Galaxy - Town Hall Meeting on Nov. 1st I just received an invitation in the mail from the LA Galaxy front office to attend a Town Hall style Meeting on November 1st, prior to the Conference Semifinal match against the Smurfs. You must be a season ticket holder (any package) and have a ticket for that days game to attend. They also provided a lined sheet of paper where we could express our concerns to the Front Office. Who else has received this letter in the mail?
Who got there Galaxy Letter? Well received my Official Galaxy please buy playoff tickets & opinions of the HDC this year letter. Basically you fill out the letter expressing your likes or dis-likes this year about the HDC. along with the letter and form is an invitation to a meeting being held at the HDC tennis stadium Nov. 1st if you buy playoff tickets and bring your letter you can get admission into the meeting. So just a quick poll... who filled out there form? who is attending the meeting with under these conditions... most importantly what was the biggest pro and con about the HDC this year? For me : biggest pro - Location and great stadium, great junky giveaways. biggest con - higher ticket prices, no tailgating, crappy team.. ( although customer service cant really do anything about that though. Thanks Douggy !! )
No tailgating..... made worse by the lack of pubs in walking distance to the stadia.... thus eliminating possability of a pub crawl..... Lack of flags and banners allowed in stadia is appalling.....
i Did As Expressed in my post.. I got mine. Anyone know if we are allowed to express our opinions at this meeting... or are we just privledged to be there?
Got mine. Positives: lots; obvious. Negatives: too high tix prices and no tailgating. The galaxy can do something about the tix prices and i personally think they could designate a certain location for tailgaters, on the opposite side of where the college is located. but i'm not holding my breath on either. also, the food lines take too long. they've botched that one somehow.
I've not received this mail as I've moved. Do we just call a ticket rep to notify an address change? Anyway, hopefully there will be an open forum where fans' questions and concerns can be discussed and not just have the "privilege" to be there. The top 3 issues I foresee: ticket prices, tailgating & customer service.
I’d say there were around 100 people at the meeting and there was a whole lotta dancing around the questions going on by Hamilton and Liewikie. Very little was committed to. Here’s a quickie summary: Season tix holders will get their own entrance and the season holder parking will be moved as well as guaranteed giveaways for season holders next season. The north-end bleachers will become a GA section next year. No mention of ticket prices in particular. Horns will be limited to the north-end GA section only. Everything else was met with a deliberately vague answer; especially the player/coach questions. They also basically tried to wash their hands of everything else saying, “write to the sheriff’s department” for complaints about the traffic flow pattern and, “some re-training will happen” or, “maybe we’ll put some more carts in the plaza areas” with regards to comments on the concession stands. To be honest though, it was about what I expected. On the league front, Cleveland will be the 12th team, expect them and Chivas USA in 2005. They’re going to create a 24/7 soccer channel with MLS and MLF. Real Madrid will tour the US next year. HDC will host some World Cup Qualifiers, etc. They've "bought" the Copa Libradores qualifying round (?) Overall, they seemed more enthusiastic about that stuff than anything really for Galaxy fans.
Anything in the works for some bars and pubs in walking distance to the stadia so the mandatory pre and post game pub crawl and be completed?
The standard answer of, “It’s a school policy” was dispensed and they quickly moved on. No news on that front.
The Truth? I didnt attend the meeting... whoever did, did you get the impression that they seemed more interested in what was good for the HDC or the Galaxy? Last nights attendance at the playoff game was very disappointing.... They hardly got any promotion for the game last night. Cleveland is a bust idea for a soccer team.. too close to columbus, and cleveland citizens are die-hard browns & Indian Fans.... and now with Lebron, basketball is gaining fast. Cleveland is a terrible idea for expansion. Phily would have been good, portland or seattle great. A Pub would be great.... but zoning is obviously a problem. There is really alot more questions than answers coming from the upper levels of MLS and is there any wonder?
I don't really understand how flags aren't allowed in the stadium??? What is the major malfunction with that, given that it's a soccer stadium.
Re: The Truth? Maybe the Browns are why MLS is starting there. Cleveland taxpayers forked over a ton of money for a stadium that is used 8 times a year. So maybe the Browns' owners are buying into MLS to have something going on there during the summer.......so they will have further justification for asking for a new stadium 5 years from now when the current stadium is "obsolete". That's why I suspect that MLS will also be in Seattle or Houston. NFL teams there are also on Welfare and taxpayers in other cities are beginning to follow LA residents' crazy idea that there are better things to do with tax money than to hand it over to billionaires so they can build a stadium where millionaires play 8 times a year.
While they might use the Browns stadium initially, all reports on this potential Cleveland investor I've read here and elsewhere have him very committed to building a SSS for the club as soon as he can. There was one thread where the guy (cannot recall his name now) was already looking into land. Just tossing off a possibility here, but if he was looking, maybe this decision was made a little while ago and they are just waiting to announce the expansion so they can announce a stadium deal also. Just a thought. Also, I agree with the previous post. I think if we can find the money guys there, Seattle and Portland both need to be in MLS, along with Rochester. If we do get to twenty clubs and those three are not in the mix, I'll be a tad pissed.
It's not flags but flags on poles. The reason being liability for possible injury caused by waving flag poles. Simply put, worry about lawsuits and in this country I can see their point. I think in Chicago they have some agreement or "waiver" with the main supporters group about flags on poles. Maybe someone knows something more on that.
That's it? I should've figured. I would like to know why there was tailgating at some non-Galaxy matches, if they occured.
Re: The Truth? Browns & LeBron in winter. Indians in summer. Biggest conflict is with money, but isn't that the way of life in every big town? Competition for entertainment money? I believe Cleveland has a committed owner. If it's the name I heard, it'll be someone new. And last I heard, this potential new owner is looking at sites for a stadium. With other expansion planned in 2006 or 2007, look for Seattle, Portland, Philly, somewhere in Oklahoma. Of course, there's always chat about Rochester or a team in NYC.
They said the tailgating you’re referring to was also “not allowed”. Believe me, they did not want to seem to talk about the tailgating – it was the only time during the meeting Hamilton seemed uncomfortable and in a rush to change the topic FWIW.
He did say that there should be a focus group with the fans trying to get the university to change their minds. He also said that the FO would work with them but that the university needs to be convinced. The funny thing was he tried the same old line that it was a law that the universities couldn't have tailgating. That's when several of us chimed in that SJ does. So we need to for some type of task force to get stats from other stadium. That includes the RB who knows us the best. Brian Melekian can probably get the info from his Dad.