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Meet Tanner McLeod of 4Real Sports, Atlanta United Fan TV in Midtown

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Tanner McLeod.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I actually moved to Atlanta to pursue a career in acting back in 2016. I’ve always been passionate about being a storyteller and with the boom in the film industry that Atlanta was experiencing I thought it would be a much easier transition that to move to LA or New York.

My other passion in life outside of storytelling is soccer. I grew up a rabid Manchester United fan and I knew that Atlanta would be getting an MLS team shortly after I moved. I bought a season ticket immediately. I didn’t know what to expect with Atlanta United but I knew that it was professional soccer and that I needed to be apart of it. What I didn’t expect was the community that would form around Atlanta United and the impact that it would have on my life. When the team started playing at Bobby Dodd in 2017, I was hooked immediately. The atmosphere was incredible and I could see that something special was in the works. This team was here to win.

Towards the end of the season, I started working at the Team Store in Atlantic Station. I had needed a new job and the thought of getting to interact with the fans every day was appealing to me. It was through this job that I became connected with AJ who runs the YouTube channel “Atlanta United Fan TV.” The “Fan TV” concept was something that started around four years ago with a channel that at the time was known as “Arsenal Fan TV” but now goes by “AFTV.” They realized that the fans were not having their voices heard or having their opinions expressed in any easily consumable way. They started with “fancams.” A fancam is when you get a fan immediately after the game is over to come and talk on camera about what happened and the effects of the match on the season. It worked perfectly. Now almost every major team in England has one or even two fan channels that discuss their club and what’s happening with it. AJ figured that if the idea could work in England then why could it not work in Atlanta as well?

We started our weekly podcast “5 Stripe Weekly” at the end of the 2017 season and haven’t looked back. To this point, we’ve done over 100 episodes of the podcast not to mention countless fancams. We have been lucky enough to film videos with Atlanta United players Tito Villalba and Brek Shea, as well as the #1 DJ in Atlanta DJ EU. It’s been a grind and I can’t praise AJ’s hard work and determination enough to help get the channel to where it is today.

As much as I love Atlanta United Fan TV, I realized that there was something missing for me still. I was loving what I was doing but I wasn’t necessarily a storyteller. It was through Atlanta United Fan TV that I met my business partner Devon Lewow as well as Kelly Frances and Jay Riddle. Devon and I started 4Real Sports because we wanted to tell the stories that sports naturally provides us. It was because of the connections that we established through 4Real Sports that we were able to film a documentary surrounding the 2019 US Open Cup Final. The final saw Atlanta United defeat Minnesota United to win their first-ever US Open Cup and claim their third major trophy in less than a year. The crazy part was how everything came together. We managed to plan, shoot, and edit the entire video in less that two weeks time. It was a complete whirlwind. I can’t speak highly enough of Jay and his editing abilities, Kelly’s producing and interviewing skills, and Devon’s refusal to take no for an answer until the project was completed. What we realized after the documentary was that we had the ability to document unique stories through the prism of sports.

With both Atlanta United Fan TV and 4Real Sports, I’m lucky to be apart of great teams that care deeply about the work that they do. I’m eagerly looking forward to what the future holds with both.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has absolutely not been a smooth road. What I learned during my time as an actor is that you hear “no” a lot more times than you hear “yes.” It’s been like this with both Atlanta United Fan TV and 4Real Sports. There’s times when you think you have something big on the horizon only for things to fall through. The most important thing is to keep going and trust your passion if you do that you will be okay. That’s how the US Open Cup documentary came together. We initially believed that we would be going to LA to film a similar documentary around the LA Derby between LAFC and the LA Galaxy. Things didn’t work out but we took that disappointment and channeled it into something positive.

Please tell us about 4Real Sports, Atlanta United Fan TV.
I’m lucky to be apart of two passionate yet different companies. Atlanta United Fan TV is working to be the largest and most influential fan channel in MLS not just now but in the years to come. If you have a desire to learn about not just Atlanta United but soccer as well then Atlanta United Fan TV is the place to go. We have weekly podcasts, match previews, fancams, as well as unique content such as our videos with players for Atlanta United. If I had to say the one thing I’m most proud of it would be the progress that the channel has made since it’s inception despite working within a very niche community and environment. Again, I can’t say enough about the hard work that AJ has put in to make this possible.

4Real Sports is still in its infancy as a company. We have already created some incredibly unique fan driven content such as our US Open Cup documentary but we are by no means where we’d like to be yet. What makes us unique from other production companies is that we are ourselves fans and we know what types of content fans want to see. We have a bright future and I can’t wait to see what we do next

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Man, that’s actually a really hard question. I was lucky to have experienced some pretty unique things as a kid. The best for me though would probably have been the time that I RV’d across the country and went backpacking for two weeks in the Rocky Mountains with my dad. That was pretty special and something that I will always remember.

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Atlanta United Fan TV, 4Real Sports

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