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00:00 What I would ask for you who have been a long time
00:05 broadcaster, radio show host, podcast host covering soccer,
00:10 I wanna ask you about the environment
00:12 because I don't know what it compares to
00:15 as far as being at those games
00:17 and being at Drive Pink Stadium in Fort Lauderdale
00:20 for people who do not know.
00:22 Does it compare to the NFL?
00:24 Is it compared to the Heat, Miami Heat?
00:26 I know I'm not gonna try to make a baseball comparison here,
00:29 but how do you put it up against those things
00:31 'cause you've been to them all?
00:33 - Yeah, I think there's a little bit of a different flow
00:37 to a soccer game 'cause it's not constantly broken up
00:40 by commercial breaks.
00:41 There's 48 straight minutes
00:43 and so there's sort of this steady noise.
00:45 Drive Pink Stadium, I think most kind of compares
00:48 within the soccer world
00:49 to a South American kind of atmosphere
00:51 because there's one end of the ground
00:53 that is constantly playing instruments
00:55 and keeping the atmosphere going the whole time.
00:57 So it sort of is its own unique flavor
01:00 of a sporting atmosphere.
01:01 But I think having been at the first game,
01:04 it was just wild how centered it was on one person
01:07 because Lionel Messi completely captured the attention
01:09 even when he didn't start the game,
01:11 even when the second half started
01:13 and he wasn't in the game either.
01:14 And it was sort of a constant intake of breath
01:17 whenever he touched the ball.
01:18 It was a constant,
01:19 let's get him in the game as soon as possible.
01:21 I paid a bunch of money for this.
01:23 I wanna see him on the field.
01:24 There was also a fair amount of obviously,
01:27 a lot of people sort of showing up
01:28 for the first time to see him
01:29 and getting their phones out to record him.
01:31 And I'm not certain that that was sort of the best
01:33 for the atmosphere.
01:34 And I kind of wonder as we get to our third,
01:37 fourth, fifth, sixth home game for him,
01:40 that it's not really just everyone there
01:41 to capture for social media and say,
01:43 I was there at the game in which he scored a bunch of goals.
01:46 So it was kind of, there were very unique atmospheres,
01:48 but certainly one that was sort of very tension packed.
01:51 But that first one was just kind of unlike anything
01:53 I've ever been at,
01:54 other than maybe sort of championship games
01:56 just because of the celebrity factor.
01:58 I was walking around the field before the game
02:00 and I saw Kim Kardashian and then Tristan Thompson walk in
02:03 and then LeBron walk in
02:04 and all these famous people walk in.
02:05 I was like, what is,
02:06 this is not what Inter Miami has been
02:08 for most of its existence.
02:10 But yeah, I think the atmospheres are actually,
02:12 believe it or not, going to get better
02:14 because right now we're in a tournament called League's Cup
02:18 and those tickets were sort of extras.
02:20 They were add-ons to your season ticket package.
02:22 Eventually when we get back to league play,
02:24 it will be the season ticket holders,
02:26 some of whom who have been along since day one,
02:28 that are sort of the day one fans
02:29 that create the atmosphere.
02:30 Even when, frankly, it wasn't as attractive
02:33 to go to an Inter Miami game.
02:34 There were 12 or 13,000 people there,
02:35 but they were creating a good atmosphere
02:38 because they're genuine soccer fans that love Inter Miami.
02:40 And I think as we kind of get back to league play,
02:42 we'll start to see something more like
02:44 a genuine raucous atmosphere,
02:45 especially if this continues to build as it is,
02:48 because first two games obviously gone brilliantly.
02:51 If they go far in this League's Cup,
02:52 if they come back and start making winning games look easy,
02:55 I think this atmosphere is only going to continue to build.