It looks like Sounders fans will get 800 tickets to eqch of the away four games in Vancouver and Portland. Nothing has been announced about how many tickets wil be made available to Timbers and Whitecaps to the games at Qwest field. I suspect the reason for that is that the Sounders FO hasn't made the announcement about the whole stadium being open for those two games yet. http://www.sounderatheart.com/2012/3/22/2893957/sounders-away-allotment-visitors-portland-vancouver Ticket distribution is 600+ to ECS with the rest being distributed to the other SGs and, for the first time, 74 to fans that aren't affiliated to a SG. The 74 for unaffiliated fans will be distributed via lottery. Thoughts?
Only 74? That is lame. One shouldn't have to pay to be part of a SG to get tickets to away matches... Better than 0 though. Also good to see total # go up.
It sucked sitting near 500 Timbers (and then Vancouver) fans lat year, and it'll suck worse this year. I'm considering skipping those games.
This is just to be in the official away supporters section. Last year the allocation was 500 and yet it was estimated that over 1200 Sounders fans were at Empire Field for the Vancouver game.
no one is stopping you from buying tickets. oh wait only portland is. so buy your tickets to vancouver. dont have to be a SG member. and might as well try to buy portland tickets too. the cost of the tickets also went up ridiculously because portland FO is gauging us based on the demand.
i'm curious why it sucked? were you the one they threw a beer bottle at? honestly in my few, short dealings with timbers fans, TA and the like at RBP and Jeld-Wen last year were pretty fun. yes there was taunting & shit talking, but fun and generally good natured.
That's cuz they weren't selling out fast. Portland games however, do. Just saying they should give season ticket holders a decent shot at getting these tickets without joining a club. Yes I'm a supporter and I'll sing and yell as much as anybody else in the stadium, but I'm not going to throw down money to be part of a supporters club that can at times be bureaucratic. Too much politics for me. Nothing against you Fuzzy, I think you and Keith are great at the top.
Please remember that many Seattle non-SG's STH's were against giving traveling supporters anymore than the original 150. This was very apparent at the STH meeting a couple years back. I am not sure that they understood that if we only gave them (PDX and VAN away fans) 150 that we in turn would only get 150. The SG's were fighting to raise that number, but many people (Some FO, some non-SG STH's) were not happy with allowing more than 150 away fans even if that meant we could not get more than 150. After fighting the battle with the various FO's and MLS to get this number increased, the non-SG's now want the same access to these tickets. I am not saying that non-SG's shouldn't be able to get tickets. I am happy to see that some of the tickets in this years allotment went to non-SG's fans. I just hope that they know that these tickets are in the Supporter Section and their views will be blocked at times, and the section is treated as GA. If that would bother them, I would suggest getting tickets outside the away Supporter Section via scalper, stub hub, or other source.
Please remember that there were many non-SG STHs that were supportive of the increased allocation and that section is not the away SG section, it is the away fan section. It should be available to all away fans, not just those that happen to belong to a SG, with the understanding that seating in that area is obstructed view. I don't have a problem with SGs getting an allocation, but 90% of the allocation seems a bit much, particularly when you consider that there are going to be 3,200 away tickets available this season and considering there is, at most 5k SG members, this pretty much means every SG member that wants to go to an away game this season will be able to do so. Conversely, assuming all 5k SG members are STH, which they aren't, that means 27k-28k non-SG STH now have to enter a lottery for 74 tickets. If that fails, they then have to go to one of the resellers and pay three to four times face value to get to the game. The argument that non-SG members can just go to a reseller and get tickets is a complete red herring, IMHO, because the argument could very well be made for SG members to.
The ones at that initial meeting were not supportive. After the fact, yes, many have become more supportive, but at that meeting there was very little (almost no) support for additional tickets for traveling fans. As the Front Offices do not want to be involved in the matter, they have left this up to the SG's to handle. In doing so, these tickets have become away SG tickets. Don't be mad at the SG's for doing the work. Tickets can still be had via other avenues, as they were last season. I just don't think the FO wants to make anyone upset, so they have washed their hands of the matter and they are fine with the SG's looking like the bad guys. I also don't think the FO could organize this and have it be as successful as the SG's have. It would be a complete mess if the FO handled it.
This doesn't happen without the FOs agreeing to it and by agreeing to the increased capacity, they are getting involved in the allocation of the tickets. You don't need to look any further than Vancouver to know that it is a FO decision to give all of the tickets to the SGs. This isn't an instance of the FO not wanting to upset people, because, that fact is, they are upsetting people. They are upsetting members of their largest group of fans, the non-SG STH that makes up 73+% of the people that attend every home match. If anything, the 74 allocation just makes it worse because they are acknowledging that they could allocate more to the non-SG members and are choosing not to. As far as the FO making a hash of it if they handled it, most likely they would and the SGs do an excellent job of handling the away tickets for the other away games. It is just the Portland/Vancouver one where things could be improved.
And what Vancouver did with the tickets went against what the three groups agreed upon. I also think that the SG's in BC would have trouble selling all of the tickets to SG members. That is not a problem in Seattle or PDX. Maybe the front office wants to ensure that there is good vocal and visual support for the club in PDX and BC? If they opened all of these tickets up to all STH's they would not get that. Just being realistic here. Not saying any fans are better than others. Just stating facts.
If you'll note I never said that there couldn't be an allocation set aside to the SGs. I just said that 90% seemed to be too large of an allocation. But hey, thanks for throwing up the strawman. Made it very easy to knock down.
I just feel that if the FO is going to have any sort of favoritism, it should be to loyal paying sounders fans, not loyal paying supporters. Obviously the two will often overlap, but what I'm saying is it is completely unfair that a SG member who does not have season tickets gets priority over a season ticket holder. Why should paying 30 bucks to a supporters group for the year take priority over paying 500+ bucks to the Sounders? I think having some allotment specifically for SG is a fine idea, and personally I will be with the ECS regardless of "membership," but a vast majority of tickets going solely to groups that are not officially part of the Sounders organization does not seem right.
Did you read what I posted? Who knows why they (the FO) did it this way. You would have to ask them. I posted why I believe they went this route, and it pretty much addresses your concerns. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am too far off base if I am.
maybe it's part payment for all the free marketing material they get from the ECS...maybe it's that it was ECS leadership that stood up & said "NO. that is not enough tickets..." and fought for more. and maybe i'm only half joking about the first one. edit: and while i don't have exact numbers...you might be amazed at how many SG members are also STH. it is like the best/easiest way to assure you have tickets to every match.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - SGs are organized support. I'm not saying they're the best, or biggest, or most directly lucrative fans - but they're organized and loud. Why wouldn't the FO want to use their organizational abilities? (Never mind rewarding them for the free marketing material they provide match-in, match-out.) Complaining that SGs don't pay the most money to the club, so therefore they shouldn't have preferred access to away tickets is silly. The SGs provide all kinds of benefits to the club - and Chip Clubsuite III can afford the secondary market anyways.
I would also point out that many things in life are not fair. This would be another example of that. That won't make people happy, but you are never going to make everyone happy.
The problem is that it isn't being done so the FO's don't upset anyone. It is being done because the SGs tend to be a bunch of whiny bitches when they feel slighted by the FOs and the fact that they are much better organized means they can be more vocal about their displeasure than non-SG members. The Sounders are unique in that they have the Alliance Council to "represent" the STHs, both non-SG and SG. Even then the Council is just window dressing on the "Democracy in Sports" farce the Sounders are throwing out there and the FO routinely ignores them. The rest of your theories are just bunk, IMHO. The home crowds in Portland and Seattle make enough noise that the away fans are barely noticeable among the rest of the noise in the stadia and Vancouver's FO hasn't really shown an interest in building that kind of atmosphere and the treatment of their SGs would seem to support that opinion. Even then, if Vancouver does get to a point where they are fully embracing their SGs and the kind of atmosphere you get at a Timbers and Sounders game, the addition of the away fans is barely going to be noticeable.
You talk as if you actually know what is going on, and what has went on regarding the talks between the FO's and the SG's regarding this topic. Insulting the SG's really makes your point that much more valid. SG's did the work, so SG's are given the reward. Easy enough for me to understand. The A.C. has been around for a few years now. Giving ample time form non-SG STH's to get reps on it. Has this happened. No. Why do you think that is? I believe that other than match day, a majority of the non-SG STH's don't really care what is going on with the club. When you show commitment, and when you are willing to do some real work, you will be rewarded. The A.C. has taken some time to find its feet, and I think that the FO had no intention of it becoming what it is turning into. It is becoming something with some actual power, and I don't think the FO ever wanted that. Would the home crowds in those cities make a peep had the SG's not set the tone from day 1? How good was the atmosphere at the Chivas Guad. friendly again? I love it that we have a "sold out" stadium with very good fans. A majority of them stand and many will get involved when they know the song/chant or if it is a call/repeat. I don't see them being a catalyst for bringing good atmosphere on the road as you seem to expect. Again, not saying that they are bad fans, just being realistic and not looking through rave green glasses.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWH7t--2v0A"]Yellow Submarine ECS @ Portland 2011 - YouTube[/ame] That was across the field. So I am pretty sure the ECS was loud enough to be heard on half the field with the direction they were facing. And numbers are increasing this year. I am sure it was the same with the TA in Seattle.
if by "whiney bitches" you mean taking a stand for what they believe in and actively working to make those goals happen, then yes. I'm not ECS leadership, and don't have the inside scoop of how their meetings go. but yes, they are organized, have a vision and will put in the work to make that vision a reality as best they can. otherwise you're just sounding uninformed and insulting. now that is just plain not accurate at all. ECS was heard loud and clear in portland and the TA was heard quite well in seattle as well. vancouver as you point out is an outlier. The problem, imo, is that non SG-STH just do not care enough to take an active interest in the "behind the scenes" things that make this club. A vast majority simply want to enjoy the match and atmosphere created by the SGs.