Peope have via e-mail, and how would you attend meetings when their location, date and time are never known. Don't act like you don't know people are disappointed with the promises that were made by Crew Union and what actually was offered to the members -- it's been pretty damn evident for quite a long time now.
the next meeting is set on 7/21/05 at 6pm in the Crew Front Office. We will be meeting in the conference room of the Front Office. If you have any questions PM me! Crew Union
It's funny how much crap you guys talk on here! Why can't you come to the meeting and express some of this?!? You really don't have to be a member to attend a meeting! CREW UNION meeting this Thursday, July 21st at 6:30 pm. Crew player(s) will be there at the beginning of the meeting for a short "meet and greet."
Good to know that the official supporters club think we talk crap. Call me crazy but i am guessing that the majority of the Front Office that will be at the meeting, can open up web browser and type in www.bigsoccer.com and find the Crew forums.
Not a Crew fan but stumbled upon this thread. I love how they'll be having a meeting that conflicts with a televised national team game.
I'd like to see Crew Union succeed but in order to do so the top priority has to be establishing credibility. I'm just not sure where you begin though. Either way, seeing the agenda for tomorrow would be a good start.
The agenda: 1. Organized Away Trips 2. Charity event attendance 3. Unique opportunities 4. Soccer camps, merchandising 5. The formulation of the fan club constitution
I've some thoughts on some of these, if not most. Of course the last time I gave my unsolicited opinion to Crew Union it all went a bit pear shaped. 1. You need the financial backing of Columbus Crew. The start up cost involved for a bus, and the potential financial loss if you don't fill the entire thing up is sadly something that no current fan group can do without subsidization. Furthermore, getting the word out needs to be worked on. I'm not sure what methodology CU used in it's initial attempt to get a bus to Chicago, but it clearly didn't work. As evidence, Mike was able to get 50 on a bus, and have a 15 person waiting list in just over a week. I don't have the financial stats in front of me, but I'm guessing that all parties came out on level ground due to the bus selling out. 2. I've always been a huge proponent of this and tried to set something up in the offseason of 04. Crew should have a contact by which you would have a liason. 3. Not that many thoughts here, apart from a point that I emphasized in an earlier email, the newsletter is the biggest selling point for CU. 4. Merchandising, this I'm not so sure about. I would encourage everyone to buy the yellow home jersey prior to buying any supporters club/fan club merchandise. Furthermore the overhead seems to be large in some cases, and there's no certainty that CU would break even selling CU merchandise. Up to this point there couldn't be that great a demand. Perhaps I'm wrong. 5. A nice step, but keep it simple. I've written 5 or 6 different constitutions for various clubs I was in while at college. Apart from a raison d'etre, and a mechanism for installing officers, I can't see much more that would be needed. You may also want to start thinking about the policy towards membership fees. Up to this point in time folks have been paying $20 for a t-shirt and a lanyard. $10 renewal this season for a noise maker. Perhaps the overhead was quite steep on these items, again, I've not seen the numbers, but is paying dues an absolute necessity for your organization. I could make the case for both.
I would agree with this. I didn't hear about an attempted CU road trip until after Mike had told me about the one he got worked out. I was talking to a CU member and it happened to come up in conversation. I know CU had talked about them in the 2 meetings that Wittler and I went to but nothing solid was put in place.
Road trips IMHO will ultimately come down to financial gamble and negotiation. For instance, we offer supporters $10 tickets, is it possible to work out a group rate, or some sort of deal similar to that in Chicago or DC? Doing so would make a stride towards what has to be the ultimate goal, travel fee and game ticket for at or around $50.
Good point. In addition to what Zak said, i'd also talk to the San Jose office. They have something similar to Crew Union. Maybe get a copy of their constitution, change stuff around to suit the needs and wants of Columbus fans, and use that as a rough draft. I'm not saying copy it word for word, just use it as a starting point. You should also have the credential be able to do or "unlock" something. Make it something useful, so people want it. Don't have it be a useless piece of plastic. Maybe on certain days, they get discounted tickets, or a chance to be on the field pregame. The yellow jersey is expensive, but maybe have the credential good for a discount in Crew Gear. Someone (don't know who) was complaining about a Crew Gear discount for v-army members, maybe make that discount for anyone with a Crew Union membership, a Crew Soccer Nation membership, or a V-Army membership. If you have at least one of those, you qualify. This should cover all the bases and make the vast majority of Crew fans happy. I'd imagine that at least 75% of Crew fans fall into one of those groups. I do agree that there is a potential for loss of revenue with these discounts, but if you make it one time per season, they'll make that loss up with other sales.
Whew! Where do I start? As the person who opened her mouth to say we needed a fan club, I certainly didn't anticipate the wrath the club (and me, I guess, if I'm the "Trophy Hag") would endure as a result of an innocent statement made in April '04. The minutes were posted as a way of letting people know what we're doing, that's all. First of all, we have never been funded by the Crew organization and are just making financial ends meet (including some t-shirts that were lost/misplaced by the Crew office), but Zak, you're welcome to look at our spreadsheet. Second, a good suggestion about the discount on Crew Gear; I've asked for it many, many times and have been told "no." Maybe if we all band together, we can get something done this year on that front. That would be great. Third, Lapper has been our liason, but with all his new coaching duties, we're now "aligned" with the Marketing department. And, with the new "Soccer Nation" being formed, there's a bit of confusion where everything fits. That being said, the Crew Union meets the needs of people who want to join a community to support the Crew - and who don't sit in the North End. That's not a slam, just a fact of life. We can all "get along" and should, but your diatribe is disturbing. We're all just fans of the club, right? Fourth, There are no "hidden agendas" behind the fan club, me or anything, and I have no idea what you're talking about on this one. I reached out to V-Army last year to see how we could "play" together, but I think our target markets, if you will, are completely different. If it's soccer moms and dads for the Crew Union, that's fine. We're an alternative to what was out there for that demographic, which really was nothing. And, I even suggested that the V-Army section be our "Block O" for the games - that we'd help with cheers/songs/chants throughout the stadium but was told "there really aren't any songs" that we could distribute to the members. (However, I think some of our members probably joined in the "sack Andrulis" chant the last few weeks!!) I thought it'd be a great atmosphere to get all the stadium doing some stuff together, but it just hasn't worked out so far. Fifth, the bus trips seem to be such a target....the price was for the trip, an overnight stay in a hotel (no "up and back" thing), and a ticket to the game. And, the $$ was approximate with no help from the FO to offset the costs. One more thing, the bus for the Chicago trip was subsidized by the Crew FO - a good sign that the FO is starting to respond to their fan base with some cash. Great idea about contacting the San Jose fan club for a "constitution" of sorts. Thanks! Lastly, it saddens me to think that the innocent, purposeful formation of a fan club has met so much ill will. I started this club - and for the most part until just recently - did all of the work myself. Not boo-hooing, but it's been an interesting struggle to find our way, which is what we're still doing - deciding the direction of the club. AND, Eric Vasquez will be dropping by our meeting tonight (promptly at 6:30, Crew front office) if you'd like to say "hi" to him and ask him some questions. Oh, another thing, our meeting was scheduled three weeks ago, before the US game was even thought about. My bad on that, but it really isn't a "nationally" televised game (TeleFutura). And, I'm the one who posted on Match Night that it's being shown at Garcia's, so I know it conflicts with our meeting. Thanks for letting me vent and explain some things. This has been exhausting! But, I do welcome all comments (sorta).... Go Crew!
Gosh. Where to begin? Maybe the easiest place is the financial issues: it's not The Crew's place to provide you with funding. Particularly because if they give you money or discounts or whatever they'll be pretty well obligated to give "Most Favored Nation" status on an equal basis with everyone fron V-Army to the 107 bunch and whoever is left over from the Wrecking Crew, not to mention Crew LEgion, Crew Nation and J. Crew. Which is OK since the team essentially paying people to be fans is like tying a pork chop around your neck to get a puppy to play with you. If that's what you have to do, maybe you should rethink pet ownership. And the second I hear they're pumping stuff over the transom to certain groups, I'm getting the Picket Line group back together and demanding the same. Whatever it is. There's more to say but honestly I don't have a dog in this fight. I'll only add that it's an interesting confession that after all this time you still don't really know what the heck you're all about, why you exist and what "direction" you want to take. Collect some dues, write a constitution and try to figure out what V Army is doing so you can do it too is not exactly a dynamic forward-looking program. Is the Treasurer still a San Jose fan?