Preseason innovation for fans and coaches – Tom Braun, LA Galaxy

This transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean Callanan (00:01.48) Very happy to welcome Tom Braun. He's the President of Business Operations and Chief Operating Officer at the LA Galaxy. Tom, welcome to the podcast.

Tom Braun (00:10.134) Hi Sean, thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

Sean Callanan (00:13.278) Not a problem at all. I always start asking people how they got their start into the world of sports and how they entered the world of sports. And especially in your case, and I'll let you answer it, how did you get your start in the world of sports?

Tom Braun (00:27.416) So my start in sports is, I think, a little bit of a non-traditional way. I think it's a bit more traditional nowadays than it was when I started in sports not too long ago. So bear with me. I'll tell you a little bit about my background and my story. When I graduated college, it seems like many, many years ago, I kind of fell into a similar bucket that a lot of people did. And you didn't really know what you wanted to be when you grew up. And the school I went to, a lot of people ended up working in finance.

When I graduated college, I started working for an investment bank for about six or seven years. And while it was an amazing, amazing experience, I learned a ton. I wasn't passionate about it. And I did it during a really tough time. I did it during the recession, the housing collapse. So I was fortunate enough that during that time, I'd met my then fiance, now my wife, and it was always her passion later on to be in sports.

Coincidentally, she got her dream job. We were living in Washington, D.C. at the time, and she got her dream job in Los Angeles. So we decided on a whim that we were going to pack up my Jeep Wrangler, drive cross-country, end up in Los Angeles, and I was going to pursue a different career. And again, I didn't know exactly what that career was going to be, and she encouraged me to.

sports because it is always her passion to be in sports. She had worked for so many different leagues and teams and it had never dawned on me when I was younger that that sports was a path. So she convinced me that I have a background. I was a baseball player through college, had the opportunity to be drafted by the Oakland A's and it didn't work out for me professionally on the sports side as an athlete. But she convinced me to pursue something on the business side. So knowing that we were in Los Angeles.

and knowing that I was kind of married, I was literally married to Los Angeles at this point, I pursued an MBA at the University of Southern California at USC. And the reason why I chose USC was because there was one professor who ran the sports business practice at USC. And I knew that if I wanted to get my foot in the door at sports, this would be a really good avenue or a real opportunity for me. So fortunately enough, USC accepted me into their business school program.

Tom Braun (02:50.67) And then it became my sole mission to become that professor's best friend with the hope that maybe his huge list of contacts might allow me to break into sports. And fortunately enough, it did. Within the first couple of months of me being in my MBA program, this professor told me about a really cool opportunity. And remind you, I was a VP at an investment bank. And the really cool opportunity he presented to me was an unpaid internship at AEG.

And for those who aren't familiar with AUG, AUG is the parent company to the LA Galaxy. Owners of the LA Kings, owners of Crypto.com Arena, the O2 in London, multiple venues, multiple sports teams, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, many things that people are aware of. So I took the unpaid internship. I sat in a cubicle and I actually paid USC $1,500.

for my one credit to be allowed to take my unpaid internships. I actually paid money for my first job in sports. To make a long story a bit longer, that unpaid internship, which was in analytics, turned into a part-time job in which the company was gracious enough to pay me $10 an hour as a part-timer while I was still getting my MBA. Turned into a full-time job overseeing analytics for the LA Kings and the LA Galaxy, which then turned into a full-time job.

running business operations for the LA Galaxy and then subsequently landed in my president job with the LA Galaxy last year. Yeah. Yeah.

Sean Callanan (04:21.822) So.

Sean Callanan (04:25.704) So I want to stop you there because I love that story and I want to take too many steps forward. But do you think you're saying that having that fight there are a lot of people that are switching lines coming from another path, whether it is a, you know, marital in your case to sort of cause the change or hey, this is where I want to go. Do you think, you know, all of those reps who are putting in on the finance side and looking at businesses and analyzing numbers and, you know, especially in a downturn market, like it's a tougher thing to

work in the finance space. It's easy when it's booming, but I like to find the winners and help businesses turn around. Like do you think you were looking when you started to look into the sports side, how can I apply those skills into the world of sports? Is that sort of some of your process to go? Well, what can I do in sports? Where did my skill set fit?

Tom Braun (05:14.604) Yeah, I think anybody who wants to break into sports, it's how are you differentiating yourself? Sports is such a sought after profession. Everybody has, a lot of people have a passion for sports. Oftentimes people think they want to be in sports, but oftentimes people don't really want to put their chips in the middle of the table, so to speak, and actually go for it. For me, the background in finance was simply that.

my affinity to numbers and turning that into an affinity, in finance, into an affinity for data and analytics. That was my foot in the door. That was my opportunity. Sports teams don't often do very complicated finance. We do budgets, we run budgets. That's not overly complicated, why there's a lot to it. It's very different than the finance world that I was originally in. So for me, it was taking something that I was good at.

I think always going back and getting more education is always a positive thing. How are you differentiating yourself through just learning? And for me, I was thirsty to learn. I was eager to learn about sports. And then after getting your foot in the door, I think anybody who has a foot in the door and given that opportunity, it just becomes, you know, how hard do you want to work for it? And what's it going to take to prove yourself?

Sean Callanan (06:28.446) And like you described there, AEG, because it had, you know, in that initial role had so many different properties. You would have worked with a good friend of mine who's been on the pod a couple of times, LaValley, at AEG, like to learn from people like him that are in the business, but also to learn the different businesses that AEG is a part of would have been a good like, sort of like that accelerated MBA, because you've got multiple properties there.

Tom Braun (06:52.173) Yeah. Yeah. Fun fact, Erna LaValli was my first boss at AEG. So I know Aaron very well. I didn't know he was my pie. That's amazing. Great guy. That's the beauty of AEG. AEG is such a very diverse and big company, but it's also very close at the same time. And we collaborate on so many different things, whether it's sports or music or sponsorship, ticketing.

There's so much overlap in what we do and that's really the foundations I think of what AG is about is how are you collaborating with with your peers who might not actually work directly for the team that you work for but have a similar role but for an adjacent team or business property so that's the very special thing I think about AG and for those you don't know I mentioned a little bit at beginning but AG I think if you've been to a live event in some capacity especially in the States but even globally

the likelihood is you've been to some AEG event in some capacity.

Sean Callanan (07:55.854) Absolutely. Episode 400, had David Jones, he's the CTO for AEG and talking about things like all the technology role at crypto.com arena and the like. yeah, most definitely, there would be every podcast listener that has been to an AEG venue or team in somewhere or another. going from AEG, which is the owner in multiple operations to the Galaxy in that first role, how was that?

you know, a bit of different having the, you know, having soccer in the title, how was it sort of looking at that, that the, you know, the high performance side of, of sports, the sports business.

Tom Braun (08:36.61) Yeah, so my transition was a little easy, right? I was in a dual role between the early Kings, the early Galaxy, and shifting solely into this soccer and for the early Galaxy in our development system. It was a pretty smooth transition. A lot of what I was doing previously transitioned really effectively into the new role. So for us, it's really how are we running an efficient business. And that was my main priority when coming over to the Galaxy. How are we going to take this business that we're running?

to grow it, find ways to grow our revenues and really less, I think the way that you grow revenues is how you connect with your fan base and what meaningful steps are you taking to make sure there's a connection or an affinity between your fans and your team. And we talk about it internally a lot. There's likely nothing more important than wins and losses. People understand that and a team success on the field is

is hugely critical to oftentimes how people feel about the team. However, we do think that there's a deeper layer of it, that fans are connected almost for a deeper meaning than simply fans and losses. And I think when you look at a soccer club, oftentimes that's viewed a little bit differently, especially in the States, but even globally in Europe and other, clubs are built out. It's almost like a member of a club.

people's attachment to soccer teams might be a little bit different than your attachment to an NFL team. And each fan has their own place and have their own passion, but soccer, think, just hits a little bit differently. And our job really is how are you going to connect as a business or as a club with those fans outside of just wins and losses, which are, as I said, hugely important still.

Sean Callanan (10:25.916) And is that being, you're now in the CEO role, that's your current role, is that your, keep focused, putting that fan lens and that fan avidity piece at the center of everything you're doing, whether it's stadium developments or ticketing campaigns or content campaigns?

Tom Braun (10:45.356) Yeah, a huge priority of ours is how are you listening to your fans? What are your fans looking for and how are you entertaining them? We're in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has 12 or so professional sports teams. I'd argue that's more sports teams than any city in the world has, right? We have so many teams. But beyond just having so many teams, we have so much that draws people to Los Angeles from Hollywood to you can go snow skiing or you can go skiing.

in the water, right? You have so many different options, have beach or the mountains. So how are you connecting with people where people have a discretionary amount money that they can spend? And how do you convince them that they want to spend it with you, with the LA Galaxy, or they have a limited time, and how do you want to connect with them if they spend that limited time with you as the LA Galaxy? So it's a top of all of our priorities. the experience that our fans are having, there's a way to connect with them online, but there's a different way to connect with them in the stadium. So…

We've spent a lot of time in the last 12 to 18 months is how are we improving and enhancing our fan experience. So the second that you purchase a ticket, that ticket ends up in your wallet or otherwise you drive down our main driveway, you connect with our parking, you enter the gates, you buy concessions, you watch the game. How are we making you feel so that when you leave the stadium, how do you come, we want you to come back. We want you to experience again. So that's a huge focus and priority to everything we do every single day.

Sean Callanan (12:13.662) And has that been part of the reason that sparked your LA Galaxy fan council and sort of getting that listening, but also from the fans? you've been in analytics previously, you could be looking at reports and making assumptions, but if you're not actually talking to the fans, sometimes it can be a little bit off. Has that been some of the things that you've been trying to learn and implement from the fan council?

Tom Braun (12:37.45) Absolutely. we're actually tonight is our first meeting of our second year of our fan council. We had a huge amount of success with with the first round of it. Hearing what your fans have to say and listening to them and trying to take what they're telling you and put in the practice is critical to what we do. And and a lot of what I do is looking at surveys. It's listening to fans. I also spent a lot of time listening to fan podcasts and hearing from them in different ways of what's important.

How can we make your experience better? think sometimes we're too deep into it and we forget to realize that maybe there's something that we can do that can make a huge impact on an overall fan experience. And now sometimes you can make really big impacts or sometimes you can make a lot of small impacts add up to a big impact. So our job is to listen, take that information and actually have change and show improvement. think you can't just stand still. And I think for a…

A long period of time, we didn't make the necessary improvements that we needed to, or we didn't take the feedback the right way. Now it's a mission of ours. We need to do things differently. And for being, I'd argue the LA Galaxy is the biggest team in Major League Soccer. I'd say we're the biggest team, one of the biggest teams in North America. But we have to continue to reinvent ourselves. And in Los Angeles, like I said, we have 12 professional sports teams. We have to constantly…

outpunch our weight class, so to speak, right? We have to continue to remind people why they want to come do an LA Galaxy game, or as opposed to going to SoFi Stadium, which is a five and a half billion US dollar stadium that happens to be 15 minutes away from here. So we have to perform at a different level to compete in a really difficult market.

Sean Callanan (14:29.47) So one of the things that is hard in sports is change and doing something differently. How do you, I guess, either reset the culture or set the culture to say, oh, we've heard this from the fans or we've heard this from the fans council or the data is saying, we want to either make this small change, which sometimes is just as hard as, oh, we want to make this big change and make this big song and dance about it. How do you go about one, I guess, enabling and empowering your staff to do that, but also, I guess, have some data and science to say, you know,

What's the why behind it?

Tom Braun (15:01.57) Yeah, we really challenge our staff, I think in a really meaningful way. We hire a very diverse staff of people. We take people who come into our staff that maybe have never worked in sports before or maybe work sports adjacent or casually be involved in sports. We want different perspectives and bring that in and kind of rock the boat a little bit. Let's mix things up. And I really think that's the beauty of majorly soccer and MLS is

That's what we're doing as a league is we're challenging the norm in so many different ways that it's it's it's it's creating a league that's Going to be 30 years old when we kick off our season on February 23rd for us a 30 years old for a league that had a lot of challenges for a domestic league not MLS specifically but for the America to create a domestic league was really hard and in fact major league soccer was birthed out of the 1994 World Cup

our league started in 1996 and 30 years later we're moving into our 30th season and in 2026 you have the World Cup coming back to North America. It's really a full circle moment where it's only going to continue to propel soccer and the sport of soccer, the business of soccer forward when the biggest event in the history of the world is going to be happening in our backyard on our soil really soon.

Sean Callanan (16:25.5) I mean, and that was one of the things I wanted to ask you about the opportunity of the World Cup. Obviously, get all the attention will be on the game. And there's that overflow of fans going, I've watched the world's best in a World Cup. How can I get my fill of soccer, football, if you will, if you're talking about the global game? How are you looking to take advantage of that opportunity?

Tom Braun (16:49.634) Yeah, whenever the World Cup comes around, whether it's in the US or elsewhere, you see a huge lift in just the amount of attention on soccer. So we're looking to capitalize it. We have some really cool initiatives planned over the next 12, 18 months that's really going to lean in. But I think it's important that we are on top of our game and kind of hitting this inflection point of making sure that we are the team that's competing at the highest level that we can be going into the World Cup. We have competitors in our league that are 10 minutes down the street.

We have to continue to fight to make sure that we are the team that everyone thinks about when they think about soccer or think about Los Angeles or think about Major League Soccer. So how are we gathering and gaining that attention? We have a lot of really great initiatives we're going to roll out over the next few months that I think is going to be really effective. And we're coming off of a championship in 2024, which we're incredibly proud of. We won our sixth MLS Cup, which is the most successful team in Major League Soccer. And we're not done yet. We're going to be competitive.

again this year and they'll have to compete and hopefully do it again.

Sean Callanan (17:53.63) I did want to ask you about the, I guess, that wins and losses side and that success, you know, on the pitch, one of the keys of sports business success is having your teams and systems ready for that moment and ready to, hey, here's our opportunity. Let's put the foot down and really take advantage of it. What were some of the ways that you and the team were able to take advantage of that on field success?

Tom Braun (18:14.158) Yeah, sometimes people will say, well, if the team's winning, then everything is a lot easier. I would argue that everything becomes a lot more difficult because the attention and the accountability just raises to a different level. We have an incredible staff at the LA Galaxy, a really senior capable staff that just was from the first game of the year until the end was just on point the entire season. Last year, we built a lot of our season off of having big moments and we took some challenges and

If you look back, the LA Galaxy finished in 13th 14th place in our conference in 2023 to go on in 2024 to win the championship. And we challenged ourselves from the beginning. And what we did is we hosted what many people believe to be one of the top teams in the league with Inter Miami as our first game of the season. And David Beckham helped build Major League Soccer, was a part of our team for so many years, and he has an ownership stake in Inter Miami.

And of course, the Lino Messi, which everybody knows, coming to our stadium, the energy and the excitement around the game just took our team to a different level, set us up for the season. We were, we ended up walking away with a tie on a last minute goal by Lino Messi in the 92nd or 93rd minute that tied at 1-1. But I think that moment gave us this belief as a club that, hey, we're on to something here. And we built on it all season. We had an incredible

turn out for a rival game against our opponents, LAFC at the Rose Bowl, where we had, I think, over 70 or 80,000 people at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. And we followed it up with having a really successful run in the playoffs, in which our team scored 18 goals, which is the highest amount of goals that any team has ever scored in the history of the MLS Cup playoffs. And we capped it off by lifting a trophy. So.

Along the way, we had these really monumental moments. We launched this third kit, this third jersey this past year, which was a throwback to our days when we played at the Rose Bowl originally in 1996, that our fans really just loved and fell in love with. So a lot of really great moments that just continue to build on each other and told a great story about the history of the club, but also where the club's heading into the future.

Sean Callanan (20:30.652) And is it, mean, that's one of the keys to success too, is planning though, like having those moments you can plan, because there are moments you can't plan. can't plan what a result will be or, and how a big rivalry matchup is going to be, but you can plan, we are going to be at the Rose Bowl, we are going to be at the third kid and sort of giving, you know, your whole team that cadence to go, these are big moments. They can be manufactured, but if they're done in the right way, they will tap in that identity and that passion point for the fans.

Tom Braun (20:57.996) I think that's a great point. When you run a business, your hope, I think, along the way in a traditional business is we can plan out the next 12 months. We can plan out the next 18 months, three years. The reality in sports is you should plan as much as you can, but you also have to be prepared at every moment that something's going to happen. And I think soccer is unique for that because we play, we don't have a traditional just regular season. We have that. We have other stuff too. We play in other competitions, other tournaments.

There are friendlies. There are things that we do that traditional American sports don't do, but you have to plan for the things you just can't plan for sometimes. So our team is very agile. We take it, we roll with it, and we make the most out of it. But I think it comes down to having a really talented staff. Individuals that are willing to kind of roll with the punches, understand that things are going to change, and plan for the best and pivot when needed.

Sean Callanan (21:56.414) I mean, you were just saying there that the planning pieces sometimes is hard to think outside the box. You know, you've got your schedules, they're fixed, the dates are locked in. So everything gets planned from there. But I want to ask you about the Coachella Valley Invitational as a as a as a tournament and how that came about as you know, something new.

Tom Braun (22:15.082) Yeah, so this is one of my favorite events every year and what it is is it's preseason for Major League Soccer. And the closest thing I can relate it to is spring training for Major League Baseball. But the way it came about was really unique. And in soccer, in MLS, we don't have an organized preseason. And if you live in the States, you know that half the country around this time could be covered in snow or could be really cold.

said, what about Los Angeles? Los Angeles is 75 and sunny every single day. It's a wonderful climate to live in. And so one day a couple of years ago, my ownership called me and they said, hey, we have an idea and we want to host pre-season in Los Angeles. I said, great. We essentially kind of do that every year. And they said, you know, I don't think you're understanding. We want to do it, but we want to do it in Coachella Valley. I said, interesting.

For those who don't know, Coachella Valley is the home of the AED's music festival, the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, the biggest, best music festival in the world. It's amazing. If you haven't been to it before, it's absolutely amazing, the energy that comes from it. there's two weekends every year that Coachella happens. And then there's one weekend after that we call it Stage Coach, which is the country music version of Coachella. But the rest of the year, we're trying to come up with ways to use a thousand acres of grass.

in the desert. The desert at this time is a lot like LA at 75. It's beautiful. And it's just open grass. And if you've been to Los Angeles, you know, grass, quality professional grass in Los Angeles is really hard to come by. A lot of the houses are built on top of each other and it's really congested. So Coachella or Palm Springs is really what people might relate it to. It's a tourist destination. So in that first year,

We decided to go for it. This was 2022, I believe, so we're still kind of in this COVID time. We convinced five to six MLS teams to come sight unseen, trust AEG, trust the LA Galaxy that we were gonna host a preseason event. At this point, because COVID was still going on, we didn't open up the fans. We had some media, but the feedback that we got that first year was this was the best preseason that we've ever had.

Tom Braun (24:40.142) as an MLS club. And this was universal across every team that came. So we thought we were on to something. So the second year, we opened it up and more teams came. I think we ended up with 12 MLS teams the second year. And then we opened up the fans. The response from fans was amazing. And then the third year, which was last year, we opened it up. I think we got somewhere between 14 MLS teams and.

And this year, really great, we opened it up to NWSL, so the Women's Professional League, and the response was amazing. So we're at 18 teams. And this year we're going into our fourth edition of the Coachella Valley Invitational. We're up to over 20 teams. And three weeks, you come, we have scheduled games, but we also have training sessions for the teams throughout these three weeks. it's just this oasis where fans can interact with players that you don't get at a regular game.

because they're just so close. after every game teams come up, they sign autographs, they take pictures. It's just a really magical space and a magical event that we built in. We're continuing to build upon it. So we're excited about it. It's going to kick off here in about on February 1st. It kicks off and it'll go for three weeks.

Sean Callanan (25:55.634) Yeah, it's amazing. There is definitely a trend. I mean, in my part of the world, the NRL has magic ground where all the teams go to one city and play all matches in one round. And the AFL has done the same in Adelaide, calling it gather round, bringing everyone together. It becomes that destination sports product that one in this case, you know, also works for the teams when you see other sports that are trying to figure out and unwind what preseason in doesn't matter where should we put it, but to flip it on its head to sort of say, no, we'll make it an event.

And it is something that fits for football because you you do have friendlies, you do have these other tours that the fans sort of expect and it's not out of the norm. So it must be, it's been a pleasant surprise.

Tom Braun (26:33.198) Yeah, and you mentioned it. There's the fan side of it, but also there's the competitive side of it. And these teams, these GMs, these coaching staff and their players, they want to prepare for the season. This is an important part of ramping up to the season. So they want to know that they're going to a location and that their team is going to be able to train the way they want to. So one of the beauties is we offer each team two exclusive grass fields that is theirs.

They're theirs. They can come and go as they please. And their coaches are set up to be successful. So the competitive side of it oftentimes outrules the business side because you need, if we're not taking care of the teams and they're not enjoying their time at the event, they're not coming back. They're going to do something different. So we have to make sure we're prioritizing and taking care of them in the right way.

Sean Callanan (27:25.534) One of the things I did want to ask you and sort of to time stamp this podcast, it's late January, LA is obviously been impacted by the fires and impacted the community both from a destruction point of view, but a lot of families displaced. I saw the LA team sort of band together and sort of support affected families. What has been, how has that affected you as a organization and also your fan base?

Tom Braun (27:55.67) It's devastating. It's devastating what has happened over the last few weeks in LA and around our community. There are so many people that have been impacted by these wildfires and it's hard to know for those who live outside of Los Angeles what the real impact is, but I can assure you it's devastating and our hearts are breaking for everybody in LA. And really, really thankful and appreciative of all the first responders and everything that they've done over the last few.

weeks to manage a really difficult situation. But for us, we know we have a responsibility. We're the stewards of this game and we need to make sure that we're representing our city and our community in the best way possible. And we mentioned at the beginning, wins and losses are important. However, the way that we're responding to our community oftentimes outpaces even wins and losses. So we have a responsibility to show up for our community that so often shows up.

for us every single day. So we've done a number of things, which we're really proud of, along with AEG and the LA Kings, our sister hockey team. We donated a million dollars to the American Red Cross to help the efforts. And as a group of 12 sports teams in Los Angeles, we pulled together and donated $8 million, which is an incredible amount of money. There's a lot more that's needed, but it's a really great contribution, I think, on our part.

The second thing we've done is we've done a supply drive. So for a couple days last week, we opened up Dignio Sports Park, which is the stadium that the Elegance play. And we had thousands of items donated that we are now taking to various shelters in and around Los Angeles. We also partnered with Fanatics and the other sports teams and we donated over $3 million of merchandise to those families that are in need of clothes.

So we worked with, in this specific case, we worked with the Dodgers and the Lakers and the Kings. And we had, we essentially had a supply drive and we handed out a ton of merchandise, which all of our players have been really supportive and engaged in. We've also found and have been reaching out to various season ticket members and Galaxy fans in different ways. And then the third thing that we're doing is we're visiting local firehouses and community specific outreach efforts to know that we care and that we're here.

Tom Braun (30:15.106) and that we're listening. For a period of time, it was really difficult for us to gather all the information because it was so real time. our team has come together. Our community relations team has really made an impact. But we're not done. I think it's important for us that we continue to keep this momentum and that we're giving back to the community. And we keep this going to know that those that are impacted, this is going to be a long road for them. And we need to make sure that we're.

Sean Callanan (30:42.718) I mean, kudos for that, but also kudos for all of the community relations teams and the outreach teams that obviously a lot of times are unsung in what they do in the community and helping in different ways. both the work they do, but also the logistics that sports are very good at of, hey, we're going to open up our stadium and we're going to make these things happen. That can do attitude that is pretty much across sports. the fact that sports can…

be a, I guess, an avenue and a platform to help that is absolutely vital in the long road ahead.

Tom Braun (31:17.686) Yeah, there's just no better way for a community to reach out. Sports teams have this just different way of connecting with the community, anything else. usually sports teams, people rally behind successes and failures of a sports team and feel some loyalty to a community because of sport. And that's the power. That's the power of sports. we often talk amongst our staff, know, sometimes you'll go to an LA Galaxy game and it'll be zero zero.

But sometimes you go to the LA Galaxy game and you'll see a game winner in the 90th minute, you'll walk away and like something about that in sports and the power of it just makes you feel full. Sometimes it's just simply, I got to go to a game with my son and my son fell in love with it, now I'm in love with it. And like, we understand that. We understand that there's just different people connect with sports in a different way. And it's just, that's the beautiful thing about sports in the community is just the way it connects.

Sean Callanan (32:15.038) Absolutely. And we saw it recently, you know, with the Rams not even playing in LA, you know, the fact that they're stepping on the field representing LA and the ability for that to bring the bring the city together. I mean, that's the that's the opportunity for the galaxy and all LA teams to to represent that LA strong message.

Tom Braun (32:34.734) Yeah, I think that's important part is we all are trying to win games and we banded together as a group of 12 teams to come together and set aside that each team is competing for eyeballs and attention, but we know that this is a higher calling for us is that we need to come together and collaborate in a meaningful way. And that was a really quick, easy thing to do. There was a lot of everybody rolling the same direction right from the beginning.

teams were really cooperative and wanting to contribute collaboratively.

Sean Callanan (33:08.062) So one thing I did want to ask you, guess, just before we wrap up is what excites you about what's ahead for the galaxy in, you know, 2025 and have been looking into the World Cup? What are the things that, you know, get you bouncing out of bed and getting into work with that pep in your step?

Tom Braun (33:24.876) Yeah, I mean, working for a sports team, I think anybody who would drive in the work every day would have a lot of energy and excitement about it. But a lot of it comes back to the community, the way that our fans feel in the moment. I'm really looking forward to that first home game we have against San Diego. So our home opener is on February 23rd. We host San Diego FC. It's their first game as a franchise. They're entering MLS this season. They have some really great players on the team, including a really big Mexican star, Chucky Lozano.

Coming up to Los Angeles, we're ready to compete. We are going to celebrate a championship that day for 2024, but we're also unveiling some really amazing stadium renovations at Dignity Old Sports Park, which this would be the first time that fans have the opportunity to see these renovations. So just really looking forward to that. And then moving into the World Cup, we got to be prepared. Like I said earlier, we're going to have some really great things that we're going to announce shortly about.

our plan around 2026, but just being in the moment and making sure that we're capitalizing the best we can going into such an amazing time for soccer in America and in North America. It's incredible how far our league has come in simply 30 years and how far our sport has come in 30 years. For those who don't often follow the galaxy, we're a, you mentioned it, we're built out club, but we have a very extensive boys academy system. We operate a learning environment here where

where our student athletes can go to school but also compete and play in our academy. We have a second team in Ventura County FC, and we have a first team. have a built out foundation. We are very active and we are a very deep club. And that again is a little bit different than I think a lot of people are familiar with in American sports, but there's just so much to offer at the Galaxy.

Sean Callanan (35:17.022) Absolutely. We were talking about before about those moments you can plan like that, you know, that season opener, you know, the galaxy champions OG, you know, one of the originals, and hey, here's the new upstart. It's like, again, it will start a new rival, you know, it's the ability to start writing a new rivalry and set that up as well as all of the all of the stadium and fan experience upgrades. It's a great way to kick off the season.

Tom Braun (35:42.284) Yeah, it couldn't be better. We're really excited to get it going and yeah, really excited about what the team can do this year.

Sean Callanan (35:49.352) So Tom, I wanna get to the SportsGeek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Tom Braun (35:57.524) It probably was a Houston Astros baseball game. I grew up in Houston. You know, it's either that in the Astrodome, but I also, my very young years, I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and probably went to a Saints game at the Superdome. So probably one of those two things, but man, it's been a while.

Sean Callanan (36:18.939) Definitely. You would have been a lot of different sports event in your time. Do you have a favorite food or a favorite food memory or a go-to food at a sports event?

Tom Braun (36:29.23) I unfortunately eat far too many chicken fingers at sporting events. So I don't know if that's my favorite. That seems to be the most accessible and what I end up consuming the most. But I think some of the best part of going to a sports event is just the different concessions that you can have at any different park. And I think what's really special about sports too is having the culture in your concessions. So.

For us, we have lot of various things that might resonate with people from Los Angeles.

Sean Callanan (37:00.542) Yeah, most definitely. It can be a pro or a con of working in world of sports business. The different amount of concession food you do consume, but it is getting better and better every year, like you said, with those local flavors. What's the first app you open in the morning?

Tom Braun (37:04.91) Thank

Tom Braun (37:16.234) I tried not to. I use my first app is usually my email and I check my email. But like I said, I constantly I'm trying to listen to what fans are saying. So I follow and I'm kind of an Instagram guy. anywhere I can get a good sense of what our fans are saying is important to me.

Sean Callanan (37:40.783) Terrific. Is there someone that you follow, might be an author, might be a colleague or a former colleague or might be someone on social media that the podcast listeners should give a follow on why?

Tom Braun (37:50.24) Other than yourself, I'd say I'm open. I listen to lot of Galaxy podcasts and I listen to a lot of fan podcasts. That's important to me. So not anybody in particular. I try to gather as much information as I possibly can, but there's probably not one singular individual that I probably mean to one another.

Sean Callanan (38:12.478) I mean, I do think that fan podcasts and that fan, you know, that fan creator ecosystem, which has definitely grown over the past, you know, six to eight years, whether they be YouTubers or, you know, doing their own podcasts is giving a different, you know, a different point of view. And it's also, you know, what your fans are consuming. So it sort of does give you that voice of the fans. I think it is really important.

Tom Braun (38:32.876) Yeah, yeah, any place you can consume it. And there's different ways to consume it. You take some of the information, you leave some of the information, but I think the more information you can gather on what people are saying is important. But you also, there's various trends. Sports is constantly evolving, and if you're standing still, you're gonna not evolve. So you gotta keep your finger on the pulse on what are other teams doing and how are they making moves.

Sean Callanan (39:00.446) And then the last one I always ask, and you can answer this both personally and then you can have your LA Galaxy hat on, but what social media platform is your MVP?

Tom Braun (39:09.838) I just use Instagram. I use a lot of Instagram. I'm on LinkedIn. But I rely a lot on my digital team to give me the information about social, which they do a phenomenal job. But I spend a lot of my time patrolling LA Galaxy, various LA Galaxy accounts, and people who connect with the Galaxy.

Sean Callanan (39:32.134) Trudy Tom, thank you very much for coming on the podcast all the best for the season ahead If I always encourage people who've listened to podcasts and got some value Which I definitely have to reach out to the guests and say thank you. What's the best platform for them to do that?

Tom Braun (39:46.476) Yeah, reach out to me on Instagram or LinkedIn. Either one are great. I'm official Tom Braun on Instagram and then just Thomas Braun on LinkedIn. Feel free to reach out. I'd love to hear from you.

Sean Callanan (39:56.444) Well, Trubik, like I said, all the best for the season ahead and hopefully, I mean, you're part of the world and can get to catch a LA Galaxy game sometime.

Tom Braun (40:06.018) Yeah, please do. I'd love to have you. And thanks for having me on the pod.