MLS Next Pro and the USSF Changing Soccer's Investment Landscape

Early World Cup Impressions

It's only been seven days of games for the 2026 World Cup but there's much to dive into already! Oliver Scholes and Sam Latoff from The Blazing Musket is in fresh off the conclusion of England's first game to discuss the USMNT flying start, slow going for Canada, a setback for Brazil and more! Get caught up on all things World Cup as the tournament moves into the second week of group stage action. You can check out Oliver's work covering Hartford Athletic on The Blazing Musket and The Average Fan Podcast [https://shows.acast.com/the-average-fan-hartford-athletic-podcast]. You can follow Thomas on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/tpinzone343.bsky.social]. Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

World Cup Preview Show!

The World Cup is here! We’re ready to dive into the local connections, teams to watch, players to watch and our best guesses as to how this whole thing shakes out. We're joined by none other than the leader of The Blazing Musket, Sam Lattof, and one of New England's best soccer journalists, Hayden Bird, from Boston.com, to get you ready for the biggest World Cup in the tournament's history. You can follow Hayden on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/haydenbird.bsky.social] and check out his soccer coverage on Boston.com [https://www.boston.com/author/hayden-bird/]. You can follow Thomas on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/tpinzone343.bsky.social] and Sam as well [https://bsky.app/profile/samlattof.bsky.social]. Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

May 2026 Roundtable!

We’re just weeks away from the World Cup, in the midst of a women’s soccer revival in New England, while another USL team folds and MLS Next Pro embraces private equity investment to go to war with the USL. We’ve got the usual crew here to talk about all of it… Our guests join from: United in Green [https://unitedingreen.podbean.com/] podcast covering the Vermont Green The Friggin Soccer Show [https://www.frigginsoccer.com/] podcast covering Portland Hearts of Pine Raising Anchor [https://www.raisinganchorpodcast.com/] a podcast covering Rhode Island FC The Average Fan Podcast [https://shows.acast.com/the-average-fan-hartford-athletic-podcast/episodes/early-season-success] that covers Hartford Athletic You can find all these podcasts on The Blazing Musket as part of our podcast network along with Revolution Recap and The Swan Dive. We hope you like this episode and be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review if you do wherever you get your podcasts from! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Boston Legacy Finding Their Footing

Jackie covers the Boston Legacy here at The Blazing Musket and has been keeping up with them during their five game unbeaten streak. We talked about their slow start, the recent run of results and what to expect headed into the summer. We also talked about the switch in their home venue as they will now transition from Gillette Stadium to Centreville Bank Stadium in Rhode Island. You can keep up with the Legacy here on The Blazing Musket [https://www.theblazingmusket.com/tag/boston-legacy-football-club/]and follow Jackie on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/jackiedigital.bsky.social]. You can follow Thomas on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/tpinzone343.bsky.social]. Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

MLS Next Pro and the USSF Changing Soccer's Investment Landscape

Wes Burdine is a co-founder of the community owned, Minnesota Aurora FC, a women's team competing in the USL W League in 2026. Wes joins us to talk about MLS Next Pro taking a big investment from private equity, namely KKR. We talked about what is MLS' overarching goal with this new partnership and is this really the direction we want to see soccer leagues going? We also talked about US Soccer changing a key standard of now only requiring a principal investor in a Club to own 15% of the team, instead of the previous 35%. What does this newer, lower threshold mean for future investment in US Soccer? Does this have any potential positives like unlocking more chances for fan owned teams? You can follow Wes on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/wesburdine.bsky.social] right here and check out Minnesota Aurora FC in more detail here [https://mnaurora.com/]. You can follow Thomas on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/tpinzone343.bsky.social]. Let us know what you think about the show, send us your suggestions and anything else at thebentmusketig@gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show be sure to like, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.