About the Show:

"As soon as we started setting foot in Northwest Arkansas, we had a hand reach out and say, 'What do you guys need?' How can we help? How can we make this event bigger?"

– Pedro Garza, Club America

What happens when one of the world's most storied soccer clubs chooses Fayetteville, Arkansas, as its next big stage?

That's the conversation at the heart of this episode. I sat down with Pedro Garza, International Development Director for Club América, and Jose Romero, Sports Sales Manager with Experience Fayetteville, to talk about how our SEC college town landed its first international doubleheader—and why it matters well beyond game day.

The Golden Clash at Razorback Stadium isn't just a sporting event. It's a signal. Soccer is taking root here at every level, global brands are paying attention, and this is shaping up to be a once-in-a-generation sports experience for Northwest Arkansas.

Whether you love the beautiful game or you're simply proud of what this region is becoming—this one's for you.

Key Takeaways:

1. World-Class Soccer Comes to Fayetteville: The Golden Clash doubleheader brings both men’s and women’s teams from the legendary Club América to Northwest Arkansas, making sports history in the state.
2. Big City Events in the Ozarks: Fayetteville’s top-notch stadiums, vibrant sport culture, and welcoming atmosphere make it the perfect spot for events of this size.
3. Deep Local Soccer Roots: Regional youth teams, college programs, and partnerships with groups like Ozark United and Comets FC show how soccer is growing fast in Northwest Arkansas.
4. Economic and Community Boost: Events like this bring visitors, fill hotels and restaurants, and create new opportunities for local businesses and families.
5. Building for the Future: The episode celebrates how these matches inspire future generations and foster a love for soccer that will continue to grow throughout the region.

All this and more on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas® podcast.

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

1. Experience Fayetteville: experiencefayetteville.com
2. Find event info, buy tickets, and see what’s happening around town.
3. Club América: Follow on your favorite social platform: @ClubAmerica
4. Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium: Host site for the Golden Clash.
5. Comets FC, Ozark United, Parks and Recreation (Bentonville): Partners in local soccer clinics and youth activities.
6. Events Calendar: Check Experience Fayetteville’s online calendar for hundreds of events every month.
7. FindItNWA.com NWA’s Hyperlocal Business Directory

This episode is sponsored by*

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

Try ONBoardNWA.com Today!

*Note: some of the resources mentioned may be affiliate links. This means we get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

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• Connect with our Fearless Host, Randy Wilburn on LinkedIn

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You know, when I started this podcast over 400 episodes

ago, one of the core ideas was to showcase Northwest

Arkansas as a place where big things happen, not just in

spite of being in the middle of the country, but because of

who we are and what we've built here. And today's

conversation is a perfect example of that. We're talking

about international soccer coming to Fayetteville, the

kind of world-class event that most people assume only

happens in major coastal markets. But here we

are hosting Club América, one of the most

recognized soccer clubs in the world, at Donald

W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium for an international

doubleheader featuring their men's and women's first teams.

To put that into perspective, Club América has more than

15 million fans in the United States alone and over

45 million supporters globally. Soccer as

a whole now reaches more than 100 million fans in the US,

and it's growing faster than any other major sport.

Events like this are a part of a larger shift. Soccer is

becoming a mainstream American sport, and Northwest

Arkansas is right in the middle of that transformation.

But this conversation isn't just about one event. It's about what

it says about our region. Our infrastructure, our

soccer culture, our ability to compete on a global

stage, and the diverse, passionate community we've built

here. From youth leagues like Sporting, FC

Arkansas, the Comets, and Ozark United to

the University of Arkansas women's program competing at the

highest NCAA Division I level,

soccer has deep roots in Northwest Arkansas. Today,

I'm joined by two people who are making this kind of event possible.

Pedro Garza is the International Development Director from

Club America, and José Romero is the

Sports Sales Manager from Experience Fayetteville.

We're going to talk about how these opportunities come together and what

they mean for our community and where soccer is

headed in this country. Let's get into it.

It's

time for another episode of I Am Northwest

Arkansas, the podcast covering the intersection of

business, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in

general here in the Ozarks. Whether you are considering a

move to this area or trying to learn more about the place you call

home, We've got something special for you. Here's our

host, Randy Wilbur.

Pedro, José, welcome

to the I Am Northwest Arkansas podcast. How are you guys doing today? All good,

Randy. Thanks a lot. Connecting here from Mexico City and glad to

be in this space and talking to your community. Man,

this is an international podcast for sure, man. I'm excited about that.

So, well, listen, let's start with the big picture. What does it

take? And this is really for you, Jose. What does it take for a

city like Fayetteville to attract and host international

sporting events at this level? What are the key factors that make

something like this possible? Yes, absolutely. And first of all, Randy, I just want to

say thank you for having us on here. We appreciate the support. I'm here

in the Experience Fayetteville offices in downtown Fayetteville, so just super excited to

be on here. But yes, absolutely. So from, you know, from our perspective, we're

always looking at the next big thing that we can attract here to Fayetteville, right?

And to be able to attract those kinds of events, we have to first make

sure we have the infrastructure, right? The venue capacity and, but also

that we are, you know, appealing as a destination for people to come to

travel and not just come to the event, but also stay a day extra or

come in a day early, right? And so we always want to make sure that

we are presenting ourselves in a way that visitors feel welcomed and that

they know that they can come here and, and travel. As far as on the

event organizer side, you know, we are an SEC town. We know

we do sports great, right? We're lucky to be one of the

16 SEC towns in the country. So we're built for that. I mean, we have

a community that is passionate about sports. So anytime we can leverage our

community and, you know, just offer something that's unique, we're always, you

know, super excited to jump on board and see how we can help, you know,

produce a great event. Yeah. You know, and I think sometimes people forget that.

And when I tell people, like I tell people all the time, and I talk

about Bud Walton which is one of the largest indoor sports

arenas in the United States. I mean, in terms of like an

indoor, purely indoor sports, basketball,

volleyball, you name it. I mean, it holds over 20,000+

people. It's huge. And then when you think of, like you said, SEC

Nation, we've got the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium,

which holds almost 80,000+ people. I mean,

it's a— That's nothing to sneeze at when you compare it to even some

larger cities like a Pittsburgh, where even Heinz

Field, where my favorite Pittsburgh Steelers play, only holds like

72,000 people. So I mean, we've got the space,

right, uh, where we can hang with the big boys. And so it's only

fitting that Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas would be able to

even consider hosting an event like this. So I think

that's really Big. I want to talk, Pedro,

specifically for you guys. For folks that may not be

familiar with Club America, can you give us a sense

of the club's history and global reach? I ran some

numbers earlier at the beginning of the podcast, but I'd like for our

listeners and for the region to have a better understanding

about who Club America is. Of course. And

thanks for asking, Randy. I mean, you already put it. The big important

numbers in your introduction. So that kind of gives a context

of the club. But really, I mean, Club América this year is going

to turn 110 years old. So for starters, that's how

long we've— well, the club has been around. And also

the women's team is going to be turning 10 years old this year. So

it's a big year for Club América and it's a big year for

soccer, which I want to connect to because of the World Cup, right, happening in

Mexico, the United States, and Canada this year. And we're doing

all of this in the midst of that event. So that's

a great connection too. But Club América, as kind

of our slogan says it, is great-hearted, right?

Club America is its people. Club America is its fans, right? And Club

America is the community that really builds the greatness of

the club. Yes, we are the club with most titles in the region.

And we are the team with most fandom in the region

as well. But what really comes out, I mean, that is the outcome

of the first, right? And not the other way around. That is the outcome of

the fans and how the fans really have their output towards

the club and making it great. And going a little bit more

into detail, Club América in the US, right? We are

a team, a professional football team, as we like to call it, but a

professional soccer team based out of Mexico City.

But as the Hispanic diaspora in the US,

as you well know, is huge, we see the United States not as a

secondary market, but as a second primary market. I mean, as you

mentioned, from 45 million fans we've got, one-third of those

fans live in the US. And we've got first, second,

third generations. Now, a lot of the fans right now are completely

born in the United States and in the United States culture, even if they have

got Hispanic heritage. And that's why we are kind of a

challenge of keep on building and having them know

that Club America is theirs, even if they weren't born in Mexico

City, even if they don't get the chance to see Club America every 15

days at the stadium, right? So that's a little bit of our job, trying

to get Club America to them, being in these markets,

being in the US presence all the time, not only physically,

but with digital efforts. More to that, Club America

means also a 36 million plus community in socials.

So that's huge. And that's a way to keep close to our fandom, hearing them

out and trying to get them the club they love closer every day.

Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that the number of people that follow you guys on

social. When I— my son plays club soccer at a high

level. And I'm always— soccer's a new sport to me, right? As an

American, I grew up playing football. Basketball, baseball.

I mean, baseball is as American as apple pie. And so soccer

was really new to me, and I had no idea how big

soccer was until I started following some of the people that my

son was following, just because I wanted to keep an eye on him and find

out, you know, who's who. And of course, I know who Messi is, and, you

know, we love Christian Pulisic, you know, a home country

player. But, you know, when I look at some of the following that some of

these players have around the world, It's insane. I mean,

they're larger than some countries in terms of the following. So

hearing that you guys have a following of 36 million-plus people is

really no surprise. And that actually gives you a very

significant mouthpiece to get the word out about the power of

what they call the beautiful game. Definitely. Definitely. And it's a

huge platform, as you say. And it's also why, I mean, the messages

you give out, we keep it strictly to— I mean, what we know is football,

right? So the messages go strictly to that. And trying to get

that Club America, not only Club America, but the soccer fandom, the

information and the relevance they want and they need. But our job is

all to trying to stay close to them, right? And here at

Club America, we've got that. Well, we have a strategy called

America in America, right? That's kind of the growth

strategy in the, in the US. And this year, our Golden

Clash match in Fayetteville is cornerstone in that

strategy because of, of many, many things that we'll, we'll

get into. I just don't want to take up the full time right now. I

know we're going to be back here, but I would love to talk more about

that. Yeah. So, and I have one more follow-up for you, given that you've

kind of given us the context of the size of Club America,

the age of Club America. What does it mean

when a club of your stature chooses to play

in a market like ours here in Northwest Arkansas? Yeah, I

mean, we have our natural markets in the US, and our natural

markets are the ones with the biggest Hispanic diaspora, right? And with the

biggest declared fans. That's a parenthesis I wanted to make.

That 15 million fandom in the US are declared fans,

so that they actually mentioned they're a Club America fan publicly.

So anyone under 18 years old that's a Club America fan is not

accounted into those 15 million or anyone that hasn't actually said it

publicly. So the number there is bigger. It's just not possible

to count officially, right? And what it means,

we have a cadence of going to our natural markets, Texas,

California. Last year we played, I think, more than 3 times in

California. On average, between the men's and the women's teams, we go to the

US 10 to 12 times a year to play. And this year,

is different. This year, we're only going to be in the US 2 times

with the men's team and 2 or 3 times with the women's. So it's a

lot less, which makes it even more significant for each one of those

opportunities. The first time we are going to ever

in history play a doubleheader is going to be this. We've never played

a follow-up match, men's and women's, on the same day. So that's going to

be historical for us, and we're really excited about that. And going

a little bit to the market, yes, we have our natural markets,

but we're always trying to grow. And we're always trying to find that new market

in which we feel it's interesting and feel it's an emerging

market in the football and the Club America way. And we

found that in Northwest Arkansas with its cultural

relevance, with the big presence of global companies,

and with a, at least for me, surprisingly diverse

diaspora of many different communities, being

Hispanic a big one as well. So those are kind of 3 main

factors why we chose Northwest Arkansas. And a 4th one

that we didn't know beforehand, but now starting to engage and to know

the community, it's their community. I mean, Jose here is the best example

for it. As soon as we started setting foot in Northwest

Arkansas, we had a hand reach out and what do you guys

need? How can we help? How can we make this event bigger?

And Jose is the example here, but it's been many, many different

stakeholders that all they want to do is make the event bigger

and make us stay, right? Because one thing is when

we go to a market and the event and the whole thing is successful,

well, of course we want to come back. And so making this a recurring thing,

I think that would be the best for both of us, a win-win for Club

America and the region. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, well, yeah.

And I don't want Jose, I want to hear from you about this because, you

know, simply my question is when you heard about the

opportunity of bringing Club America to Northwest Arkansas, I mean,

what did that do for you and Experience Fayetteville in terms of how

did you guys turn on the charm and convince them that, hey, this was

definitely the place to come? Yeah, no, absolutely. So we have

a partnership with the University of Arkansas. And so full credit to them. They

were the ones that kind of spearheaded this project. And that's

the cadence that we work in. University will kind of work with their

external events team and prospect different events that they can bring into town.

And then they bring us in as the destination marketing organization to help promote

and just help elevate the event. Me personally, when I

first heard about the possibility of having Club America here, I mean,

my heritage, I'm Mexican. I grew up watching Club América, so

that's something that, you know, just has been ingrained into my culture and my life

growing up. So, you know, coming from that perspective, I immediately knew

just that the— what a big chance and opportunity this is, just not for us

just here in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas, but for the whole state of Arkansas. Speaking

to what, you know, Pedro said, historically, this is the first time there's going to

be a doubleheader match in the state of Arkansas with two international

professional club teams. And that's, I mean, for us to be in

2026 and be able to accomplish that in a year where it's a World Cup

FIFA year as well, I think that's just incredible momentum. And it just speaks to,

as well, to our community, you know, what our community wants. Like I said, our

community is passionate about sports. We know how to watch sports. We know how to

attend sporting events. So anytime that we get an opportunity to

create accessibility for our community to be able to host events

of this caliber here locally. We're, you know, we are always

100%, you know, ready, ready to invest and, you know, just

see how we can help out. And I mean, we've had a great time with

the, not only Club America, but also Tigres when they were here in town doing

some promo. We went around town, you know, to different businesses, stopped

by the University of Arkansas basketball game, you know, hung out with some

of the students there as well. So yeah, it was a great time and it's

just great to see the community really just rally behind it and be super excited.

So from our end, you know, we're hopeful that this is a continuing—

we were able to continue this and, you know, make it a recurring and for

people to know that, hey, you know, you go to Fayetteville and you watch, you

go to watch big events and, you know, be a part of it. Yeah. And

I want people that are listening to this to recognize that the U of A

doesn't give up their Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium

often for many things. I mean, you've had Garth Brooks had a concert there,

but outside of that, outside of SEC football, and some high school

football games, the University of Arkansas does not make that

stadium available. And I'm really— I can't wait to see a soccer

match at that stadium. So sightlines are great. I mean, there's just,

just so many aspects about it. But back to what I was saying earlier

about the rapid growth of soccer here in the United States. For many

years now, we're seeing that reflected right here in Northwest Arkansas. I

mentioned some of the youth leagues. We've got the college program. I want to

say the women's University of Arkansas women's soccer program

has been a top 10 or top 20 ranked team in

soccer in Division I for women, which is huge. There

is a real soccer culture taking root here.

How will an event like this particularly

connect to the local grassroots movements that we have with

soccer? And what does that relationship look like? Did you connect with

some of the local teams to kind of bring them on board to support what

you're doing with Club America? Glad that you mentioned it, Randy.

Yet when we first started to see

Northwest Arkansas as the next project to have a big event as a

Golden Clash, it was around 2 years ago, a little bit more than

2 years ago, where the initial conversations with the university

started. And we got connected by the university

to Parks and Rec in Bentonville. And that was the first approach

through the university and then Parks and Rec. Actually, Parks and Rec, Penn and

Bill, their whole youth structure has been

playing with a Club America crest on their uniform since 2

years ago. That's a sponsorship of Club America with Parks

and Rec to, as a first step of getting into, into

the community. Right. And right now that it's almost

time that we materialize that with the Golden Clash. We've been really

involved, and this is where I mentioned that Jose was only an

example. The Comets FC with Samir has been

great and wanted to get involved in the Golden Clash. He's going to host actually

a youth soccer clinic the day before the match on Friday, 27th,

where he's inviting all the youth soccer clubs in the region to

participate in a dynamic that they're going to be able to win tickets to the

game and different prizes. Club America is going to be there with some former players

and mascots just interacting with the community. We went

last February 14th here with Jose and we're all

over town just trying to spread the word. And also we had

someone reach out from Ozark United. I think

I might get mixed up on the title, but it's their general

manager, Wes, that has been amazing

with us. And he's also going to be actually the lead and

the main point of contact for a youth soccer parade that we're

trying to put together for the match, which, I mean,

mainly what is going to consist is of inviting kids to the match to

be able to parade in between matches, in between the women's and the men's match,

wearing their club uniform, just kind of proudly and

showcasing that to the stadium, to the audience, and trying to make

part of that soccer community you're mentioning that's already existing in

Northwest Arkansas and rapidly growing. A part of the Golden Clash, right?

And glad you also mentioned the women's program at the, at the

Razorback Stadium. It's amazing. We've had some conversations with

coach and with the operation staff over there and really just

shooting ideas of what can be done between them and us, not

only for the Golden Clash, but for the future. We think it could be very

beneficial for us. And as you say, how do we make this

initiative stay over time? Keeping on building and

helping that soccer keep on growing in the region.

Yeah. Now that's exciting. I would love to see a pipeline

from the Women's University of Arkansas soccer

program to what you guys are doing because, you know, a lot of people,

there's never really like a clear line between playing, you

know, either in high school or in college and then going

and playing in in the pros. And so there's so

many different steps that have to be taken to ultimately get

to that space that when you are able to create a

situation where you create a clear path for people, I think it's really—

I certainly applaud what you guys are doing. And I'm excited to hear that. This

question I have, Jose, for you with regard to

just the behind the scenes. When a major event like this comes to

town, there's obviously the match, which we're all excited for. And

what's the date of that match? The match is going to be on Saturday, March

28th. OK, all right, Saturday, March 28th. We'll make sure

we put all that— all that information will be in the show notes. And we'll

make sure that people have the ability to come check that out. But I

wanted to kind of find out, there's the broader experience. And

you kind of alluded to fan activation, community

engagement, economic impact. Can you talk about what that

ecosystem looks like, especially from the Experience Fayetteville side of

things? And why it matters beyond just the game day.

Yeah, no, absolutely. So from our side, as Experience Fable, you know, we do

rely on our community and local stakeholders to assist in,

you know, making sure that events are successful, right? We don't

fully upfront produce any events. We work as facilitators,

right? So what that means is, you know, when an event organizer

or a business organization approaches us, we

serve as that connector to make sure that they have all the tools and all

the connections necessary to make sure that their event is successful, right? And

that can look in a couple different ways. We pride ourselves in being able to

offer value-in-kind services at the top level, as well as, you

know, incident funding if necessary as well. And of course, all the marketing

and PR efforts as well. And, you know, in terms of,

you know, just economic impact for us, you know, we're, we, that's our main goal

as an organization is to identify time periods throughout the calendar year

in Fayetteville where we see that there's a need for

economic impact and a need for events to bring in people from out of town,

visitors, and, you know, drive that spend, right? Because not only are people

going to be attending the match, right? They're going to come in, they're going to

drive into town. That means they're going to probably stop at a gas station. They're

going to stop at a restaurant. They're hopefully going to stay at a hotel, you

know? And so we want to make sure that we are promoting ourselves as a

destination where, hey, You're not just coming for this particular event, but

we have a whole town of things to do. We're so lucky to

have, you know, all the natural greenery around us with the Razorback

Greenway, Mount Kessler, Centennial Park, just to name a

couple of the green spaces that we have here and we're lucky to have here.

So I always say, you know, anytime we can get a visitor for

the first time into Fayetteville, they're going to get hooked and they're going to want

to come back again. And we've seen that with data. We've been able to show

that, you know, we are a destination where people do want to come back and,

you know, they pick out their vacations and, you know, make time to, to do

that with our families and, you know, with friends as well. I think also—

It's huge. Yeah. It's huge. Yeah. It is. Because when I think about

specifically, and I didn't mean to cut you off, but like, I think of like

all the time that I've spent in Tulsa with my son or in Dallas or

in Kansas City. And I think about all of the different,

like, I, we were down in Dallas for the regionals and I mean, there were

people from all over the South and Southeast and Southwest region of the United

States. I mean, I saw every license plate from Florida

to New Mexico. And so, I mean, there was a lot of people

there and I could only imagine the amount of revenue that came in,

in the hotels and the restaurants and all of the other ancillary

things that go into a local community that gets

supported. And I can only imagine what businesses

here in Northwest Arkansas are gonna experience when Club

América comes to town and brings with them all of

that excitement and just, you know, the anticipation for what

the event is going to be. It's more than just a soccer

game, and I think people need to understand that and recognize that. I

mean, there are businesses that the lifeblood of that business will

be infused because of the participation of people coming to

this Club América event. So there's always that connection that sometimes I

think we forget about, that makes it not just a, you know, from

a civic-minded aspect of pride, but an

economic impact. And then just the idea of

growing the sports culture around soccer and what that

represents in our community. So, and I could go on and on, but I mean,

I'm preaching to the choir with you guys. You understand it, but I do want

our listeners to understand the significance of having an event

like Club America, having a team like Club America, an event like

the Golden Clash come here to Northwest Arkansas. Yes, yes,

absolutely. And just to kind of reiterate your point, for us as an

organization, one of our main pillars is to keep community at heart, right? And so

everything that we do, we always want to make sure that our community is benefiting

not just in the short run, but also in the long run of things, right?

And working with Club America like this, it's given us the

opportunity to create accessibility for our community to be able to attend

matches of this caliber in their hometown. So yeah, no, absolutely

what you said, I agree. And yeah, we're super excited to be able to have

all these visitors come into town and have them here in Fayetteville. Well, and

I'm looking forward to the traffic because that'll be— it'll be a good problem to

have for sure. So Pedro, I want to ask you this question

because as we're heading into a major moment for soccer

here in North America with the World Cup coming in this summer in

2026, how do events like this particular

event, the Golden Clash, How does that fit into the larger

momentum and what does it mean for cities like Fayetteville to

be a part of that conversation? I mean, just being,

it's really hard for the venues that are already hosting a World

Cup match, right? So us as a soccer team and not as a

soccer nation, which really you don't have 100% to

do at the World Cup, we try to find this, that's another

reason of the market, find these places which we can still showcase and make

the place a part of the broader soccer movement and not

only the World Cup, right? Because all the brands right now want to be into

soccer. All the cities right now want to be into soccer. And there is

only a handful of cities that are going to get World Cup matches,

right? So it's just trying to be on that wave, be on that chatter that

is also happening from every podcast, every news, every

TV, on the radio. I mean, that is the conversation right now, right? So

we're Putting Club America in that conversation and putting the place where the events

are happening in that conversation is part of the plan. And is,

I mean, after that big event happens, it's not like it's just gonna come and

go, right? As you, soccer's already growing in the region and in the country.

And when the World Cup goes, the only thing that's gonna happen is that's gonna

boost that even more, right? So if this is a first step

with soccer growing and with this event happening, the World Cup in the United States.

For next year's, it's just going to be easier in a way,

right? To still have soccer, still have that presence there. And a

way of doing it and trying to connect that with Jose and you were

just saying of the experience, I guess the overall experience

around the match, at least what we've encountered with most of our fans in the

US and that Hispanic and Latino community, is that they

see the match not only as a match, but that's

an opportunity to go and connect with their community. Some of them, it's a

ritual. This is what my father and my grandfather did. And they

told me about how they went to soccer match and then left and they had

their tailgate. And around that, that's how we're trying to

build also the fan fest, right? For the community and the fan that

goes to the match gets the full experience of not only a match,

but being here in the fan fest with all the brands activating. And you'll be

able to be just hanging around, getting to know the Club

America legends, the Tigres legends. Having pictures with the trophies, the

mascots, and all the other brands that are going to be there, right? And sponsors

just trying to engage with the community with different types of sampling and

just making a party out of it. That's also a big thing

that englobes the overall event and that not just two soccer matches,

right? Yeah, no, and you said it. I mean, the folks around here

know about a tailgate, that's for sure. And so I think that's going to be

exciting to see. And that's why I expect that

even all of the festivities around the actual Golden Clash on that day,

on that Saturday, are going to be simply amazing. Listen, I want to be

respectful of your time. And as we kind of wind this up,

Jose, I want to kind of bring this home for people that—

for people that want to experience events like this, whether it's

this particular match, the Golden Clash, or future international

competitions, what do they need to know about how to stay

connected, how to get tickets and plug into what's

happening in the region, especially here in Fayetteville? Yeah,

absolutely. So from our side, you know, we always want to be that go-to resource

for our communities and for the state as a whole. The easiest way to stay

up to date with everything that we're investing in and helping produce and bring into,

into town would be through our website, experiencefable.com. We have

an online community calendar on there that our marketing team does a great job of

making sure that it's, you know, all the important information and always up to

date. On that calendar, we usually typically list about anywhere from 300

to 500 events a month. So we're really locked into

making sure that we're able to be a resource for people, not just that

are already in our community, but people that are coming into TownMade for the first

time. The other way to be able to stay connected too is through our

Instagram and Facebook. On Instagram, I think right now we boast right around

over 70,000 followers on Instagram, and we're always making sure to

stay up to date with everything that's going on in the town. So those are

just two quick, simple ways that people can always stay engaged to

see what's happening in Fable next. I love that. I love that. And so, and

Pedro, I'm going to ask you, for people that want to follow Club

America, what's the easiest way for them to do that? Can you give us your

website and maybe your preferred social media handle so

people can start following you guys? Yeah, definitely. I mean, for the

social media handles, it's Club America altogether for the

social media platform of your preference. I guess

Instagram, well, depends on the age group you're talking to, right? I know, right? Yeah,

you have to take that into consideration because some people are on Facebook, some

people are not, some people on Snapchat. So, and we'll put, just for

everybody listening to this, and I don't want anybody to have an accident trying to

write this down if they're driving while they're listening to this episode, but we'll

put all of this in the show notes so that we'll make sure I'll get

all of the social media contacts and handles from Pedro so

that on your preferred social media platform you can

follow Club America. And the same thing for Experience

Fayetteville, which I've had a number of years of history and interaction

with, and they do an amazing job, just like Jose said, of creating

awareness around all of the activities happening here,

primarily in Fayetteville, but also Northwest Arkansas in general,

right? Because I think, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Jose, but even

though, you know, you focus on Fayetteville, you are focusing on

Northwest Arkansas, as is the folks up at Visit Bentonville and

elsewhere. And so we all look collectively as if we have

success here in Northwest Arkansas, we all benefit because I can

tell you right now, Even though this event will be held in Fayetteville, from

Fayetteville all the way up to Bella Vista will benefit from people being here in

the region for the Golden Clash event with Club America.

Am I right, Jose? Yeah, absolutely. No, you, you hit it right on. Um, it's

a big win for us here in Fayetteville, but you know, for Northwest Arkansas, the

surrounding cities, but also for the state as a whole, right? And you know, anytime

that we can, you know, put Fayetteville and the great state of Arkansas on the

map, you know, it's a win-win situation for everybody. And so we're fortunate that we

work with some of the other DMOs who are really open to being collaborative with

us. So yeah, it's, it's a team effort. Yeah, it is. It is for sure.

It is for sure. Randy, now that you mentioned that, if anyone listening is a

little bit like me and likes to leave stuff till the end, an important

note before you go is that Razorback State Football Stadium is

a cashless building, right? So if you plan to come on that day and buy

your ticket, bring your card, right? Yes. Yes. If you plan on going before,

the tick box ticket office is is open also. If you're not a digital

person, you can go straight to the box office and do it anytime from Monday

to Friday as well. Yeah. Yeah. And we're going to put in all of the

events around this that, that where young people can, where the

soccer clinics and all that. Samir is a soccer legend

here in Northwest Arkansas. And so everything that he's done with the Comets and

for the game of soccer has been tremendous. I even, my son used to play

for Samir, but I mean, you know, we, we have a lot of people like

Samir in Northwest Arkansas that want to see this game

grow to epic proportions. And so, you know,

what you're doing, Pedro, by bringing your team here

to participate is excellent. And I really, I really want to applaud

the efforts of your club, which is over 100 years old,

of making the commitment to come to Northwest Arkansas to share the beautiful

game with our region and what that's going to mean, not just for

us right now and what that will mean for that Saturday, that you have

the event, but also what it will mean for the future. So I hope this

is just the first of several conversations where we're talking about

major international-level soccer coming to Northwest

Arkansas because this region is primed for it. Thank

you. We're really excited to be there. The date is almost there, and I'm

looking forward to seeing the Arkansas hospitality on

March 28th. Yeah, no, I appreciate it, man. You guys are going to do a

great job and I will be there. With bells on. Excited to see it.

The only disappointment is that my son, who is a soccer player, is

physically in Spain right now learning Spanish and playing soccer. So

he'll have to hear about it secondhand from me. But hopefully next year

when you guys come back, or the year after, I'll make sure that he's in

the stands with me as well. So, but listen, I want to thank you both

very much for joining us on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas

podcast. Pedro Garza, Jose Romero, we appreciate you guys coming

out and spending a little bit of time sharing about the Golden Clash

and the beautiful game of soccer that's coming right here to Northwest Arkansas.

Yeah, thank you, Randy, for having us. We appreciate it, you know, from the Experience

Fayetteville side and, you know, just giving us a, giving us a voice to be

able to promote this event. And yeah, we're super excited. And like, again, you know,

we just want to invite all the community and everybody, you know, in the surrounding

areas to come out there March 28th, Saturday, come to Fan Fest,

come to the women's match, come to the men's match. Stay for the parade. It's

going to be a great time. That's awesome. Pedro, you want to— Thank you, Randy.

Thank you for the time. And happy to be here and excited to be there

next week. OK, that's awesome. Yeah. And for anybody listening to

this after the fact, just bookmark this episode because this is not—

this is just going to be the first of many events like this. And we

really want to encourage you to stay in touch with both of these organizations,

Experience Fayetteville and Club America, for new things that will be happening

in the future. That was Pedro Garza from Club

América and José Romero from Experience Fayetteville

talking about what it means when world-class soccer comes

to Northwest Arkansas. If you wanna stay connected to major events happening

in Fayetteville, whether it's soccer, festivals, conferences,

or whatever's next, head over to

experiencefayetteville.com. That's where you'll find the

latest on what's coming to the region, and how to be a part of it.

This is the kind of moment that reminds me why I started this podcast in

the first place so many years ago. Northwest Arkansas isn't just

growing, we're competing on a global stage. We're attracting

international attention. We're building something that didn't exist a

generation ago. And honestly, it's just really cool to

see what's possible when a community invests in itself

and shows up. As always, thanks for listening to I Am Northwest

Arkansas. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with someone who loves

soccer or someone who's curious about where this

region is headed. Until next time, I'm Randy Wilburn, and

this is the I Am Northwest Arkansas podcast.

I'll see you next week. Peace.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of I Am Northwest

Arkansas. Check us out each and every week available

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