City Limitless® – The Podcast
Episode: MLS Next Fest at Arizona Athletic Grounds
Ashley: Hey, y’all, welcome back to City Limitless, where we explore Mesa and beyond its city boundaries. I’m your host, Ashley, and I’m super excited.
Ashley: We’re out here again at Arizona Athletic Grounds, chatting with President Meg Stevens. And later, we’ll be speaking with Luis Robles, former MLS player and now MLS Next Technical Director.
Ashley: Welcome. Meg Stevens, welcome back. I’m so excited. You’re my first returning guest on City Limitless, and it’s kind of a special episode.
Meg: Honored. Very, very honored.
Ashley: But I’m excited to help you announce you just won from the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Office, Tourism Manager of the Year. Congratulations.
Meg: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Meg: It really is, I was shocked. I did not expect that. People did a good job of hiding that, which was impressive.
Meg: But, you know, I think really good leaders hire really good people, and you surround yourself with really good people.
Ashley: We’re out here right now during MLS Next, which is a huge soccer event. And when I say huge, I’m texting my team, they’re like, “Hey, we’re 15 minutes away.” I’m like, “Great, I’m three minutes away.”
Ashley: The traffic, the people, and I don’t mean to hit on the traffic in a bad way, but the people, you guys are bringing in 30,000 athletes in two weeks to Mesa, Arizona. We are. What the heck? Tell me more about this.
Meg: Well, this is where you get kind of like game day Meg. Last time I was, you know, suit. Today is, we were here at 5 or 6 a.m., and we’re in full, it’s truly game day here.
Meg: And it’s awesome. And I think what’s really fun, I want to really talk about MLS and what that does, but MLS is the largest soccer tournament in the country.
Meg: I just want to pause on that. We just, and I think the more people I talk to in Mesa and on the east side and then just in Phoenix, to understand what that means for our region, yes, for AAG, but for our region and for what that does.
Meg: And I know I’ll probably have some email complaints from parking or from, and I just keep reminding folks, this is putting Mesa on the map.
Meg: People are having a wonderful experience right now. They’re here from all over the country. These are some of the best young men, soccer players, our upcoming rising stars. This is the best of the best.
Meg: So there’s college coaches here recruiting. There’s also MLS teams here recruiting. These are people who are probably going to go pro.
Ashley: I was walking through the crowd, and I’m trying to take note. I’m seeing little dancers.
Meg: Yep.
Ashley: I’m seeing baseball.
Meg: Correct.
Ashley: I’m seeing volleyball. I’m seeing basketball.
Meg: Yes.
Ashley: And then you have MLS everywhere sprinkled in between.
Meg: And I’ve got one to add.
Ashley: What?
Meg: Jiu-jitsu is in C right now.
Ashley: Oh my gosh. Okay, I didn’t see that, but that is insane.
Meg: But do you know what the really cool thing is? The cohesiveness of every single athlete, player, parent, coach, ref, sports trainer, you name it, they’re just all here as one under sports.
Meg: Today really is the day to really see the complex at its full, when it’s fully activated. I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like today.
Meg: This is probably the largest number of people on site, and that will happen today, both with jiu-jitsu.
Meg: And I forgot, we also have pickleball tournament on site today.
Ashley: You’re not stopping.
Meg: So we are activating. Almost everything is basically activated. And you’re right, it’s what it was designed, it’s finally doing what it was designed to do. AAG is up and running in the fullest of capacities.
Ashley: And then to see people at the restaurant and in food and beverage and in the arcade and all sorts of, right, that is now we always talked about making it a destination.
Ashley: Today you almost start to feel like, yeah, that’s where we’re at right now.
Ashley: But you mentioned something about the arcade, which I want to bring back to. We last spoke in March, and so much has happened. Give us a rundown of that.
Meg: I don’t even know if I can list it all. And I’m sure there’s something that was in process at that point.
Meg: I think the biggest wins, one is the arcade. We’ve talked about being a destination. When there’s always the brother or sister that gets dragged along to the tournament, or the parent that has to be here for eight hours, what do we do on the in-between?
Meg: So we partnered with Peacom Lake, and they have an incredible arcade right now. And right now, they’re actually trying to open seven days a week.
Ashley: Wow.
Meg: We want to be the place that not only can you do this and this is just a weekend thing, but this should help people in Mesa. This should help people in Queen Creek.
Meg: Like, hey, you’ve got another arcade to go to. You’ve got something else on top of the restaurant, on top of some of those other pieces.
Meg: We’ve engaged with a new pizza. Our restaurant is now, we’ve kind of gone away from the pizza concept we had and really flipped that one over.
Meg: And then we continue to become more and more creative. We’re doing more things for our community, which is great.
Meg: We had our holiday market.
Ashley: Yes, huge.
Meg: Another hit. Huge. Black Friday and then Saturday, I think we had over 3,000 people here just on Friday. We doubled the numbers from last year.
Meg: And that’s what we want to be known as. I still talk to people and I’ll run into them in Safeway. They still think they need a kid to come, and I’m like, no, no, no, we’re hosting entertainment.
Meg: We did host our first kind of outside entertainment festival. We hosted Tacos and Tequila.
Ashley: I know. It was great.
Ashley: This will be airing on January 26th, and just the evolution, it truly shows if you dream it, it can happen. If you have the right people surrounding you, they will lift you up and carry those dreams as far as you will let them go.
Ashley: But with that being said, I want to bring it back to MLS Next being here, the importance of Mesa, and the impact that that’s really making on the community because I know people are seeing the traffic, but let’s talk about what that traffic is bringing for the City of Mesa.
Meg: Thank you for opening the question because you’re right, when folks just see parking, to understand what it is bringing to Mesa.
Meg: This will be 1,400 soccer teams over 12 days. Let that sink in.
Meg: Imagine all of those players bringing their families. They are sleeping in our hotels. They are eating in our restaurants. They are recreating here.
Meg: It brought them not just to Phoenix, it brought them to Mesa. And hopefully now it brings them back, not just for that one-time tournament, but we want to make sure it’s that all-encompassing relationship for them to now enjoy our recreation.
Meg: They have an off day during their tournament, then we want them to stay in town and continue to support our local businesses.
Meg: So it really does make a large economic impact, which we are so proud of.
Ashley: Tell me a little bit about the intricacies that it kind of took to get MLS here. I know Lance, our VP of Sports, this was a big deal for him. Expand on that a little bit because we did work in partnership with you guys on this.
Meg: Absolutely. And that’s where we can’t thank Visit Mesa enough. It really does take good community partners.
Meg: Early on, I knew this is about relationships. It’s a business, yes it’s a sports business, but it’s really a relationship business.
Meg: Major tournaments want to partner with, they want to be here, but then, hey, what will the city, what does that relationship look like? So when you have that bridge, it puts us in a better position to bring in more and more better tournaments.
Ashley: Speak on the side of the players. What is the benefit of MLS being here for them?
Meg: Every player interaction, obviously I’m very hands-on. I’ve been talking to players the whole time they’ve been here.
Meg: Right now, we are just receiving rave reviews. Very impressed.
Meg: And actually, just a shout out, our grounds crew, our grass fields. We have 24 fields total, 20 of them are artificial turf and four of them are grass.
Meg: I’ll go on record, I think these are the four best grass fields in Arizona. And we are getting so many compliments on just the quality.
Meg: Their overall experience, there’s so much happening, things to do, places to eat. These are the kids that have played all over the country, and we’ve heard nothing but wonderful feedback.
Meg: We’re always looking to get better. What does that look like? Could we have done anything better? Next time, what can we do better?
Ashley: I just wanted to touch on this because you mentioned it in our first interview. You said you would get out in the traffic and help guide traffic.
Ashley: I have to hype you up and give you your kudos. As my team and I are driving in today, I’m whipping out my phone and I’m like, there is Meg Stevens, President of Arizona Athletic Grounds, directing traffic.
Ashley: I’m currently in a Mesa leadership class, and if I had to think of a leader, that is what a leader is.
Ashley: I saw you down in the dirt. You’re sweating. We’re about to do a podcast in an hour, and you’re out here, out in the sun, guiding traffic.
Meg: Well, no, I appreciate that. And I apologize, hadn’t saved you a spot. I think you parked, you got your steps in.
Meg: But I think it is, it’s not just leaders. It’s the same thing I ask of my staff, stop thinking of yourself as just having a role.
Meg: You’re not a custodian, you’re not a security guard, you’re not a director. It’s all of our job. We will all succeed or we will all fail.
Meg: For the last two hours we got behind in parking, okay, then that’s where I need to be.
Meg: We’ve got vice presidents out there now in the lot. It’s a little bit of everything.
Meg: The little things make the big difference. If you see trash, pick it up, it makes a difference.
Meg: Another compliment we get, the place is spotless. The food and beverage options have gone, I mean, we are end-to-end for all those things.
Meg: But again, they’re wonderful amenities, and we want it to be a great guest experience. We’re tourism-driven and a guest experience.
Ashley: I want to end on a fun note because we are in tourism and you are a lady that has traveled a lot. I need to know, what are some of your top travel items that you must have on every trip?
Meg: I don’t know if I have top travel items. I do have the classic kind of backpack that everybody has. I’m surprised we all don’t just trade.
Meg: I’m still old school. I like my plug-in headphones. I have not adapted to anything else.
Meg: I actually think plane time and travel time for me is a great time to work. Any time I can get some time to sit and not get pulled in a different direction, I have a great opportunity to get things done.
Meg: If I can listen to a great podcast, read a great article, or truthfully, my list making continues, I have a tendency to be a list maker, then it’s actually time for me to do that.
Ashley: Meg, if anybody doesn’t already know where to find you, can you drop your website where people can find you guys for any kind of information regarding family events, non-family events, sporting events?
Meg: Absolutely. Check out azeegrounds.com.
Meg: And we’re happy to announce one of the other newest additions, we have our own app. Please go to the App Store, it’s AZ Grounds.
Meg: That app, I think a lot of folks will really like. We went all in. You can see your little dot and where you are, and how to get to places.
Meg: It should make that guest experience one step better. And it’s also been nice for our sponsors and partners.
Ashley: I love that. Congratulations. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We’re super excited to have you.
Ashley: And I’m very excited for our next guest to speak upon MLS Next. We’re definitely chatting soon because AAG is just continually growing. You will be a third time guest, I can already feel it.
Meg: I love it.
[Guest transition: Luis Robles]
Ashley: Let’s get started. Luis, welcome.
Luis: Well, I’m born and raised in Sierra Vista, Arizona, about three and a half, four hours south of here. My dad moved there because of the military, he retired there.
Luis: Met my wife there. We went to high school there. We now live in New Jersey.
Ashley: New Jersey, really?
Luis: So just to fast track it pretty quickly, when I was a high school grad, I ended up getting a soccer scholarship to the University of Portland.
Luis: One of my biggest influences, a guy named Wolfgang Weber, influenced me to go in that direction. Another huge influence was the coach there, Bill Irwin.
Luis: I was drafted by DC United in ’07, but instead of signing with DC, I ended up going to Germany. Wolfgang, who’s from Germany, influenced me to go there.
Luis: I spent six seasons playing in Germany, four seasons with FC Kaiserslautern, and two seasons with Karlsruher Sport Club.
Luis: I came back to the United States in 2012, played eight seasons with the New York Red Bulls, left there in 2019.
Luis: Then in 2020, I got a phone call from David Beckham. He was starting a team, Inter Miami. I ended up being their first free agent signing, their first captain.
Luis: I retired in 2020, took a job in 2021 with FIFA hospitality, and was a key part of building out their hospitality business for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Luis: Several MLS owners ended up being clients of mine, major league soccer, U.S. Soccer, big corporate brands. It was a great crash course to develop soft skills that were missing because I’d never been in the corporate world.
Luis: When the World Cup was done in 2023, I moved back to New Jersey and started working at the league office. My first landing spot, MLS Next.
Luis: For the last almost better part of three years, I’ve been building the community that is MLS Next.
Ashley: Now let’s get into MLS Next because you guys are out here in Mesa, Arizona. This is a huge deal for our city. The impact on our economy, it’s filling our hotels, it’s bringing people all over the country to Mesa.
Ashley: Tell me about what is going on here at Arizona Athletic Grounds.
Luis: Mesa’s been an incredible partner in all this, but it goes back to an experience that took place 12 months ago. We were in Indio, California. We were having the same event.
Luis: As I was looking out over 19 fields, watching all the MLS teams, all the elite academies play, the families walking around, national team scouts, hundreds of college scouts, I thought, we need to give this to more people.
Luis: Our core objectives at MLS Next are twofold.
Luis: The first is to develop the next generation of talent to impact the professional game (players, coaches, officials, technical directors, academy directors, community builders).
Luis: The second core objective is to grow the game.
Luis: And so as I stood there, I thought we’re going to need a massive facility. It’s incredibly important that we add value to their experience.
Luis: Families invest time, emotion, mental bandwidth, finances. It’s not enough to just say, “Come be part of MLS Next.” We want to deliver value in the biggest way possible.
Luis: This relationship started about seven months ago. As I asked our group, we want a facility and community big enough to take on the biggest event possible.
Luis: They said, there’s a place in Arizona, they have 24 fields. Let’s go check it out.
Luis: When I came here, I thought this is exactly what I want. The setup is perfect. Everyone walks through the pavilion, they see the aspirational pieces, Major League Soccer, Adidas logos, MLS Next logos.
Luis: Then they come up to where the fields are, there’s two rows of 10 fields, incredibly accessible for college scouts.
Luis: And then the four additional fields in that third row are grass fields, which allows us to put our top quality, highest impact games on that.
Luis: I invited a colleague of mine in player relations, Alecko Eskandarian, also a former MLS player.
Luis: He runs the department that signs all of our players. Every single player that signs a professional contract at a young age goes through him.
Luis: He runs the college combine, and I said, why don’t we complete this pathway and you host College Combine on the same site as us.
Luis: That’s exactly what’s going to take place in a few days. On December 10th, College Combine will be here at Arizona Athletic Grounds.
Luis: Yesterday we had 413 college coaches check-in to scout these games. We went from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. I left this facility at 10:30.
Luis: Mesa has been such a great host, and Arizona Athletic Grounds has the capacity to do that.
Luis: The way I described it to families is, there’s always going to be a pecking order, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get exposure.
Luis: With this facility, an MLS academy director could be watching their team, and at halftime, look at the field next to them and see another player and think, wow, that number 17 is really good.
Luis: They get interested, they learn more about the club, learn more about the player, and now it doesn’t matter where they’re at or what level they’re at, they’re getting exposed to the professional game.
Luis: And it’s not just MLS. Those 413 college coaches are coming from all different levels. We want to serve every tier of the college pyramid with the players in our player pyramid.
Luis: We knew in order to have an event that goes over 12 days, that hosts 30,000 players, that has 1,472 teams come through, that will have 1,853 games, we need it.
Luis: I remember driving on I-10 north to Paradise Valley or to the northern part of Phoenix to play games. I remember we’d play at Cave Creek, we’d play at Red Mountain, and this portion of land was just dirt.
Luis: And now it’s pretty impressive to come here for the first time and see what they’re doing.
Luis: I’m very pleased with not only the experience, but I look forward to an ongoing relationship.
Ashley: Can you talk to me about any kind of obstacles that might have occurred in getting here, and how you were able to overcome those?
Luis: The amount of teams. We don’t want this to be an event that’s just exclusive to a subset of teams.
Luis: We want to give all those players the opportunity to play in front of as many college coaches as possible, as many national team scouts as possible, and of course our MLS academies.
Luis: Human capital is important too. We don’t have the biggest team at MLS Next. We’re based in Major League Soccer’s league office in New York City.
Luis: During the planning process, we were thinking, how do we do this? But the goal is deliver quality, deliver value to families.
Luis: They’re coming from Seattle, from Miami, from two blocks away, as far as Maine, and Canada as well.
Luis: They’re spending their hard-earned money, and we want to give them the best possible experience.
Luis: Thus far, fingers crossed, we’re in day three of 12 days. We’ve been able to do that because the weather has been incredible, and the quality of the facility has been top-notch.
Ashley: It’s incredible to think beyond just a game. You have opportunities for the speaker series, like you were mentioning.
Ashley: And what you guys are doing here is amazing. Thank you, as a person, this is amazing that this was considered, planned, and executed.
Ashley: I want to end on a fun note. Our industry is tourism, and I’m sure you travel quite a bit. What are your top three travel items?
Luis: My AirPods for sure. Because then you can do your Zooms and you can listen to music, or act busy so the person on the plane next to you doesn’t talk to you.
Luis: I’m a workaholic, so I have to have my laptop.
Luis: And then lastly, it’s not something I carry, but I have started picking hotel brands based on the quality of the sleep. There’s places I know are going to have a good pillow.
Luis: It’s something I’ve really started to notice this past year. I think it’s because I’m getting older. A pillow helps me go to sleep a lot faster.
Luis: Like I could almost go anywhere as long as I have my AirPods and my laptop. But if I’m going to stay the night, I try to do day trips when I can.
Luis: Even when I came to visit this place, I left at 6 a.m. in Jersey, showed up at the airport at like 10:30 or 11, saw the facility, caught the 4 p.m. flight, and went back to Jersey.
Ashley: You’re a trooper.
Luis: I’m away from my family so much that I want to be home. I hate missing their games or their dance recitals.
Ashley: Luis, thank you so much for taking some time to chat with us. I know you are busy.
