Breaking the Line: The ECNL Podcast
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Breaking the Line: The ECNL Podcast
Unveiling Soccer's Evolution: A Conversation with Charlie Stillitano | Ep. 98
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Join us in this special episode of Breaking the Line, where we sit down with soccer icon Charlie Stilitano. Charlie takes us on an unforgettable journey, sharing personal stories that highlight his innovative spirit—like pioneering the use of virtual imaging on the field. Don't miss this episode filled with rich memories and behind-the-scenes insights from one of soccer's most respected figures.
Welcome to Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast, where we cover all things ECNL. We have a new season that features Christian Lavers, the president and CEO of the ECNL, their vice president, doug Bracken, and one of their key employees, ashley Willis. With the championships going on, those three took a break. So we went back to the archives and found an interview with Charlie Stilitano that we did at the ECNL AGM and Coaching Symposium back in January.
Speaker 1:Charlie Stilitano, with a storied history in the game. He was busy before the MLS, a key part of the MLS and now a key part of the international game, which the timing is really good when you consider the Copa America just wrapping up in this country. Charlie Stilettano has a fascinating resume and is a fascinating man with great stories and a great sense of humor. A wonderful human being. We visit with Charlie Stilitano on this week's edition of Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast after this message. But I do want to remind you that Christian Doug and Ashley will return in two weeks to recap the ECNL Boys and Girls Championships and answer your questions. If you do have questions, email us at info at the ECNL dot com. I'm Dean Linke and I'll bring you my visit with Charlie Stilitano after this message from an ECNL corporate partner in Nike.
Speaker 2:Nike is a proud sponsor of ECNL girls. Nothing can stop what we can do together to bring positive change to our communities. You can't stop sport because hashtag. You can't stop our voices. Follow Nike on Instagram, facebook and Twitter.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast, as we have visited with every presenter at the 2024 ECNL Coaching Symposium in Las Vegas. It's been the biggest and best coaching symposium for the ECNL, and that includes the biggest and best list of speakers, and I think very much. We may have saved the best for last Somebody that I've known for a long, long time. I broke in in US soccer in 89 and then eventually found my way to the World Cup in MLS, where I would run into one of the most respected men in the game. It's Charlie Stilitano. And Charlie, I'm going to read your bio, but first let me say hello, and what an honor it is to reconnect with you after all these years.
Speaker 3:Dean, you brought a smile to my face. It's great to see you. I have nothing but great memories of us working together and both of us pushing this boulder up a hill that we call soccer, you know.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the memories was the Parmalat Cup early on, well before the World Cup. You know, kind of as an early test, Exactly you ran that whole thing, didn't you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we did, and it was the first time ever that virtual imaging was used on a field. And the next day FIFA freaked out and sent a note none of this is allowed. And we did it with Princeton Video Imaging and it was pretty cool First international broadcast ever. Somebody gave me that the other day. Show me that.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, and that was also my first introduction to Jim Trecker yeah, who I eventually would follow in his footsteps, and that type of thing. How's he doing? Do you have any idea?
Speaker 3:He was in Providence last I talked to him. I've talked to Jim, maybe a couple of years back now. He was doing great, he was retired, doing really well, but I haven't seen him in a couple of years. Covid, we lost touch with some people. Yeah, we did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did Well, and then one other kind of funny little thing. And then I'm going to if you'll bear with me, I want to read your bio and then we're going to get into kind of what you had to say here as one of the key presenters. But you know, the other fascinating thing is I'm imagining you still talk to Sunil a little bit, right, all the time. Okay, awesome, I do as well. And then you know Alan Rothenberg, and so, charlie, I'm the press officer for the US World Cup team.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I had to do was, once a month, go up to Century City Towers, right, right. So I go up there and I see Sunil, and I see Alan and Marla and Scott, and you know they're asking me for a report and this is what's going on and this is good and these are the players that we should profile and everything else. And I see this little black-haired girl with dark eyes, you know, right in my wheelhouse, and I'm like Sunil, who is that? And he's like you know, it was Leah Paval, right. And he's like you know, don't you worry about it, because you got no chance, you, son, you got no chance. And so every New Year's Eve I was married on new year's eve. Senile was kind enough to come to my wedding with bill nuttle, who was my gm great guys and so, charlie, new year's eve, right when I wake up, first text senile galati.
Speaker 1:I got no chance first one I said and he'll always have a crazy barb, an interesting barb. You know you're married up, you hit an inside pitch. You know that you normally wouldn't hit. You know I. He's still talking shit. Yeah, 29 years later by the way.
Speaker 3:She is an incredible person, really beautiful, really smart. And, dean, I knew you'd get her, I had no problem with that.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate that. So Charlie Silitano, quite frankly, a legend of the game. He's the chairman for Serie A USA, working to strengthen the league's expansion in the US through new commercial opportunities like regional deals with clubs and leagues, friendlies and fan events some of the biggest games played in the US. Charlie's been around. In 2017, charlie was named to ESPN FC's Top 50 and the score's Top 25 Most Influential People in World Soccer. Charlie is regarded as one of the most experienced and well-connected Americans in the global game. He has built strong relationships and friendships with the most powerful people in the sport for over 30 years. In 2013, charlie co-founded Relevant Sports Group and helped create the preeminent preseason tournament for European soccer, the International Champions Cup. The tournament spans multiple continents each summer and fields the premier European soccer clubs in the world. Charlie is also a board member of Street Soccer USA and co-hosts the Football Show, which is why he's such a natural on this podcast, a pioneering radio talk show every weekday morning from 7 am to 9 am on Sirius XM FC, channel 157. Prior to Relevant, charlie held several leadership positions in the soccer business, including the venue executive director for the 94 World Cup in New York, new Jersey. The general manager of the New York New Jersey Metro Stars, one of the flagship teams right One of the first 10, indeed of Major League Soccer, and vice chairman and board member of the US Soccer Foundation. Charlie also served as founder, president and CEO of Champions World LLC from 2000 to 2006, and he worked with the Creative Artist Agency from 2007 to 2012 as a senior executive in the soccer business division, which he helped launch.
Speaker 1:Charlie graduated in 1981 from Princeton University, where he was an All-American and captain of the men's varsity soccer team. He earned a law degree in 87 from Rutgers University School of Law. In 2020, he was awarded the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Alumni Association the Letter in Life Award. This recognition honors those who, in gaining distinction for themselves, have also brought honor to the school. Charlie's network and experience make him one of the most connected, respected and influential figures in international soccer and, dare I say, I was honored with the hug that I received from Charlie Stilitano right when he walked in, after years of knowing that you were there but not being able to see you. So thanks for that. Hug meant the world to me, charlie.
Speaker 3:It went the world to me too. Dean, it's just great to see you bring back so many wonderful memories and, unlike Sunil, I realize what a class guy you are. I want it on the record that I knew all along you could get Leah without a problem.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm thinking, charlie, you were there for the press conference when we had Jorge Campos and Tab Ramos, because that was in New York, and I definitely feel like you're at the Palladium when we had Roger Twybell emcee and unveiled all that. You remember those days.
Speaker 3:Sure, I was. You know, mark Abbott always likes to point out that he was the first one, the first employee of Major League Soccer, but I think it's fair to say I was the first employee of a team in Major League Soccer.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Because I started working for the Metro Stars on October 15, 1994. Yes, and so that's got to be the first employee of a team. It's got to be. So, um, mark, all I could say is mark is very mean to me. I told him this too when I saw him and he laughed like crazy because he goes, you know. But I I felt like you were cheating me a few years. I said no, you were with the league, I got it, I got it, you founded it.
Speaker 1:I had nothing to do with it yeah, well, mark's office was right near where I was, in the century city towers, so I got to know him well. I always used to watch him sneak out to go watch an afternoon movie, by the way, really, oh yeah, we were starting that man like he definitely knew when to go watch the movie. And then, of course, you had ivan gazitas and randy bernstein and kathy carter. You know a lot of people, great people.
Speaker 3:Great people that did an amazing job. And, yeah, some people I've lost touch with, some I still see, and no, but just an incredible collection of people that came together for that World Cup 94. And I think people don't realize none of us knew what the hell we were doing. I mean it was new to all of us, right. Think people don't realize none of us knew what the hell we were doing. I mean it was new to all of us, right? And so you know, yeah, I think I'd like to believe we had good, smart, you know, hard working people, but it could have gone wrong and it turned out pretty well.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, look, I was talking the other day, so I went to Colorado, so the last team name was Colorado and Charlie. The only reason I went was because they told me I could call the games and that's all I really wanted to do. They actually kind of wanted me to be the GM, which I wasn't ready for, but we hired a GM that didn't know what he was doing. We hired a coach that didn't know what he was doing, so that first year was a mess, right. And then we got Mooch, and Mooch took us all the way to the MLS Cup. So we went from worst to almost. First we got Dan Counts, who was pretty good as well. So, forgetting that, first year was a disaster. But for us, I don't know what it was like for you If we didn't have the Village people, right. Or the Monkees who I think Davey Jones is dead now, right. Or Los Tigres de Notra, the big, famous Mexican band. We had nobody at Mile High Stadium watching our team. And now look at it today, man.
Speaker 3:It's incredible. It's incredible. You know, we were always blessed in New York and New Jersey because we had, we had. The Cosmos were there first.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so when we brought over Eddie Fermani, tony Miola, tab Ramos and Roberto Donadoni, people thought, oh, it's the Cosmos again. And, like I was saying earlier, we sold 10,000 season tickets. Imagine that in those days and four of the games were games we threw in as extra games like internationals or friendlies, so we sold a lot of tickets, yeah, and the stadiums were filled, especially in the beginning, I think the first oh, my goodness and I remember talking to Kevin Payne rest his soul about this that we were one of the teams that when we played on a weekend we couldn't always get it. We averaged over 35,000 people a weekend. It wasn't more people like Tab and Tonyony and roberto respectfully.
Speaker 3:There was a lot of good young kids that came along, but they were still learning. We had a lot of challenges the first couple years and the fans sort of then went away, right, uh. But the initial boom the first year, I mean it was crazy. I mean I'm still. I remember Gio Savarese scoring a goal the place. I thought it was a World Cup final, for God's sake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we are off and rolling with Charlie Stilitano. It's Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast, taking a break from the new format with Christian Laver's, doug Bracken and Ashley Willis. Those three will be back in two weeks as they recap the ECNL Boys and Girls Championships. The girls are already capped. The boys are going on. Actually, as this podcast airs, when we return, more with Charlie Stilitano, one of the legends of the game here in this country, on Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast.
Speaker 2:Soccercom is proud to partner with the ECNL to support the continued development of soccer in the US at the highest levels. We've been delivering quality soccer equipment and apparel to players, fans and coaches since 1984. Living and breathing the beautiful game ourselves. Our goal at Soccercom is to inspire you to play better, cheer louder and have more fun. Visit Soccercom today to check out our unmatched selection of gear, expert advice and stories of greatness at every level of the game.
Speaker 1:We're here with the great Charlie Silitano, who clearly I guess Jay Howe is the biggest connection. Christian Lavers is the CEO. I've been broadcasting now for a long time. Charlie, I don't know if you knew that, but just finished my 18th year at the Big Ten Network. Have done all their soccer for 18 years, including the first ever game on the Big Ten Network.
Speaker 3:Yeah, congratulations. Thank you, that's pretty cool, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then North Carolina FC and the North Carolina Courage, but you know the ECNL and Christian Labors, who I think is a brilliant person like you, who's got a law degree and like beyond smart, right, like I mean. I take the IQ way down, you know when I walk in the room.
Speaker 1:He's smarter than me too, so don't worry about it and I always apologize for it, but I started doing some stuff for them like three, four years ago Now. They got me traveling around the country calling games and doing it in a unique style, where I'm on the field and I'm talking to the players as they're coming in while I'm calling the game, which is pretty neat and doing this podcast that you're on right now and everything else. My point is, I think the EC&L is amazing. I think they're led by big-time people. All you've got to do is watch the Women's College Cup 75%. Watch the Men's College Cup. See it as well as far as players that are coming out of it. So you clearly, knowing Jay and everything else, see that the EC now is legit.
Speaker 3:Well, it's beyond legit. I mean honestly, you know, it started really the women's part was the girls' part.
Speaker 3:I guess we could say the big yeah it's okay, I have two women now, one's 27 and one's 25. But I remember when they were born someone said congratulations, you're the proud father of two baby women. But you started really on the girl side here and it's grown. I've been so impressed by this organization and really just the level of commitment that the leaders have here. I've been blown away by it and I was delighted, I was honored really. When they said come, we'd like you to talk. I said sure, more than happy to. I'm not bashful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome, so break it down for me. I've been waiting on you to talk here in what they're calling the podcast row. I think we've done 25 interviews and we've talked to every single speaker. So did you have a title for your presentation, Charlie?
Speaker 3:No, I really thought it would be more. You know they had me going last, right, and I've done a lot of these conferences over the years and I find that by the last day, the last guy, if you're having a dry performance or you're looking at slides, you are going to fail, you're going to bomb. And so I do every year. I do Real Madrid University and I make sure I follow the UEFA guy that's talking about coefficients and things like this. So I can, you know, I can get in there and have a little fun with things, and I just wanted to keep it light for that reason. In fact, christian and Jay and a guy said let's break for a drink first. People, can the bar's open, you can have a drink, come back and just relax.
Speaker 1:So cool yeah.
Speaker 3:And so all I really talked about was about my life in football.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And sort of the funny things and funny stories and funny people, great people that I've met along the way. And I mean, you know, it's last night where I was with the guys here, with Christian and with Doug and with Jay, and we're chatting and Jay knows me, but the other guys don't know me, and so they're like tell us some stories.
Speaker 3:Right so we're literally just shooting the shit for like two hours last night and this morning. You know, I get up, I'm thinking man, oh man, we have like like I don't know where to begin Like we have so many freaking stories that you know just the World Cup alone, yeah, I have 20, 30, like really funny, touching stories right, of course you do, yeah, and then the Metro Stars and then you know the Champions World.
Speaker 3:I mean, we have so many, I'm so blessed, and so I tried to focus on a couple big moments. You know starting. You know the Metro Stars bringing out how. You know, chris Unger, jay Berhalter and myself came up with the name MetroStars, and another friend of mine, paul Campano, and telling a cute story how my neighbor across the street went. You know, you're sure, from that world there was newspapers. Remember newspapers? I delivered the Toledo.
Speaker 1:Blade for like 10 years.
Speaker 3:The Elizabeth Daily Journal. You know what I mean, so you know, and so I was just telling the stories about these little moments that we have and how different things are now and what we were dealing with back then. So it was a lot of fun. And then we got into the personalities that I've come across, the personalities like Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson and I'm blessed that these guys are all dear friends.
Speaker 3:You know it's. It's every time I go to the point where either I'm I'm eating dinner with them, or I'm cooking them dinner, or we're together. They're cooking me dinner and we're like. You know, this isn't, it's no longer work for me Right. So if I go to see someone in Europe, I'm at his house all day.
Speaker 3:You know, you know, and so it's a different, it's just taking on a different part of my life and it's really, really it's just rewarding, it's fun and I told some good stories, you know we got some Well and Charlie.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, you know you can't hide money, so that's part of the reason why you're hanging with those guys.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I wish you know one of the things that is so funny in life. My daughter said to me we're coming back from being with Jimmy Pallotta up in Boston and Jimmy's a billionaire, you know and my kids at this point they're probably, you know, two years apart. They're probably like 20 and 18, maybe right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And we're coming back from you know, being up in Boston, seeing Jimmy, having dinner with him at his house and stuff, and my daughter turns to me, completely serious, and she just goes hey Dad, how come we're not rich?
Speaker 1:And I said You've done all right, my man no.
Speaker 3:And I said you know, it's funny because I really feel rich.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right, I really feel like what a great, wonderful life I've had you know and I'm going to keep going. But you know, her thing was, you know, you know all these like I mean, like not just a little bit rich dad, like billionaire rich.
Speaker 2:So I find it kind of funny that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, because even before that you were hanging out with Lamar Hunt and Robert Kraft and all those guys. They're billionaire rich too, right? Yeah, they're all billionaire rich.
Speaker 3:I worked for Steve Ross, the Miami Dolphins owner, for 10 years. You know it's like you hang around with these people. They've been extraordinarily kind to me. I couldn't say a bad word about any of them, but it is kind of funny, it's they're different than we are, Right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:It's like I explain to people, like a good example is professional athletes. Right, you had Drew Brees today, and it's not that they're not great people or nice people or kind people, but you know they're different. They've been treated a certain way since they're little kids. Right, you know they've been groomed for this. I mean, you're talking big time professional athletes, right. And it's different than you know, like what you and I, how we've grown up. Yeah, yeah, it's not that they're different in a bad way, they're just different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'd explain to people like you know, you meet people like Roberto Donadoni or Paolo Maldini or Lothar Matthäus and you're like don't you understand? Since they were four years old, people were saying you're going to be great, right. You know and sit over here, let me give you your clothes. Every day, you get the clothes you're going to wear. You know, think about it, for a second.
Speaker 3:You know you're with the national team. You go up on the board. What are you going to wear today? And this is every day of their life until, all of a sudden, they're 35 and retired and going.
Speaker 1:I got to get my own clothes today. Yeah, yeah, that's so well said and some of them can't totally figure it out. Most of them can, but some of them can't.
Speaker 3:No, it's very true. I mean, I think they're blessed in a bit of a way because at least they make a lot of money now and if you're just a little bit careful, you know you make so much money. You can save money and not you know and not be you know in a difficult situation when you're done. But you know, I remember Giorgio Canalia and I talked about him today with like one of my dearest friends and he said that was the hardest thing that he had to deal with. And now he was Captain Alatio in Rome, handsome guy you can imagine. I don't got to tell you he wasn't hurting for attention. Then he comes here with the New York Cosmos and he's with Pele and Beckenbauer and everything else. And think about when we would go out to dinner, the New York Cosmos and he's with Pele and Beckenbauer and everything else. And you know, think about when we would go out to dinner. Every restaurant knew who Giorgio was.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Giorgio was bigger than life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right, he was like Clyde Frazier. He was, like you know, one of these guys, joe Namath, in New York area during that time. I know it's hard to sort of fathom, but he really was that big. And you know, as we got older and he passed now. But as we got older it was strange because the demographics in New York changed and suddenly the Italian restaurant wouldn't have Italian waiters. They were from Ecuador or from Peru or someplace. Wonderful that they were there, just wonderful workers. But they don't know who Giorgio is. Right, they never saw the cosmos right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so that's a hard thing when it hits you you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I saw it firsthand with George, how it affected him, you know. And the irony is, most of these guys were like please leave me alone, I'm too busy, I'm too famous. And then when the fame fleets it's, it's a tough one to handle, I think oh, so well said.
Speaker 1:and charlie stilettano has more great stories to tell, including his path after leaving the metro stars of major league soccer as he pushed on and got involved in the international game at an even bigger level. We'll let Charlie pick it up there when we return to this special edition of Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast, reminding you that in two weeks the new format will return with Christian Laver's, doug Bracken and Ashley Willis as they break down the recent ECNL Boys and Girls National Championships. It's Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast with Charlie Stilitano, and we'll have more Charlie after this message.
Speaker 2:From athletes just starting to turn heads to some of the best athletes to ever play their games, Gatorade shows that they are the proven fuel of the best. For the athletes who give everything, nothing beats Gatorade, the studied, tested and proven fuel of the ECNL.
Speaker 1:So remind me, charlie. You're rolling along in MLS and then you leave, but then you become this. You always were. I mean God. You were because you did the Parmalat Cup before no no, parmalat Cup was 95. Oh, it was right. After the World Cup, ok, all right. Incredible, ok, all right. Thanks for reminding me that. Ok, but still before MLS. So you've always been a promoter, so remind me of the cycle. So after MLS, and then you know you got this?
Speaker 3:No, it's. You know. Look, I'm a product of my area growing up right, and so we forget. And I brought this up today. We weren't sure it was going to be successful. The World Cup. I mean, we all hoped but we had no idea. Let's be honest In 92, when we're all taking jobs with MLS excuse me with the World Cup we're like I hope we sell the tickets, I hope we fill the stadium.
Speaker 2:Right, right yeah.
Speaker 3:And there was that God. Everyone would always talk about the Montreal Olympics like this boogeyman. You know, we don't want to be like them, where they lost $250 million and that was unbelievable and it's the end of the world. And we better form a different company away from US soccer so we don't bankrupt US soccer and all these things you don't think about, and so I grew up with ethnic soccer is what drives the sport.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And maybe a little bit like that in LA with the Mexican-American, the Mexican community, right In our area, the Cosmos, the original Steve Ross, I call him, who started Time Warner. He had a theory If he could bring a player from each different ethnic region, he could fill the stadium Because 5,000 people would come see Beckenbauer, 5,000 people would come see Giorgio Italians, germans and Italians Then 5,000 people would see Mniskens Dutch people, you know and he had this thing and he had. You know, he had this incredible team that he put together, but he put it together for a very genius reason. He said if I had to advertise for Time Warner, it would cost me millions and millions of dollars. Instead, I have Pele, I have Beckenbauer, I have Kinalia, I have all these troop of incredible superstars in the world. You know they were invited to China before anyone was invited. You know, right, they were the first team that was invited after Nixon Detente. They were invited to China before anyone was invited you know Right.
Speaker 3:They were the first team that was invited, after Nixon, detente and whatever you know Right, right, that's it, you know, that's right. And so you know, you don't have to pay to get that. He used to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Fill me in with Georgia. So a little bit was like we really need to cater to the ethnic community here and the ethnic community here. And the ethnic community was still Italian, was still a big Italian community, still Western European, german you know, english, irish you know. And so we had that. And what had finally happened? And people don't realize this 94 World Cup. They didn't have Hispanic marketing for Boston or New York, by the way, I don't know the other venues't have Hispanic marketing for Boston or New York, by the way, I don't know the other venues, but no Hispanic marketing. So gelatin, stuff, this was all English, wow. And so this was only 1994. So our focus was and the Colombians were just coming into the New York area, right, and so there really wasn't the big population outside, the big European population. So we thought, you know what, let's start bringing teams here to keep this going. The Parmalat Cup was our test.
Speaker 2:Can this work.
Speaker 3:Can this work. So we brought the US national team Benfica, parma and Boca Juniors. So we brought a South American team. It was my brother's brainchild because they all had Parmalat as sponsors. And so Boca Juniors brought the South American community With Parma you brought the Italian. With Benfica, you brought the Portuguese, so you have this like. So we had 80,000 people in two days.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:And so we said, you know, next year, days, that's right. And so we said, you know, next year we're going to bring Fiorentina, we're going to bring Benfica, we're going to bring the Columbia National Team. One year we played, you know, the Metro Stars, the Columbia National Team. We had the Columbia National Team play the Metro Stars how about that because we wanted to bring these people in to see our product yeah and not sure they would have come in just to see.
Speaker 3:You know, tab and Tony and Dona Doni, bless them, the great, great, great, great players, ambassadors, you name it, but after them you know Miles, joseph, my, I love Miles. Still one of my favorite people in the world. You know, Brian Kelly, different guys, you know.
Speaker 3:I feel like Miles is still playing yeah, but I'm saying wonderful people, they weren't recognized by the ethnic community, right, so you know? So a lot of what drove my sort of thinking in those days was to try to cater to the ethnic community, and that's really where I I started to see this sort of that, even the American kids that were now being developed and becoming fans, where they were starting to be interested in Real Madrid or Roma or this, and that it wasn't just Italians, it wasn't just Spanish people, for example. So when I got fired from MLS, I was like, hmm, now what do I do? And I just decided, you know, I'm going to start a promotion company.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 3:And I just went out and started Champions World and I took a lot of my contacts I made over the years, really starting with World Cup, and you know I befriended managers like Arrigo Saki and, you know, perti Wurz from Germany. Different things. You can go to dinner with these guys, and so now you have to go meet with, you know, the manager of Celtic. But you know that a guy you know knows the manager, so he can call him and you could get in touch with him, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so this developed and I just became a bit of a soccer rat in Europe and I spent my money and time in developing contacts and friendships and earning trust. That's it, Just earning trust, Incredible. And then the media thing. So you it.
Speaker 1:Just earning trust, incredible. And then the media thing. So you still do this radio show, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's almost 18 years, I think now.
Speaker 1:Nah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's crazy. Well, you would know better than me Find out when Sirius started.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And a guy named Scott Greenstein who's still there, and he was the head of entertainment he wanted to get—he loved personalities. Yeah, he and—what's the guy's name with the K Famous radio guy they brought in Howard Stern.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And so the idea was suddenly they were paying Howard Stern $50 million a year because they would tie it to subscriptions, and he had an idea that I'll get all the celebrities, so Sirius, and in fact they're in Rockefeller Center, which is a bizarre thing. You know the radio business. It's not like they have money to throw around.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:But he said if I'm in New York, mick Jagger will come here, or you know, roger Daltrey will come here, or you know I'll get every famous person to come through here, whether it's Reggie Jackson or whatever. Come and do a radio show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so he came to me and he said there was a guy named Leo Hindry who started Liberty Media and he was really the guy with the Yankee Nets organization and started the yes Network.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And Leo's a brilliant guy and Leo was, you know, he was one of these guys that was really forward thinking, anyway. So a guy who worked for Leo Hendry said he was doing stuff with Sirius and he said why don't we do something with soccer? Soccer's growing here? Yeah and so, uh, european soccer in particular was growing right and we were still a little bit MLS, still sort of struggling along but you had your heartbeat all over that European.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah and so in the end he said, charlie, I want a guy named George, you know Giorgio Canaya, I go. Yeah, I know Giorgio Canaya, he works with me at yeah, I know Giorgio Canaia, he works with me at Champions World. I was like, really, he goes, I want him to do a show with Eric Cantona and, the way I envision it, you can be in between, sort of keeping them going. So my wife lived in France and she took a. She called Eric's agent for me and talked in French. It was his brother, I think, and Eric Conte and I asked for it. You're going to laugh. A million dollars a year to do radio and nothing could be live because he has a reputation and he has to hear everything first, or I have to hear everything first. The agent would say so he wouldn't sound stupid about something.
Speaker 1:How about that?
Speaker 3:So that didn't go over big at all with Scott. We were trying to find Rodney Marsh who's now on the show on the station. Couldn't find him at the time and he said listen, you just do it with Giorgio for a little while.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And so you know I struggled through. Giorgio was a natural, he'd done TV and radio and stuff, but I struggled through and we'd do the Chelsea pregame show, okay, and then we'd get the Chelsea radio feed. Okay, for free yeah. And this was probably 2004 or 2005 we started.
Speaker 1:Unreal.
Speaker 3:And then we started doing the Champions League on Tuesdays and Wednesday nights, and then it grew into a whole station.
Speaker 1:Holy Toledo.
Speaker 3:So we were the first ones, giorgio and myself the first ones.
Speaker 1:And now you see, I think Tony Wright is on it, tony's on it. Eric.
Speaker 3:Wijnaldum no, not Harksey.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Eric's a regular, tony's a regular, brian Dunstead's a regular.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:It's really, it's crazy. It's 24-7. It's the Premier League all MLS games, fa Cup games, champions League games they're all on the station and so a lot of these guys. That Tony's remained a dear friend, tab. I had lunch with him, tab, the other day. You know it's like, yeah, it's really really heartwarming to see he's got all these guys giving back.
Speaker 1:And what if you have to miss a day? What happens? I mean, you can't be there.
Speaker 3:There was three of us, four of us that used to do it the show, and two at a time, and so you'd switch three, four days a week. And now it's a guy named Tom Rennie who is the talk sport myself and Ray Hudson. Okay, wow, and so Ray and I will do it two, three times a week and Tom will do the other days with us, and it's yeah, so it's five days a week. It's actually seven to ten, it's long. You know live radio, you know you're getting up at five and getting ready for the show and you're doing it until 10 o'clock and then I've got to do my day job, you know so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now have you written a book yet. Have you thought about writing a book? I have, you have. Okay, I've thought about writing a book.
Speaker 3:Okay, I have not written it.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And in fact my wife is going to leave me of 31 years because I don't clean out my this whole storage unit I have with all old papers and stuff. And yeah, I just dug up an old MetroStars player handbook.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And it's funny because I was with, you know, like I said, when Kevin Payne went to his memorial service and they were just saying what an incredible person he was and how his vision of his uh, vision of dc united and how it was so amazing and so forward thinking and so brilliant, could not agree more with what they said. Yeah, now, after the memorial service, nelson rodriguez comes to me and he goes do you remember our, you know our vision statement? And I'm like no, I can't remember. It was exactly like Kevin's.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 3:And it was really cool and I was like that's really cool. So I found it the other day and, sure enough, it was, you know, to be one of the great clubs in the world, like Kevin's was. And no, it's nice to feel a little bit like you've done some good things.
Speaker 1:But it's going to take some time to write the book is what you're telling me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got to get to it. I got to get to it, it's time, it's time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm definitely buying it and I love those stories. I've only got a couple more minutes with you, but this has been awesome, charlie. By the way, kevin Payne ostensibly was my first boss.
Speaker 1:I felt bad because Hank was claiming me Right, but you know, I was with Brenda and Keith Walker, believe it or not beforehand yeah sure sure, and then Kevin came in, and then Hank came in, and then Hank ostensibly did become my boss, but Kevin really was my boss beforehand, and he reminds me of that all the time. In fact, I broke his ribs playing basketball at Colorado College, and he also reminds me of that too, you know. So I mean, Charlie, I was sitting in US Soccer when they were bringing in Franz Beckenbauer, as they considered him before Bora.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, yeah, you remember all that Sure, I remember it sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the next thing, Bora was walking through and the biggest thing was Allen Rothenberg beating Werner Fricker.
Speaker 3:You know, I mean that was massive as well. Well, that was big shrimp. And you know, you don't realize that I told Allen this story that you know, my father and his guys were all delegates for a state in New Jersey Amateur Association and in those days in particular, the Amateur Association I don't know what it is like today, but it was the adult associations all ethnically driven. So New York had all italians and you know whatever, and different portuguese and different states and you know whatever, and it was always ethnically driven.
Speaker 3:And uh, they came back after that convention and they said we voted a new guy in alan rothenberg and I said to my dad I go, dad, how do you win? He goes big shrimp. I'm like what he goes. Well, he had these cocktail receptions for people and he had the most luxurious spread and all these guys were used to like you know, ham sandwich. So Alan's like I'm putting shrimp out there. Who knows what else he had out there, big shrimp. And so the guy's like they had big shrimp and they're like, okay, so I must have got their vote that way. So, kind of funny. Werner Fricker was a great man in his own right and yeah, but the step that Allen took was enormous and he shouldn't be ever forgotten as one of the real giants that helped this game grow Him Sunil. Those guys they should never. I know they're not going to be forgotten. There's a place in history for those guys. They're amazing jobs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. I was going to say Sunil, and you said it beforehand and then, real quickly, how did you connect with Jay Howell as we wrap up our time here?
Speaker 3:Jay, we were doing work with. I guess we were at CAA at the time and we were doing work for Chelsea.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And we had this vision. My partner, John Scheinman, a good man, one of my dearest friends, still today. He's at SUM right now. He's at. Sum and he had a wonderful idea on how we could tie Chelsea brand to these clubs Right Big youth, these clubs Right Big youth soccer.
Speaker 1:So that's how you OK.
Speaker 3:And so we stumbled upon Jay. He had his license plate, was Scudetto, so he had me at hello Right, and I was like, ok, this guy's pretty cool. And I got to know him, I got to like him and now I love him. What can I tell you?
Speaker 1:How about that Can I got to know him, I got to like him and now I love him. What can I tell you? How about that? Can you believe? His kid and my kid went to the same middle school together. They were buddies, like. He spent the night at his house. That only happened because Jay didn't know I was his dad. Right, right, right, otherwise he wouldn't have been allowed out of the house. I think he wasn't allowed in the house. Yeah, all right. Charlie Stilitano, this has been awesome. We could probably talk all day long, but let me just thank you for being a part of this uber-successful ECNL Coaches Symposium. Let me thank you for letting us go down memory lane. I can't wait for your next big event that's coming down the road and will continue to come down the road. This has been outstanding.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, dean, you're a living legend.
Speaker 1:This has been great. The main man, charlie Stilettano. That was fun and I actually forgot how much fun that interview was with Charlie Stilettano back at the ECNL coaching symposium in AGM in January of 2024. I do want to remind you that on Wednesday, july 31, we return to the new format of season two, where Christian Labors, the president and CEO of the ECNL, doug Bracken, the vice president, ashley Willis, who's got a big title as well, will return. They'll break down the ECNL championships and look forward with exciting issues, and they'll also answer the questions from you, the members of the ECNL.
Speaker 1:If you have questions for Christian, doug and Ashley, please send them in to info at theecnlcom. Once again, I want to thank Charlie Stilitano, all the great people at the ECNL, as well as my producer, colin Thrash, for each and every one of them and all of you. I'm Dean Linke. We'll see you in two weeks for another edition of Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast. Thank you for listening to Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast and remember, if you have a question that you want answered on Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast, email us at info at the ECNLcom.