This week on the podcast, host Scott Lewis sat down with soccer star Landon Donovan as well as Warren Smith, who founded the United Soccer League team Sacramento Republic.

Together, they say they’re going to bring a new USL team to San Diego. USL is the second tier of professional soccer in the United States. In 2018, Donovan endeavored to launch a Major League Soccer team with the now defunct SoccerCity plan. But this new venture has a key advantage: It’s not looking for a dime of public money or land.

“When I took a step back after SoccerCity didn’t pass last year, I tried to figure out what I was so passionate about in that project,” Donovan said. “What was important to me were two things: one was San Diego; two was soccer. Bringing soccer here to San Diego, my new hometown.”

The team, which has yet to be named, will play in the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium. Smith said it’s going to be hard to launch the team by this winter but they’re going to try. They’re looking for investors to help pay the $10 million fee to join the league and expenses. Warren wouldn’t disclose the total amount of investment they’re seeking.

The interview with Donovan and Smith starts at 22:10.

Trump: San Diego Mayor Thanked Me for the Wall. Mayor: No.

Also on the show this week, Lewis, along with co-hosts Sara Libby and Andrew Keatts discussed a recent meeting between Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and President Donald Trump.

Who could have possibly predicted Faulconer losing control of the narrative here?

Following the meeting, both Faulconer and Trump had different accounts of what was discussed. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office attributed the mixed messages to the president’s use of “his own terminology.”

Lewis has a write-up on it you should really check out.

Other News This Week

During her now-famous valedictorian speech, Nataly Buhr of San Ysidro High School laid out some grievances with certain school staff members. The charge that got the loudest reaction from the audience — and some internet umbrage — was that a teacher regularly came to class intoxicated.

This drew takes. And takes on those takes. Libby laid hers down in the show.

Also, as Lewis and Keatts noted in the most recent Politics Report, the San Diego Housing Commission is looking to combat the region’s housing crisis by taxing owners of vacant apartments.

At the commission’s board of director’s meeting, the board’s chairwoman asked to study the potential tax.

This came days after Los Angeles City Council raised the prospect of a 2020 ballot measure to penalize property owners who let homes sit empty. The hosts got into what that could mean for San Diego.

Listen Now

• Listen on Apple

• Listen on Google

• Listen on Spotify