Q&A With Soccer Morning Host Jason Davis

“Soccer Morning” has provided a daily show for fans of the beautiful game and can be heard on the web as well as on SiriusXM FC. The show’s host, Jason Davis, also covers the game on various outlets, writing for ESPN FC and USSoccerPlayers.com, among others. Davis spoke to Matthew Levine of NASL.com about his exploits into radio, the NASL’s role in developing American talent, and more.

Levine: Having done “Soccer Morning” for a number of years now, can you talk about the origins of the show?

Davis: Late 2008 I started a blog and from there I became a podcaster because that’s what bloggers move to when they are trying to get more people to pay attention to them. For a couple of years I had done it as a side project. I had a full-time job and I had a show called the “Best Soccer Show” that was very American soccer focused – we did national team broadcasts, call-ins, and stuff like that around the games.

I got laid off from my full-time job in April of 2013 and my producer – and the guy behind backheel.com – Trevor Hayward said “Why don’t you do a daily show?” I had nothing else going on while looking for a job and now you look up and it is three years later. That’s pretty much how it happened.

We have had some ups and downs with the show in terms of sponsorships and financial support with the show, but we’ve weathered it to this point.

Levine: You mentioned some of the sponsorship challenges. Has that been the biggest challenge of doing a soccer-centric show?

D: I think that’s definitely it. It’s 100 percent if you can justify it as a job. I write for numerous outlets to make enough money to support myself and my son. The podcast and doing a daily show takes a large chunk of my time. As much as it is a labor of love for me, I can’t just give away that time if I’m not making any money.

We constantly are on the lookout for sponsors and people to partner with us. We’re lucky enough to have a couple of those, but this is an emerging industry with a lot of changes and a lot of different forces behind the scenes. Which direction do we go this year? Which direction do we go next year? When budgets change sometimes you lose out. We just came out of a partnership and we’re trying to cobble up enough ad campaigns to keep things going.

Levine: Being on Sirius now, has that helped?

Davis: It’s hard to know if it has helped with listenership, but Sirius is obviously a cool opportunity. I won’t get into the business aspects of it, but it’s been good for us – it’s been good for me – to be in radio and still do the show from the same spot as the “Soccer Morning” web show.

It’s a different format. It’s a different audience. The “Soccer Morning” web listenership are people who opt in – discover the show, find me, know they want to listen and actively choose to. “Soccer Morning” on Sirius tends to be a more passive thing. People have Sirius in their cars or desks and they flip around. They like soccer, this is the soccer channel and “Oh, who is this guy?” So introducing myself to a new audience and getting in the rhythm of doing a solo show for two hours rather than the more regimented hour we do for the web has been very good.

Levine: You cover the NASL for the show and since you’ve been watching with a closer eye, what has impressed you or what have you liked that the league has done over the last few years?

Davis: I think there is incredible ambition in terms of the league leaders and owners in NASL. It’s a difficult landscape in the United States and everyone knows that. The one thing I’ve been interested to see is tackling issues of media, getting the product on television – and reasonably speaking I think the league has done a good job with partnership with ESPN3 and everything else. It’s tough to breakthrough and even MLS which has been on major networks for 20 years is still a niche product.

NASL has proven in numerous cases that they have people willing to buy into soccer, but not necessarily with an eye towards taking money out of it in the immediate future and getting people who are aware of this and have the financial wherewithal to be committed to the project. So much of American soccer has been dogged with people who have a little bit of money, buy a team, find out it costs a lot of money, and have to shut it down.

Levine: You mentioned the soccer landscape. Where do you see NASL fitting into it?

Davis: I think that based on the way that this country is waking up to soccer, the way that MLS has chosen its dedicated path on investment, in terms of salary, very slowly and their interesting rules, I think there’s absolutely room for NASL to grow and thrive. As to what the full expression of NASL is, I don’t think I know that because this is uncharted territory. I think NASL has a significant part to play, but I don’t want to be the guy that pegs NASL as the second division for the next 50 years because I don’t know if that’s going to be the case.

I can imagine a future in the NASL where it is home to a lot of talented American players and starting to put into place the infrastructure to get to a point where we have 50-60 teams [in this country], let’s put these all together and figure out how this works.

Levine: How important is it to have multiple strong leagues in the country?

Davis: It’s a big country. When you have 300 million people, I don’t know how many people like soccer, but reports say the younger generation of sports aware people are extremely into the sport.

I think it’s incredibly important. There are only so many population centers, but there are many population centers that could support soccer or should be able to – places that are important to have a presence so kids can go to games and idolize local heroes, idolize players that are representing them and their city and region.

I don’t think we get to that point we want to get as a soccer country until we have every one of the kids that want to play professional soccer looking down the road to find someone to idolize.

Levine: The league’s format is different than some others and one of the aspects is the split-season format. Do you think that aids in the excitement of the season?

Davis: When it comes to issues of format I’m usually pretty hands-off, I think it’s up to the leagues to decide how to present their product best and it’s up to me as a consumer, analyst, radio broadcaster to decide if I like it or not, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valid.

Certainly the split seasons can create excitement. I think there is an issue of balance. Last year the Spring and Fall Season were significantly different lengths – and I hope we can get to a point where the spring and fall tournament is the same. I do like the wrinkle of those teams fighting it out for playoff spots at the end of the year instead of crowning a single-table champion. I think playoffs have a lot of excitement and I think if there’s an element of the split season that is interesting is it is one season, the other one is another, and there’s also consideration for the teams that have the best points over the year. So, you’re not just valuing one season or the other, but you have to be conscious of playing it all out.

Levine: I want to go back to something you said earlier about American players and the NASL representing a path to develop these players. One of the players is Miguel Ibarra, who reached the national team while in the NASL, so do you see any players that you think can also make that jump? Also, do you think U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann should be actively looking?

Davis: I know Christian Ramirez in Minnesota has gotten attention for the national team, so Minnesota United is doing something right.

Klinsmann should look under every rock, look at every league, look at every possibility. A national team head coach’s job is to find the best talent available, no matter where it is. We’ve certainly seen that he has a willingness to go off the beaten path to call up players whether it’s a player like Jordan Morris or the players out of the NASL, hopefully more in the future.

The matriculation of players isn’t as defined in the United States and there are going to be players who end up in NASL environments because that was what was close or that’s who gave them a chance and they’ve developed. Absolutely, Klinsmann should be looking at the NASL and I think as it grows and the competition gets fiercer, there will be more American talent that is moving around the country to find their opportunity and there will be players to find.

Levine: During the offseason there have been a number of U.S. youth internationals that have joined the league. Do you think that will become a bigger trend and how important is it to have a place for some of these young Americans to stay at home and learn their trade?

Davis: It goes back to what MLS has chosen to do. They’ve chosen their path and have their rule structure and it does create a situation where occasionally it’s not the right fit for a young player – if you’re not coming through on their schedule or don’t fit their designations you may find yourself in a position where MLS isn’t the best. That means that those kids need to go somewhere to play and absolutely the NASL could be a place for it to happen.

It’s important for every American club to have a significant interest in young American talent whether it’s through their academies or giving youth internationals opportunity. We need more young Americans getting senior level playing time, and the level of the NASL is strong and if there’s going to be an opportunity for an 18-year-old who isn’t getting a shot at any other club for whatever reason and joins the NASL and is playing, it’s a bonus for American soccer.

Levine: In terms of storylines this season, what are you most looking forward to?

Davis: I’m always fascinated by the New York Cosmos and I know the Fort Lauderdale Strikers have redone the organization.

I’m interested to see what the new teams do. I’m fascinated by professional soccer returning to Puerto Rico with Puerto Rico FC and Carmelo Anthony’s leadership there. I think it could be a fascinating place to watch a well-supported, and I mean that from the fan prospective, soccer club grow in an organic way. Puerto Rico isn’t traditionally a soccer hotbed, but I think it’s a situation where a new generation of sports fans are being drawn to the game because of what’s available on television, so there’s a spot there for big things to happen. Miami FC is an incredibly interesting project.

The legacy clubs of the NASL are always of major interest, Indy Eleven and the club’s continued growth. There’s a lot, there’s a lot of stuff out there.