I just got off of the phone with the Union, and will be speaking to Red Bull in a few minutes. The point of contact for the Union front office is Jason Freedman. Jason Freedman: jfreedman@philadelphiaunion.com Jason was very professional in the way he is handling our support, and he is doing his best to work with us on getting a higher allocation of tickets. They have a set plan for handling away supporters, and this is still very much a work in progress. However, in order for us to get more seats allocated to us, we must first sell our initial allocation. Security will be handled efficiently, and Red Bulls supporters are highly encouraged to stand as a unit. They understand the rivalry, and are committed to making sure that our fans are taken care of. The supporters will be segregated English league style (I made sure of this when I spoke to them). Stewards will be surrounding the supporters in the aisles and behind the section to ensure that no Temple and Villanova jackasses try and mob up in the stadium. We also have an entrance separate from them The details -The match is October 16, 6 PM - Tickets will be located in section 133, which is literally as close as you can get to the SOB without being in their end. I expressed that I would like our seats moved from this area to avoid confrontation and issues, but was explicitly told that this is where all away support will be located in the ground. We are separated from the SOB by a rather large gap, but he couldn’t guarantee that we wouldn’t have issues with projectiles and the like. I pushed for a different section as hard as I could, but this is where we will be located whether we like it or not. - Our initial allocation is for 125 tickets. Tickets can only be purchased in blocks of 15 or more. As such, it is vitally important that we have two point men running this operation. Season ticket holders who are not members of the supporters groups should contact either the GSS head man, or ESC head man to secure a ticket. The initial 125 tickets are $20 a piece. - You have three options regarding transportation: 1) You can take NJ transit to Trenton. Then hop on the R7 SEPTA, and get off at suburban station (2nd stop), then hop on R2 SEPTA which drops us off at the Highland avenue station, where shuttle buses will take you to the ground. 2) You park in a satellite lot (located anywhere from .5 to 1.5 miles from the ground) and can either walk or take a shuttle bus. 3) We organize a bus trip, park in the satellite lots and march in as a group. The fenced in lots around PPL Park are for their season ticket holders only. - Once we sell out our initial 125 tickets, the Union will be working with us to secure another allocation. The earlier we sell out our allocation, the more tickets we can secure for our fans. It is that simple. The details on the next allocation are still being worked out, but we will either have the option of securing more expensive tickets in the adjoining section 132, (thereby keeping our supporters together—the best option IMO) or securing a separate block in another corner of the ground for the same price (not a good idea if you ask me). Once the initial allocation is gone, we will know the full details on their plan. Basically, we need to jump on these tickets right now. In order for us to have a large enough supply for us to advertise the trip through the Red Bulls website (and hopefully get 500 RB fans trekking down) we need to get these 125 tickets sold by the end of the month at the latest. Transportation is something we can all discuss at a later date, but right now we really need to get on purchasing these tickets. ESC, please get a point man who can call Jason with the amount of tickets we will be purchasing. So long as we purchase a minimum of 15 to start, we can add more people as we get payments. GSS, please elect a person who will serve as your point man. He will be responsible for securing your tickets. Non-SG members, ESC/GSS will be handling the ticketing end of this transaction. The only reason this is being done is because tickets must be purchased in blocks of 15 or more. Jason cannot take orders of anything less that 15, and all purchases on tickets will be final. Once we get the payment situation sorted out, the SG's will be giving you a point of contact for whom you will need to provide your name, and the amount of tickets you will be purchasing. Expect to be paying through Paypal.
Another transportation option is the Chinatown bus from NYC off Allen Street. $20 roundtrip which drops off in the City Center. Short walk to the SEPTA subway to the stadium. Did that for US/Turkey and worked great, especially if you want to stay the night or leave at a different time (buses run almost every half hour).
The interest for this match is unreal. We are easily going to eclipse the 125 allocation by this time tomorrow. Stay up to date with the trip on Metrofanatic. Thead here
Not trolling, but PPL Park is in Chester, PA and you'd have to take the R2. The subway takes you to the south Philly sports complex where the other 4 teams play.
I looked at the PPL seating chart and damn, the visiting section will be super close to the Philly supporters' area. Well, should make for great banter
What would be the latest date I can try getting these tickets? Im playing college soccer next year and dont know if I will be free that day.
Care to enlighten us on why you or the FO chose to place an away section literally right on top of the home supporters section? Don't you think that is daring and inviting an incident?
This resembles any situation in Europe. Full stadium, no where to put away support but amongst the home team, just have security and everything will be fine. Don't see anything "daring" or "inviting" here, it's going to be an absolute sell-out.
I can't speak for all of our supporters, but I've been completely against that since it was announced. Going in we all pretty much just assumed the away supporters would be in the opposite end or one of the opposite corners. When ticketing started for season tix holders we found out about this and there was some bitching on bs, but we never heard anything else. I really hope you guys bitch to our front office about this because we want to avoid any possible "incidents" as well.
Partially true but not completely analogous in my opinion. I feel that in general, the hardcore support (not saying they cause problems, but if someone will, they'll prob come from there) in the US is pretty concentrated in the supporters' section, more than in Europe. So there's always a bit of danger in Europe or South America--with drunk guys pretty dispersed in the stadium--but in the US it's a really safe bet to separate the visiting section from the supporters' groups as much as possible. That may change over time but I think it's an obvious thing to do at this point
FINAL UPDATE -- TICKETS ON SALE FOR SECTION 133 TONIGHT @ 8PM I just spoke to the Union, and the idea of purchasing large blocks of tickets in their north end will not work. The Union refuses to sell the tickets to very large groups (ours) in the North End for this match. After much frustration, this was the only scenario I was able to work out with their front office that they were willing to do. The only other option was them willing to sell the tickets to 132 at a discount, but we would have to wait until one month before the match. In addition, the amount of seats to this section was not guaranteed to be what we desired. As such: -Two sections will be available to Red Bulls supporters. Option 1 - Section 133 SUPPORTERS: Seats Available: 125 total, 75 will be sold through the ESC via paypal this evening, 50 to GSS to take care of on their own. Price per seat: $20+ $1.00 Paypal fee = $21.00 -Link to paypal will go active at 8:00 PM on the main page of www.empiresupportersclub.com -Fans in this section will be expected to wave flags, sing, stand the whole match. In addition, fans in this section will also swear to taunt the SOB's across the gap, and make them as uncomfortable as possible within their own home. It is not recommended that families sit in this section, and expect obstructed views. If you are willing to abide by these rules, you do not need to be in either SG to purchase these tickets. OPTION 2 - Section 132: AWAY GENERAL Seats available : ~200-250 Price per seat: $35 + $1.00 Paypal fee = $36.00 -This section will be treated as a regular away section in their stadium. Banners and flags are not permitted in this section, there is no exception to this rule. However, these seats will be adjacent to 133, and fans here are still expected to provide as much support for the Red Bulls as they can. Sing your lungs out, taunt the Philly fans, and do it from a more comfortable seat with a better view of the playing action. -Tickets for this section will go onsale after the allocation to section 133 has sold out (probably tomorrow or Friday), and will be purchased through the Empire Supporters Club as well. Thank you for your patience and understanding with this guys, I worked as hard as I could to get as many tickets as I could for our Red Bulls supporters. Good luck to all who will be gunning for those $20 tickets tonight. We will take over Philadelphia, and we will turn PPL Park into Red Bull Arena - South.
We will be taking the back rows, so it shouldn't be a problem. But standing isn't a requirement like it is in 133.
I really hope next year our FO gives them a giant F u c k you like they gave us. Garber himself has streessed in media press releases ad nausium the importance of regional rivalries and our FO worked with the SoB and Philly fans well in advance of the game at RBA to make sure they had a a huge section made available to them, even before single game tickets for the match went on sale where they could have flags and banner and stand and sing. Over 500 tickets were sold to them. These assholes are saying if we want to waive flags and place banners and stand we have to do it is a tiny section of 125 people next to the home supporters. Otherwise we have to take the 250 ticktes or so the next secion over and can't have flags or banners and cant obstruct any views standing. What a bunch of cunts. Also, wasn't it Nick Sacko and Philly that said they would only give TFC fans 100 tickets because that is all TFC offered? Apparently that only applies when other teams offer fewer tickets to traveling supporters.