ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brian Auld put his draft beer in his cup holder and took a few steps up to a perch just above midfield at Al Lang Stadium.



Auld, 41, the president of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, was watching his unbeaten Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer club against the Kansas City-based Swope Park Rangers on Saturday, May 25. The Stanford grad became co-chairman of the Rowdies when the Rays purchased the United Soccer League team in October, but he looked more like a fan on this breezy evening on the sprawling St. Pete waterfront.



Auld had shed his suit for shorts and a green, long-sleeved Rowdies T-shirt. And while Auld kept an eye on the Rays game in Cleveland on the MLB app of his iPhone, he seemed as locked into the soccer match as the fans in the drum-beating, constantly chanting “Ralph’s Mob” section. You can see how soccer was Auld’s first love: The former high school all-conference midfielder (pictured below)...