Florida Investors Eye One Soccer Nation as Football Fever Rises

Lionel Messi may have the interest of the world's soccer fans as he makes his Miami, Florida debut but Florida investors have their eyes on another rising star -- Kareem Rae and his One Soccer Nation.

The Florida Business Forum's host Sam Yates recently sat down with Kareem Rae the CEO of One Soccer Nationto find out what all the buzz is about. 

Transcript

Sam Yates: 0:06

Hello everyone and welcome to another informative episode of the Florida Business Forum Podcast. Let's open the Florida Business Forum floodgates and let the information begin to flow. Here's your Florida Business Forum information guru and Anchorman Sam Yates. Hello, everyone, Sam Yates here and today I am uniquely anchoring a segment of the Florida Business Forum Podcast about a special sport. It is a in many opinion, the number one sport in the world. And I believe that if I were to say the word football, some people might think American football but all over the world. Everyone knows football. And I'm proud to have as a guest today Kareem Rae. And you are in a very unique position as a former semi pro soccer player football player who is embarked upon a mission that I think a lot of people can relate to. Welcome to the program today.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 1:12

Thank you, sir, for taking the time and having me on.

Sam Yates: 1:15

The concept is one soccer nation. And before I get into a little bit of that, I alluded to the fact that you're a former semi pro player. And normally what hit me as I as I took a look at what you have done in the past. People don't want to say they were a former semi anything. But that was a seed that sprouted and brought you to where you are today. Tell us about that.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 1:45

Yeah, absolutely. It goes back to when I was five years old, right? You know, grassroots my parents put me in the game, fell in love in the game. And I ended up playing it for about 17 years plus. So it's saying that I went from grassroots work my way up all the way to the highest club I reached was semi pro. And you know, it's unfortunate because obviously, as a player, you want to reach the highest level possible. But I was only able to reach the semi pro level which which was an accomplishment. But, you know, that came to an end. And then I started to transition to the business side. But to touch on the soccer side a little bit more. You know, I've traveled around the world playing the beautiful game. That's what the ball has done for me the soccer game. I played in France, England, and in the US. The last team I played with was Florida and equals native FC, they play in the NPSL, which is fourth division in the US Soccer pyramid. So it was a great experience a great journey. And soccer brings people together. That's why I love the game.

Sam Yates: 2:42

I think a lot of folks don't know how large the sport is, what is the number more than 250? Players?

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 2:48

Yeah, yeah. So there's 3.5 billion fans worldwide. And then torrent? Yeah, you're right, right on the dot with 250 million players worldwide.

Sam Yates: 2:55

Yep. When we take a look at soccer, it is something that is growing here in the United States. And of course, that is the reason that you are here. If I'm correct, you are Canadian by birth. Correct. And now here in the United States and closer to home, you are right here in Florida, which is why we're taking a look at the Florida Business Forum. And we're also going to share this program with the great American seniors Show podcast because I know that seniors tend to want to invest and become part of something that they can say, I helped that become whatever it is going to be B in the future. And what you have is a concept that I think is going to be on the minds of a lot of people. Tell us what you're doing.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 3:46

Yeah, so the last three years, I've been working on one soccer nation. So I'm the founder and CEO of one soccer nation. So we're focused on soccer investments, professional soccer investments within the US landscape. You know, I've tried to get into the Canada landscape, the Dubai landscape, but my network hasn't pulled through the network in the US has. And I've been able to learn a lot about the landscape on and off the field with saying that we're focused on Third Division, professional soccer. So it's not tier one. It's not the MLS, but it's tier three. So two levels underneath. And you know, the great thing about that vehicle is that it focuses on bringing community together, we're looking at a 20, building a 2500, to a 5000 Stadium to bring in the community. And then these new investors are now looking at mixed use development project. So it's not only about the soccer on the field, but it's also about the real estate. And with saying that, that's what excites me, because, you know, in regards to a soccer investment perspective, you got to make sure the product is good on the field to keep the fans and entertained. But if we can't rely on that, then we got to look at the real estate aspect. And that's what new investors are now focused on which is it's exciting and to bring in investors to make sure that they feel comfortable in the vest, invest tendency. It's, it's a win win.

Sam Yates: 5:04

And I have to agree with that. You and I have not chatted a lot. But part of my background is I'm on the net addition to my my broadcasting and public relations marketing. I'm also on the board of directors for the Gold Coast Builders Association, which is headquartered in Palm Beach County serving Palm Beach and some of the counties south. So I have a pulse on what the building community is doing, as well as what the investor community is doing. And what you're describing is absolutely accurate. And I would imagine that you've had a lot of folks say, Kareem, tell us how we can be part of this.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 5:44

And how can they be part of it? Yeah, absolutely. We're allowing investors, non accredited investors, family, friends, associates, accredited investors, angel investors, venture capitalists to get involved in our investment. And the unique pitch that I always give is that this is an investment vehicle that, you know, people, the day to day people are not able to get into. And we're providing that opportunity through one sock nation. You know, as well as the accredited investors that will understand how, you know, to look at the financial models, projection, so on and so forth and understand that, but that's the cool thing. We want to bring it to the public. And our end goal is to, you know, be able to tokenize this team, you know, following the league's rules, US Soccer Federation rolls and FIFA roles to be able to tokenize these assets and allow, you know, towards an end and IP tokenized IPO through our strategic partnership blocks ation to allow fans to be able to own a piece. This hasn't been done yet. But hopefully, it's something that we can work towards and bring to life.

Sam Yates: 6:49

Describe tokenize. And when you create the token, it's really a a reference to being an investor with a particular player.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 7:00

So you could tokenize the players name and likeness and allow fans to be able to invest in on a piece of that sponsorships could be a possibility. But these are things that we're now going into the shadow in regards to my expertise, I focus on the soccer aspect, that would be questions that I would you direct to Jay Waterman founder and CEO at block station and aliens. He's an expert in that space, and you use it. I'm also a board of director on one soccer nation.

Sam Yates: 7:30

But I know that knowledge part of soccer is what's going to make it work, you actually are going to create a reality show about soccer players. And that's part of that overall global reach that you're going to have describe that for us.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 7:49

Absolutely. So if you guys could just imagine we're going to be hosting an event inviting 100 players from around the world and bringing them to one location. And during this event, we're going to be able to guarantee that 25 players will be able to sign a professional contract. Now usually how these events work, they have a couple players sign pro contracts to different teams, one at our event, we're creating our own team, and in a league in an existing League. So we're buying into a league. And that's how we're going to be able to guarantee that 25 players will be signing professional contracts. So during this event, players really know in their mind that, hey, this is my chance to change my life and make my dreams a reality and get paid for what I love to do. And that's the key right there is we're gonna get the players hyped up excited, we're gonna get the fans hyped up and excited for this event. And that's what the fans are gonna create that support system through the reality TV show. That's the marketing aspect. And just focusing on the event, again, 100 players, we're guaranteeing that 25 players are signing professional contracts, we're going to capture all the drama, all the excitement and all the motion through the reality TV show. Air that get the fans hyped and excited about that. And we have a service agreement with Vlad AR. They're going to produce you know, they're going to film the content, edit the content. And also they have a track record record of distributing the contact from their track record, Netflix, Hulu. So we're in good hands in that regards. And we're you know, we're excited to put that idea together through the reality TV show. And that's our marketing strategy. So just to clean up on it. That's our marketing marketing strategy. And usually sports investments. You know, they're not the revenue isn't there in the first three to five years. So we want to be able to create that support system right out the gate so that we're not losing that much.

Sam Yates: 9:44

The whole idea of getting people to know a player or a team of players, rather unique, because they will have their favorite to root on they will have their favorite to cheer on and then there'll be an end result And as I looked at your, your financial model, and I don't mean the the actual books on it, but the model of how it flows through, there are a number of revenue generation sources into into this entire operation is a fair statement? Yes, it's fair. Yeah. When we look at leagues, and I don't want to get into specifics of any league, I would imagine there are a lot of leagues out there that are watching very carefully to see how successful you are. Perhaps, you'll get a lot of telephone calls or inquiries about joining the League. If, without naming any, if there was a big offer to come in, how quickly could this move to total fruition?

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 10:51

Right away. So you're looking at, you know, a franchise fee. Building a brand new stadium timeline is two years, if we want to give ourselves a good runway, you know, things can happen faster. But, you know, the league recommends nothing faster than two years.

Sam Yates: 11:08

Now, an interesting thing happened just recently, a particular soccer star came to South Florida, is that a good sign for what you're doing?

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 11:19

It's a great sign. So Leo Messi signed to enter Miami FC. It's exciting. You know, you're seeing the ripple effect on the social media aspect, followed by the following base of inter Miami going up ticket prices going up. I've heard on Yahoo Sports. Tickets, were going for 100,000. I don't know if that was true. But I heard something like 50,000. So it's, it's insane. The effect that he's having, again, you can hear it in my voice. It's exciting. And that's what it's going to do for soccer in the US. This is not the beginning. But it's we're at a point in my perspective, even though I'm new in the game, and have a little bit of skin in the game. Working towards having full skin in the game very soon, is that this huge wave is coming for 2026 the FIFA World Cup. And you know, it's a big push with all the stakeholders to to make soccer the number one sport in the US, is it possible? questionable, but we are going up that ladder of, you know, top sports in America.

Sam Yates: 12:23

The one thing I would like to know, I know, we all are looking at the ripple effect of that particular move. Do you think he's paying attention and you have caught his ear?

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 12:36

You know, that would be amazing. You know, I like to be optimistic, but I like to be realistic. So yeah, you know, I keep my feet on the ground rooted. And we just I just, you know, work hard. I've been I've invested a lot of capital A lot of time that I can't get back and I, you know, it's out of again, it's out of the love of the game. You know, I've dedicated my life to a now on the business side to, to make a living into, to provide opportunities to create jobs to, you know, have a positive economic impact, you know, to change people's lives. You know, that's why I love the game.

Sam Yates: 13:11

I know that you can't say where, but somewhere in Florida, you're you're going to have the facility.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 13:19

So we've signed an agreement with one of the Third Division League teams that I would not want to disclose at the moment. We've signed for the Florida market to launch a team in the Florida market, both Men's and Women's Professional Soccer. So location wise is not identified yet. And then again, you know, we're still we still have options in regards to leagues. There's three different leagues, you have MLS next pro, so that's Major League Soccer. And next pro, you got USL one, which is stands for United Soccer League one and then you got nice national independent Soccer Association. So those are three different professional soccer leagues and the US Soccer pyramid. And we're, you know, we're in you know, those, those are our options at the moment with saying that, you know, I would also like to add in that there's soccer in the US, there's a lot of orange, there's a lot of juice in the orange to squeeze. So that's the exciting part.

Sam Yates: 14:18

We've danced around it. We've given everybody a little bit of an old review. We have people now ready to invest or get involved. How can they do so?

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 14:31

Yep, so you can reach out to me via email. So it's KR at one soccer nation.com My phone number is 561377737 so you can reach out to me personally, I handle everything. We could have a discussion, any questions, I'd love to answer them. You know, as well as to share them more information with you.

Sam Yates: 14:58

Well, I want to wish you all the luck and The world and I don't think you're going to need it. I think a lot of people look at, you know, a talented person and say that person is going to succeed. And from what I have heard and what I have seen so far, you're going to succeed in this. My only question is, don't forget about us. Will you be able to come back for another show?

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 15:21

Absolutely. I will not. I'll definitely be back. Thank you. So

Sam Yates: 15:24

great. And once again, it is one soccer nation. And Kareem Ray is here with us today. And I want to challenge all of our listeners and our viewers to check it out. Once in a while, you have to take a look at something and say, this has a wow factor. It's got all the makings of helping people helping our youth and making you know, our entire society involved in something that is a beautiful sport.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 15:57

Absolutely. I can't say any better. Sam,

Sam Yates: 16:00

thank you for joining us today.

Kareem Rae, CEO, One Soccer Nation: 16:01

Thank you, Sam for the time.

Sam Yates: 16:03

The Florida Business Forum is dedicated to showcasing Florida businesses and CEOs of all sorts to promote their business or not for profit in the only business forum of its type in Florida. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, the Florida Business Forum is now accepting guest applications. Have a great day everyone and stay tuned for more business