I thought this would be better in a thread with a more positive tone. Several unexpected issues have resulted with the increase in attendance at Gillette Stadium this season. Namely, there's a lot more people wanting to stand in The Fort, but either don't know how or don't want to participate. This has caused problems with coordinating songs and chants. Here's some suggestions to rectify the situation: 1.) Arrange with security to place the Supah Revs banner over the first 8-10 rows, supervised by a handful of Riders, to save the seats for those who march in. Those who occupy those seats must know they are participating. 2.) Get the section next to 143 to also be a standing section. This would reduce the chances of those who come in late to be stuck in row 30 where it's impossible to join in with the front rows. 3.) Start relegating entry. Have some sort of arrangement where you need a card to get in The Fort. 4.) Have a MR section elsewhere in the stadium. Other teams have their supporter sections exclusive to certain groups and in camera shot. Those are just a few ideas. The MR's are in a much better position to bargain than five years ago when the stadium opened. Hopefully, something gets done or we'll be complaining about the exact same things all next season. Torts?
I agree with a split, I'd love to have Revs fans in other parts of the stadium. My suggestion, and I'm looking for them now, are small flags. Waving the big flags all game is hard to do, but the little ones scattered throughout the Fort would be amazing. Also, I think we really need to designate certain people to start certain chants. Someone very loud should do the "Oogey/Oi" chant, bstorm and I have been doing well starting the "We Love You" song, etc. Also, people need to stop slowing down/speeding up songs, keep them at a normal pace so we are in unison!
Long shot here, but maybe the front office can set aside a block of assigned seating tickets for the Riders/Rev Army and those that call in and specifically request "supporters section" seats. Maybe change section 143 to be like that and keep the other sections GA so that if people want to join in they can.
Thanks for starting this thread, this is kinda what I was hinting at, but I think I was just too upset from this weekend to get the point across.
The problem is clearly the way people are spread out. You can't expect someone who's there for the first time to follow our coordination efforts. And not for nothing, I'm not really sure the effect we've been looking for is even attainable. Our color blue doesn't stand out. White does, but that's not our primary color. Maybe with our record in finals wearing white vs blue should be looked at and it should be our primary color. White shirt/blue scarf maybe? I dunno, just throwing spitballs.
I know what you're saying, there are all these different shades of blue that are similar to the ones on the Revs jersey, and then couple that with the fact that when its cold people wear whatever color their coat is, we really don't have a chance to pull off the sea of orange that Houston had.
I was thinking about the color thing earlier as well. At the Cup we had hundreds of supporters in the corner, all wearing blue, but it just doesn't show up well on the tv broadcast. Obviously a color like orange really pops out, and it certainly helped make the Houston supporters look more impressive. But even the Sons of Ben and their light blue and yellow stood out far more in a section full of Revs fans. Is white an option? At Penn State football games and at Miami Heat playoff games the fans have done "white outs", it looks mighty impressive on tv. I know it's hard to change, but it's just an idea.
I hate to sound like a jerk, being negative before contributing, but I really don't want the fort to become an elitist club for those "in the know" or for the diehards. To increase participation, The Fort needs to be as inclusive as possible. That is how you grow the fanbase. There is already the idea around these boards and in real like that those who sit in the fort are elitist pricks who want to dictate what happens. Having membership cards doesn't exactly turn those unfounded criticisms on themselves. Another thing to note, and others may correct me if I am wrong, but the Midnight Riders and The Fort are two separate entities. Not all Midnight Riders sit in the Fort, and not everyone in the Fort is a Midnight Rider. I do have an idea about the structure of The Fort, but I want to bounce it off a couple of people before I suggest it in a public forum.
This is very, very true. I didn't know I was "allowed" to sit in The Fort until I got a ride to a game and showed up to a tailgate. I was then told that anyone could sit there. Before that, I was relegated to looking on in envy as you all were having fun and cheering, honestly having no idea that I could just show up and join you. If only I had known earlier... There must be a way to make sure everyone knows that the Riders are a friendly and accepting bunch and that the people who want to stand and cheer the whole game can sit in The Fort. I don't know how to do this, but I can try to think of some way I could have been reached without bumming a ride off of Mike, if you're interested in my thoughts...
Wow, I thought that would be right up your alley given the thread you referenced. Unless there's some exclusivity, the same problems will occur over and over and people will start ridiculous threads like "Houston made us look like tossers" because the 50 people who showed up for their team were all sitting together and organized. It's a vicious cycle. As for the card idea that I threw out there, I was implying a very liberal distribution system (i.e. "hey, can I get three cards"; "sure, take five"). It would go a long way in ensuring the people walking into The Fort have a clue as to what it's about and it prevents youth teams from taking up large segments of the section. Here's another thing to look at: The thinking behind keeping the MR's organized displays/chanting in GA was that it's inclusive and would help recruiting. However, due to overcrowding (and growth of the MR's), it's gotten to the point where there's 3-4 groups of Midnight Riders trying to coordinate from as far apart as 30 rows and from opposite sides. Those people who we are trying to be inclusive to are caught in between and are noticed by those of us who try to get everyone on the same page. That breeds animosity on both ends. If the supporter groups were all in the same area, the chanting would sound better and it would look a heck of a lot better. People seeing that would be more apt to join a group that looks impressive than if they get told to participate and wind up giving that person the finger. Take the arms thing for "Supah Revs". Often, it's like seven people doing it in sparatic parts of The Fort. No one joins in because they don't want to be the eighth person doing it. Having seven people start that in a concentrated group of 100 or so who are committed to the whole tifo thing, and you'll have all of them doing it. If the Glouster U-14's are to your right and the Woonsocket ASPCA 11's are behind you, you look foolish trying to get everyone into it and it goes nowhere. And that's what it's all about, right? From what I've gathered, MLS supporter groups measure their units based on the coolness of their organized displays. Hey, I'm fine with growing The Fort into The Kop in regards to loudness and vulgarity while sacrificing unity. I likes to swear. However, that's not what I've gathered people here want. Besides, The Kop has a roof so the 30th row can hear the 1st row. You can't say the same in The Fort.
But that's almost a moot point here. I could understand if there were a ton of people who wandered into The Fort unknowingly, liked what we did, immediately joined in, and then joined the MR's down the road as a result. That probably has happened, but there are far, far more people who unknowingly stand in The Fort with the group they came with, do nothing (maybe even get a laugh out of other people trying to coordinate), and screwing things up for the rest of us. Now, what if you came to that tailgate with Mike, marched in with the group, and all stood in the same 8-10 rows (like the first suggestion in first post)? The group would have looked/sounded that much better and your first experience would have been that much more impressive.
Right. But, how can we find the people who are sitting in other sections that would like to be in The Fort? Again, take me for example: You have a girl who just moved to CT who decided to buy a ticket to a Revs game to check them out. She enjoyed herself and was sitting in section 110, wishing she was over there cheering with those random people by the bridge. Because she didn't know that anyone could sit over there, she never even bothered trying, she just kept buying tickets in the other sections, sitting by herself. She thought you had to be in some sort of special group to sit over there but had no idea who to talk to about that, even. My point is (and I do understand that I am deviating from your topic slightly), how could you find someone like me, who would like to join you guys but has no idea who to go to or what to do?
Again, what about the "supporters section" (i.e. The Fort) idea where 143 becomes assigned seating and the other 14- sections remain GA? You can purchase season/single game tickets for the supporters section and the seats will only be sold to those who request them. Riders/Rev Army/Fort Regulars are probably going to fill better than 50% of 143 and with the other sections being GA, they're close enough to join in and participate or get the feel of The Fort. It keeps the random youth teams from flooding the area, but they're close enough that if they want to come back the following week, all they have to do is go to the window and order a "supporters section" ticket.
That's sort of what they do in DC, and the groups get a cut which makes them loaded compared to other supporter groups in MLS. The major obstacle with this is that it would require a change in ticketing policy. I would love to see something like that pulled off, but it may be the hardest of the ideas mentioned thusfar. It would definitely take a ticket agent willing to help out big time to step up. That much I do know. Another thing, it might be tough to get even close to 50% filled with STH's. It's 38 rows if I'm not mistaken, so half filled is around 300 people. Sure, it'd get there for a some games, but I'm pretty sure the team would want some kind of base number of people who would be there every game, and that number can't be around 30.
Some ideas from a friendly Inferno member... 1] Megaphone - you know those old-fashioned, long, cone-shaped things? Most stadiums will let you bring one in and it does help to amplify the sound to get chants started. 2] Signage - talk with your FO (front office) and see if they will post a sign near 143 informing folks that it is a fun and rowdy sections where many supporters stand and cheer the team! 3] Banner/flyers - Print out some flyers, or hang a banner, that invites others to come join you in section 143 to sing, stand and cheer the REVS - see if the FO will hand out the flyers or give you permission to do so. 4] MLS Free-Kick - Ask the PR guy for the REVS to let you guys write 300 words about joining the FORT to support the REVS, and asking everyone to wear *color you decide on - blue or white?* 5] Off-season TIFO project - find out what the FO will let you bring in - if they allow small flags maybe you guys can make them in the off-season. All you need is cloth, a staple gun, and a pole. See if you could bring in bolts of plastic or cloth that are 3 or 4 feet wide and a 50 to 100 feet long - then deploy several of them across a section to display your colors. You guys do a great job just by being there, keep the faith!
Something we've been talking about. This'll probably take place next year. There's already a sign at the top of the section. I think most people just ignore it though. This is something we can think about ... and start bringing song sheets every game for the newer fans. They've actually done this quite a few times. This idea I like. An off-season TIFO project might work. We can talk about this at our end of season party and continue the talk at the general meeting in February. Thanks Chaz ... One other thing, I'll talk with the Revs about possibly trying to come up with some ways to get around the problems we had late in the season, without requiring everyone to blow off a good chunk of the tailgate.
Here's some excepts from that other thread. I'm not in total agreement, but I know these are popular sentiments. If people want to be "together", things need be done to get as many people who participate concentrated in The Fort, knowing full well that the vast majority of people who sing/chant won't go in 45 minutes early. If people want to waive flags all game to put on a Tifo display, they need to have their own section. You can't do that in GA unless you plan on driving a lot of people out of The Fort at the start of each game (not an entirely bad thing). However, I'm not sure many people want flags blocking their view during the run of play. If we went with that Fort pass idea, the flag waivers could set up towards the top of the section (which we probably wouldn't pack). I guess all the flags could be in the front, but that would probably make more people sit even higher.
That's either an extremely clever retort or some great unintentional comedy. "Go tell that soccer mom who's upset about all the flag waiving she's SOL."