What started with four guys, a few laptops, and a bunch of data might turn into something special for the MLS expansion side
In the beginning, for San Diego FC, it was three guys in a room, with laptops, and a club to form. They didn’t have a manager, technical staff or any players. Instead, they had data – lots of it.
It was an odd environment, at first, San Diego Sporting Director Tyler Heaps admitted. There were numbers to be crunched, players to be analyzed, and previous examples to be studied. It was hard to know where to start.
Well, that was just more than a year ago, and San Diego are now not only the best team in the Western Conference, but also have a decent claim – through 25 games – to being the best MLS expansion franchise in recent memory. Their expansion – pun intended – has been a rapid, data-driven approach in which an incoming club cut through noise, expectations and soccer preconceptions to construct a team capable of competing in MLS. Immediately.
And their dreams aren’t exactly slowing down.
“There’s still a ways to go, but so far so good,” CEO Tom Penn told GOAL.
