Podcasts about Whitecaps

Joshua and Nathan talk about the Whitecaps draw to DC, preview Chicago, Thomas Müller extending his contract, CanMNT win over Chile, the latest in Man City's saga and more!TIMESTAMPS:0:46-Our partners Edgehunters. Click the referral link below!1:42- Whitecaps draw to DC, Chicago Next, Müller extends, season ticket prices going up18:52- Rise lose 3-1 in Calgary, Toronto next21:29- Canada MNT beat Chile, Peru next32:37- LAFC fire Marc Dos Santos37:03- The ongoing Man City charges sagaEdgehunters referral link:https://www.edgehunters.com/?ref=3s9p77pvqk8Click now to match bet and make a profit!Do you or anyone you know own a small business? We'd love to have them sponsor the show! Contact us: Terminalcityfcpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter:@JoshuaRey00@Ndurec@TerminalCityFCBlueSky: @joshuarey.bsky.social @ndurec.bsky.social @terminalcityfc.bsky.social Instagram:@TerminalCityFCPodcastYoutube:TerminalCityFC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and Canadian Premier League chat. Vancouver Whitecaps dropped two more points at home on Saturday in a 3-3 draw with D.C. United that was both entertaining and frustrating. Some great attacking play, some poor defensive play, and a team with 10 players out through international duty and injuries. We unpack the highs and lows coming out of the match, look at how the Whitecaps form across MLS is actually better than it might feel these past 10 games, and look at the main talking points from the weekend's action across the league, including the sacking of former Whitecaps head coach Marc Dos Santos at LAFC. We also round-up the action in the CPL, Forge FC Bobby Smyrniotis talks about adding experienced big-name players and how they've made it work within the salary cap, and delve into a very long international break that kicked off with Canada beating Chile in a feisty affair in Toronto. Music-wise, Scottish band Lung Leg wrap up their residency as our Artists of the Month, King of the Slums feature as our C86 era song, and Swedish band Dolkows feature in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.22: Intro - not away with the ferries and Drew Peacock 11.35: Two more home points dropped in draw with D.C. 58.06: Whitecaps' home pitch worries continue but form guide not as bad as it feels 66.30: MLS round-up, the lie of the land, and the sacking of MDS 84.10: CPL round-up after a wild weekend, plus Bobby Smyrniotis talks big additions 124.35: Is this international break too long? 129.30: Did Canada get much out of win over 9-man Chile? 152.30: Wavelength - Dolkows - Football

On today's show Donnie and Rick chat about a busy weekend in the local sports world with the Canucks, Whitecaps and Lions all playing and share their expectations for the Canucks this season.Joining the show is Thomas Drance (16:41) and Bob Stauffer (50:30).

On today's show Ryan and Rick react to the Vancouver Canucks home-loss against the Edmonton Oilers's farm team and to a couple of transactions made by the team. Joining the show is Thomas Drance (16:25), Neil McEvoy (50:35), and Jesper Sorensen (1:02:13). 

Joshua and Nathan talk about the Whitecaps win over RSL, preview DC United, Rise drawing to Montreal, the Wenger offside rule trialed in the CPL, Man City being guilty and more!TIMESTAMPS:0:46- Our partners Edgehunters. Click the referral link below!1:32- Whitecaps beat RSL, DC next, international call-ups, Thomas Müller's future and more.23:12- Rise draw to Montreal, Di Filippo's contract extension, Calgary next28:06- Inter Toronto's game tying goal against Vancouver FC sparks debate on proposed and trialed Wenger offside rule33:03- Canada plays Chile in friendly, more injuries...35:40- CanWNT reveal friendlies roster. 6 NSL players39:38- Chelsea still have defensive issues, Alonso needs time50:24- Spurs are dead last. De Zerbi to be sacked?55:17- Man City guilty on 114 out of their 115 chargers1:02:17- Columbus Crew 2 fire head coach Federico Higuain for behavior. Edgehunters referral link:https://www.edgehunters.com/?ref=3s9p77pvqk8Click now to match bet and make a profit!Do you or anyone you know own a small business? We'd love to have them sponsor the show! Contact us: Terminalcityfcpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter:@JoshuaRey00@Ndurec@TerminalCityFCBlueSky: @joshuarey.bsky.social @ndurec.bsky.social @terminalcityfc.bsky.social Instagram:@TerminalCityFCPodcastYoutube:TerminalCityFC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and Canadian Premier League chat, and the internet only died on us three times during the recording of this one, which is in part why it's a little bit shorter than our usual! It's been another up and down week for the Whitecaps, where the highs have been great and the lows have been anger-inducing. A limp performance against CF Montreal saw them crash out of the Canadian Championship midweek, masters of their own downfall with the referee giving them a helping hand or two along the way. They needed a response in MLS action on Saturday and they got it, in a comfortable 3-0 win at RSL. Steadying the ship? Back on course? Or are we set for another blip and dip against D.C. United this coming weekend? We delve into all of that and more, including some standout performances, both good and bad, and a look around the lie of the land in the MLS Western Conference. We also round-up the weekend's action in the CPL, where Vancouver FC are hanging on to a playoff spot, Pacific FC have been officially eliminated from postseason contention, and some experienced big-name players have come to the league. But how are clubs making these signings work and does the league have a transparency problem? Music-wise, Scottish band Lung Leg continue their residency as our Artists of the Month, Lawrence and the Comfortable Society feature as our C86 era song, and Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.22: Intro - the burning, Ted Lasso 08.10: Whitecaps masters of their own downfall in CanChamp loss 31.00: Whitecaps bounce back with much-needed win at RSL 52.35: MLS round-up as Whitecaps extend lead at top of West 60.20: D.C. United preview 69.00: CPL chat and round-up as experienced names come to league 102.50: Wavelength - Ya Cetidon, Cruzito, and Karma Atchykah - Supra All The Way 105.40: A Tale of Two Davids

GUEST: Jesper Sørensen, Head Coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joshua and Nathan talk about the Whitecaps losses to Austin and Montreal, preview RSL, Rise getting a big win, #CanMNT friendly roster, Chelsea's bad defence, Spurs still not scoring and more!TIMESTAMPS:1:53- Whitecaps lose to Austin and CF Montreal, the issues surrounding the team 38:42- Real Salt Lake next43:34- Rise get huge 4-0 win over Ottawa Rapid, Montreal roses next48:03- Halifax Wanderers new stadium plans52:13- CanMNT roster for fall friendlies announced57:11- Chelsea get scratched by the Tigers, Boehly and Walter sell shares and Eghbali and Clearlake now have full control1:07:41- Spurs still can't score in EPL Play1:11:42- Al-Taawoun ordered to play next two match behind closed doors for disgusting Jota chants1:14:09- VAR controversy in the Manchester derby Edgehunters referral link:https://www.edgehunters.com/?ref=3s9p77pvqk8Click now to match bet and make a profit!Do you or anyone you know own a small business? We'd love to have them sponsor the show! Contact us: Terminalcityfcpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter:@JoshuaRey00@Ndurec@TerminalCityFCBlueSky: @joshuarey.bsky.social @ndurec.bsky.social @terminalcityfc.bsky.social Instagram:@TerminalCityFCPodcastYoutube:TerminalCityFC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is going to cover Midwestern skiing whether you like it or not. Don't worry, Colorad-Bro, it's your turn tomorrow.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I will still write newsletters too. To browse a (robot-generated) podcast transcript, click the “transcript” button above - click on any block of text and the audio will jump to that point in the conversation. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15.The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)Stuart Winchester: Welcome to the Storm! I'm your host, Stuart Winchester. It is Monday, September 14th, 2026. Welcome to week two of the New Look Storm Skiing Podcast. If you missed last week, I am still doing the longer form pod.00:15:53.000 --> 00:16:08.000Stuart Winchester: But I'm cutting way back on the frequency of those. Instead, I am doing a shorter, news-focused pod that I release more often, and whenever possible, that I release the same day that I record it.00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.000Stuart Winchester: And the reason that I'm doing that is because…00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:19.000Stuart Winchester: the world has changed a lot since 2019, when I launched the Storm Skiing podcast, and when I launched it, there really wasn't anything quite like…00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:26.000Stuart Winchester: what I was doing with the long-form audio stories of a ski area's background.00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.000Stuart Winchester: I've done a couple hundred episodes at this point.00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.000Stuart Winchester: I feel like…00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:47.000Stuart Winchester: They're evergreen. But what they don't allow me to do is to really talk about what's happening in a ski area right now. Uh Especially when there's a lot of things happening and there's a lot of pieces and parts shuffling around as there is right now in the Midwest.00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.000Stuart Winchester: with multi-mountain passes. So, what I'm doing…00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:06.000Stuart Winchester: is I'm trying out a little bit of a new format today. The format… we're gonna experiment, we're gonna play around with it. Sometimes there'll be a guest off the top, sometimes I'll have a take off the top, uh, sometimes I'll have a guest on for a longer period, and that's gonna be the case today.00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:22.000Stuart Winchester: Because right now there is so much happening in the Midwest with multi mountain passes and different mountains leaving and joining is completely changing the landscape there. So I want to bring in someone to talk to us at length about that. We'll do a couple other fun things as well.00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.000Stuart Winchester: Let's bring…00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:27.000Stuart Winchester: I'm in now.00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.000Stuart Winchester: And there he is. Can you hear me, Matthew?00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Hey, how's it going, Stuart?00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:36.000Matthew Zabransky: I can.00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:41.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, I can't hear you. All right. This is a flub, and this is why I haven't heard her.00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.000Stuart Winchester: Because I am not that smart.00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:49.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, you there?00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000Matthew Zabransky: Can you hear me?00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, yes, I can. Look at that.00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay, perfect.00:17:52.000 --> 00:18:07.000Stuart Winchester: The technology known as headphones. Matthew, this is why you're the production guy, and I generally stick to writing, because I'm an idiot. Alright, I want to introduce today the founder of MidwestSkiers.com.00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:13.000Stuart Winchester: He founded that in 2018, and in 2020, founded MWS Productions.00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:29.000Stuart Winchester: He is making all the Midwest content that I was dying for in the 1990s when I was a teenager living and skiing in Michigan, and the ski mags would completely ignore the region and maybe mention Boyne Mountain or Luton once per year, but he makes.00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:20.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:38.000Stuart Winchester: Top quality content. I link to it all the time in my stuff because no one else quite does it, as well as Matthew Zabranski. Matthew, welcome to The Storm. How you doing today?00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:56.000Matthew Zabransky: I am doing fantastic. Stuart, thank you, first of all, for the opportunity, but more importantly, for also repping the Midwest. I think it's such an important, obviously, region, and you have ties to it, I obviously have ties to it as well, so it's great that we're getting recognition, not only, obviously, in our region now, but on the national, even international scale, so…00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you so much for doing that. I appreciate it. I'm excited to be here.00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I love covering the Midwest, Matthew, and I still make it a point to go back and take a Midwest trip every year, because there's…00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:27.000Stuart Winchester: when I'm doing this podcast, there's nothing quite like making relationships, like showing up at, you know, a 200 vertical foothill in the boondocks in Minnesota. People are like, okay, I'll talk to this guy, even though, you know, I've never heard of him. So, but you are 100% Midwest-focused. I cover it where I can and whenever I can.00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:21.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:37.000Stuart Winchester: There is so much happening in the Midwest that we could talk about. I really want to focus today on multi-mountain passes. So…00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:53.000Stuart Winchester: I'll start by, I'll just set this up and then I'll, and then I'll, I'll let you comment on it. So if you go back about 10 years, there was nothing in the Midwest on multi mountain passes. You know, Vale had started to add a few things to Epic Pass and B Brighton and Afton Alps and Wilmot and such.00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:03.000Stuart Winchester: But the real inflection point came in 2019, when IndiePass came along. 2018, Icon added a couple things. So, right now, I'll give you some stats.00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:09.000Stuart Winchester: Of the 124 ski areas that I have inventoried in the Midwest, that you might have a different count.00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:15.000Stuart Winchester: They're 117 of those are public. 89 of those are public with aerial lifts.00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:28.000Stuart Winchester: 58 of those, although there's a couple that are just surface toes only, so 58 ski areas in the Midwest are now on a national multi-mountain ski pass. 10 on Epic.00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000Stuart Winchester: 11 on Icon, 37 for Indy. So, so to start out with, Matthew.00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.000Stuart Winchester: How has…00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:47.000Stuart Winchester: the acceptance of the Midwest by multi-mountain national passes change the calculus for skiers as they're planning out their winter in the Midwest, compared to what it was for most of history up until just a few years ago?00:20:47.000 --> 00:21:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, it's changed dramatically. It's even going back a little bit further. I think the first initial, if you look at the statistics and you obviously know all this offhand, but back when you go back to Vail's acquisition of Wilmont, Afton.00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:19.000Matthew Zabransky: Brighton back in like 2012. I mean, that's really what started to to kick off this like idea of like. Maybe the Midwest has some legs in it, as far as like developing skiers, and then, you know, bringing them into a pass portfolio that could bring them out west. So that was the very early set, you know, early iteration of this. And then, obviously, as we went along, there wasn't.00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:37.000Matthew Zabransky: too many options outside of just the epic pass. But then, like you mentioned, Indie Pass came in, and I knew, and it's you know, as we dive into this, I do want to do a little disclosure here, and like Indie Pass was my very 1st client from a production side of things. So Doug and I, because I I saw the opportunity like there was an absolute gold mine here. I'm like.00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:33.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:55.000Matthew Zabransky: Because I got to travel around, that's why I started MidwestGears.com, because we were… we were traveling for my wife's job all over the Midwest, and every time we'd go to a new city, Columbus, Akron, I'd be a pass holder at one of these little ski areas, and I'd be like, holy crap, there's a lot of them here, no one's talking about them.00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:15.000Matthew Zabransky: But you know, once you start to realize there was this many, then you're then you're starting to think, okay, like, why isn't somebody coming in here and starting to develop a past that could actually stand on its own. And that's what we've seen the last, I would say, 5 to 10 years. Specifically, we've seen more people traveling around in the Midwest. You'll catch people at any stereo across the Midwest. That's not their home hill, and that's not how it used.00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:27.000Matthew Zabransky: you go ski or one little local place for the most part, you might do your weekend trip up to Boyne or something, but you would never catch people going to some of these really small places, you know, outside of just the local crew there, so it's been really cool to watch people.00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:45.000Matthew Zabransky: travel and discover, more importantly, the different areas, uh, throughout the Midwest. I think a lot of that had to do with IndyPass's push in the Midwest, because, as we're gonna talk about here in a second, it was an absolute auto-buy. Like, there was not even a question about it. From the day it started, when it was, you know, what was that, $99?00:22:45.000 --> 00:23:02.000Matthew Zabransky: up until even just the last year. It was like you almost just were gonna if you lived in the Midwest, and you like skiing, and you don't. You know you like traveling around checking out new things. There was no reason not to buy it. You'd be silly, basically not to, just because how much saturation there was in the Midwest, which I think is going to lead us into our next conversation a little bit here.00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so, so the…00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:15.000Stuart Winchester: Just being on the ground, before we get to the shuffling around, you know, I'd imagine you're pretty connected with a lot of pretty hardcore skiers, pretty frequent skiers.00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:17.000Stuart Winchester: How much has…00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:24.000Stuart Winchester: that a… a season… a multi-mountain pass becomes something that the person in the Midwest just…00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:40.000Stuart Winchester: considers or, or automatically buys it as compared to several years ago where you might buy your local season pass, but, but you, you probably, like you said, you wouldn't go around. And when I lived in the Midwest, actually, I always appreciated how close the areas were, so I would just kind of bounce around a lot for.00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.000Stuart Winchester: for deal days or whatever, back when those were still a thing. But how automatic has it become?00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:42.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:23:46.000 --> 00:24:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Very. I mean, there's people that have been buying the IndyPass specifically now. Up until this season, it was like they were probably on their fifth year of doing it and just continue to. And to be honest, there wasn't any reason not to because the pricing has stayed relatively affordable.00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:17.000Matthew Zabransky: they keep they kept strengthening their pro, their their product. I mean, like they just kept adding more ski areas in the Midwest. And so in in a lot of times the pass would pay itself off within a couple of visits based off of some of the redemption rates that you'd be getting at some somewhere like Lutz and Snow River.00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:34.000Matthew Zabransky: um, those are all, like, you know, $100 tickets, so you buy… you go there once or twice, you get two days of each of them, and basically that's already done. So if you already had one of those trips kind of on there, and if you lived in Chicago, you're going to Granite Peak usually once or twice a year. If you lived in Minnesota, you're going to Lutz.00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:52.000Matthew Zabransky: So it almost became this thing. And then you shuffle in like nubs, knob, and all that. So it it very much was like, yeah, we're gonna buy it every single year, you know, we might not. And some people are hardcore and going to all the places they could. And some people were just, you know. Hey? I'm gonna buy it because I'm gonna go for a weekend, so I might as well. And then I have this option of going some other places.00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:24:52.000 --> 00:25:03.000Matthew Zabransky: it was huge. I mean, I don't… of course, I don't have any of the IndyPass numbers, but I would… I would venture to say that the Midwest had to be a very big portion of their portfolio from the sales and redemption standpoint.00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:20.000Stuart Winchester: So the traditional numbers that Indy has given me, and it's been a couple years since Doug Fish provided these round numbers to me, but he told me about half of their sales came in New England, and 25% came in the Midwest, which is a really big number for a national pass. So you figured the other quarter were coming from somewhere else.00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:16.000Matthew Zabransky: Cool.00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.000Matthew Zabransky: For… yeah.00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:25.000Stuart Winchester: I always give Doug Fish credit, because he's a Pacific Northwest guy, and…00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:40.000Stuart Winchester: Western skiers just love to hate on the Midwest. Everyone loves to hate on the Midwest. It's like the national pastime. It's like the safe thing to make fun of, and you know, I hope you take that personally, because I always do, and I really appreciated that Doug.00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.000Matthew Zabransky: Is…00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:38.000Matthew Zabransky: I do.00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:55.000Stuart Winchester: Included the Midwest from the start. That first year in 2019, he had Little Switz, he had Crystal, he had Cabre Fay, he had a bunch of other ski areas. Really got big in 2020 when he added Lutzen and Granite Peak. Now, I always say his insight was…00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:02.000Stuart Winchester: that Doug's great insight with the IndyPass was realizing there was value in the mountains that are not.00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:08.000Stuart Winchester: super destinations when you put them all together for skiers across the country. He also…00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:23.000Stuart Winchester: the fact that he extended that to the Midwest is huge, because, yes, I… so, before Icon started adding in into the Midwest, which we'll talk about in a minute, I would always say, Indy Pass is the pass to go to in the Midwest, no one else has anything, and everyone would always say, oh, wait, Epic has 10 mountains. I was like.00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:34.000Stuart Winchester: But the Midwest is gigantic. Unless you live in Ohio, they're very spread out, and they're near cities, and there are actually mountains in the Midwest that are more…00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:44.000Stuart Winchester: of, of what you would consider, like, regional destinations. And that, that's your Boyne, Nubs, Lutsen, uh, even, even Spira with the bigger, uh, all the stuff over in the UP.00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:38.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:57.000Stuart Winchester: So Indy really collected them all together, and it was almost too good to be true, because they had over 40 ski areas in the Midwest. Talk about Indy at its peak.00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:02.000Stuart Winchester: And how great of a pass that was for the Midwest here.00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:17.000Matthew Zabransky: It was too great. We're going to get into this, I'm sure, but I think that's part of the reason for the course correction. There was a moment two or three years ago when I literally turned to Nick, my associate who edits for me and stuff, and I said, with some of the additions they announced at that time, I said.00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:06.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:33.000Matthew Zabransky: this is too saturated like it's got to fix itself at some point like it's just. It's too good of a value, and like for skiers, we like anybody that was buying the passes like this is amazing. It makes it like again. It's an auto buy like, why wouldn't you do this? But I knew that this time was going to come at some point. But I'm you know, at least we got to.00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:50.000Matthew Zabransky: to see what it like. The peak of that was for a little while. We got a couple of years. We've got to be happy for that, to be honest. We're starting to see some of those what I'll call course corrections now and and we're going to continue to see this. I mean, you know that every every year it's going to be something new. Someone's changing. It's just kind of the nature of the business. But.00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:02.000Matthew Zabransky: it was not a shock to me when, um, when these changes were announced, uh, both in the spring and then more recently in the last few weeks and stuff, so it wasn't… I kind of saw it coming, it was just a matter of, like, when was it gonna happen.00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:14.000Stuart Winchester: So everyone left… they seemed as though… Epic and Icon seemed like they were just leaving the Midwest to Indy, to take. And I've always thought that Icon's original sin was when they killed the Max Pass.00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:15.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:30.000Stuart Winchester: And launched the Icon Pass. They brought all the Powder Mountains, all the Boyne Mountains, uh, all the Intra West Mountains, but they didn't bring Granite Peak and Lutzen, which are the biggest ski areas or most modern, however, whatever metric you want to use in Minnesota and, and Wisconsin.00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:31.000Stuart Winchester: So…00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:46.000Stuart Winchester: for a long time, Indy just built up this huge coalition. Started to see some cracks last year. Icon had just two mountains, Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands, and honestly, and Boyne has never affirmed this to me, but my hunch is, Boyne said, include our mountains or you don't get Big Sky.00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, yeah.00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:01.000Stuart Winchester: So, so, Icon was like, okay, I guess we'll add these stupid little things. Uh, which is not my opinion of them, but I think that's probably what they thought from Colorado, which is why they dropped Lutzen and Granite Peak. So, last year, we started to see the first crack in Indy's armor.00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.000Matthew Zabransky: I was like, don't do that.00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:12.000Stuart Winchester: when the Icon Pass… they call them bonus mountains, I call them two-day mountains, because that's what they are. If you have an Icon Pass, you get two days of these mountains. Uh, Buck Hill, Minnesota.00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:27.000Stuart Winchester: Uh joined the icon pass as a two day mountain, which for the listeners, that's no, you get no base pass access, you only get full icon access and there are holiday blackouts. So that's what the two day tier is. They added Buck Hill. Uh Indy said, no, you're not allowed to do that. Remove Buck Hill.00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:30.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, which is a great little, uh, you know.00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.000Stuart Winchester: kind of trainer hill outside of the Twin Cities.00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:40.000Stuart Winchester: And every square inch is used with very maximum effect. So Indy removed them.00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:53.000Stuart Winchester: Buck Hill has been on Icon, and that was sort of the first… when you first saw that, did you think, okay, here we go, Icon is finally starting to realize the value of the Midwest, and if not, what was the moment that you did think that they got it?00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:09.000Matthew Zabransky: I would, you know, the whole time I've been shaking my head a little bit because it's just ironic to me that Boeing, Boeing, one of the biggest companies in, you know, that started in the Midwest, that literally has its roots here. And I'm just shocked that Icon hasn't.00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:26.000Matthew Zabransky: made this push earlier, and it took this long. But that was like the 1st that was the 1st like mention of that. And the other connection that was really kind of just crazy to me is, there's so many people from the twin cities that go to Big Sky like a lot like you talk to people all over the place. They have cabins up there. They.00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:24.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so. Yeah.00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:27.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:42.000Matthew Zabransky: They're traveling there all the time. It's a huge destination for specifically for Minnesota, it seems. So I was always thinking, man, like if they were just to strengthen this pass a little bit in the Midwest, give somebody a reason to, to jump on to the icon pass. They're probably going out to Big Sky anyway.00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:57.000Matthew Zabransky: now all of a sudden, you give them another reason to buy the full pass, you got some… some more local hills, some day… like, weekend trips, you can go up to Lutzen, things like that, and I think that's when… when Lutzen and those guys came on, that was, like, full-blown, that's gonna… that changes everything. Like, everything.00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:14.000Matthew Zabransky: As you know, the lake, Lake Michigan, is a huge divider for the eastern and the western side of what I'll call the Midwest. Basically, if you're on the eastern side of the lake, you're kind of going to stick to mostly your lower peninsula, maybe go up to the UP occasionally. But if you're on the western side over here, in the Minneapolis.00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:31.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, there was really no offerings for Icon, so it really made no sense at that point to buy an Icon Pass. You know, maybe Chicago, you drive up to Boeing, but you're kind of on that cusp there, where it's like, mmm… but I think once they strengthened it this past year, now it's like… it's a fair fight, in my opinion. Now we're.00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:46.000Matthew Zabransky: You know, which one is gonna make more sense for you, or your situation, which it was not, it didn't used to be that way, it just, there was never an opportunity for most people that were on this side of the lake, or in Minneapolis. Sometimes it didn't make sense, unless you're going out to, you know, Big Sky for a week and a half, it, you know.00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so just a little background for the listeners.00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:52.000Stuart Winchester: Boyne Mountain and and.00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:08.000Stuart Winchester: what they call the Highlands at Harbor Springs. I'll call it Boyne Highlands because no one knows what I'm talking about when I say the Highlands. So Boyne and Boyne Highlands are two of the nicer ski areas, more built up ski areas in Michigan, and they were long on Icon. Uh, Lutzen and Granite Peak.00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:58.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, this…00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:14.000Stuart Winchester: that, uh, Midwest Family Ski Resorts, which owns Lutzen and Granite Peak, bought, immediately took.00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:25.000Stuart Winchester: four old riblet lifts, put in a high-speed six-pack, the first one in the UP. So, those three ski areas had been indie anchors in the Midwest for years.00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:24.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:30.000Stuart Winchester: This year, for 2026-27 winter, they're going as 5-7 day…00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:42.000Stuart Winchester: mountains each on Icon and Icon Base, and so they are leaving the Indy Pass as a result of that. Now, Icon has also added some more two-day mountains. I'm gonna put those to the side for a second.00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:50.000Stuart Winchester: How big of a loss was Lutsen and Granite Peak and Snow River for Indy Pass in the Midwest?00:32:51.000 --> 00:33:06.000Matthew Zabransky: It's it's an easy question. I mean the answer just like, go look at the comments on the thread when it was announced, and you could just read how an impactful it was. And I think that was my argument when people started talking about like, Oh, they're you know, hey? Like they're leaving. They're leaving us in the dust, and we we don't like them anymore.00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:29.000Matthew Zabransky: It's probably justified. If you guys are this upset about them leaving, it means they probably had a little more leverage than they should have in that past portfolio. And I think it to that. And again, I don't know that it needs, like, a passion never be so strong, in my opinion. And I'm talking about the business side of things. You're not talking about the skier. Trust me, if I was, like, just skiing Matthew, put my skiing thing on, I'd be like, yeah, absolutely.00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, but from the business side, as an area owner, operator, you gotta look at it, like, what kind of value are we getting back out of this pass? Are we the ones carrying your product? Like, that's the other thing to think about, too, right? We don't… you don't always necessarily want to be the top dog in the pass lineup. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't. Uh, and in this case, I think that they…00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:56.000Matthew Zabransky: they were carrying that pass line up, and I think nothing speaks more to the volumes of how upset people were when they came off of the pass.00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.000Stuart Winchester: So we're… I've kind of looked at this as it's…00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:12.000Stuart Winchester: sucks for Indy, it's probably good for the consumer in the long run, because, like you said, you never want too much market concentration, so now you have… you have the Snow Pass coming up, which is… which is Snow Partners in two days…00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:28.000Stuart Winchester: at each mountain. There's none in the Midwest yet, but I suspect there may be at some point. Right now, they're mostly in the Northeast. And then you have Icon. So, before, I think a lot of people in Michigan probably had Icon, because you could use it for the Boynes, but like you said.00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:44.000Stuart Winchester: if you're not from the Midwest, you're probably just thinking it's like a big square, but there's a lake there, and you can't… I mean, you can take a ferry over it, but it takes all day, right? You have to go to Ludington, and it's like a whole thing, right? So really, you have Michigan, the Lower Peninsula, and then you kind.00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:33.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:58.000Stuart Winchester: Wisconsin. So, you live on the west side of that, I believe, like, around the Minnesota-Wisconsin line. How immediately did you see people say, okay, well, now, yeah, let's consider Icon that maybe never would have before?00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:04.000Matthew Zabransky: I think the original, like, when it first was announced, there was just a lot of, like.00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:17.000Matthew Zabransky: oh man, this sucks. Like, now what? You know, what do we do? Because the initial reaction was like, well, I'm not gonna auto-buy this now, I gotta think about it a little bit more. I'm curious because I haven't… it's still so fresh, to be honest, and I haven't, like.00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:07.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:32.000Matthew Zabransky: but to, like, really figure that question, like, the answer to that question out, but I have… the one thing I have been seeing is a lot more people starting to weigh those options, right? They're starting to look at the passes differently now. Now it's, like, not just, like, we're gonna pick up Indy automatically and, you know, whatever might throw a different pass on there. Now they.00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:26.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:49.000Matthew Zabransky: think about, how am I using my pass? Am I going up to Lutzen for a weekend or 2? Does it make sense for me to just get an icon pass? Am I a pass holder at Lutzen, and want to add it on now that that's an option, and maybe do an out west trip, or if you're granted peak. So I'm starting to see more people analyzing.00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:35:49.000 --> 00:36:03.000Matthew Zabransky: in an area where they haven't before. So I'll be curious to see this upcoming season will be a really good test to kind of figure out, like, where are those numbers starting to shift a little bit. But, um, from my first reaction is I have a feeling that there's gonna be a pretty big drop in IndyPass sales in the Midwest.00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:20.000Matthew Zabransky: For that reasoning. Um, and then I do think there's gonna be a bit of a spike, um, in, in IconPass sales. I don't think it's gonna obviously affect much on the Michigan side, Lower Peninsula side of things. I think that'll stay pretty stable. But I think this side, for sure, this market, Minneapolis specifically, a little bit of Chicago.00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:25.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, but I would expect to see a pretty good little spike in sales on the IconPass side.00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:35.000Stuart Winchester: So, Lutzen and Granite Peak, I think, huge losses for India. Snow River, less so, just because Powderhorn is right next door, and it's kind of the same size, and it's, you know, gets the same s.00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:30.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:32.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:53.000Stuart Winchester: Continued building by Icon after that announcement, and, and some, and some continued bleeding by Indy. So, so Icon had a Giants Ridge, which is an excellent ski area up in Minnesota. It's, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it's worth it. Uh, Devil's Head, which is a nice, uh, Madison ski area, and then.00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:45.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:36:53.000 --> 00:37:10.000Stuart Winchester: in Michigan left Indy to join the Icon today, so those all joined Icon today. And then Indy also lost Little Switzerland, Nordic Mountain, and Crystal Ridge in Wisconsin. As of now, they are passless. So, you know, those are small ski areas, but they're really important sort of urban.00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:21.000Stuart Winchester: collectors, but do you worry, Matthew, and I'll say, Indy still has 37 ski areas in the Midwest, but do you worry that their coalition is splintering a little bit, starting to fall apart?00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:17.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:40.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, a little bit. So I'm going to dance around this as carefully as I can because I have connections with all these owners, operators, and I talk to them on a regular basis, so I kind of know more than I probably should. But I'll try to navigate this the best that I can.00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:56.000Matthew Zabransky: with… when IndyPass started, Doug Fish and the team did a really nice job of making sure that when they signed a ski area on, that they were being very, very intentional about its location, what… who was serving, and then when they would add another person on, a lot of times they would even approach.00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:04.000Matthew Zabransky: some of the nearby ski areas, and be like, hey, we're adding so-and-so, or making sure that those partnerships were all, you know.00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:22.000Matthew Zabransky: You're not too close where you're starting to monopolize business in different ways. I'll talk a little bit more about this in a second. So that was the approach for many, many years. However, I noticed a pretty big change a handful of years ago when it became more about a statistical difference than building those partnerships and.00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:41.000Matthew Zabransky: making those owners feel valued, if that makes sense. So it was like, okay, how can we just continue to pump numbers, get more? And in that process, what happened was a lot of ski areas in a small geographical area. And why has that caused a lot of issues for owners and operators? Is the idea of the IndyPass was, yeah.00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:50.000Matthew Zabransky: to create value with a portfolio of ski areas across the Midwest to rival that of, like, you know, other multi-mountain passes.00:38:50.000 --> 00:39:06.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, but what some of the owners and operators were starting to see was that instead of skiers buying a season pass at their local ski area, what they would do is buy the Indy Pass, ski two days at the ski area that would have been their local ski area, and then.00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:03.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:22.000Matthew Zabransky: You know, in some cases, like in the Twin Cities, you have a handful that are within a two hour drive. So then it became this thing of like, oh, we're starting to see RR like personal season passes drop for then people that are using IndiePass redemptions to treat it as if it were basically a season pass.00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:40.000Matthew Zabransky: I'm summarizing a lot there. There's a lot, like, to dive into, like, the details, but I can't, unfortunately, go into too much of that. But I think you can probably get the idea of why that was a little bit frustrating for some, um, owners and operators. So they really had to take a deep dive into some of those numbers and start to look at, like.00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yes.00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:26.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:50.000Matthew Zabransky: Where are these people coming from? How are the redemptions being used? And then, you know, how is this pass either, you know, net positive or net negative for us? And, you know, I always tell everybody, it's…00:39:50.000 --> 00:40:00.000Matthew Zabransky: the ski business is, you know, Stuart, is just a very, very low margin business, and it is a business. Like, at the end of the day, like, they have to treat it like…00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:22.000Matthew Zabransky: you know, like you gotta find out where you're losing money, or is there opportunity? And that assessment has to happen on a yearly basis. And sometimes when they run it for their business, they might be finding out that this might not be a great option for them. Or maybe it was, and things have changed. And now it's not so. It's an ongoing assessment. And like I was mentioning earlier, this is going to be a game that is going to play out over the next 10 years, probably where people are going to be switching teams all the time. And.00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:28.000Matthew Zabransky: and just get used to it. I mean, this is gonna be the way it is, unfortunately or fortunately, you know.00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:31.000Stuart Winchester: If you're Indy, what's your next move to try to build your coalition back up?00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I think the biggest thing they need to do is get some sort of anchor on this side of the lake. I mean, you've got Nub's Knob on Lower Peninsula, which is a great offering. I think that that really does anchor that side for sure. Over here, you gotta start eyeing up some areas that would serve as that anchor ski area. I know Whitecap was added.00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:38.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:49.000 --> 00:41:04.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, which is good, but I think, like, you gotta think about, you know, what is that replacement for? You know, what is that replacement for Granite Peak? And it immediately comes to mind, like, a Cascade, right? Or one of those. And we all know, like, it's just gonna be a tough sale for some of these operations, because it's always that, like.00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:00.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I think so.00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:09.000Matthew Zabransky: If you're an anchor skier, you've probably got a good operation and a good thing going already, so…00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:29.000Matthew Zabransky: you know, what is the pitch? Why should I join your indie pass? So it's always this give and take a little bit, but, you know, given that we've had a bunch of ski areas now come off of indie, there might be an opportunity to fill that little bit of a void and be kind of that new anchor spot that would then highlight that side of the lake. I don't know. It'll be curious to see kind of how things play out, but.00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:37.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, I think we'll see a little bit of this course correction go on for the next year or two, and then I think maybe we'll see some moves in the future. It's hard to say.00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:43.000Stuart Winchester: That was really good, so I'm gonna extend that question. If you're Icon, what's your next move in the Midwest, and if you're Epic?00:41:45.000 --> 00:42:02.000Matthew Zabransky: If if I'm icon, what I'm circling right now to be quite frank is somewhere in the Chicagoland area. There's an opportunity there, and I don't, you know, of course. What is it? We don't know, but I think if you could add an offering like a full offering to which is a little bit tricky to do. But yeah, like you think of something like.00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:24.000Matthew Zabransky: Cascade, Devil's Head, one of those areas, if you can get it into, like, a full area where you can now grab that Chicago market and have it really well solidified, because right now you're kind of in a, you know, it's about four hours from up to Granite Peak, and then Boeing the other way is something like that, five or something. So you're kind of in that weird dead zone there, so I think there's still a huge opportunity to grab that market, which obviously is a huge market of skiers and s.00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm. And if you're Epic, I mean, they have all city stuff, so what do you do if you're Epic?00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:29.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I mean, I think Epic's playing the card that they want. The one thing that I am curious to see with Epic is not necessarily that, it's what's gonna happen with some of these smaller regional ski areas that have kind of been left in the dust a little bit. Paley Peaks is the first one that comes to mind when you start to think about this Snow Creek.00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:46.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:42:49.000 --> 00:43:06.000Matthew Zabransky: These ones that are just kind of in no man's land a little bit. They kind of got brought in with the Peak Resorts acquisition. I'm not sure that they necessarily wanted some of these ski areas, but they came in as a package deal as part of that. So it's just gonna be kind of interesting to see. They need a lot of reinvestment over the next, you know.00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:23.000Matthew Zabransky: 10 to 15 years, for sure, if not even sooner than that. So it'll be curious to see kind of how they approach those sort of areas in those regions, because some of those are in their own land like there is no ski area relatively close to some of them, or a couple of hours to the nearest ski area. So it'll be curious to see how they leverage that going forward.00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Matthew, I could sink into that one for about two hours and we could have a talk. I'm going to have to bring you back for that one. But for now, let's move on. And some of the folks who may not be familiar with the Midwest, we're going to talk about some of our favorite Midwest ski areas in just a moment. First, I want to tell you that this podcast is brought to you today by Profile Search International.00:43:44.000 --> 00:44:03.000Stuart Winchester: Profile Search is the only talent acquisition firm in the entire world that is 100% focused on the ski industry. They have used their intimate understanding of skiing and related industries, and of available candidates worldwide, to place hundreds of transformational leaders at the best and most progressive ski areas over the past.00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:19.000Stuart Winchester: 30 years. Profile Search has offices in the US and Canada, and they find and negotiate with the right leaders for their team. If you want to reach out to Profile Search, you can find them at profilesearch.com, and you can get their email or phone number there, or send me a note and I will.00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:26.000Stuart Winchester: make that connection for you. That is profilesearch.com. All right, Matthew, I gave you a challenge.00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:43.000Stuart Winchester: Or, or homework or something. I don't know. I'm sure you didn't have to think too hard about this, but we are going to break down our five favorite Midwest ski areas. We each have five. We'll, we'll start with five and, and, uh, and we'll take turns. Now, these are not what we think are the best necessarily because that's a whole different.00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:47.000Stuart Winchester: Conversation and I tried to think about.00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:59.000Stuart Winchester: If you've never skied the Midwest and are only going to ski here once in your life, where would I tell people to go? So, Matthew, I'll start with you. What is your number five favorite Midwest ski area and why?00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:14.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah. So I'll just just key this up with like, yeah, I agree with you. I went with kind of like I took an approach of uniqueness. There's different things that I enjoy about this years for different reasons, and I'll obviously unpack them as we kind of go through number 5 for me was perfect north slopes.00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:08.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:32.000Matthew Zabransky: And at its face, you might not think that that's… it's, you know, it's a ski area right outside of, uh, Cincinnati, um, and the southern tip of Indiana down there. And for, you know, for people that have never heard of it, they'd be like, why does this… why is this even on here? Uh, but the moment that you visit there, I think it all becomes very clear. Their throughput.00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:51.000Matthew Zabransky: their snowmaking capacity, their operations. It is a gold standard when we think of how to run a ski area in extremely challenging conditions and environments. Perfect North is the one that comes to mind. The way that they can move people through their rental department is phenomenal. The way that they can have a stable season based off of where they are.00:45:51.000 --> 00:46:08.000Matthew Zabransky: is just absolutely mind blowing. And they've been doing this since day one. So this isn't something that they have. You know they're new to. They've been doing this for many, many, many decades now at this point. So it's it's definitely worth a visit. Their train's really good as well. They have some Olympians that have come out of there just some some good stuff going down at at perfect north slopes.00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:23.000Stuart Winchester: I'm so glad you said Perfect North, because I did not include it on my list, but I think they are one of the best operators in the country. My number 5 is Chestnut, Illinois, and everyone's… you know why, but everyone's gonna say, Illinois? Like, what does it matter with you?00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:23.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:29.000Stuart Winchester: It is so unique, because you get up there, and it's about 500 vertical feet.00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:45.000Stuart Winchester: and you ski down to the freaking Mississippi River. It is… there is nothing else like that in American skiing. It is such a gorgeous view, and there's a train that goes by, and, and, and… the lift system is fantastic. Bunch of, you know, really maintained quads.00:46:45.000 --> 00:47:00.000Stuart Winchester: They have bars, which I like, which most Midwest ski areas don't, but they've retrofit them. Their grooming is phenomenal. Terrain's really good, steep and varied, and then one of the best things is on the backside, and the name of this probably is escaping me, it's like the backyard or something.00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:48.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah. Okay.00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:00.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, far side.00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:15.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, yeah, so they have a terrain park that could be its own ski area, and it has a lift by itself, and so all the badly behaved teenagers go over there and throw cans around and smoke. Maybe it was just the day I was there.00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:20.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, but, but my number five is Chestnut, Illinois. Uh, number four, Matthew.00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:37.000Matthew Zabransky: This is gonna be. This is gonna be a deep cut here, and I'll give you my reasoning. So I'm a sucker for community rope toe ski places like it. It warms my heart every time every year there's at least one or 2 that I go to every time I show up. It's just the kids are so excited to show me around.00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:25.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:29.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm. Oh, love it.00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:38.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:47:37.000 --> 00:48:00.000Matthew Zabransky: They're so passionate and it really brings me back to why skiing is important and what it really is about, right? We talk about the steeps and all this fun stuff all the time, but like when you go to these places, there's just to see a kid just in jeans or whatever it may be after school ripping down. It's so fun. So one of my favorite, if not my favorite rope to ski area in the entire Midwest is a place called Hickory Hills. It's in Traverse City.00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:00.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:18.000Matthew Zabransky: It's a beautiful setting overlooking the bay, and they have just all ropes and one conveyor, and it's stacked. And it was one of the first ski areas in the Midwest to offer night skiing, which I thought was really, really cool as well. Obviously, not a lot of vertical, maybe 200 feet of vertical, depending on which rope you're going on, but it's one of those places you just show up.00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:12.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:30.000Matthew Zabransky: And they've reinvested, as recently as 2018, they built a new lodge, new snowmaking, and you just show up there, and you're just like, it brings you back to that, like, oh yeah, this is some good skiing, like, just…00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:37.000Matthew Zabransky: fundamental, good stuff, you see kids ripping around after school, it's like, it's what I think of when I think of, uh, rope tow places.00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:42.000Stuart Winchester: And long live the rope tow. I mean, it is amazing that I think they run five or six there, right?00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:46.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I think they have six total, I believe, yeah.00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I've been there in the summer. I've never skied there. I used to ski at Sugarloaf down the… down the road till that went out of business. My number 4 is one you already mentioned, Matthew. Whitecap, Wisconsin. I just love this crazy ski area. It is…00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:51.000Matthew Zabransky: Yo.00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:04.000Stuart Winchester: I like to be confused when I'm skiing. I like it when a ski area…00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:22.000Stuart Winchester: Kind of hides its secrets and has lots of little trails and the trail map doesn't quite match up with the, with what you actually see. And, and there's lifts all over the place and there's little pockets and there's, you can tell that they don't care if you ski in the trees. And, and, and Whitecap is, is one of the most confusing ski areas I've, I've ever been to and I love.00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:23.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:40.000Stuart Winchester: it's in the great snow pocket off of Lake Superior, gets 200 or more inches of snow average per year, which is a good thing, because they don't have a lot of snowmaking, uh, there. But I really, really love Whitecap, and by the way, we did not share ours before, so we may have some crossover here. So, uh, what's your number 3, Matthew?00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:39.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:55.000Matthew Zabransky: Number three, I am going with a ski area that I think people around here would know, but I think people on the other side of the lake would not. And it is going to be Welch Village. Welch Village is an area that just, you look at the numbers, you read the stats, and you're like, this place…00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:51.000Stuart Winchester: Mmm.00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:15.000Matthew Zabransky: cannot be that good. But it really is. It skis so much bigger than the stats suggest. I think it's about 300 feet of vertical. They have like 50 something runs. But I think what Welch Village has that a lot of skiers don't is the amount of terrain variation and stepping that they have is just phenomenal for beginners, and the fact that it's only about 40 minutes from the Twin Cities.00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:31.000Matthew Zabransky: is amazing. So they have basically a run for every progression. If you want super steep, now obviously it's only 300 feet of vertical, so it's gonna be a handful of turns, but they have that. If you want something very, very gently sloped, they got that, and basically everything in between. And it's just one of those areas that is a perfect.00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:24.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:50:31.000 --> 00:50:41.000Matthew Zabransky: Kind of like just outside the urban reach, right? It's not like in your backyard, but it's close enough where you can easily go for a few hours and just a perfect place to learn how to ski and snowboard.00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I love Welch Village. I was super impressed when I went there a few years ago, and it's not too far from Vail's Afton Alps, so you can do both in a day easily if you want to, but Welch Village, first-rate operation, absolutely one of the best in the Midwest. My number three is a nostalgia play, and I'm gonna say Boyne Mount.00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:44.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:50:57.000 --> 00:51:13.000Stuart Winchester: The reason I love Boyne Mountain is not because of the fast lift, so they were the first six-pack in North America, and, you know, they put in the first eight-pack in the Midwest, and there's a lot of history there. The first chairlift in the world is there. They moved it from Sun Valley.00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:23.000Stuart Winchester: the single chair from Sun Valley back in the… in the 40s, and it's now the Hemlock double chair. But what I love Boyne Mountain is because when I… back in the 90s, when I lived in Michigan.00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:30.000Stuart Winchester: they would stay open into May. And back then, there was no social media, so no one knew about it, so I'd show up, and there would be…00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:26.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:47.000Stuart Winchester: not kidding, 10 people skiing, and they would be running that six-pack all day, and they would let it bump up, and just run idiots to light, and it's where I learned how to ski moguls, and I've always just been tremendously fond of Boyne for that reason. So while it is one of the nicest ski areas in the Midwest, just on its own terms.00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:51:47.000 --> 00:52:02.000Stuart Winchester: It's also very steep. It's just, I have that feeling of, you know, that memory of skiing in my t-shirt in May in 1996, you know, down the moguls at Boyne Mountain with five other people, and it was just, it's one of my favorite ski memories ever, and the fact that they.00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:13.000Stuart Winchester: empowered that and did that. When they lost money, there's no way they didn't lose money doing that. It just speaks a lot to the spirit that still animates that company, even though it's a bigger company now.00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:16.000Stuart Winchester: Number two for you, Matthew.00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:31.000Matthew Zabransky: We'll get to this, I'm sure, at the end, but it's cool to see some of that going full circle. I don't want to give too much away. We'll get into that in a second. Number two for me is a pick that I think is going to change a lot this year, specifically because of the new lift alignment, and that's Marquette Mountain.00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:19.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, yeah.00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mmm.00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:50.000Matthew Zabransky: They have phenomenal terrain up there, they get great snow, and the thing that was always just missing was a little bit of polishing around the edges, and I think they're finally getting to that point now with, uh, you know, a lot of snowmaking investments over the last handful of years. This new chair from Dolphin Meyer, uh, triple gonna run up basically the center of the ski area, and I think it's really gonna change the way that this.00:52:50.000 --> 00:53:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, previously, it was divided into kind of two almost separate pods. It kind of had this weird split down the middle. It was kind of hard to navigate. But given that this one's gonna go right up to the center there, you're gonna be able to get full top-to-bottom access a lot more easily, be able to access a lot more of the terrain across the port, the entire, you know, trail map off the front side there.00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:23.000Matthew Zabransky: and I think it's 1 of those that like it. This they have the terrain, and there's not many areas in the Midwest that have the terrain. It's usually the other way where it's like, Yeah, okay, we have. You know the infrastructure. We have the location, but we don't have the steeps, or we don't have the trees, or whatever it may be.00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:16.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:20.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:34.000Matthew Zabransky: It's a Marquette, good city up there in the UP, really the only major city in the UP, but they have a good demographic up there. And I think with the changes that they're gonna see this year with the new lift, it's gonna be really fun to watch.00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:44.000Stuart Winchester: Not only do they have the terrain, they have the snow. I mean, they're another one of those Lake Superior. They don't get quite as much as up in the Keweenaw or Snow River, but they do get a fair amount.00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:38.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, yeah.00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:45.000Matthew Zabransky: They do.00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:54.000Stuart Winchester: So my number two, I'm kind of going chalk on these last two, so you can probably guess what my number one is. My number two is a very obvious one, and that's Lutzen.00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:56.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:10.000Stuart Winchester: You know, for, for folks who have never been to Lutzen, it, first of all, it has a gondola. Now, now it's more of a transit lift. It goes more sideways than up and down, but it does have, is it eight or 900 feet of vertical? I think 800 and, or you could ski down to, yeah, of lift served vertical. And the.00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:07.000Matthew Zabransky: It's… yeah.00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:26.000Stuart Winchester: enormous. It's really four separate mountains and it goes in all different directions and they have two six packs and they have that Gandhi, which is fairly new. I think within the last 10 years, they built that to replace their older one. Uh That is one of the best run ski areas in the Midwest. Another one that will stay open into May.00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:42.000Stuart Winchester: when they can. Oh, and speaking of views, I mean, the view off of Moose Mountain of Lake Superior just knock you on your ass. It is so good. I really love Lutzen Mountain, which takes us, Matthew, to your number one ski area in the Midwest.00:54:42.000 --> 00:55:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Man, man, this is one, and it's funny ‘cause I'm working on this video right now, and it's a place that every time I leave this ski area or while I'm at this gear, I just have a smile on my face the entire time. It has nothing flashy, but they do everything right, and that's nub knob. I mean, you go to this place and you just…00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:44.000Stuart Winchester: Favorite ski area.00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:00.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:17.000Matthew Zabransky: It's just crazy to me that we were working on this video and my editor, Nick, we got to the end of the video and I mentioned like, “Oh, it doesn't have any high-speed lifts, but it almost feels like it does just because of the way that they're aligned and the way the traffic flows and the way that the runs are cut and everything.00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:34.000Matthew Zabransky: It feels like another one that just, you read the stats and you're like, okay, that sounds decent. But then you get on site and you're just like, this is just a really well run ski area. Snowmaking is always top notch. Grooming is amazing. Lifts spin, they don't stop very often. I mean, everything is just really well polished.00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:33.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:45.000Matthew Zabransky: the core skiing experience, and they really nail it, and again, it's one of those, like, every time I come off the hill there, I'm just like, man, that was a great day of skiing, even if, you know, it's raining outside, I feel like.00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:44.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:55:45.000 --> 00:56:01.000Stuart Winchester: And as a… just to underscore how good of a scary it is, it's right across the street from Boyne Highlands, and it has been, you know, obviously its whole time, but for a scary to succeed, a lot of times, a smaller scary will fail next to a big corporate area, but Nubs has managed to flourish. Matthew, we actually had no crossover, because.00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:47.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:51.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:16.000Stuart Winchester: as you can probably guess, is Mount Bohemia, and I'm sure that's probably why you left it off. Uh, Mount Bohemia, for the folks who are not familiar with it, I wrote an article last year, I called it, Mount Bohemia, the scarier the Midwest deserves, because when Mount Bohemia opened in 2000, it.00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:03.000Matthew Zabransky: Hey.00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:31.000Stuart Winchester: And it has 900 feet of vertical. They do not groom. They have no snowmaking. They get 300 inches annually. It's all, almost all, glades. Their glading is some of the best I've ever seen anywhere, because there's a lot of underbrush in Michigan.00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:22.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:48.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, the place is an absolute riot. Talk about culture. You get on the ground and you're like, oh, what's here? They don't even have a proper base lodge. It's, it's all these yurts and then they have this giant complex of hot tubs for some reason that, that everyone's always in there drinking beer and.00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:55.000Stuart Winchester: And the skiing is just… it's great! It's… it's… there's nothing else like it anywhere in North America, where there's just…00:56:55.000 --> 00:57:12.000Stuart Winchester: that much just free skiing available off of a lift, and Lonnie, the owner, has been on a couple times, and I cannot say enough good things about Nubs Knob, including… and I'll let people do their own research on this, but their season pass is $117, or $99 for… you don't want Fridays and Saturdays, and you get all kinds of reciprocals with it, so…00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:16.000Stuart Winchester: It's not a bad multi-mountain pass on its own. So…00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:14.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:30.000Matthew Zabransky: I was so. I was so nervous the 1st so I went to Bohemia last year for the 1st time ever, and I it has been on my list forever, and I keep like I want to hit it right, because I don't want to like. Just go there and not be able to ski everything. And the entire time I've been super fortunate to see a lot of amazing places in in North.00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, yeah.00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:49.000Matthew Zabransky: And I was super nervous it was not going to live up to the hype, because I was like, this place is hyped up so much, there is no way that it is going to live up to the hype, and it absolutely did. It's one of the most unique scary areas that you'll ever go to, the operations, the bus system, the hot tub. Nothing makes sense there, but it all does in a weird way. It's an absolute riot.00:57:49.000 --> 00:58:04.000Stuart Winchester: I couldn't have said any better. I always tell people, if you ski one place in the Midwest in your life, make it Mount Bohemia. All right, now, Matthew, what I want you to leave us with today is… I imagine, maybe deliberately, you didn't mention any of these ski areas, but one of the…00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:15.000Stuart Winchester: things that you do an awesome job with every year is covering the race to open in the Midwest. So, so tell us about the race to open. Who's involved?00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.000Stuart Winchester: When it generally takes place and how you cover it.00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:35.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, so the race to open is a pretty big deal across the Midwest. It was something that before I started this website and YouTube channel, I did not really realize a lot, but the Midwest is always usually fighting for one of the first areas to open in the entire country on occasion. It really just depends on the weather.00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:52.000Matthew Zabransky: But what

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and Vancouver Rise chat and interviews. The Vancouver Whitecaps results rollercoaster continues after another week of ups and downs. A good win against LA Galaxy was cancelled out by another disappointing home loss to Austin. We pick over the bones of both matches, but three points from a possible nine at home this month is not champions material. We also round-up the weekend's MLS action, look at the race for the Supporters Shield, and look ahead to the Canadian Championship clash in Montreal. Turning our attention to the women's game, Vancouver Rise sacked their head coach Anja Heiner-Møller just 296 days after winning the inaugural Northern Super League title with the club. The right decision or just another example of what have you done for me lately in modern football? Time will obviously tell, but she very much deserved to be given a chance to see out the season. We chat about the decision, where it leaves the club, and hear from the Rise's Chief Soccer Officer Robyn Gayle and interim head coach Iain Darbyshire. Music-wise, Scottish band Lung Leg continue their residency as our Artists of the Month, Meat Whiplash feature as our C86 era song, and Amy MacDonald has a song about the Old Firm in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.30: Intro - ta-ra Trionda, holding out for a Hero(clix) 12.35: Whitecaps comfortably beat LA Galaxy in the week's good news 36.25: Whitecaps drop more points at home in Austin loss 69.20: The Gaffers - Jesper Sorensen and Davy Arnaud 82.05: MLS round-up 98.35: Canadian Championship preview 107.10: Canadian U20s at the World Cup and the development quandary 114.15: Anja Heiner-Møller sacked by Vancouver Rise 148.35: Winnipeg gets a new soccer stadium 152.20: Wavelength - Amy MacDonald - The Green and the Blue

- SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST: http://cornerofthegalaxy.com/subscribe/  - COG LA GALAXY DISCORD: https://discord.gg/drr9HFZY2P - COG ANTHEM MUSIC BY RAY PLAZA: https://linktr.ee/munditoplaza - COG ANTHEM MUSIC DOWNLOAD: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3asiasldwKyoCRm1Vzx2h7?si=_LmXI9otT9y9j0ChMGMt2w COG STUDIOS, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy made a choice in Vancouver. Faced with a midweek road game on turf against the Western Conference leaders — and another match just three days later — LA rotated several important pieces out of the starting lineup. Sergi Roberto, Marco Reus and Eric Thommy were among those protected, and the result was a 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Was it the right gamble? That's the question hanging over Saturday night's matchup with the Seattle Sounders. Vancouver was simply better. The Whitecaps played with more intensity, pressured the Galaxy into mistakes, and punished the little details LA failed to execute. A quick throw helped create the opening goal, a turnover contributed to another, and Vancouver never really allowed the Galaxy to establish control. The performance also revived a familiar concern: why does this Galaxy team continue to struggle matching its opponent's intensity at the beginning of games and coming out of halftime? Josh and Eric debate how much belongs to the players, how much belongs to Greg Vanney, and whether recurring fundamental mistakes inevitably bring the conversation back to coaching. One player who continues to escape criticism is JT Marcinkowski. Somehow, in a game the Galaxy lost by three goals, their goalkeeper was still arguably their best player. Marcinkowski made six saves and continued a remarkable season that has Josh arguing he deserves serious recognition among the league's top goalkeepers. There are bigger questions developing further up the field. Kyogo Furuhashi still can't find his first Galaxy goal, despite repeatedly getting himself into dangerous positions. Chucky Lozano continues to show the intelligence, movement and ability that made him such an intriguing addition, but the Galaxy are still waiting for everything to click in the final third. And with the season entering its final stretch, the discussion is beginning to shift toward a larger roster question: which players are demonstrating that they're worth occupying the Galaxy's most valuable roster spots going forward? The numbers explain why those questions matter. The Galaxy have now been shut out four times in their last 10 games, and their projected offensive output remains well below what LA produced during its 2024 MLS Cup season. The defense has improved compared with last year, but the offense simply hasn't provided enough support. And yet, remarkably, the playoff door remains open. LA has 29 points through 25 games, exactly where the club stood through 25 games in 2023. Despite Wednesday's loss, the Galaxy remain within touching distance of the playoff line. That makes the games against teams around them far more consequential than losing on the road to first-place Vancouver. Which brings everything back to Seattle. The Sounders arrive in Carson winless in 11 MLS matches, and they're sitting right alongside the Galaxy near the bottom of the Western Conference. These are two teams with remarkably similar statistical profiles, both desperate for points and both running out of opportunities to change their seasons. If the Galaxy's decision in Vancouver was partly about protecting players for Saturday, then Saturday has to justify the gamble. Josh lays out a simple path: LA has five home games remaining. Win those five and the Galaxy would add 15 points, reaching 44 — a total that could put them into the postseason conversation without requiring them to suddenly become an excellent road team. But once LA starts dropping points at home, the math becomes considerably more difficult.

West Michigan broadcaster Dan Hasty joins the podcast after announcing that this is his final season with the Whitecaps. Also, Ben shares some recent Crooked Numbers, and Sam and Tyler give updates on the Minor League postseason picture and top Dodgers prospect Josue De Paula's promotion from Double-A to the Majors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GUEST: Jesper Sørensen, Head Coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joshua and Nathan talk about the Whitecaps loss to St. Louis, win over LA Galaxy, preview Austin, Rise firing Anja Heiner-Moller, Xabi Alonso's chaotic Chelsea, Spurs can't score and more!TIMESTAMPS:0:46- TCFC is partnered with Edgehunters1:50- Whitecaps lose to St. Louis and beat LA Galaxy19:53- Austin and Montreal next23:51- Rise lose last minute to Halifax, Heiner-Moller sacked33:48- Xabi Alonso's chaotic Chelsea39:54- Spurs get a point but still can't score50:31- Man gets non-league club under fire for impersonating manager Edgehunters referral link:https://www.edgehunters.com/?ref=3s9p77pvqk8Click now to match bet and make a profit!Do you or anyone you know own a small business? We'd love to have them sponsor the show! Contact us: Terminalcityfcpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter:@JoshuaRey00@Ndurec@TerminalCityFCBlueSky: @joshuarey.bsky.social @ndurec.bsky.social @terminalcityfc.bsky.social Instagram:@TerminalCityFCPodcastYoutube:TerminalCityFC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and Canadian Premier League chat and interviews. It wasn't quite the week we'd hoped for in Whitecapsland. A midweek draw against Montreal in the Canadian Championship leaves their semi-final with all to play for, while the 'Caps struggled against the in-form St Louis City in MLS action on the way to a 3-1 defeat on Saturday. We pick over the bones of both matches and the main talking points coming out of them. An off day or two, or are some real concerns starting to creep in? And just how can Vancouver get the best out of Thomas Müller, who's been a bit up and down of late? We also hear some postgame thoughts from St Louis head coach Yoann Damet and former Whitecaps forward Simon Becher. Plus we catch up with former Pacific FC and TFC centreback Lukas MacNaughton about St Louis' great run of form, his career journey, the importance of the CPL, and how he made his current teammate, goalkeeper Roman Burki, some money when he moved to MLS! We also round-up the weekend's MLS and CPL action, and music-wise, Scottish band Lung Leg begin their residency as our Artists of the Month, Treehouse Story feature as our C86 era song, and we've a song about how football makes us all feel at times in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.22: Intro - subscriber shoutouts, sponsor news, drinking games, and a grand opening 14.10: Seaman stains 19.15: Cursed jerseys and leaky roofs - how was your Wednesday? 26.10: All to play for in Canadian Championship as 'Caps draw with Montreal 46.30: In-form St Louis grab all the points in Vancouver 68.03: The Thomas Müller conundrum - starter or impact sub? 80.50: Yoann Damet postgame audio and St Louis discussion 91.40: Simon Becher interview 97.10: Lukas MacNaughton interview 111.50: The lie of the land in MLS West as the Galaxy come to town 125.55: CPL round-up as Vancouver FC solidify playoff place 146.23: Wavelength - Cimrya Deal - I Hate/Love Football

Kickin' It with the Whitecaps for Sep 4th, 2026 Guest: Jesper Sørensen, Head Coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is one show where insiders share their secrets in this city. One person that they trust and respect. Opinion, reaction and the highest level of informed sports talk in Montreal. Melnick in the Afternoon, with Mitch Melnick.

Joshua and Nathan talk about the Whitecaps win in Kansas City, draw to Montreal, Modesto and Diaby signing, preview St. Louis and LA Galaxy, Rise getting a big point, Chelsea and Spurs deadline madness and more!TIMESTAMPS:0:45- TCFC is partnered by Edgehunters2:06- Whitecaps win against SKC, draw to CF Montreal15:36- St. Louis and LA Galaxy next21:38- Diaby and Modesto sign30:28- Small update and tidbits on the Whitecaps future33:39- Rise draw to Calgary, Halifax next38:07- CanMNT deadline moves46:11- Chelsea bright Brighton in a thriller, sell Enzo Fernandez, the Lamine Camara and Folarin Balogun fiasco with Monaco and Everton1:00:59- Spurs lose to Newcastle, make some sales1:08:00- UEFA considering criminal charges against Infantino Edgehunters referral link:https://www.edgehunters.com/?ref=3s9p77pvqk8Do you or anyone you know own a small business? We'd love to have them sponsor the show! Contact us: Terminalcityfcpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter:@JoshuaRey00@Ndurec@TerminalCityFCBlueSky: @joshuarey.bsky.social @ndurec.bsky.social @terminalcityfc.bsky.social Instagram:@TerminalCityFCPodcastYoutube:TerminalCityFC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and Canadian Premier League chat. The Whitecaps continue to fly high, extending their lead at the top of the MLS West with a comfortable win in Kansas City. We pick over the main talking points coming out of that one, chat about the great weekend of results elsewhere for the 'Caps, and look ahead to the Canadian Championship semi-final clash with CF Montreal. But the Whitecaps aren't resting on their laurels. With the MLS transfer market closing fast, Vancouver don't seem finished yet with another couple of additions rumoured. But with all these additions, and with how well the team is doing, it does create a little bit of a conundrum in terms of developing their younger players, with the danger of there being a logjam. We chat about a couple of loan deals and could this be helped if the 'Caps actually bought and run a CPL team of their own? We also look at the weekend's CPL action, and music-wise, The Fall wrap up their residency as our Artists of the Month with a final unique cover version, The Avons feature as our C86 era song, and we've a song about Brighton and Hove Albion in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.22: Intro - Save The Caps movement as important as ever 19.18: Whitecaps extend lead at top of MLS West after win in KC 61.47: Whitecaps strive for five continues as Montreal come to town 78.33: Whitecaps not done yet in transfer market 104.00: Canadian players quickly making Spain their home from home 111.15: The Whitecaps player development conundrum - should they buy a CPL team? 145.45: CPL round-up 151.55: Wavelength - The Seagulls - The Goldstone Rap

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and international football chat and interviews. The Whitecaps went back to the top of the MLS West after a five goal demolition of Dallas on Saturday. We dig into the main talking points coming out of the match, look at which teams have done best in the league since coming back from the World Cup break, the big transfer moves from their next opponents Sporting Kansas City, and delve into the horrible rumoured new MLS playoff format coming in 2028. We've a couple of Whitecaps interviews to bring you this episode as we catch up with two of the newest 'Caps, Canadian forward Kwasi Poku and Colombian defender Sebastian Ramirez. We chat with them both about their move to Vancouver, their careers so far, and more. We also talk about the news that UEFA and CONCACAF could be launching a joint Nations League as the fight with Infantino and FIFA continues, while music-wise, The Fall continue their residency as our Artists of the Month with a selection of unique cover versions, Yeah Yeah Noh feature as our C86 era song, and we've a song about Brentford FC in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.22: Intro - thunderstorms, Ted Lasso, Traitors, and tizzies 14.10: Whitecaps destroy Dallas in five star performance 55.23: Eric Quill postgame audio 63.05: SKC busy in transfer market ahead of Whitecaps visit 79.00: MLS West has been nuts since return from World Cup break 86.40: MLS' new playoff plans seem poorly thought out 104.00: Kwasi Poku interview and discussion 118.38: Anyone Fancy A Chocolate Digestive? - Kwasi Poku 121.55: Sebastian Ramirez interview 135.00: Argentina finally punished by FIFA 144.38: New UEFA/CONCACAF Nations League planned 162.10: Wavelength - The Bees Band - Come On You Brentford

Josiah Hartshorn made a bit of South Bend Cubs' history Saturday night, as South Bend came from behind to edge West Michigan 4-3.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Angel Cepeda's walk off single in the bottom of the ninth inning propelled South Bend to a 3-2 win Sunday over West Michigan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cubs win 7-5. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Bend pitching can't seal the deal on Thursday night as West Michigan takes a 5-2 win.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Bend could not produce anything of note offensively Wednesday night, suffering a 9-0 shutout loss to West Michigan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cubs win 5-1See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, Leagues Cup, and Canadian Premier League chat. The Whitecaps' Leagues Cup campaign is over for another year, after three matches that saw them dominate games but unable to get their attack going and keep their defence together. After seven matches without a win since their return from the World Cup break, is there real cause for concern? Will the additions of Serbian midfielder Aleksa Cvetković and Canadian prospect Emrick Fotsing help turn things around and what else is needed? Could Daniel Gazdag be that guy? The Whitecaps lost a legend this past week as NASL winning goalkeeper Phil Parkes sadly passed away. We look at Lofty's career and replay a special interview we did with him seven years ago around the 40th anniversary of that famous championship win. All of this plus we look at the other Whitecaps news of the week, dip into the mailbag, look ahead to this weekend's Cascadia derby in Seattle, and talk about Pacific FC hurtling towards the worst kind of history in the CPL as another BC derby beckons While music-wise, The Fall are our Artists of the Month with a selection of unique cover versions, Episode Four feature as our C86 era song, and we've a song about awaydays in Wavelength from English band The Skinner Brothers. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.23: Intro - Ted Lasso is back, more Traitors talk, wildfire worries 20.00: RIP Phil Parkes 38.56: Leagues Cup exit highlights Whitecaps' flaws 66.35: Mailbag - what's on the minds of Whitecaps fans? A lot! 109.00: Cvetković and Fotsing bolster Whitecaps midfield 136.00: Is Daniel Gazdag the next addition? How would he fit into the 'Caps? 148.53: Pacific FC heading for worst ever CPL season as BC derby next up 160.00: Wavelength - The Skinner Brothers - Awaydays 164.15: Whitecaps look to lift Cascadia Cup in Seattle

Tonight on Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts chats with Taylor Twellman from Apple TV about the state of Seattle and the United States Men's National Team, then Ari Liljenwall talks about the Sounders and his independent media work for Lobbing Scorchers, then Michael McColl discusses the future of the Whitecaps in Vancouver ahead of Sunday's derby at Lumen Field.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Huge and John have more Tigers talk and looking to the future, plus some Lions opinions. Also, and interview with Tigers new prospect placed in High-A West Michigan Kash Mayfield, interviewed by Dan Hasty, voice of the Whitecaps. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LAFC makes the most of their only opportunity, as Son Heung-min scores for the 4th consecutive match in the Black and Gold's 1-1 draw in Vancouver. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, FIFA, and Canadian Premier League chat. The Whitecaps dominated their top of the West clash with a very unadventurous LAFC side, as they returned to BC Place on Saturday, having to settle for a frustrating draw. The point keeps them top of the Conference though and we pick over the main talking points coming out of the match and hear the thoughts of both head coaches, Jesper Sorensen and Marc Dos Santos. We also chat with LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris about the match, the long MLS break, and the new BC Place pitch, which Canadian winger Jacob Shaffelburg talks about the draw and what's next for Canadian soccer. We also hear from Whitecaps CEO and Sporting Director Axel Schuster about the latest on the team's stadium situation and search for a new owner, the departure of Sebastian Berhalter, and new additions to make the team even more competitive than before. Plus we chat about the news that former Vancouver Canucks and Grizzlies owner Arthur Griffiths may be spearheading a group to buy the Whitecaps. All of this plus we talk the eventful week in the world of FIFA, some Leagues Cup, a little bit of CPL, while music-wise, The Fall return as Artists of the Month with a selection of unique cover versions, Razorcuts feature as our C86 era song, and we've an against modern football song in Wavelength from Belgian streetpunk band The Agitators. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.22: Intro - a walking black pudding 07.00: Whitecaps dominate but can only draw with LAFC 43.50: Leagues Cup provides opportunities for 'Caps 64.00: Hugo Lloris on LAFC draw and the new BC Place pitch 76.40: Jacob Shaffelburg on Whitecaps game and the next step for Canadian soccer 83.25: More new Whitecaps signings imminent as Poku arrives 111.10: Axel Schuster on the latest on the Whitecaps stadium situation and ownership 121.34: Former Canucks owner leading bid to buy 'Caps? 138.00: Are Infantino's days at FIFA hopefully coming to an end? 160.42: Wavelength - The Agitators - No To The Merger 167.23: Goodbyes and a little bit of CPL chat

Plus, FIFA Scraps Plan To Sell World Cup Stakes After Backlash (8:25) Ben Steiner, Soccer Writer for Sports Illustrated Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest on B.C. wildfires (0:38) Grace Ke, Global B.C. Reporter Canucks' Britannia practice facility: Who wins, who loses? (9:14) Craig Ollenberger, Co-Chair of the Planning and Development Committee, and a Board Director at the Britannia Community Services Centre Box office booms with Spider-Man and The Odyssey: Are movies back? (21:23) Rick Forchuk, TV Week Magazine columnist and CKNW contributor Could the Whitecaps be saved by a former Canucks owner? (35:11) Plus, FIFA Scraps Plan To Sell World Cup Stakes After Backlash (43:36) Ben Steiner, Soccer Writer for Sports Illustrated Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's already been a big summer in the transfer market for Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC and CF Montréal, but more is expected in the summer window as the three Canadian teams look to take steps forward in the hunt for the MLS Cup Playoffs and, for the Whitecaps, even bigger goals. While the efforts to build out the rosters stand out, so too does the push to find form after the World Cup break, as none of the Canadian teams have been able to secure a full three-point victory in the games since Spain lifted the trophy. Ahead of this weekend's action, Ben, Alex and Dunlop break down where each team stands, and their hopes of a result this weekend. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and Canadian Premier League chat. The Whitecaps finally got back to MLS action this past week with a tough two-game road trip that saw them head home to Vancouver with just a solitary point from games against FC Cincinnati and Minnesota United. We look at the good, the bad, and the ugly coming out of those two matches, with very little in the first category but a lot of concern in the other two. Adding to that concern are more injury woes, no new signings seeming imminent, and the confirmed departed of key midfield piece Sebastian Berhalter to Middlesbrough. We also look at Thomas Müller lighting up the MLS All Star Game activities, MLS discussing much-needed changes to their roster rules and regulations, and round-up the weekend's action in the CPL. All of this plus a little bit more Whitecaps stadium chat, while music-wise, we've three C86 songs for you with tracks from Stitched-back Foot Airman, The Jasmine Minks, and The Chesterfields, and we have another song from a footballer in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.23: Intro - Island time 15.40: Whitecaps take just one point in frustrating two-game road trip 50.50: Whitecaps have big hole to fill as Berhalter sold to Boro 77.09: Whitecaps and Lions both looking to buy BC Place now? 87.45: Thomas Müller shines at MLS All-Star Game shooting challenge 94.35: MLS owners considering big changes to roster rules and regulations 109.15: CPL round-up - Vancouver FC are in the playoff places 124.00: Wavelength - Andy Cole - Outstanding

This week: Keith Baldrey: Victoria just fast-tracked a two billion dollar LNG expansion in Delta, and why is Eby's support cratering? (1:17) Patrick Johnston: Should the Whitecaps just buy BC Place? The province isn't saying no (15:30) Richard Zussman: Mike Bernier is back with a new party called CentreBC. Threat or footnote? (29:34) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Metro Vancouver board votes to shrink board down to 34 (0:51) Dylan Kruger, Delta city councillor Inside The House (9:24) Keith Baldrey, Global B.C. Legislative Bureau Chief Vancouver council cries foreign interference at recent public hearing (23:32) Richard Zussman, Western Canada Vice President of Public Affairs at Burson B.C. is open to selling BC Place to the Whitecaps, Ravi Kahlon (34:46) Patrick Johnston, Sport columnist with the Vancouver sun and Province Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MLS is back and so are we! Adam and Adam return for Part 2 of the 2026 MLS season and this first one is a good one as FC Cincinnati take down the Western Conference leading Whitecaps 4-3 Wednesday night in the West End.Listen up as we recap the performance and talk about what the clubs needs to make a big move up the standings in the second half.@TheKingAdRock73 @NinoOne @sbucks67 @crackityFC @ComeOnYouFCC @fccincinnati @Zuhause513 @MLS #AllForCincy #FCCincy #YAL #WestEndBoys

Throughout our second hour, we were joined in studio by Greg Heeres who is one of our great Baseball insiders. During that time, he and Huge talked about how the tigers have been playing lately, talked about whether the Tigers should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, Greg told us how he can help you with succession planning, and much more. Nate Wangler who is part of the Whitecaps broadcast also joined us to give us his thoughts on the Tigers and the future of Skubal. We were then joined by Matt Shepard who is the host of X's and Bro's. He gave us his opinion on Skubal and the Tigers, gave their thoughts on the Pistons in the off-season, and much more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We were joined by Nate Wangler who is part of the Whitecaps broadcast also joined us to give us his thoughts on the Tigers and the future of Skubal. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on the show, we're talking about the NBA, Detroit Pistons, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. We kicked off the show talking with Scoop Jackson from ESPN Chicago. He and Huge talked about Lebron deciding to go to the Sixers, talked about what that means for the Pistons and the rest of the East, and more. We were then joined by Dan Hasty who is the voice of the West Michigan Whitecaps. He and Huge talked about the Tigers and gave their thoughts on if they should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, and much more. We were then joined by Chris Castellani from the Big Play Detroit podcast. He gave us his opinion on if the Tigers should keep or trade Skubal, and more. Throughout our second hour, we were joined in studio by Greg Heeres who is one of our great Baseball insiders. During that time, he and Huge talked about how the tigers have been playing lately, talked about whether the Tigers should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, Greg told us how he can help you with succession planning, and much more. Nate Wangler who is part of the Whitecaps broadcast also joined us to give us his thoughts on the Tigers and the future of Skubal. We were then joined by Matt Shepard who is the host of X's and Bro's. He gave us his opinion on Skubal and the Tigers, gave their thoughts on the Pistons in the off-season, and much more. In our final hour, we played Bill's earlier conversation with Scoop Jackson in regards to Lebron James deciding to go the the Sixers. We were then joined by John Maakaron from the Detroit Sports Podcast and SI on Lions. He was informed yesterday that his Lions credentials were revoked - so he joined us to fill us in on what happened. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A deep woods camping horror story and terrifying first-person account of a wilderness trip gone wrong. If you love national park missing person stories, true scary stories, and genuinely scary podcasts to sleep to, this anthology horror narration is for you.#scarystories #creepypasta #campinghorrorstories #deepwoods #narration #horror #horrornarrationStory Credit - pentyworth223https://www.patreon.com/cw/Zeldri

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of World Cup, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Major League Soccer chat and interviews. The 23rd FIFA World Cup has come to an end. Years of anticipation and now all we have are memories, a lot of fun ones, along with a lot of stuff we'd really like to forget about the whole thing. We look back at the dramatic and eventful last week of the 2026 tournament, the less than exciting final, and Spain being crowned champions once all the dust had settled. Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen talks to us about the similarities between Spain and the 'Caps, plus our misty eyes look back at the World Cup that was, the highs, the lows, and everything inbetween. Turning our attention to the club game, we've a lot of Whitecaps chat for you too as we talk more about the Whitecaps bid to operate BC Place. Is it feasible? Why do they want to do it? And might it actually be the best thing for the club in the short, medium, and long term? Plus we look at the Whitecaps cancelled game in Chicago, their busy week to come, and Jesper Sorensen and Ryan Gauld share some thoughts on the battle for the MLS West. We also chat with a couple of Whitecaps about their personal World Cup experiences. Does Thomas Müller have a taste for TV analyst and media work now? And how did Andres Cubas find his first World Cup with Paraguay? All of this plus MLS is back. Can they capitalize on the World Cup success and euphoria? They haven't got off to the most auspicious start. We also talk a little CPL and NSL, while music-wise, we've three C86 songs for you with tracks from St Christopher, The Turncoats, and The Band of Holy Joy, and we pay tribute to the late, great Kevin Keegan in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.23: Intro - what day is it? 04.00: Y Viva España - The 2026 World Cup wraps up after a dramatic final week 36.00: The World Cup that was - highs, lows, and overall thoughts 76.35: The Whitecaps look to run BC Place - is it feasible, is it the best option? 99.05: The Whitecaps almost return to MLS action in Chicago! 111.32: Can MLS attract new fans from the World Cup? 126.20: Thomas Müller on his World Cup experience as a TV analyst 132.15: Andres Cubas interview on his first World Cup with Paraguay 141.35: Wavelength - Kevin Keegan - Head Over Heels In Love 149.10: CPL and NSL chat

No Helmet, Deadly Consequences: the VPD's Urgent Scooter Warning  GUEST: Sgt. Adam Donaldson, Media Relations Officer with the Vancouver Police Department The bid is in: Could the Whitecaps run B.C Place? GUEST: Patrick Johnston, Sports columnist for the Vancouver Sun and The Province Next steps: how a car-free Granville Street could work post-World Cup GUEST: Brent Toderian, City planner; Urbanist at TODERIAN UrbanWORKS; formerly chief planner of the city of Vancouver Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of World Cup, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Canadian Championship chat and interviews. The Whitecaps returned to action after 46 days away, defeating Cavalry FC in the Canadian Championship quarter-finals over two legs, including an emotional return to Swangard Stadium. We pick over the bones of those matches and the other three quarter-finals and hear from 'Caps coach Jesper Sorensen ahead of the the busy weeks of matches coming up. We also have a couple of Whitecaps interviews for you as we talk with Rayan Elloumi about his World Cup experience away with Tunisia and getting back on the scoresheet, while we chat with Sam Adekugbe about his World Cup punditry duties, getting ready to get back on the pitch, and the psychological toll this latest injury has been for him. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is in its final stages and it's been a great tournament so far, both on and off the pitch. Well, for the most part. A long list of incidents and questionable decisions have cast doubt over the trust in, and questioned the integrity of, the tournament and they are casting a dark shadow over proceedings. We delve into a series of unfortunate events and look back at how well Vancouver did as a host city. All of this plus we hear from MLS analyst Taylor Twellman about the future of the Whitecaps, Sebastian Berhalter, and where the host countries need to go now to continue to improve the game, we look at the continuing death of sports radio in Vancouver, and music-wise, we've three C86 songs for you with tracks from The Dentists, 14 Iced Bears, and A Riot of Colour, while we have a Mexican World Cup song in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.22: Intro - back to life, back to reality 15.30: The death of Vancouver 'sports' radio 22.35: How Vancouver fared as a World Cup host city 44.10: World Cup controversies erode trust and integrity 80.05: Canadian Championship quarter-final round up 95.30: Whitecaps see off Cavalry charge to set up Montreal semi 110.55: Jesper Sorenson on squad rotation and the busy schedule to come 124.00: Rayan Elloumi interview 134.20: Sam Adekugbe interview 151.15: Taylor Twellman on Sebastian Berhalter's future and the direction of US Soccer 171.20: Wavelength - Grupo Frontera - Un Solo Corazon

We're back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of World Cup, Canadian national team, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Canadian Championship chat and interviews. Canada's World Cup is over and all three hosts are now out of the tournament. A Round of 16 defeat to Morocco saw the hosts tournament come to an end and there's a lot of pride and a lot of questions now coming out of it around what's next and how to continue to grow the game here. We pick over the bones of the Morocco defeat, hear from Alphonso Davies, and Canada Soccer General Secretary Kevin Blue and MLS Commissioner Don Garber chat about the future of football here in Canada and across North America. Turning our attention to the club game, we catch up with Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sorensen and goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka as the team get set to get back into competitive action after six and a half weeks off. How are they feeling, what additions could be coming in, how will they approach the Canadian Championship game, and does this feel like the continuation of a season or starting from scratch? Plus Cavalry's Tommy Wheeldon Jr talks about the Voyageurs Cup match up with the 'Caps. All of this plus music-wise, we've three C86 songs for you with tracks from The Membranes, The June Brides, and The Primitives, while we have an English World Cup song in Wavelength. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.21: Intro - Extra thanks 06.50: All three World Cup hosts are out after Round of 32 19.25: Canada's World Cup is over after Morocco loss 28.50: Alphonso Davies audio and discussion 44.30: Kevin Blue on the future of Canadian Soccer 86.00: Growing the game post World Cup - with audio from Don Garber 112.30: Jesper Soresen interview 133.40: CanChamp preview with Tommy Wheeldon Jr 142.20: Yohei Takaoka interview 148.15: Wavelength - Sonny Green x Death of Guitar Pop - We're Telling 'Em

Recorded live at SocialWest 2026 in Calgary, Jeff Aylen, Vice President of Marketing and Brand for the Vancouver Whitecaps, joins host Lindsay Smith to talk about what it really takes to build a fanbase that sticks around long after the final whistle.Jeff shares how the Whitecaps went from struggling to fill 12,000 seats in 2021 to selling out 50,000-person stadiums in 2024, and why that turnaround had as much to do with a strategic pivot toward relationship building as it did with what was happening on the pitch.He breaks down how the team uses data and performance marketing to amplify emotional moments, how they scenario plan for seasons when the results aren't going their way, what FIFA 2026 means for the long-term growth of soccer in Canada, and why building mini-pitches across BC matters more to the Whitecaps than any single World Cup bump.Because fans aren't acquired. They're built.Edited and produced by the incredible team at Takt.

It's another Coca Thursday, people! Yes, I complain about the Mets again. Yes, I root for BAD teams! But, let's talk about contracts. How do they get negotiated? Where does the price come from? Please fix the latency issue in streaming. If you know anything about this issue, contact me! How do the minor leagues work? Is the major league team instructing them on what they can do with MLB players? MLS vs Vancouver! Are the Whitecaps leaving for Las Vegas? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's another Coca Thursday, people! Yes, I complain about the Mets again. Yes, I root for BAD teams! But, let's talk about contracts. How do they get negotiated? Where does the price come from? Please fix the latency issue in streaming. If you know anything about this issue, contact me! How do the minor leagues work? Is the major league team instructing them on what they can do with MLB players? MLS vs Vancouver! Are the Whitecaps leaving for Las Vegas? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices