Fort Report

I came across the Free Beer Movement while listening to an episode of Waiting for Gaetjens, a podcast co-hosted by Revs color analyst Greg Lalas.  In a nutshell, the idea behind the Free Beer Movement is the best way to get people to become fans of American soccer is to lure them to a game with beer:

Like Soccer? Enjoy Beer? Have Friends? Do they enjoy beer? Do they like soccer?

If you answered “yes” to the first four questions, but “no” to the last one, then this is the site for you!

Welcome to the Free Beer Movement where we are promoting one simple idea:

Invite your friends to see a soccer match and buy them a beer.

The premise behind this “movement” is grassroots in it’s purest form.  And those who have been around the Midnight Riders have seen this philosophy in action.   When I walk around tailgates, I talk to a lot of friends who speak of how there would be no way they would go to as many games if it wasn’t for the good times enjoyed in the parking lot.  While all that is going on, many get drawn into the game and the team and it becomes every bit a part of their lives as the people who originally brought them.

The atmosphere in The Fort only benefits from this process.  Beers help to dull the insecurities many may have about singing or chanting in unison in support of your team.  Many find it fun, or at the very least unique.  It’s one of the hooks that makes the American soccer experience work for a lot of us.  Simply telling your friends what goes on just doesn’t cut it.  Offering them free beer to get them to the stadium to see for themselves does should do the trick.

All that being said, just make sure there are plans in place to drink responsibly to make sure everyone gets home safely afterwords.  Turning someone into a soccer fan only helps when they are able to make it back to games in the future.

I’d write more about this, but it’s so profoundly simple.  I’d like to see some select tailgates set aside for free beer buckets.  Maybe spread the word around and have Midnight Riders members give “donations”.  Could be a good recruitment tool.  Bring a friend knowing there would be free beer already there, invite other Revs fans over to the tailgate, etc…

But yeah, next season be sure to offer some of your finicky non-soccer fan friends free beer.  You never know who you’ll convert.

Here’s some promo links to the FBM blog: