you know, pull out of your brain.

Yeah, I mean, I've got a ton of experiences. The fifth year myself is a fifth season, fifth year with the club. So my first forte into professional sports, soccer for sure. But just kind of growing up in and around the game, you know, it gives you a level of comfort, comfortability. And then, you know, you get into this environment, this professional environment with people that have. Have been doing it for a decade, two decades, from the league office to individual team side, just really just be a sponge. And yeah, you grow up quickly.

Yeah, I guess you have to, because you're kind of baptism by fire kind of thing, right?

For sure. Especially with the, you know, smaller club, you know, a little bit less resources, you're wearing a lot of different hats, you know, I mean, just kind of going back to my own own time here at the club, you know. Rob Salvatore, executive chairman, owner, came into the club in 2020. I joined the club in 2021 as kind of the first account executive underneath kind of the new regime. And I remember one of the things that he said was, you know, I really want you to be the face of the club. And like, you know, what does that really mean for me? It was just anyone that was around soccer in Charleston and they heard the Battery, like, I wanted them to think of me as a resource for them, whether it's be to get tickets to meet a player, to get out into the community, to fundraise whatever it might be. I always wanted to make sure I was that point of contact, you know, which in turn, honestly helps me personally, but also the club and the community girl in the right way.

So you are the face. And last match, you were also the legs of the Battery because somebody pointed out in our WhatsApp chat that said, Tanner, you're just all over the place because you were in one parking lot, you were back inside the stadium, you were out somewhere else, all within. It was like you were just a ghost moving so quickly about. I think you hit. You were faster than probably some of our faster players on the pitch. But anyways, I thank you for all the help you've helped us with and, and just being there because you have, you have, you've made yourself that you're the contact. When I think the battery, I. The first image that comes to my mind is your smiling face and how much you've helped us all, not just as podcasters, but also as avid fans and supporters. So let's turn off and let's go to what we're here for and just kind of start with the big picture. Maybe maybe discuss a little bit the financial structure of like Lower Division clubs, USL, USL 1.

Yeah, I can really only speak from the experiences that I've had, but it's actually a good time because like what last week, end of last week, it came back from the USL Revenue Summit in Chicago. So I was able to meet with a lot of people that, you know, I just talked to on the phone or via, via video call. So it was really nice to be able to share ideas and just kind of see how everyone's kind of doing things. And coming back to your question, the financial side of a, you know, second division professional club just within our kind of USL Championship USO League one ecosystem, there's a big range of, you know, the size of a staff, the budget you're working with, the ambitions of the ownership group. You know, there's teams that have, have, you know, their first year and there's other teams that are, you know, 20, 30, 30 years into it, kind of like, like us. But um, you're really having to scratch and claw for every fan, for every sponsorship dollar, for every player you sign. Because again, we're, we're not the, the creme de la creme. Right. It's not mls, but it's a very competitive league and it's starting to really be known around the, around the country and definitely around the continent and the region. I guess kind of going back to your original question, you know, we have maybe 16, 17 full time employees in the Charleston Battery front office and that's from marketing to sales to operations to, I mean media, everything you can imagine. So, you know, I guess if you probably compare that to Australia FC or Atlanta United, they might have 70 people just in the sales department. So, you know, we're really, really small, but we definitely punch above our weight when it comes to kind of, you know, per person profit, I guess you would say, or kind of what you turn out for each individual. But yeah, what specific questions can I answer on that one?

I'd like to follow up and just kind of touch on the broadcasting Rights that we've seen kind of slowly increase and how that kind of impacts a club, say the size of the battery as opposed to, we see these mega deals with MLS and Apple tv, but now we're starting to see more CBS Sports Collazo ESPN deal that kind of broadcasts a majority, if not close to like 80, 90% of these games. What are the effects of that in the growth of the community with a club that kind of is established and needs to draw more eyes to their team?

No, that's a great question. I think. I mean the most important and the biggest impact that those league wide broadcast deals have on the local teams themselves are at the end of the day, it provides those teams an opportunity to go out and market to the, the local, regional and sometimes national companies that are in their backyards and be able to leverage those sponsorship TV rights deals into those sponsorship partnership agreements. For example, if there's a, you know, a midsize regional size or even nationwide brand here in Charleston, being able to go to them and saying, hey, you know, we really like what you're doing. You like what we're doing? What if we told you that this was bigger than just a local Charleston play for putting your, your rights, your, you know, your brat, your badge, your brand on the front of our kit or on the sleeve. What if we told you that this was going to be in 20 plus other national markets around the country over the next 10 to 12 months? And you know that that is really important for a lot of brands, especially as they, they look to grow. Um, because again, all, all of our matches are nationally broadcast or streamed on, on one platform and the, or the other. And a lot of our merchandising things, they live in perpetuity, right. You know, a jersey that it was from our 93 season, like you, you still see them online, in stores, in pictures. Right? So I would say that's probably the biggest impact. I think the league is continuing to mature to where someday I think kind of the bigger sponsorship deals as far as media and marketing, they'll probably be more shared amongst the teams themselves. But as the leagues continue to grow, as the teams continue to kind of get a footing underneath themselves, it's really down to the individual teams to be able to take those stories and leverage them to raise funds for themselves and for the, for their markets.

And I assume it helps having goals of the week, saves of the week, SportsCenter top 10 plays continuously happening week in and week out to kind of help with that, a little, little extra.

Oh, 100 I mean, what we had two or three in the last two years. Number one, two number ones, and I know one a little bit, a little bit down on the top 10. But yeah, I mean, I just think back to our sponsorship deck that we have that we, you know, we pitch on a weekly basis. And that's definitely one of the slides.

I think a lot of times people forget that, you know, just the name on the front of the shirt, this is all about, it's a business, right? It's our home team, this is the team we love to go watch, want everyone to be successful. But at the end of the day, it's a business. If the business isn't, you know, going well, then it kind of puts a hamper on what players you can procure, all that stuff, all the nice amenities we enjoy at the stadiums, stuff like that. So when you're looking at like the business model of like MLS versus the usl, is there much of a difference that you know of?

I mean, at a very high level it's, it's the same, you know, it's put butts in seats, make sponsors happy, make owners happy, you know, but I guess at a lower level, yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot different considering, you know, mls, one of these bigger leagues, they do have, you know, multi million dollar, sometimes up to a billion dollar TV rights deals that are shared across individual teams and other sponsors as well. So I would say probably, and it's probably similar at the MLS where it's probably kind of TV rights deals are the biggest money that's coming into the club. Then it's, you know, national, regional, local sponsors and it's, you know, ticket sales revenue. Then kind of depending on the team merchandise or food and beverage. It's the same in the USL except for just kind of that top line item of media rights, TV broadcasting. Now revenue, it's minimal to none currently. I would say there are definitely some teams that are getting some that are being negotiated, but it's nowhere close to what you see in the EPL or La Liga or probably even the mls, where know, the, the teams that get promoted from League Two up to League One are, you know, getting what, 100 million, 200 million, whatever it is to essentially fund a big transfer or fund, you know, their season in some degree. Right. So I, I say those are the biggest, biggest differences. But from a high level, it's, it's very similar.

So you mentioned something we talked about before we started recording, kind of hedged on about the promotion, relegation. Well, when you look at leagues outside the United States and look at where the USO wants to go, how is that going to affect that kind of business model? Does it change it at all?

I mean, I think that's what's currently being negotiated, being being talked about in, you know, president's roundtables, league meeting and whatnot. I think it, I mean, I think it's gonna. It will change to more towards that global model, because at the end of that, I think those kind of global players and global brands are the ones that are gonna be coming into this market and wanting to spend money and they're only gonna know what they've. They've done the past 75 years in other markets. So. And. But at the same time, it's going to be up to the consumer. You know, what. What is the consumer like? Are they for pro rail? You know, it's probably going to take a little bit of education, but I think at the end of the day it's really good of, of the. Of the sport. It'll be more competitive from game one to game 34 or however many games are in the, in the season. And every game's gonna matter, you know, whether it's spring or fall. So I think that's, you know, what we all get excited about when we watch the epl. We watch welcome to wrexstone. We watch, you know, all these types of, you know, series is the end of the season, you know, who's fighting for what, whether it's promotion, relegation, trophies for fans, you know, the emotions. It's an emotional sport that is sports, right? Emotions. So more emotions will definitely be felt, I think, over this, the next 18 to 24 months, maybe even more than the last five to six years.

Now, Tanner, as you mentioned, with the promotion and the pro route, um, now you have the end of the season teams going for trophies, going for promotion, going for relegation. In England, you have a game called the Riches game where you know, that team is either in third place or sixth place in the championship. And if they get promoted and win that playoff game, they were to get, you know, somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million with TV right deals and the promotion and stuff. Would you see that if we have promotion, relegation over here in the US to where you would have the team going from championship to division one, we would create our own richest game in the U.S. persons.

I mean, I mean, they'd have to. There'd have to be a game. I don't know what it would be called or if it would be A, you know, that lucrative from year one to year two to year three, year four. I'm not sure how long it'll take for, you know, the actual revenue to be built into that game. But with Pro Rail, that. That. That game has to have to happen, and I think it will be very exciting and I guess it'll just be really interesting to see how it's implemented, you know, what teams qualify to be able to get into that specific game. But yes, yeah, there's definitely gonna have to be some type of promotion, playoff, per se.

And do you think the money would follow suit with it? Like, there would be the incentive of, like, if you were. This kind of goes in with the financial structure. Like, do you think that there would be an incentive provided for the team to get promoted and then essentially a fine for those teams who were to be relegated?

I definitely think there definitely will be promotion money involved. I think that the league. I'm not convinced the league is in a place to be finding teams that get relegated, but maybe someday. Yeah, that's. That's why I'd say on that.

I am curious if you think this will definitely play a part in player retention, because we see it more overseas in other countries, but as well as that, maybe some more competitions, like we've seen the Jagermeister cup this season be introduced to maybe add that extra revenue flow for teams that maybe don't necessarily get that promotion up, but are in a competition with the big boys, per se, and get another shot at it. So maybe that's another way for them to cover some wages, not only of players and technical staff, but the staff around the stadium and, you know, your gatekeepers, ticket ticket people, stuff like that.

Yeah, I would agree for sure. I mean, on top of that, I think that's where the USO does it. Does a pretty good job, I guess, depending on the market, but just kind of those extra events, whether it be concerts at your stadium, food truck festival, things of that nature. Because. Well, it also depends on if you're. You outright own the stadium or if you're sharing it with another entity, which kind of does create some challenges. But, yeah, every. Every team, you know, need to find ways to generate more revenue so that they can, you know, continue to build towards their, you know, their big. Their bigger goals. Because, yeah, at the end of the day, people, you know, most expensive thing that we have, but also biggest asset, our players in our front office, our front offices across the league. So. But kind of going back to your original point of retention, I think, I mean, you know, you can probably look at deeper into the stats, but the best teams in this league are the teams that have the highest retention of their players. So I think over the next two to three seasons you'll definitely see the kind of the cream rise to the top. As far as those teams that die in their players to two, your contract was a player option, three year contracts because I. Because at the end of the day as well, you know, if the player does have a really good season now the team has some rights and they can, you know, make a little bit of money on a sell on. Right. So it's advantageous for the player and the team.

Yeah, it's kind of a catch 22 in a sense you want to do well, but then at the end of the day you may be losing some of your best assets. But like we've seen with a lot of USL clubs is more of an attraction for youth players and maybe players who don't get to develop in other countries or other systems in the United States get an opportunity. And I think everything you've touched on is kind of pushing that in the right direction and will allow us to grow in this way 100%.

I mean it's not just the players either. It's young coaches, it's young front office salesmen, marketers, digital media folks. You know, it's the more opportunities to have people in a professional environment being tested and challenged. It's just going to help us from top to bottom on, on the soccer side. Right. It's not just players on the field, it's coaches, it's front office. Like it's the entertainment side. It all has to continue to grow in the right direction, which I think it is. And the USL is definitely helping push the other entities, other leagues, to be better themselves.

Yeah, it's kind of a big ecosystem and there are little parts to it, but all of it has to be functioning well to make sure it survives. And one of the things you talked about was butts and seats. Right. So some of us stand the whole time we don't get our butts in the seats. And that's how you guys really make some money off of us, because we're standing using the less room. I'm just kidding about that. So how does like fan loyalty relate to where the sustainability of just local teams?

Yeah, I mean, I think the smaller the club or the smaller the organization, the smaller the city, the more important it probably is to be more and more invested in the community itself. Not to say it's not important to do it in big cities like Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando and all these big cities. But I think you can maybe kind of hide a little bit and just lean on your die hard fans in those types of areas. But you know, we're in, we're in Charleston, right? I wouldn't say it's a soccer mecca, even though we have been around for one of the longest in the country's history. But we're in the South. It's a football, baseball, basketball region. So it's really on us to get our players in the community, get our community folks out to schools talking about careers, talking about health and wellness, talking our fans, you know, what, what do they like? What do they not like? What's working? Well, how can we improve? Just kind of having your ear on the ground because if you don't, I mean we all know what can happen. We've seen it happen at small clubs that, even at the biggest clubs that have had, you know, 200 years of history, when fans don't feel heard or respected or acknowledged, you know, no matter how much, even if you were giving away free tickets, you know, people will sell opinions. So yeah, I think it's very important. If not, if you don't do anything, you know, that's the one thing you probably need to do is get into your community.

You know, is the community is we all kind of sharing in this. Cost of everything is rising and you know, just price of eggs, milk, all that good stuff. How do, how does businesses, how do teams adapt to that? How fans are deciding where they're going to spend their money?

Yeah, I mean, I mean specifically for the battery, we've stayed flat on kind of our most loyal season members. So we've stayed flat on pricing, even dropped pricing last season to help further incentivize our fans to kind of secure, secure with us. But I understand not every team is, is going to be willing or even able to do something like that. But I think it's, you know, again, it just really goes back to communicating, you know, not just guessing, really asking the right questions, doing fan surveys. And then once you get that information, you really have to act on it. Right. You can't just have all this good knowledge and things, but nothing's changing or things aren't improving. You know, it's, it's not great. But being on the, I guess being a fan of the club and then not being on the front office side, I can definitely see, you know, both sides to it. It's not overnight. Change is not overnight. It definitely. He's a lot quicker in a smaller club to get things changed. But yeah, it's just communicating through the process with the fans so that they, they understand kind of where you are, where you are and where you want to go. Just so you got everyone can just be in lockstep.

Yeah. Because it seems like it'd be a little bit different when you're talking about MLS team. There's big rights for, you know, TV viewership and that be stuff. So those contracts are already set. So they're not that it's not going to fluctuate much throughout a year where seems like a lot of the revenue being drive from smaller clubs is getting the fans in there. Is it, you know, other sales of merch and all other stuff. And so when that dwindles a little bit, it has a bigger percentage hit on a team than say like an MLS team. Is that fair?

100%. 100%. Especially because, you know, it is, you know, we, we do have a large percentage of first time buyers, first time fans to our games every single match. There's, there's so many first time fans. So you know, what, what experience are you putting on? You know, we would like to think that every person that walks in, we've wowed them to where they're like, oh, I absolutely need to come back or I need to tell someone else to come back to replace me. Right. Because realistically we, we can, if we can get, you know, a lot of people to come back to one, if not two games, we're sold out for the entire season. You know, given we're a little over 5,000 seats. So it's, you know, we don't have to fill a 60,000 seat stadium thankfully right now, but maybe someday we, we will.

That.

I'd like to just touch on that and kind of advocate for the listeners and fans and seasoned members to kind of take pride and be, be a little bit of the salesman yourself. I was at a bridal shower or engagement party this weekend and it's a bunch of people who've lived here since birth and two or three of them said, oh, I've never even been to a battery game over at Patriots Point. And I was like, I mean, you let me know, I'll get you tickets. Like reach out to these folks, let them know, kind of be a little mini ambassador. Because not only will it help you out, Tanner, but it kind of grows. This community gets, gets us the ability to talk and bring players in and kind of grow the sport we love and want to see hit that Next peak.

I mean, you hit the nail on the head there. You know, we, I'm in there advocating for our fans as much as, as much as anyone in the club. And when I hear things like that, it gets me really excited because again, it is, it's, it's a lot about the word of mouth. You know, I could call you up and tell you all the good, good things about the club, but if it's coming from a friend, family member, relative, it just means more. And a lot of times people are willing to try it and again, once they try it, they've got any, any bone in their body, they're going to enjoy it. So. Yeah.

Yeah, because we need more people out there because when it's filled up, it's really a cool experience. And like with any stadium, you max it out so that there's so many people and there's some inconvenience to that. But I used to think that when I was younger, now I look at it and like, wow, this is our team. This is, they're attracting, you know, 5,000 people all at once to watch the same sport that we all love and enjoy. And plus, I don't know if I can sit next to Ryan and Patrick, just the three of us all the time in the stand or something.

I've already moved away. I've already moved away.

Yeah, we're not. Sound like you're coming to watch the last place team.

Yeah, well, even if we were, but still, it's, it's really exciting. The other cool part, I don't think people understand a lot of people is that the Battery is not a minor league club. Like you go the River Dogs, that's a minor league club. People float in other teams all the time. If, you know, the Battery's not, it's in the league all its own. There's no parent team that owns them. Just people don't, you know, get sent up to the Major League Soccer from the Battery. It's, it's its own league, its own teams. And so I think that's what makes it unique in that kind of aspect, because that's it. So when Aaron Malloy signs for the Battery, he signed for the Battery, not for some bigger team, but he's signed for the Battery and they're, and they're our players.

And they will forever be our players too, even when they move on from us. And I think that another cool kind of part of just, just soccer, right, it's, you know, we're, now we're following Nick Marcanic in Spain. And we're following, you know, Brajas. He's back in Mexico. Right. And the list goes on and on and on with our former players, but some of those players are writing their. Their futures, you know, as we speak. You know, where are they going to be come January? Where are they going to be come June of next year? So some good problems for Ben to have.

Yeah, very, very good problems. Matter of fact, I might want to be in Spain at some point next year. I might want to stop by and watch Nick play over there and maybe we get some other players that kind of feed over there. Be a lot of fun. So what do you see as the future and the business model? Does it. Is it changing? We talk a little bit about promotional relegation. Is battery becomes bigger? Does the business model adjust to that?

Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day, the league and it's an individual team, we're really focused on the infrastructures of the teams, you know, making sure the team, the players, the coaches stuff are in a good position, you know, have young players, a good mix of young and old are ready to win. Now, infrastructure, as far as the front office, right, is it aligned? Do you have the right people sitting on the right seats on the bus so that, you know, you can, you know, execute on infrastructure side regarding, you know, stadiums, right. I think that's probably the biggest thing on the. On the docket for a lot of these teams right now is, you know, are we playing in a big enough stadium? Is it in the right part of town? Are we attracting the right. The right type of fan that we want? You know, what. What does a new stadium look like? Is it. Is it realistic? Do we need to bring in new. New revenue or new investment? Is it a combination? Do we work with private? Do we work with public? So, you know, a lot. There's a lot of teams that are ahead of the. Ahead of the curve there, some that are trying to figure it out, some that are way behind the eight ball or I guess it depends on what their goals are. But it's really. It's a really interesting time just, just on those kind of the infrastructure point with, you know, the World cup less than 300 days away, pro rail, another 300 plus that. So it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out over the next 18 months.

Tanner, I'm kind of curious because you're originally a west coast guy, so you kind of grew up in that ecosystem and you're familiar with kind of the fandom out there now. You've been over on the east Coast. Just from a business perspective in your life, is there communication between clubs east and west of different styles that maybe they're trying to implement to not only grow the sport, but just kind of learn how to get more of that revenue, more of that kind of outreach to the community? Or is it, do you see it more of a specifics to the regions that clubs are in? Say west coast, east coast, Central?

I mean that's a really good question. I'd say like living on the west coast for a lot of my life, you know, I grew up playing with kids of all walks of life, you know, rich kids, Hispanic kids, a mix. And I felt like maybe it was more soccer focused in that region or soccer educated maybe, should I say. And. But it's tough because I was there from kindergarten through 17, you know, I only knew what I knew. And then kind of being over here as an adult, I think it's just been a little bit different. I think a lot of the times they're leaning more on entertainment and stars and you know, I guess a lot of the things that are maybe even outside of the game to help drive eyeballs and viewership. Not to say that that's not happening on the west coast too, but you know, I just look at like Inter Miami with Messi and you know, all the big time players that are coming into a lot of these regions that are really just blowing them up, blowing, coping drive eyeballs and butts and seats. But yeah, it's a really good question. I probably need a little bit more time to reflect on it. But I guess the answer, the short answer is probably it depends on the region, depends on the team. Because again, there's some teams that are just so new and there's some teams that are just so old, so old. The United States soccer perspective. But it's interesting. I just think it depends on the demographic. I think a lot, a lot of times with the team and who lives around them and how they're communicating to them.

Now, Tanner, this kind of goes back over to, you know, like in the stadium game day, what goes into.

The.

Financial situation with food trucks? You know, the battery is unique in the fact that you guys have an array of food trucks always at, always on game days, whereas other stadiums, you may see their own concessions and stuff like that. Does that help drive you guys in a positive way having those various types of food trucks there?

Yeah, I think it's a little bit of a double edged sword. I think it, you know, Beth definitely frees Us up a lot to not have to worry and order food and manage the inventory and the extra individuals you have to hire and train and develop to make sure it's, you know, all on point. Whereas, you know, we hire out food trucks and restaurants to come in and serve food on our behalf. Deposits of that are, you know, the food is top notch, is top quality because it's, you know, they're, they're babies A lot of the times, you know, I think sometimes it is a challenge where, you know, we can't control how quickly they're making it or we can only really influence them to a degree on how much they're charging. Right. Because at the end of the day it's their business. But yeah, we obviously, we make money off of percentage of sales or, you know, maybe it's, you know, upfront fee that they're paying per match. But it just kind of depends on the relationship and what makes sense for, for both parties. But at a high level, I think it's, it's worked out really well over our last four seasons. I think our fans are, they tell us what work, what's working, what's not, what's good, what's not with long lines, what's not long lines, what they want to see. But yeah, who have to work with those 10 to 12 food trucks every other week to try to get, make sure that they're on time and they're, you know, got all the things they need because heaven forbid we're not. We're without one or two food trucks and then every other line is super long. And you know, at the end of the day it reflects all on us. Right, because it's our stadium, our brand. But yeah, there are a lot of outside entities that we work with that really have to be in line with us because at the end of the.

Day.

It'S our rant.

So now being there for a few years, is there a certain food truck that comes to your mind, like, this is Carlson Battery game day like this when they're here?

You can't answer that. Why would he answer? Don't answer that.

I'll list them all.

Hey, so you were talking about, you know, because I like to look at stats and stuff like that. And so you're talking about some metrics you look at to decide what you might do different for one match versus the other. How much do you balance that kind of data analysis of what fans want versus just instinct? Somebody's got to go, hey, I just feel like this is going to be a winner.

Specific for food trucks or.

Overall, just in fan engagement, community engagement, that kind of stuff.

Or just kind of.

Sometimes you just do hit and miss, you know, just.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like we're, you know, again, I've. This is just my fifth year, but we've got data, data points and things that go back way beyond when I was here, so. And again, we only moved from Daniel island down to Patriots Point, like not that far. So the demographics and things really haven't changed that much. But I feel like we have a pretty good pulse of what's working and what's not working. And if we try something, it might be on a smaller scale just to see if it works. With 300 fans here, 500 fans here, not the whole 5,000 maybe to begin with. So maybe you wouldn't even know if you're not part of that, you know, little market just to see how it went. Whereas, you know, if maybe we were in a bigger stadium with more fans, you know, it's be more of a risk to, you know, try new things, but I think we're in a pretty good spot with, you know, how we run our operation currently.

So we're just a bunch of lab rats, which. Who? How do we know? How do we know? Patrick, you don't have to answer that one either. Patrick, we were talking about something here. You had some questions for Tanner. That a little off point, but on point.

Yeah. Tanner, I just have one last question for you. Appreciate your time. Obviously I enjoy these conversations, getting to know the insights I know Ryan and Granite do as well. I guess maybe the hardest question of the day is which Arsenal came first? Was it the London based Arsenal or Arsenal Premier?

Now I'm getting tested.

You're now the lab rat. Well, let's give him an Easter in.

In your. In your heart because you obviously won. Won some stuff. This is. Maybe I have your mind fried back out in Arizona.

So like my club I grew up playing for.

Yes.

Oh, I mean the club I grew up playing for was the first Arsenal.

That was the first love.

Yes, absolutely. I didn't know about the other Arsenal until like going on, you know, youth soccer trips and just turning on, you know, Premier League in the morning. I think one of those Saturday mornings before, you know, you head out to the field for six games and obviously totally different colors, totally different everything, but we definitely tried to play that Arsenal Tiki Taka, beautiful game style. And a lot of the kids I grew up playing with there, you know, actually went on to play college and whatnot. Couple Went pro, actually, so. But yeah, no, I digress.

With that. Did you enjoy watching the Saturday morning games more by yourself or with your teammates at the time?

Oh, teammates, for sure. I wasn't doing all this. I wasn't doing all kinds of analysis, though.

Just more screaming. Yelling.

Yeah. Side bends.

Only legal ones. Like Ryan does.

Yeah, yeah, for. For like Cheerios, you know, Exactly.

Some cornflakes, Fruit Loops, stuff like that. So we've been going at it for, like, almost 45 minutes, and you've got to get out of here. And I thank you very much for your time. Tanner, as always, you're such a wealth of knowledge, and you are the face of the Battery when it comes out, outside of, you know, the smiling faces of our fantastic players. But it's. It's always good to talk to you.

No, I appreciate you guys. You guys are three loyal, loyal fans, season members, advocates, supporters. And I know. I mean, no, nobody's paying you guys to do. Do this either. I know you guys do the kindness of your heart and just your passion for the sport. And, I mean, kudos to you guys for getting this off the ground and being so consistent with it. Let me know how I can help. Continue to push it forward. Happy to come back on or get somebody bigger and better than me on here as well.

There's nobody bigger, better than you. You are the pinnacle of the Battery. I don't care.

This guy, always willing to help people.

Yeah. I don't care what least any of them.

I'll send you my windmill.

You were playing in this stadium before batting. Was here, so it's just a natural progression for you. That's the reason why you're the big dog.

That's true. You might have to put some of those pictures on the cutout.

We'll get a big fat head and hold them up in the stands.

Okay, Y', all, do you have any other further questions for Tanner? He's got to go do stuff.

No. Thank you for your time, man. I appreciate it.

We are the fleet. Your ship, we will sink. But we, we are the battle race.