The Third Sub Episode 20: Growing the Game (ft. Ben Steiner)

Welcome back to the latest episode of the Third Sub! In this special episode, number 20, Alex and Sam are joined by BTS's own Ben Steiner, who is also the founder of 49Sport (https://49-sport.com/), a website covering all things USports in Canada, to chat MLS, USports and CPL soccer. So to kick things off, they dive straight into the latest Vancouver Whitecaps news, starting off with the release of the MLS's 'Return to Play' schedule this past week. They break down how they think this schedule favours the 'Caps, who play FC Dallas on July 9th, the San Jose Earthquakes on July 15th, and the Seattle Sounders on July 20th, before sharing their expectations and predictions for the tournament itself, which gets underway in less than 2 weeks. After that, the talk shifts to USports, as Ben breaks down the cancellations of the fall seasons in the OUA, Canada West and AUS, and how that affects programs that were already feeling the strain of this pandemic. How can USports recover from this? He shares his thoughts, and more, as they ponder the future of University sports in Canada. The talk then finishes off with some CPL and USports Soccer chatter, as they chat about the opportunity that the CPL is giving young soccer players in this country, who are now able to pursue both an education and a professional career, without sacrificing one or the other. As we've seen with the rise of players such as Joel Waterman, this new partnership is working, and the guys tip their hat to that, before offering some suggestions to push things forward even more. They then finish things off with a look at some names to watch this year in both USports and CPL soccer, before ending with 'Around the World', the look at leagues that are piquing their interest this week in the global game.