Taxes that DC United generates from all sources have been going to DC for years but that so far hasn't convinced DC or any other local jurisdiction to keep us around. The reason that the march is important is that it shows that real people care about and love DC United & it's important. If its just reduced to dollars & cents, we can be replaced by a office building or a shopping mall.
Re: Keep United in DC March MAY 2? It was a run!..last week in Frederick. My one-man stadium march for 26.2 miles. It was great getting the DCU supporters cheering me on. I'll be there tomorrow. Oh, as I posted on Goff's blog, please patronize our Cap Hill businesses especially Las Placitas Salvadoran on 8th street, outstanding cuisine and DCU supporters.
The Commish makes mention of the rally: Hmmm. I wonder if that second paragraph is a commentary on the vision and commitment of our ownership or our public officials...or both? Well, at least we fans have the vision and commitment.
Both. The City has yet to publicly make an effort to keep DC in town (Jack Johnson did). Fenty hasn't "leaked" any proposals to Nakamura about the city's willingness to accept a stadium deal for X. We also haven't publicly seen DCU negotiate. One proposal to DC and one to PG. We can only guess that these things are happening, but it goes back to that cliche. If a tree falls in the forest, but no one is around, does it make a sound?
I noted that Patapon 2 is out this weekend - and now I'm imagining a drummer going pon-pon-pata-pon as the black-clad ones march along... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN3ZQRfjreM"]patapatapatapooooooon![/ame]
Hmm, ever since I showed my wife the team store, she's been on a 'keep United in DC March' every game-day. I just did a report from Quicken, and I've found that I've spent over $18,000 on DC United tickets, parking, concessions, and merchandise since 1996. Wow.
off topic but why is DCU still charging jersey for $70 when we can buy Manchester United jersey for $40? Don't they have sense to lower down to meet the need for people who wants to buy but can't afford that exessive fee? Seems like a logical idea to me to sell more if you lower down a bit.
Well, first of all why would you waste $40 on a MU jersey? Expensive toilet paper? I think MU does a volume business that puts ours to shame and can probably more readily afford $40 tops, especially when you have like a new primary home jersey and five change strips every season.
He needs to comment on himself for approving the sale of DC United to these real estate speculators. The issue with DC United, this ownership and local governments is our owners just don't want a stadium but a development opportunity and only want to put up a minimum of money for a maximum result. Garber approved the sale of DC United to these owners. He should check himself first.
It's probably mostly because AIG isn't sponsoring Man U next year (I think I read that somewhere) so they're just trying to unload as many Man U jersey's as they can before they get new uni's.
Some news hits: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/DC_United_Rally_051009 http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1672763 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/s...0090509-Lets-take-the-high-side-44642942.html These are all after-the-fact stories as opposed to the "United fans to rally" future tense stories from the previous day, and also not including game stories that buried it at the end. Dunno if this means we got actual radio or tv footage, but it would be nice if we did.
I think it's telling that there was no coverage in the Washington Post newspaper. (At least there wasn't in mine, this morning.) There was an un-narrated video clip on Goff's blog. I do expect that if there is eventual coverage in the WP, it will be by Marc Fisher or David Nakamura, and will not be positive - or even neutral.
I got home just in time to check out the local network news programs for coverage. Channel 4 covered the game but not the march. Channel 9 had both. 7 had nothing. ABC (locally) hates DC United. As to Payne's comments, I was disappointed that, when talking about needing fan support with the politicians he seemed to see the FO taking the lead and would let us know when we should be in contact with our representatives. Uh, Kevin, we've been at that much longer than, apparently, the FO has. Why no mention at all about what we have already done? You, my friend, have pretty much screwed the pooch to date. We've tried to get ahead of the game. The political lobbying by fans has been led by fans. I think we were far in front of the FO on this and am pissed that I heard no acknowledgment.
I thought we might, since I saw him walking around with the mic. He was the only media guy I remember seeing whose affiliation was obvious. There were at least a couple others with press pass-looking lanyards on, but I couldn't see who they worked for.
So in that line, when are we going to do this again/what are we doing next? We should maybe set up a group, somewhat like Soccer Silicon Valley in SJ, for those with the aim of keeping United in the area. WIth an umbrella group, it doesn't have to be the Barra operation that it basically was (I'm and Eagle myself, but my informal survey was that Barra participation outnumbered everyone else by about 4 or 5 to 1). If we can get everyone else that wants to see the team stay around get involved, we could grow this thing a lot. I think with good organization and more notice, we could do another rally that can go over even better (I don't think it went half bad in the end) than we did yesterday. Pick one of those dates that everyone is going to be there (obvious choices: Beckham game, home finale). There are other activities we could do as well. One idea that jumps to mind is maybe getting some corporate partners in the sense of bars and businesses that have good relations with the team and/or fans. We may not get any financial support there, but it would add a bit of cachet to have some local businesses on board.
...and local businesses which local politicans see as important. We really need to have them on board. The question: who are they? And then, how to get their cooperation.