I was there and agree with Earl (coonpath) that it was the best season ticketholder reward program - even better than playing goalie all night in the season ticketholder game at PPL Park. I am with the others in that it sucks to hear about the a brutal night for aztec21bas, especially given the unique nature and small crowd of the event. I got there after most folks already were sitting at their tables so not sure what kind of chaos happened when the doors opened. Best of luck getting the cards replaced as it is never fun - hopefully, the Home Depot video nabs the thief. The player/fan ratio was 1:1. All roster players and draft picks were there except Jeff Parke (USMNT) and Supplemental Draft pick Jake Keegan (in Israel playing in the Maccabiah Games). Matt Kassel was the only trainee/trialist/guest. The only coach attending was Brendan Burke - there were also a few folks from the Sales and Marketing staff (i.e. Mike Quarino, Mark Evans, Anthony Cardillo). As mentioned, all of the players were very approachable whether folks wanted photos, autographs. just to shoot the sh!t with them or just a minute of small talk. One of the first things that jumped out upon our arrival were the players (Soumare, Casey, Wheeler) who were my size or bigger for a change - too many times last season during the national anthem, the difference between the Union players' height and the opponents' height was very noticeable which was later played out over the next 90 minutes of the games in countless aerial duals lost by the Union. My fiance and I ran out of time to chat with all of the players but we talked to Le Toux for the first 15 minutes or so when we got there about his rollercoaster year in 2012 among other things. Also, we got some time at the rookie table (Schoenle, Okai, Bentick) - they will not find out until later this week if they are going to Florida camp. We also chatted a while with Daniel and Richards about the 2012 season, getting Daniel to take more corners and free kicks as he serves up a decent ball, Richards' trial last Fall with the Union and his ability to play LB and CB and life in Trinidad vs. Philly area. There was also some UNC Tar Heel alumni talk between Williams, M. Farfan and my fiance and some chats with Casey, MacMath, Carroll, Cruz, McInerney, Hoppenot and others. I also talked to Burke a bit - he mentioned two new trialists with good pedigrees coming in this week but did not mention names (although one of them is obviously Jordi Vidal Martin from Real Madrid youth ranks - not sure if he considered Diego Restrepo to be the other one. Given that Samir Badr, DCU Academy and US Youth team goalie who last played pro in Egypt, is slated to start a MLS trial next week - he might be a name to monitor on twitter). He said that they are working hard to find Adu a team with lots of teams interested but he is not so interested in those teams. He also mentioned that Medina has had some down time during his trial due to injuries, which he may have had prior to his trial and it seemed like his prospects of getting a roster spot were in question. He said that they had 30 roster spots to fill which differs with the number (32) that the Daily Doop posted last week. In terms of the points that it took to qualify, here is how mine played out last season - there was not much margin for error: Points (and how they were computed) 540 (18 games attended) 360 (18 games attended with entrance 30 minutes prior to kick-off) 70 (7 wins - should be able to get more in 2013) 50 (10 away games TV broadcast loyalty code - I think that I may have missed 2 aways games when on vacation) 20 (early season ticket renewal) 1040 (total points) The sales folks said that they were looking at different ways for folks to accumulate more points as more MLS teams adopt the same type of loyalty program - they want to make it so more folks could attend but they still want to keep it to a small select group as a reward. There will likely be a season ticketholder and/or general public "Meet the Team" event at Xfinity Live in the near future.
This sounds awesome! I wish that I could have enjoyed it. Actually would like to meet the Zman some time.
Tell him to meet you at the Snake & Shield behind Section 103-104 during halftime at a game. He buys people beers.
Actually Andy, I believe I still owe you a beer too. Perhaps the three of us could get together there and share a beer one game? I live in 103, so Snake and Shield is right in my back yard!
Always good to put a face to a Big Soccer poster. Stop by 106 Row D (behind where the coaches sit) before a game sometime - the ushers do not worry about folks hanging out there until close to kick-off. It is a convenient watering hole.
Snake and shield, halftime of KC game. Beers on me. Look for the fat guy in the cape and luchador mask.
What was the format for the Chickie's event last year? There was Meet the Team event at the Stadium Club prior to the 2011 season (it may have just been for season ticketholders) - it was a bit cramped and the players walked around and talked to fans and did autographs. Back in my DCU season ticketholder days, their Meet the Team Event involved players sitting behind a line of tables with fans lining up and going by each table for autographs. They had to do the assembly line due to the big crowd. The Xfinity Live event is supposed to be like the DCU-style event.
Yes, one of the players working a table in the Team Shop was JDG. It was the closest that he got to being on the PPL Park field that season.
The meet the team at chickie and pete's had all the players on either the first or 2nd floor. You picked your floor and met those guys. If you were lucky enough to get back in line you could hit the other floor as well. There were hundreds of people there and encounters were brief. At the Loyalty Points event, you got to have dinner with some of the players and if you wanted to shoot the shit for 10-15 minutes it was no big deal. The ration was about 1:1. A very intimate experience. While the regular event is great to get whatever you want signed by everyone, the loyalty points event was more about getting to hang out and chat them up.