The River End: assigned seating or General Admission

The comparison of Borussia Dortmund and the Philadelphia Union is just hilarious.

 

You created false choices. As if your two options are the only options and the only thing holding us back is the lack of GA.

 

Can we just close this thread... it is irrelevant.

 

I like the way assigned seating works. I like my seats, like the people around me, like the way my seat isn't gone if I go to the bathroom.

Like Kev said, If it aint broke, dont fix it.

I vote assigned seating.

 

Yeeeeaa! Glad this thread came back to life!

It might not be broke, but that's because it's never really worked. All of the assumptions that the naysayers are building their arguments on are either groundless or lame. With the fan base we have in the RE we should be consistently much louder and much more organized than we are, and part of the problem is that, outside of 137, there are only pockets of vocal support spread unevenly over the rest of the sections, and those pockets are unevenly spread because of the assigned seating policy. The more concentrated the better. Do you think we would need all of these self-appointed "capos" if we had GA?

Go ahead and cling to your social needs and comfort zones while we continue to be sub-par in the stands It's a shame really because there's a lot of potential.

 

How does making it GA change the sound level we get out with the same quantity and quality of fans in that section? How about fill the section first?? I had three seats to the left of me all year. There were people in them for two games. Some fans view it as cheaper seats so they get them but don't get involved in the chants.

Unless you change either the fan activity in the stands or the quantity of fans in the section...then whether its assigned seats or general admission has absolutely zero impact on sound level and the question of the two choices is meaningless IMO

 

So what guarantee's that only loud people sit in the middle?

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's guaranteed, but I would say that it's likely. When this topic came up a couple of years ago I drew a parallel to what happens at hardcore or punk shows (and probably metal shows too). At all of these shows you have a GA policy. One thing about these kinds of shows is that the middle section is ALWAYS where the action is. People who are looking for that kind of experience, the "pit" experience, know it always kicks off right there in the middle front. People who don't want that experience know this as well (assuming they're familiar with the culture), and for the most part they don't go there. It's understood by all that there's a section of the floor that's different from the rest; it's all about crowd dynamics, not what isolated individuals want to do or don't want to do.

In theory at least, the same kind of logic would apply to a GA River End. Instead of running into people and dancing like savages (hardcore shows) you have singing, flag-waving, moderate levels of debauchery, etc. Since the SoB's ledge is right there in the center, the closer you are to that center the more involved you'll probably be, or at least the more positive social pressure you'll feel to be involved (this brings up the issue of some of the more zealous SoBs berating others for not participating; the fact that you feel the need to tell someone what to do is just one more argument against assigned seating). I would venture a guess that this is the case in pretty much every soccer stadium that has GA; there's a center of activity and everything radiates out from there. Likewise, people who are attracted to that kind of experience will naturally gravitate towards it. Those fans who accidentally end up in the middle, for whatever reason-and they'll be in the minority more than likely-will at least have the option of moving somewhere else. With assigned seating they are not able to move, and in fact it wouldn't even occur to them to move. That seat is their property for 90 minutes, and their ticket, with the seat and row number, is the "deed" on which they stake their claim to that property, so to speak.

So, let me bounce the question back to you: Why wouldn't loud people sit in the middle?

 

to me, the more the merrier.

 

what about people who get there early because they want a better view, especially for big games? What happens when someone goes to the bathroom? Goes to smoke at halftime? Get so drunk that can't remember what seat they are sitting in? What if some very loud core people get there a little later than usual?

 

keep 136 137 138 reserved, the rest GA

/thread

 

Tom, you need to start drinking

 

For the record my username is completely ironic.

Slitz in addition to drinking booze I like to indulge in irony from time to time. Life's more fun that way. Booze and irony.

 

Thats a hardcore show where if you enter a pit you could get your teeth knocked out. Of course only certain people would go to the middle.

I think in GA you would have the people who get there early take the seats up front. I'm rarely in early, either BSing with someone or running to my truck. I think a lot of the people are like that

 

I think you missed the point of that comparison: People who don't like to sing at soccer games are generally not going to be the eager to get near the center of the stand, where the core of SoBs are. It would be uncomfortable for them. That's why most stub-hubbers get weird half-way through the game. Likewise, unless you're comfortable with being pushed around, you don't get near the pit.

And what's the big deal with the front anyway? The River End is what, 20 rows deep? Unless you're under 5'0" your view's fine. If you get in late you squeeze in. It's not a terrace. Plus, not every single person is going to want to be near the center (notice I'm not talking about the front; it's irrelevant from my point of view). My argument's based on one main assumption: the more concentrated, the better. In other words, the more people you have closer to the center who are willing to sing, the better coordinated and louder we will be. Trying to coordinate 5 sections with scattered pockets of support is a noble exercise in futility. When we went up to NYRB a couple years ago you had everyone that was down for singing concentrated in that one section of RB Arena, and we were LOUD. That's how it should be in the RE.

 

Its not going to change soooooooooooo why is this still discussed. There are pros/cons of each side. but until someone else buys the team. GA won't happen.

 

What? Did Jay Sugarman have a bad experience with GA seating at a rock concert when he was a teenager or something?

 

An even better question is why do you continue to read this thread?

 

Because I keep getting notifications. Why do you continue to cry about something out of your control rather just enjoying what you have?

 

Not a very convincing reason, but OK. If I'm not mistaken this thread was created to spark a debate on GA, regardless of how plausible or realistic the idea is right now. Whether or not you think that debate is worthwhile is of course part of the debate, but asking why I "continue to cry about something out of my control" and then getting all sentimental about "enjoying what you have" is completely unrelated to it. Stay out of the thread if you don't like it. You have a choice to click on those little notifications, right?

As a compromise I could see 137 being assigned seating and the rest GA. Thoughts?

As a compromise I could see 137 being assigned seating and the rest GA. Why should the other sections be reserved?

 

because I sit in 138 and reserved my seats in the first 1o minutes of the original sale. ya now, the whole Charlton heston "cold dead hand" thing