Face: good, solid 7 1/2

Body: good, solid 7 1/2

Personality: good, solid 7 1/2

Can you believe Rosie O'Donnell is funny in this obscure reference?

Nobody expected the new setup to go off flawlessly, and it didn’t.  However, the area behind the North goal (which I’m starting my one man crusade today to call it “Fort End”) did look much more visually appealing than it had in the past.  This is due to both the team tarping off the top of the section and the new supporter group “The Rebellion” spreading out the Fort across 141.  And the overflow went into the sections to the right, so there was plenty of places to sit in 140 and 139.  That’s a big upgrade from filling all 38 rows of section 143 and the crowd slanting downwards.  More fans were closer to the action, a very good thing.

I think everyone agrees that the capo stand is a good idea, but it’s much too low.  The two people who volunteered to take up that position (Midnight Riders own Monty and Garrett) should be commended.  It takes balls to get up there and try something new, knowing you will be on the spot.  The big thing I think we learned is that the capo needs to be more of a visual lead than an audible one.  Even with the new police standard megaphone on the way (how Rev Army got one, don’t ask), I think it’s so much more important for the capo to be a visual aid.

Here’s some suggestions for future capos:

1. Utilize assistants in various parts of The Fort. I believe this is one of the serious ideas that came out of the meeting of the minds during the off season.  I think it’s important for these folks to get with the capo before each half and make sure they are on the same page as to how chanting will be communicated.

2. Number the song sheet and use those numbers to alert section on impending songs/chants. This would save a lot of the “what chant is he starting” confusion from sections 143 and 141.  A lot of times on Saturday, the Midnight Riders and Rebellion only got wind of chants when they were almost done.

3. Use a baton to synchronize the drummers. I think this is an excelsior idea.  Basically, something as large as a thunderstick (but definitely not an actual thunderstick) that the capo can pound on the capo stand.  Maybe a thin plastic pipe surrounded by foam.  It doesn’t have to be used for every chant (maybe some sort of a bag up there is in order to keep the props), but the ones which it can be helpful for are obvious.  Hold up the stick for “Rev-o-lution” and then pound the capo stand for the clapping.  Point the stick towards you for the call portions of songs like “Oh when the Revs”, pointing it to the crowd for the response, and then pound the capo stand to synch up the drums for the part where we all sing.

Shout belligerently, and carry a big stick!

Before I go forward, what is a “capo” anyway?  Is it a musical term or a soccer poseur name for a captain?  Either way, the assistants should be called “captains”.  “Assistant” makes you sound like a wuss.

Anyway, the thing I see key for the capo is having him/her (I’m being nice, we’ll never follow a girl as they make lousy leaders of cheer) a visual aid.  I think certain times in the game need to be set aside for certain songs and when key chants are being started, hand signals used to pass along as to what chant.  As the capo, you shouldn’t have to start every chant.  If you hear one being started, something that can be done is point the baton to the area of The Fort doing it while holding up a number signal as to which one it is.  Continue pointing until a verse ends and then pick right up doing the visual signals you would normally use for that specific chant.  Basically, the capo can also act as a facilitator as well as a leader in The Fort.

As for as the captains, they should really try to be the ones getting the clapping going, hopefully while keeping an eye on the baton to keep the beat.  Some of the leaders also have drums.  That’s great, too.  Just try to stay synchronized and have others nearby keeping the clapping going.

Speaking of drums, I like them.  They keep the noise going during downtime and can be an excellent focal point.  The issues we always have is keeping them from being offbeat, confusing some that want to participate in chants.  The capo can act as a way to get the drummers in alignment.  There’s a few ways to do this.  The first is getting a few drummers right in front of the stand, basically blowing away any competing beats.  Not a bad idea, but we should welcome everyone who brings a drum to support the Revs.  The capo should be on the lookout during down times for such beats being started by drummers in remote areas of the supporters section.  If possible, point to them in the same fashion I mentioned to facilitate chants to get the attention in that direction, and then start banging the baton in that beat.  A gesture like that can be the difference from a supporter feeling left out and ostracized to one who will be willing to promulgate what we are trying to do in those sections.

There’s a few more methods I think could work.  But if these ideas make sense to a lot of people, I would like to volunteer to be capo for the first half of the Colorado game to implement some of these ideas.  I’ve often watched a lot of the games on the scoreboard while turned away from the action trying to get chants aligned.  I don’t mind facing that way.  I had decent success keeping rhythm on the base guitar in my youth, and I would like to think I’ve been around long enough to know how The Fort ticks.

Anyway, we have nearly two weeks before the next match.  There will probably be a lot less pedestrian traffic next time, it would be an opportune time to work on some improvements.

So I’m not big on 2010 so far.  However, this Saturday the Revs open up their home schedule at Gillette Stadium.  I have to admit, I hadn’t been too excited about the team or league during the off season.  However, thanks to Kenny Mansally, I feel the bug coming on.  For reasons beyond my control, I’ve missed all of the fan-related festivities.  The 1st ever supporter’s summit, the Rider’s meeting, and the season ticket holder gathering.  Truthfully, I was only mildly disappointed about missing some of the team stuff.  Some great news did come out of all that, some of which has me excited about the upcoming campaign.

The first and foremost are the changes to The Fort.  Take a look at this picture:

Looks like they are truncating the supporters sections.  Not to “toot” my own horn about that idea, but “toot-toot”.  Now, let’s see how it all plays out.  Since I vowed to make this blog a Fort-centric theme, lets get cracking on some predictions:

Prediction #1: On “normal” nights, we won’t fill the sections enough where everyone is standing.  That’s a cruel prediction to start off with, but I think I’m spot on with this.  I’ll get to ways we can rectify this later.

Prediction #2: The capo stand will take some time getting used to, but will become vitally important. For those who don’t know, they have installed a bit of an elevated stand at the bottom of the 142-143 aisle

Prediction #3: No matter what, people will complain. Some people are going to be bent out of shape not being able to lounge up top.  I hope they have a section open on the other side of the field to accommodate them.

Let me elaborate further on how I think this will go down.  For the game this Saturday, I foresee a fairly packed Fort.  We usually get decent crowds there for our openers.  With the reduced space, section 143 will fill up quickly.  It’s where people are used to standing.  The new supporter group, The Rebellion, has claimed section 141.  I am not privy to their numbers, but if they can fill their first eight rows, I’ll be very impressed.  That leaves the middle section 142, where Rev Army will need help getting standing supports.  If not, it’ll look divided and weird.

The key to this will be getting multiple rows of supporters, from 141 to 143, standing, singing, and waiving flags, to purge the area of people who would sabotage the effort of improving the section from a “participating supporter” perspective.  Providing The Rebellion does it’s job of securing the front rows, some people need to get in there 10-15 mins before kickoff and start saving spots, especially in 142.  Rev Army had been around rows 7-15 in 142 for most of last season, so just getting the first 3-4 rows could be the key.

This may seem like bullying other types of supporters, and in a way it is.  The team has been making “concessions” to make The Fort a better area for them to use to better the experience at Gillette, and thus progress the fan base.  What about someone who just bought the cheapest tickets available and  wants to sit down and enjoy some good soccer?  They do have every right to a seat, and that’s where the team needs to be there come game time to kindly relocate.  Because I guarantee, some will take issue with the changes.

However, it may just come down to them moving over a section or two.  The key is we need to become territorial to the way the sections are set up.  Oh, and be polite as possible.  The new rules don’t give us the right to kick people out of their seats.  Which is why I think it’s important to start the singing 5 mins early.  A lot of the problems may be alieviated just by those who don’t wish to be around us finding another seat.  I remember watching a mass exodus of rows 5-15 of 143 right at kickoff of the 2008 opener.  But again, I hope the team has representatives there to facilitate any issues we have with fellow Revs fans.

And they may not have to go far.  I’m hoping we can pack all three sections with standing supporters.  By past experience, I think 143 and 142 is a real possibility.  But I think I’m going to go with my gut and predict there will be people sitting in the upper roes of at least 141 and 142.  That’s just a sober prediction, something I won’t be at kickoff tomorrow.

If The Fort is packed enough week over week, we’ll successfully claim it as an area for a specific kind of Revolution supporter.  That’s been one of the clear goals from the start.  If experience is any guide, it’ll be a bumpy road getting there.

I’ll be back next with a review oh how all these changes went down on Saturday.  Remember, bring your scarf and some blue streamers if you can hack it.

In my opinion, 2009 was a year of slight decline for The Fort.  Lower overall attendance affected the numbers in our section.  Although a lot of the “pedestrian traffic” mitigating the “gap” issues of years past (the gap being a series of rows of people just standing and not participating), it’s hard to say The Fort sounded better than it did in 2007 and 2008.  Granted, I’d slot 2009 ahead of 2003-2006 in regards to atmosphere, but clearly we didn’t make great strides.

Reasons?  Well, the economy cut down on the amount of games a good deal of regulars attended.  I have no clue as to the numbers, but I know several people who made less games.  The Season ticket holder lot on the North side was also very sparse.  Supposedly, the Defend The Fort ticket sales went well.  That added to the number of season ticket holders in The Fort, but a lot people I’ve spoken to who bought them were attending games regularly anyway.  Still a good idea, though.  At $200 for 18 games, you can’t go wrong.

The state of the team may have also worn on some of the supporter enthusiasm.  Let’s face it, that was some of the worst soccer by the home side since the start of 2004.  Granted, the recent run of form since then hadn’t seen a proportional rise in attendance for various reasons.  I also don’t think that it had a serious impact in keeping people away as the economy did.  However, there seemed to be something missing this year in regards to spirit/passion/whatever.

There’s also personal perspective that is skewing my opinion.  I didn’t come into the season with a lot of hope, and the team dropping key players like flies didn’t exactly get me pumped for the on-field festivities.  Throw in the fact I thought for certain I was moving out of town for work from August-October, and I wasn’t as excited to go to games as I was in years past.  Those factors could be throwing my assessment off.

On the plus side, I had a handful of memorable moments in The Fort this year.  Taylor Twellman’s two appearances got the place rocking.  In fact, that DC game was simply incredible after he came on at the half.  Beating New York 4-0 the next week is always fun and Twellman got his 100th and 101st goals.  In regards to chants, we have a new permanent fixture in “Mama, mama…”.  Flags finally got approved for permanent use thanks to the hard work of a few Midnight Riders.  We are forever grateful for time they put in to clear that ridiculous hurdle, as the flags adds to our gameday atmosphere.

Looking forward, I hope we can make 2010 the best year ever in The Fort.  There are whispers of a new banner.  We’re hoping the Barra can grow in Section 140.  There’s a new supporter group forming that wants to call Section 141 home.  The midnight Riders will still be loud and proud in Section 143.  Rev Army, wherever the heck they want.  If all this is the case, let’s hope the front office takes my advice from a previous post and tarps off the top rows, concentrating the supports horizontally.  If not, it will likely remain a scattered mess.

We’ll see.  One thing’s for certain, and that is I’ll be there all year once again.  The new theme of this blog will be to talk about the goings ons in The Fort, offering up critiques and letting everyone know about the unique culture we have developed in order to better support the Revs.

Cheers, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and see everyone in 2010!

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:

(Sidenote to the whole job thing: After I had applied for my GI Bill payments, ordered my old transcripts, tracked down my medical records, paid my application fees, took the testing where I reverse engineered all the calculus I forgot in the last 16 years to place as high as I could, designed a class schedule that would fast-track me to another degree when I’m done, and recopied 1/3 of my A-School notes so I can challenge a few courses, I got a call from my friend at that energy firm.  KPC&L called them up out of the blue and wanted to know if I was still interested and if I could start immediately!  We both chuckled.  Way to go, KCP&L!  Good luck raising rates 25% due to your wind offsets.)

So I’ll be here for the next two seasons at the very least.  I’m going to renew my season ticket, but dropping the extra one I had.  So, I should be making every game and will be in The Fort.  Hopefully I can use this blog space to help make it better.  Maybe use it to plan displays, pass along new song lyrics, etc…  Before I get to the title of this post, let me say a few things about the state of The Fort:

The Fort took a bit of a step backwards this year.  Sure, the $200 deal (which I love) had to have added to the number of season ticket holders.  I’ll probably write a future post on this subject, but it clearly didn’t add to the already existing numbers going to games for a number of reasons, a lot being economically-related.  Especially worrisome is the fact that more people came to see the team play during a cold water hurricane during the 2007 playoffs than were there on a stunning autumn afternoon in 2009.  The 2007 conference final had a completely packed, standing and singing section 143 on three business days to sell tickets.  On a week’s notice in 2009, section 143 was half full.  People just weren’t as excited as they were in years past, and that has much to do with the team’s malaise.  However, what used to be a coordination problem from too many “pedestrians” occupying lower-middle rows and not singing, turned into similar or worse noise with more of the regulars close together.  On the plus side, the flag situation has been resolved, and that will only get better.  Some of the younger people are stepping up and leading chants.  That’s always good to see.  But it was clearly a down year, something that can’t be ignored.  I’ll elaborate on all of those issues in the future.

Getting back to the point of this post, I wrote a little diddy back in May about what I think the team should do with Gillette Stadium.  I heard rumblings that the team would consider covering up some rows in The Fort, bringing the fans closer (not that it matters much with 7k people in the stadium).  I hope that’s not just hot air.  Here’s something else I think they should do:  Shift the field closer to the north, 7.5 feet to be exact.  I’ll explain the benefits to this, but first, why 7.5 feet?  Take a look at this picture:

Now squint, you stupid jerk!  Anyway, 7.5 feet equals 2.5 yards.  The center circle goes to the 40 yard lines.  The Patriots logo extends nearly 2 yards past the 45’s.  If you were to move the field, you don’t want that yellow circle touching (thus cursing forever) the Elvis Pats symbol.  I’m a Patriots fan, I can understand the inevitable freakout that would cause (even with the team reducing the number of gridiron games to two this year).  There’s also the question of space.  The field turf is cut off in the corners:

I think there’s enough room on the carpet.  If not, the sidelines may have to be brought in a foot or two.  7.5 feet will be short enough not to make the goal line cutting through the thick white endzone line.  It’s also not far enough to screw up the seating arrangement.  The centerline would then be around the 2nd or 3rd seat in section 109, not the middle of the row between sections 109 and 110.  So, the field can be moved.  Now, I’ll explain why they should do this:

With Giants Stadium being retired, it appears we will now be the league leader in distance from the endline to the endline seats.  I’m estimating it’s a good 35-40 feet from the stands to the goal line.  Getting the fans closer to the field will provide a greater home field advantage.  Moving the goal closer will also move down the row at which you see most of the action over the goal post.  If the plan is to tarp off a number of rows, this could be important to those in sections 142 and 143.  And better sightlines doesn’t just apply to The Fort, but all the sections that stretch to the west (where La Barra is located) as well sections 101-103, the primary seated Category 3 sections.

The area of the stadium this would obviously hurt would be the south end.  However, those seats are empty for most games of the season.  The only time you see a good number of people there is when there are large groups.  I would imagine a 7.5 foot move shouldn’t be a large enough change to matter for single game, younger fans.  Worried about what that does to the Cat 2 sightlines on that side?  Make section 115 Cat 3.  These things can be worked out.

The point being, you get the game closer to the most vocal and most regular fans in the lower cost seats without messing with the fans in the higher priced seats.  Security should still have enough room to patrol behind the north goal.  The positives surely outweigh the negatives here.  It’s value added to tickets that are already back to $20.  With the trend in attendance indicating they don’t have to worry about selling too many south end seats, I don’t see any reason why the team can’t do something like this.    It doesn’t even have to be 7.5 feet.

]]> http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/11/18/move-the-field-75-feet/feed/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/06/19/lower-division-soccer-and-its-state-in-new-england/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/06/19/lower-division-soccer-and-its-state-in-new-england/#comments Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:40:55 +0000 Jim Andruchow http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/?p=12 I am finding a hard time finding topics for this blog’s theme.  Oh well, I guess I’ll write about a guilty pleasure of mine: the state of lower league soccer in the US.  This article will cover it’s current state, how the local teams are doing, and a possible future for local sides.

MLS debuted in 1996 as a result of the 1994 World Cup hosting stipulation that there would be a first division league establish in the United States.  In between the Baggio field goal and Wynalda’s score, there was a resurgence in American soccer riding the coattails of the summer of ‘94.  Many investors, wishing to cash in on “that soccer thing”, funded the creation and proliferation of many minor league teams (compared to the forthcoming MLS).

I personally found out about one of them when I was rudely awakened from my Sunday slumber at 5 pm during my college days at Hofstra University (no coincidence I joined the Navy a few months later).  From my dorm room I could hear a cornucopia of drums, chants, and noise makers so I decided to hop the fence and walk down to Mitchell Field and check out the hubbub.  As it turned out it, it was the Long Island Rough Riders in a playoff match.  I recognized the keeper who was none other than Tony Meola, star of the 1990 and 1994 US National Teams.  Little did I know, Chris Armas and Giovanni Savarese were also in the lineup that night.  The crowd was decent and the fans were really into the game.  Not having seen American organized support for a pro team in my life, I thought it was pretty cool.  Granted, it was a subculture I would have never found out about unless I went to that game.  Many other teams sprang up around that time with similar success.  However, with MLS about to take up most of the market share and the soccer novelty to start to ware off a few years later, most of those teams went bust.  Over time, minor league soccer lost a lot of it’s funding, but it would survive.

The United Soccer Leagues emerged as the American soccer lower league system out of the unstable ashes of the USISL and the A-League.  It’s a lot more complex than that, just check out the wiki page.  Basically, investors came into those leagues and, with few exceptions, bled money until they could sell it off or fold.  Their top league (now USL-1) is a national league, while USL-2 and the Professional Development League (PDL) are regional to limit travel costs in order to make ownership and operation more affordable.  They set their first division up against MLS as a competitor (with little success), but USL’s major contribution to soccer in this country is their infrastructure.  USL encourages a “total club” approach.  Most of their PDL and USL-2 clubs, as well as some in USL-1, have many youth teams to compliment their senior side.  They also try to establish themselves as part of the community they are in.  The goal is to have these clubs draw from the immediate vicinity of their home ground and represent them in the American soccer ladder mush like lower league teams around the world draw their meager (but sustaining) fanbases.

Has this worked?  You can’t say it’s taken the USL to astronomical heights.  The amount of A-League teams (USL-1’s name through 2004, taking it’s name from a league it absorbed) shrunk from 28 to 12 teams between 1998 and 2006.  However, the amount of participation in top level youth soccer under the various “Y-Leagues” has flourished and teams with a sound structure and a senior team feed off of one another, making them more stable.  By going this route, USL is trying to emulate the success of the J-League in that it encourages clubs to build up their club’s financial, grounds, and participation structure as a way to qualify for a higher tier.

“Lower division soccer” definitely has a different connotation than “minor league soccer”.  In most countries, there is upward mobility through promotion.  Fans of a second or third tier team can support them for the long haul in hopes they will be champions of their country someday.  Minor league sports in the US implies the players you are watching are basically trying out for a spot on a pro team elsewhere, the outcome treated as secondary by their parent franchise.  Now, there is no promotion in US soccer.  If it ever happens, that’s quite a ways off.  There is the US Open Cup, but even with the chance to play an MLS team for a shot at bragging rights and pride, that annual cup competition hasn’t been a boon to many USL teams.  Another problem with shaking off the minor league tag is that unless you plan on going right into USL-1 and playing teams from the west coast to Puerto Rico, your next best option is USL-2, a league concentrated in the Northeast, ruling out most areas of the country for a start up professional soccer club.  Below that is the PDL, which covers nearly all of the United States and branches off into Canada.  The issue with that league is even though it’s the best place for owners to get their feet wet in team management, it’s a minor league in the American sense.  Players are often on their college breaks and play alongside amateurs, so there are few teams with well-established players or roots in their respective communities.  The prospects for organic growth in the US soccer ladder from the bottom up seems like a scant probability.

That all could be changing.  This year, the PDL offered it’s teams a “PDL-Pro” status.  From what I’ve gathered from the small amount of information available, is that PDL teams could opt to pay some or all of their players.  The big issue is you can’t use NCAA players on a team with professional players.  It also made it tricky for a non-college PDL player to go from a pro team to another team (involves filing paperwork).  As many as fifteen teams applied for that classification in January, but some teams like the expansion New Orleans Jesters pulled their application after they tightened the restrictions.  However, a few PDL teams have gone pro and that’s what makes this situation exciting from an American soccer ladder perspective.  Namely the Victoria Highlander, Kitsap Pumas SC (yes, a team had the balls to attach “soccer club” to their name), and the Hollywood United Hitmen.  There are likely others, but through my research I could only come up with the Rio Grand Valley Bravos referring to themselves as a pro team and with no college players are on the roster, so it’s likely they are also PDL-Pro.  That being said, the first three teams are where it’s at in regards to upward mobility.  Hollywood United are a rather famous club given the actors on their over 30/40 teams and Anthony LaPaglia on the board.  The other two teams are poised to move upward given Kitsap purchased the Sounders USL franchise and Victoria is ready to get Vancouver’s when they move to MLS.  Both teams have had decent early successs by PDL standards.  Another Northwestern PDL team, Seattle Wolves, has stated it’s desire to join a ULS-2 Western Conference.  Throw in two or more teams that are willing to make the jump to pro status, and you would have a league on the West Coast able to take in any other cities in the region where investors want to get in on on the pro soccer ground floor.  That just didn’t exist before.

Moving further west, the PDL situation is less rosy.  On the positive side, the PDL Mid South Division is actually an all Texas league.  However, even though they have the aforementioned RGV Bravos, Laredo Heat, El Paso Patriots, as well as the mildly successful Austin Aztex U-23’s, they nearly all play in Texas high school football stadiums.  The good news is they have sufficiently-sized stands for further growth.  The bad news is there is a large movement to install Sprint Turf at Texas high schools to save money on maintenance, which is less soccer friendly than Field Turf and can yield some very funky fields (check out the pics on the RGV Bravos site).  Moving into the Midwest, there are mainstays in the PDL in Iowa and Michigan.  The Des Moines Menace actually had an unsuccessful stadium drive about five years back, but they still draw and play well.  The Michigan Bucks have expressed the desire to build a small stadium on land they own and field a USL-1 team.  USL-2 would seem more logical, but are they too far west?  There’s also the expansion FC London (the “FC” stands for “Forrest City”) in Ontario who are doing well at the gate and could also move up.  The major problem with the aforementioned teams would be the increase in travel costs a promotion would incur.

PDL is quite the mixed bag.  I’ve mentioned the spotlight teams, but there’s also the Cascade Surge south of Portland, OR and the Mississippi Brilli who are actually missionary teams.  Go figure.  The US youth team residency has a team in the Southeast Division, but the vast majority are teams designed off of the model to get college players on their summer break.  Which leads us to the situation in the Northeast:

The vast majority of lower division growth in the Northeast has been in the Mid Atlantic area.  Stable USL-2 clubs like Harrisburg City, Wilmington, and Richmond have been augmented by DC area teams Real Maryland and Crystal Palace Baltimore.  That’s where the new investment seems to be in our neck of the woods.  There were a scant three USL teams in New England this year: the USL-2 Western Mass Pioneers, Rhode Island Stingrays, and New Hampshire Phantoms.  New Hampshire used to be in USL-2, but they went through economic demotion (much like the Long Island Rough Riders I spoke of earlier) into the PDL.  Of the three teams, neither can speak of much success.  Western Mass is surviving as a pro/semi pro team, but I haven’t seen anyone posting/blogging/speaking of them as a fan online ever.  I wish that weren’t the case.  I know very little about the Phantoms.  Again, I wish I knew more.

The most successful PDL club in New England history were the Cape Cod Crusaders.  They folded this year.  However, they were the senior men’s team for Mass Premier Soccer, who claim they will field a PDL team next year, somewhere else in Massachusetts.  Speaking of MPS, they formed Maine Pro Soccer ahead of this season and have several youth teams up to the Super-20 league.  Their senior team will be called the Portland Phoenix and will join the Vermont Voltage, who are playing an unofficial schedule in 2009 due to stadium concerns, in the PDL next season.

By the way, Portland will be playing a series of exhibitions matches starting tomorrow night.  If you are in Maine, I highly recommend supporting this team when it debuts.

Then we go to the Rhode Island Stingrays.  They have been around since 1995 in one form or another, but have been in the PDL since 2002.  As a native Rhode Islander who grew up playing youth soccer (until the football bug bit me and I had to choose sports which wasn’t a choice given my burly, musky frame) knowing how serious the Portuguese community and parts of the Italian community are about the sport, it disappoints me to see the state they are in.  They are a typical PDL team in that they seem to rely exclusively on collegiate talent.  And not the best talent at that.  Sure, they groomed Geoff Cameron who has converted from a forward with the Stingrays (and URI) to midfield at Houston to finally breaking the starting XI as a defender.  They also once fielded Rhode Island native Nico Colaluca, but he didn’t play for them heading into what would be his last collegiate season at UVA in order to train with the Revs.  It really saddens me they only draw 200-300 a game.  I would imagine chairman/manager Mario Pereira expects more from an area with such a rich soccer history.  The Providence metro area was home of the famed Fall River Marksmen and the Pawtucket Rangers, both US Open Cup winners prior to World War Two.  The problem is the Stingrays are a generic minor league team that no longer has a website.  Heck, buy aspiring soccer journalist Brian O’Connell some free food at the games and some shout outs at the home games for his blog and he’d be following the team like he was in years past (sorry if I low-balled you, Brian).  What they really lack is investment.  Their business listing claims only two employees.  Would it be better if they partnered with a premier youth club like Black Watch Rhode Island?  Well, duh.  It seems pretty bare bones in Providence.  Also, if they could draw investment and find a way to play at Brown’s Stevenson Field (the investment would suredly need to be from a Brown Alum), that would also be a plus.  From there, I would claim PDL-Pro status and try to make the way to PDL-2.  You just can’t expect people to come out to see no-name college players if you want to grow.  Take players like Fabio Lima de Barros (Fabio Ivan), a few choice players from the RI and MA Portuguese leagues, some post collegiate players trying to keep their careers going, and some Portuguese Super League players too old for MLS and you could get enough buzz to draw a solid USL-2 crowd.  Similar players could be found to create interest, but Rhode Island does have a considerable post WWII Portuguese immigrant population and right across the border is Bristol County, which sports the only Portuguese plurality in the nation.  Just imagine coordinating home games at Stevenson Field with Water Fires in downtown Providence?  Yeah, I’d take the commuter rail back home for that.  One last thing:  Stingrays?  Sure, it has some brand establishment, but that probably needs to go.  The “Red” is the state bird and is the nickname of numerous soccer teams worldwide.  “Providence” seems more youth orientated to me given the oldness of the state’s population, but that’s nitpicking.  Seriously though, anything but Stingrays.

Then there’s the fact the two largest cities in New England do not have pro soccer teams.  The Revs surely represent the area, but there has to be space for more teams, especially in a population center two hours away and in Boston where many residents don’t own automobiles.  Hartford seems like a no-brainer for USL-1 or USL-2 as long as they had the financial backing for a team.  The American Outlaws may have a recognized chapter in Hartford in the near future and that could be the start for a similar movement like the successful Sons Of Ben effort in Philadelphia.  If you live in the area, you buy a decent shirt for normal price and gain a supporter network.  Seriously, what are you waiting for?

Boston may be a bit trickier.  It’s definitely Revs territory, but there are many more fans of the world game who don’t make it down to Gillette.  For those who know me, they will be shocked at what I’m about to recommend.  Celtic FC should set up a “Boston Celtic” team and start in the PDL and maybe go on to USL-2.  For a limited investment, they could work with collegiate talent and scout the region’s talent.  They would have an edge over most PDL teams in that they would get local Celtic FC supporters to show up for games, limiting the losses most owners see.  They could play at JFK UMASS or Harvard Stadium and do just fine.  There are teams named after them the world over, why not in the Irish immigrant capital of North America?  They do have an Irish league in the city afterall.

But the last two examples are based on positive speculation.  Minor league soccer appeared in New England in force back in the 90’s and did poorly.  There were teams in Boston, Framingham, Worcester, Cape cod, and Hartford.  All of which failed.  So what is different?

The encouraging thing I see is the vast increase in exposure to high level soccer.  The level of knowledge even among your typical MLS/USL fan is exponentially higher than it was just five years ago.  Along with that, supporter groups are widely known and emulated thanks to YouTube.  Combine the two and you have a knowledgeable fan who knows how to support his or her local side.  In places like Kitsap and Victoria, this has paid off.  In New England, not so much.  Hopefully, that will change and lower league teams begin garnering strong, loyal support.  The reasons why it wouldn’t happen: 1.) New England is a relatively old region set in it’s ways 2.) other minor league teams already get great market share (i.e. Pawsox) and 3.) a bad economy combined with a small minority of the investor class knowing their ass from their elbow about soccer.  Can’t do anything about the first two, but the last obstacle will fade over time.

So what say you, New England soccer fan?  Do you support lower league soccer?  Would you support a USL team if it was close by?  Would you start a supporters group for one of those teams?  The future may be bright for soccer expansion on the other side of the country.  Will it be the same in New England?

Note: I invite corrections and input to this post.  I’d love to write a follow-up piece.

Gillette Stadium is a modern American stadium.  It’s the home of the New England Patriots, who rake in millions hand over fist for the team and stadium owners: The Kraft Family.  They did a wonderful job in privately financing it when their search for a new home in Boston (and then Hartford) failed.  People are always impressed with it’s character and the new Patriot Place development has only added to it’s esteem.

However, few would argue it’s the ideal home for the New England Revolution.  Two other teams currently play in NFL stadiums:  New York Red Bulls (who are moving into what will be the greatest US soccer stadium for at least a decade) and Seattle Sounders (who draw 27k+ per game currently).  DC United play in a former football stadium.  However, the seats that were eliminated for the baseball Nationals will make it a suitable MLS venue for however long it remains standing.  The obvious problem with playing in such a huge structure is a normal soccer crowd gets dispersed and seems tiny in a cavernous environment.  This makes the crowd look dead and was very apparent when Colorado and Kansas City also shared their home with NFL teams.  To increase fan concentration, the Revs place a large tarp on one side of the stadium so it looks better on tv.  However, it’s tough to say that crowd noise is better, especially for the players on tarp end.

This has created an elephant in the room for those attending games and watching on tv.  Closing off one side of the stadium just doesn’t look right and I can’t point to any other such example in major American sports.  Most stadiums seem to want their fans as close to the action as possible and vice versa.  For those with sideline seats at Gillette Stadium, looking across the field to no fans watching what you paid to see is a tad demoralizing.  To most, that’s a bit of an embarrassment.

Now, some fans have analyzed statements from MLS commissioner Don Garber and think the league would at some point force the Revs to move out of Gillette.  I say hogwash.  Kraft kept the league alive during it’s dark days.  He’s a founding owner and when it’s paid off, will own the stadium outright.  It’s not like the team is weighing on the league’s finances like several other teams that don’t control their revenue streams are.  As long as the Revs are committed to move to the Boston area in a SSS if that becomes possible, MLS won’t be relocating any team playing in a place their owners 100% own.  That’s just a foolish notion.  MLS has had to live with the silly set up so the team could save on operating costs.  The league never really had any leverage for the team to do something about their current situation, until now.

Enter Seattle Sounders FC.  The wildly successful expansion team is selling out Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.  The stadium itself seats 67,000 (much like Gillette), with a newly raised soccer capacity of 32,000 (up from just under 28k).  Now, that kind of crowd is twice our attendance on a good night.  So, it may seem like apples and oranges.  After all, Gillette looks just fine when Beckham comes to town.  When Brazil plays there in front of 60k+, the place is electric.  However, Seattle’s owners were committed from day one to make Qwest field as accommodating to the soccer crowd as possible.  Here’s what Seattle does to make the stadium more intimate:

As you can see, they tried for the “stadium within a stadium” look.  The kicker to this is the Seattle ownership aimed high and got even higher attendance than they thought they would get.  From several statements I’ve read, they were fully committed to tarp off some of the upper sections on the sideline if they were to draw the typical MLS crowd.  It was of the utmost importance to not appear to be playing in a stadium with a bunch of empty seats, and they certainly weren’t going to close off one side of the stadium to save on money.

Now let’s take a look at Gillette Stadium in front of an outstanding soccer crowd of 20,000:

You can barely see the start of the tarping off in that picture, but it does go to show what a concentration of 20k looks like.  Here’s a better view of the tarp, albeit not at a Revs game:

The positives from such a setup are:

1. Enables partitioning off the stadium, reducing staffing and thus operating costs.
2. Some sort of fan concentration on one side.
3. Looks better on TV (as long as the camera stays on one side).

The negatives:

1. Looks silly to most sports fans.
2. Allows more fans to be farther from the pitch (less noise reaches the field).
3. Isolates the supporter (loud, organized types) section from the rest of the stadium.
4. A lot of the noise generated gets mitigated by the open space in the gap.
5. Sideline spectators are watching a game that has a solid background, very unusual to the fan experience worldwide.

Essentially, it looks weird, abnormal, and some would argue epitomizes the failure of the team to grow a sizable fanbase over it’s 13 years of existence.

MLS HQ has a master plan to have all it’s teams in their own appropriately-sized stadium.  It’s one of the prerequisites for an expansion team to have a stadium plan in place, and a team has been moved to Houston because they were bleeding money in their current stadium with no stadium prospects on the horizon.  The reason why the Revolution have been exempt from league pressure was mentioned earlier, and the original Quakes would likely still be there if they weren’t owned by AEG, who ran multiple MLS teams at that point.  However, that doesn’t mean the league likes the situation at Gillette.  Add in the fact that soccer specific stadiums (SSS) built outside city centers haven’t been remotely as successful draws as they promised.  Unless the Revs can get a stadium built in the Boston metro area, and there’s a decent chance that it will never happen, we should be resigned to the fact that the team will be playing adjacent to the Patriot Place project for many years (if not decades) to come.

I believe the time has come for both the league and soccer fans to put pressure on the team to adapt Gillette to better accommodate a MLS crowd, much like the Sounders were planning to do when they were awarded expansion rights.  There are a few things they could do right away, but most would have to wait until next season.  Here’s what I think they could do:

Right now: Concentrate The Fort Closer To The Field

The Fort, as a standing supporters section at Gillette, started in section 143.  Overflow had been in 142 with that section officially becoming part of it this year.  With the Defend The Fort campaign, the team supports and hopes it will expand to section 141 and so on.  On a good night, both of the current sections fill up.  Participation levels in the festivities is another topic for another day, but one of the things we have learned from the increased pedestrian crowd is that loud, boisterous fans in the 30th row aren’t heard all too well in the 1st row, much less on the field.  A lot of that has to do with the gap, but it also has to do with distance.  The lower bowl, with a few exceptions, runs 38 rows deep.  Most MLS stadiums, built to accommodate no more than 20,000 fans, typically run 20-25 rows deep, sometimes even less.  One of the first things the team can do is force fans in the north end to the first 20 rows of sections 141-142.  This can be accomplished by covering the top rows.  That’s what they did for sections 140 and 139 on Saturday, BTW.

Take a look at The Fort from one of the Superliga games last year:

That’s about the average for a typical MLS summer night game.  The top 15-20 rows would be cut off in this idea, dispersing those fans into the empty areas in the section below.  Those up top typically sit up there for a bird’s eye view of the action.  If it’s that important to them, they can go to the other general admission area on the opposite end of the stadium.  Often, this arrangement forces those who participate in the atmosphere to the top rows.  If the team is serious at helping the supporters have a loud, unified section, this will go a long way towards achieving that.  More fans closer to the action would add to home field advantage, and in a pinch they can always uncover some of the seats.  I’m not a total mark for security, but I would imagine a section 20 deep is easier to police from above than one 38 deep.  The important thing is they are acknowledging the limitations of the fanbase and getting them closer to the field.  Besides, it would just plain look more appropriate.  The next, and most important step, would take some persuasion and this would be where MLS could apply pressure:

Next Season: A True Stadium Within A Stadium.

The same setup could be applied to the rest of the stadium.  In short, the idea would be to cover up all but 20 or so rows in the lower bowl for a typical MLS home game.  This would bring more or the people on the east end closer to the action and encircle as much of the field as possible.

Take a look at the seating chart from last season:

When the play is on the East end, it has to be quiet over there.  Getting up to half of the crowd to the other side would mean getting more fans supporting their team over there, more people telling the lineman they disapprove, and more people cheering on the Revs while booing the opponents.  Less of the sound is lost in the elevation and openness and thus reaches the field.  When you look across the stadium, you see fans engaged in the action instead of a blank canvas.

This is what a seating chart of this setup could look like:

I basically went with covering about half of the seats in a section.  The green sections would rarely be used unless there were very large groups going to well-attended games.  I kept the current southern GA section uncovered with the Cat III section next to it.  The people who like to lounge atop The Fort when attendance is low can go sit in one of those sections.  I did some rough estimates, and with the green sections closed, this setup would seat 12-13k not counting the club seats.  There’s many different factors in determining the number of rows in a section, which would of course affect capacity.

Other potential benefits with this setup:

1. The team could wait to open up the Southwest Cat II and Cat III sections until the others are sold out (unlikely for most MLS games) and still get the same effect.  The seating chart may not show it, but Cat II starts right around the Penalty Box.  That would help to further concentrate fans while still looking “acceptable”.
2. This opens up the opportunity for more practical tv side in-stadium ads on the coverings.  Maybe even do some Defend The Fort branding above those sections.
3. You can always take off the coverings or raise them up a few rows in GA sections if you expect a bigger crowd.

Now, this looks like a much more suitable setup for an MLS team.  The major problem comes with cost.  You would need more ushers for more rows, security would need to cover more area, and more sections means more places to clean.  I don’t foresee the need to open up the main concessions on the west side.  There’s concessions at the north end and restrooms in the northwest corner.  Could they have a few collapsible barriers to avoid a new usher in every new row?  Maybe.  Would security need double the manpower if they have to watch the same amount of people?  I sure hope not.  They would be looking more horizontally than vertically, after all.  They could even station people right in the middle of the stadium sections and get a bird’s eye view of multiple spectator sections.  I believe it would cost more, but they could intelligently mitigate that increase.  There could also be the insistence on opening up the main concessions on the west side to keep sales level.  That would obviously require more maintenance personnel.

This transformation would cost the Revolution operating dollars, but I think it is necessary to eliminate what many feel is an awful soccer setup.  This stigma has detrimental long term effects on how players and fans alike view a game being played there.  Like I eluded to before, this could be the home of the Revolution for the life of the stadium.  A deal for a SSS in a prime location may not be attainable in the near future, if ever.  It’s doubtful they would build a suburban soccer stadium and share revenue with a new municipality after seeing some of the attendance figures in places like Dallas and Colorado.  So, we may have to live with the “Razor”.

This is where MLS and/or the soccer community can come in.  The amount of attention to detail the Sounders ownership have put into game presentation is obvious.  The novelty of the new franchise has a lot to do with it, but those who have become fans in Seattle love their club for that very reason.  That’s a loyalty that will pay off for years to come.  They know their owners/operators are behind them.  On the other hand, the Krafts are widely viewed as favoring the bottom line over gameday experience much to the chagrin of the team’s fan base.  If Gillette is indeed the long term home, and there’s nothing to believe they won’t be there for at least the next three seasons, something must change.  MLS shouldn’t allow the team to operate like that while another playing in an NFL stadium is putting in so much attention to detail for their fans.  MLS and Revolution supporters should mention the tarp to Revs FO personnel if it bothers them.  Letters should be written, e-mails sent, etc. because the time line for a new stadium keeps getting pushed back and long spans of silence are the norm.  We need to have the best possible experience at Gillette.  It’s about time, don’t you think?

]]> http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/05/19/the-future-of-gillette-stadium-as-a-mls-venue/feed/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/05/13/the-scarf/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/05/13/the-scarf/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 17:44:13 +0000 Jim Andruchow http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/?p=10 Been awhile since my last post.  Whatever.  As I used to tell newbs in the navy: suck it up nubs (non-useful bodies).  To be honest, I’m thinking about getting back into blogging about soccer, but I don’t really want to run a site like I did before.  So, in the meantime, I can get back to the series I started right here on the Midnight Riders site.

Today I’m going to talk about the essential of clothing which sets soccer fans apart from any other group of fans in America: the scarf.

The tradition of wearing a scarf to football started in England over a century ago.  Fans would wear scarves of the color of their team, and the practice quickly spread to Europe and then the rest of the world.  Why?  Well, probably because they didn’t make many affordable suits and overcoats in the range of colors representative of the clubs who played back then.  Top hats, as any respectable top hatter will note, don’t come in claret.  Eventually, these scarves evolved and club crests/slogans appeared on them.  Essentially, they are very convenient pieces of flair even when not protecting the wearer from the elements.

These pieces of flair are unique to soccer on the American sports scene.  In a crowded sports and entertainment enviroment where soccer is the new kid in town, we fans sometimes feel like outsiders.  By wearing a scarf, you let other soccer fans know that you “get it”.  Bt getting it, I don’t mean you are necessarily high on cocaine, ready to riot or you can name the starting XI at Oldham because you watched a League 1 feed from England.  No, this means that you recognize that soccer is different from the other American sports.  It means you don’t need a noise meter on the scoreboard to make it look like the crowd is into the game coming in from the commercial.  It means you are there to support your team, not to babysit and make playdates for little Lydia and Jacob.  It means you understand why there aren’t 100 shots on net a game.  It means you know the entire game is important, not just the fouth quarter or the last inning.  Basically, it means you get, love, and support soccer, a far cry from the McFandom that has crept into the rest of American sports and tried to running our game.

Rule of American Soccer Fandom:  Get a scarf in team colors and wear it to the game.

I would be remissed if I didn’t give a shout out to the 2009 Midnight Riders scarf available in the Riders shop.  It’s $26 for non-members, $16 for members and looks quite good:

The Revs also offer official scarves in the pro shop.  Personally, I wear a traditional bar scarf with team colors.  I recently ordered a bunch from a site in England and they are currently sold out.  Last time I did that, they weren’t in stock for another 2 1/2 years.  These are the only such scarves with our colors I’ve ever seen, so if you find any, let me know.

Besides the reasons for wearing them above, scarves can be fantastic TIFO displays.  Before and after the game, you should hold your scarf up high above your head to show your pride in your club.  This has become the universal sign of solidarity supporters have with their club.

So if you don’t have one already, get one.  Heck, get extras.  Give them to friends you bring to games.  Sometimes, it is us against them.  The more on our side, the better.