RSL Fan Experience

I think that would solve my fan experience problems entirely.

 

I get your logic of saying that if CBus is here, RSL won't get FCC. In most leagues they would make those kind of arrangements. In this league, though? Nope. My guess is we play both at home next year.

 

Surprisingly, reducing the number of lanes can improve total throughput of cars and improve safety because it reduces the number of intersecting points of conflict between cars.
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/25/17593344/road-diets-lane-conversion-traffic-calming-explained-video

 

Part of the goal of public transit is to increase population and commercial density near stations.

With that said, you are correct, any individual's commute is idiosyncratic and no public transport plan can satisfy every need with high efficiency (if high efficiency is defined, more or less, as 'fast'). This particularly grates people who do not see travel as an opportunity to read, watch a movie, etc. When I lived in the Cottonwood area and worked at 3rd east and 5th south, I was able to use the train and a short walk to make public transport work excellently for me and my wife. She worked at eBay and would drop me off at the train station while on her way to work. She would drive and I would take the train downtown, reading, then walk to the office. She'd pick me up at the end of the day. Easy peasy, mostly because we had very set work schedules that fit this nicely. Using the train for her would be much more difficult. No safe walking near eBay at that time.

 

Looking for 2 tickets to the RSL/LAG game if anyone has any to sell or knows of someone with 2 to sell.

 

I have to admit I’m pretty jealous of the fan experience at Portland. I csn’t imagine RSL ever being organized enough to have a supporters area approaching the Timber Army and the energy they bring.

 

I really have no idea how our supporters section will ever have their problem(s) fixed. It doesn't seem to be getting better at all. The various groups all think they're THE group and the rest should follow. It's sad. A unified south end would be really cool. Instead it's just a bunch of noise.

I don't think the club's responsibility is to fix it, either. It has to be done by the fans. But the current various SG leadership just isn't open to making it a unified experience. Apparently all of us doing the clap clap clap Real chant is the extent of the unity.

Also of note for this: the pricing structure in the south end changed. What used to be a whole SG price point is now tiered on the edge sections. That's... interesting.

 

Anyone pick up anything amazing at the black Friday team store sale?

 

I wonder if there's some numbers to back it up, but I'm genuinely curious to see if the cheaper pricing results in more profits from gameday sales. Quite literally the only time I've bought anything at the stadium was when they were giving out the vouchers for showing up early so you could save on concessions.

If I have to pay ~$9 for a beer, I'm just going to pregame if I want a buzz. Same with all the food. It's far easier to eat more food for the same price, vs paying the insane mark up.

 

On the flip side if the concessions are cheaper the already ridiculous lines would become even worse.

 

This was part of Checkett's vision for the stadium when he first broke ground. He wanted to redevelop the area to be a shopping and living hub similar to The Gateway, with the stadium being the focal point. That's why we built the grand staircase on the west side of the stadium. It was designed to be a staircase that led into a fountain area with shopping and restaurants. He even had a water park planned on the north side of the stadium where the Ardell Brown RV building is (now team media building). The land owners didn't play nice, and one would raise the price every time they came close in negotiations and learned what the neighbor's offer was. It all finally fell apart when the recession hit and Checkett's funding evaporated. He barely had the funds to finish the stadium and we ended up scrapping a lot of things out of the stadium design (the seats were the cheapest individual seats we could get without going to bench seating.). There were a lot of factors that kept this development from happening before now. Glad it's finally happening. Although one thing is missing from those renderings: parking. There's going to be a lot of underground parking to fit those designs and meet the stadium needs.

 

Yeah. That significant downturn in the economy in 2008 killed the dream. It looks like the developers are going to take this slow and easy...a 20 year timetable to complete it.

 

So what is it about the clubs and fans mentioned in this piece that caused them to be so rabid? And why can't we get there?

We've talked about several things that are absent at the RioT - any possibility for a March to the Match, a lack of coordination among supporters' groups, the fact that the stadium is usually only about 2/3 full at game time (which is usually 10 - 20 minutes after the announced starting time)... Earlier in this thread, they mention the "massive new development" around the RioT, but then fall back on the idea that it will be 20 or 25 years before it's finished.

Supporters sections: There's the south end and the drums and whatnot. They seem to exist solely for themselves, only once or twice during a game trying to get the whole crowd into a chant. And there are the folks in 26 and 35 who try, but can never quite get everyone else going. Section 26 seems to have slacked off in recent years - they don't do the R - S - L signs and chant any more and don't seem as coordinated as they used to be.

It seems like Seattle, Portland and Atlanta (among others) all hit the ground running and have maintained the intensity. I've only been to Seattle, but the atmosphere there is crazy fun. Wandering down Occidental Avenue with a few thousand fans on the way to the game, and then that creepy hand-clap chant thing they do before the game is pretty mesmerizing. Other teams chide us for having to pipe in "Believe" in order to get the crowd started, but in past years, when the crowd started singing spontaneously, that was killer. Even that doesn't seem to happen now.

What do we do? Just settle for mediocrity? Is there still a pre-game party in the northwest parking lot I've never been to? Watching the crowds on their way to a game, moving north and south along State Street seems like such a missed opportunity. They try to get people revved up on the plaza east of the stadium but most of that seems half-hearted and not very coordinated. Maybe we just got lucky with the team from 2007 through about 2013 and that was enough to sustain some level of intensity, but even then, we were never mentioned in articles like the one linked to above.

I'm kind of the pot calling the kettle black, because I'm usually happy just watching the game and not trying to get anything started or joining in on a chant very enthusiastically, but if you can get the stadium going, like they do in Seattle with that "SEATTLE" - "SOUNDERS" thing, it gets pretty contagious. Based on fan reactions when we score a goal, I think the potential is there, but that seems to be the extent of our enthusiasm.

I know - Anybody got any new ideas?

Brought to you courtesy of 20 oz. of Starbucks Dark Roast.

 

The location of the stadium kills a lot of the potential for us - not that I think it would be a whole hell of a lot better with a downtown location, but it would be easier.

I mean, tell me how going to an RSL game right now is different than going to Costco on a Saturday afternoon? The parking sucks, there are kids everywhere, some people yelling and making a lot of noise, you don't get in as early as you want, you end up spending too much money for what you think you got, people freak out for free shit - no matter the quality, etc etc.

That might be a bit harsh, but the atmosphere at RSL games has plummeted. Any away support with even a hint of coordination and more than like 20 people is louder than the rest. This is all without mentioning that attendance at games has gone noticeably down. It's not that people are 20 minutes later, anymore, those seats just aren't sold.

I think the south end could lead better if the drums were removed. I think section 35 has lost a ton of its luster as only half of the section is ever filled anymore. I think section 26 has moved past trying to be anything other than just another section.

The fan council that they had at the last game was telling of just where the club is. How many of those guys looked like they belonged to a supporters group? Like two or three? It was pathetic.

 

Teams that have started in the past ten years and can organize supporters sections from scratch appear to me to have an advantage over teams from the earlier days of MLS. You can build forward without alienating existing groups, and have a culture on the ground from day one. Whatever we try to do now (or LAG tries, or Red Bulls, or the Revs) is in that tricky spot of attracting and building and expanding, without pissing anyone off and losing a core group. Get rid of the drums? There go the groups committed to the drums.

IMO.

 

Sounds like a good start to me. If for no other reason than to show just how quiet the other groups actually are

 

The FO needs to step in plain and simple. It's not going to change without them putting their thumb, foot, or any other authoritative body part down to address this issue.

The south end needs to be upgraded to a standing section or at least the bottom section of those stands should accommodate standing. It would probably help making it look like more people are down there.

Next. they need to bite the bullet and have a come to Jesus meeting with the 50+ groups down there and say this is how it's going to be moving forward. Either come together as one and figure you crap out or maybe you need to evaluate what you're doing, supporting the team or you group. Team should come first.

I sit in 25 and can tell you 26 is done. When we first moved over to 25 from 3 it was pretty cool what 26 was doing but at this point it's about 10-12 people standing up. That's about it.

35 isn't doing too much better.

I don't know what you do with them but if the South End is made to be a more attractive supporter area perhaps they make the move back or to there. I don't know.

Ultimately in my mind it will come down to the FO making the supporter section a priority because it's past time for them to step in and make it better.

I give them props for waiting and hoping it would sort itself out but that just isn't going to happen.

 

One of the problems with the massive screen in the south end is any adjustments to the section are limited in height and structure. Doesn't mean an adjustment can't be made, but it can't be the standing sections we see in LA

 

my drum comment was a bit tongue in cheek for that exact reason. I think it would be hilarious if drums were suddenly not allowed and the stadium got exposed for how little atmosphere it now has.

One thing I can guarantee you: this issue isn't getting fixed. Every year we hear about how those groups are working to improve, and every year the opposite happens. Even more alarming to the club should be that "membership" in all of the groups looks to be at the lowest it's been ever, if not since the really bad RES years. In some ways, that could work to the clubs favor. They can point out how the fractured nature has caused interest to wane. But that's expecting a lot out of this current organizational group.

 

Sure it can. Get rid of the walkway that runs horizontally through the middle and change the seating to safe standing bleachers. That walkway takes up a ton of space.

 

This is all that needs to be said.