Thanks Chase. You have great info in this thread. So it looks like Sam's Army got some tickets from the USSF and whatever they can't sell before Thursday night goes back to the USSF (this is my speculation based on the Sam's Army time limit of purchase by Thursday night). So no matter who I buy from I will be in the U.S. Section. What I couldn't figure out is if Sam's Army was in one U.S. Section but USSF was another. I'm sure they are all together. I fired off an email to the guy at Sam's Army to be sure. My first cap! Want to make sure I do it right and get in the right spot.
About this talk about the "England section." The entire stadium outside of our little corner will be the England section. I would also think with this being right before the Euros that anticipation about the team will be high.
115 per ticket is less than I was expecting. When you figure that my ticket for tonights Arsenal vs. Liverpool match was 160 bucks, and that was for a cheap seat. The exchange rate and cost of ticket in any of the new stadiums over here is insane. Be ready for crazy prices on trains as well. A train/tube ticket for me to Wembly will cost 36 dollars, at least, and I live about 40 miles away. If anyone has questions about getting around London/Wembly, please just send me a PM. Eric
That's a nice little markup (don't forget the $15 shipping 'cost'). They're marking up the tickets from anything from $10-35. They won't even send to my actual address in London and I have no idea whether they'll send to my mom's home in America quick enough that I'll get my tickets. Screw you, I'll sit in the rest of the stadium for half the price.
Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Just goes to show they shouldn't let you on the internet after drinking a few.
about this "rest of the stadium" thing, how would one go about getting tickets there? i've got some friends/family who may make this trip last minute. i suspect many here might prefer this game to even a usa wc group game against team x, but this is just a friendly for an england not in euro2008, and england v argentina this is not. true, i've never been to an england game in england, but i've been to over a dozen international matches overseas, and outside the fan sections, the stadium has been a very mixed lot. ('cept usa v korea in korea. that was like 110% korean outside our little usa section.)
I thought about getting a ticket in the "rest of the stadium", but couldn't find any solid info on how to get those tickets. My guess is the FA does a much better job of ticket control than the USSF, so maybe only people with English addresses can buy through ticketmaster or whatever. Also, I think another person in the thread mentioned that if you're not in the away fans section, and you cheer for them or wear their colors, you're immediately kicked out. So keep that in mind; if you're going across the pond to cheer for the red, white, and blue, it's probably worth the markup to sit in the US section rather than save a couple bucks and watch quietly from the upper deck.
Very safe, england football matches even the friendlies are policed so well due to past problems. Plus the 'type' of fan who used to cause trouble are either banned, or priced out of the game, or cant get tickets. It'll be even safer than matches in America even if you are spread out amongst english fans there wont be any problems.
You can't wear colors, but cheering for the USA isn't going to get you kicked out. A mate of mine who is Croat went to the Croatia tie, wore a hoodie and jeans and jumped up when Croatia scored and didn't have any problems, much less being kicked out. Hell, it's a friendly vs the US, not a crucial WCQ with Germany. I'd hold off on the organized chanting but nobody's going to get booted for clapping a good Donovan pass.
US fans will be looked at as a novelty. Do not be an obnoxious A-hole and you will make many friends - no matter where in the stadium you sit. People will love you and prolly even buy you a pint when they learn that you came over just for the match. That said . . . I wonder if it's even possible to get a pint in the stadium. It was possible, but extremely difficult, to get one during the Fulham-Derby EPL game I went to this year.
agree. i think the wording was more legaleze like "wearing the away colors and cheering the away team like a fool may be grounds for getting kicked out." or something like that. who knows what the reality is. also, it looks like the FA has about 45,000 tix for englandfans members. add the ussf 3000, and that leaves 42,000 "rest of the stadium" tix. the FA englandfan sale is from fri - monday. not sure about the public sale.
Someone suggested this place: http://www.camcomsolutions.com/_hosted/greenhcouk/index.htm They said they went there when the Giants played an NFL game at Wembley.
I'd guess that that every national FA out there on our planet does better with ticket control than our USSF. It was a disaster here at Reliant back in Feb.
the thing is, ussf still feels like a grassroots org despite it's history, and i'm sure they are underfunded compared to their euro brethren. i wouldn't be surprised if it's practically volunteers and/or interns doing all the various ticketing stuff. then again, i'd rather the exorbitant fees go to ussf than say, ticketmaster....
For those of you wanting to save a few dollars by buying tickets in the rest of the stadium : I think you will be dissapointed come game time. There is nothing like being with a few thousand other die hard americans at a big match ( for us ) in Europe. Yes it is a bit more pricy, but it will definitely be a lot more fun. I can't imagine being at the WC and not with the other thousands of American fans in the corner against Italy, or behind the goal against Ghana. Chase
I just sent them an email about hosting US fans the night before the game and possibly on game day, so we'll see what they say.
agree. i was at midfield against ghana, and it paled in comparison to the usa fan sections of the czech and italy games. the fan sections are what makes the games fun. when the supporters section is the cheap section, it's even more of a no brainer. do the fan section if at all possible. i'm just not willing to front the money for the friends/family who can't be sure if they can make this game yet, so i'm looking into contingency plans in case the ussf section sells out before they can act. cuz, c'mon, nothing in england is cheap for those of us dealing in greenbacks...
Already bought my 2. Of course, one of them is for my English cousin who I'll be staying with. We had to sit somewhere, and he said he'd rather sit with the Americans than have us both sitting with the English. Can't wait for this game. I'm actually pretty shocked that so many people are complaining about the price. What were people expecting? I just hope the US doesn't go out and embarass themselves by laying an egg.
I will definitely pay to get in the U.S. Section. My worry is missing out on tickets altogether. I missed the pre-sale. I know no one really has the answer, but what is the general feeling about our 3,000 tickets selling out immediately on Friday? I will buy right when they go on sale but are we talking Hannah Montana ticket demand here and we could be out of luck 1 minute after they go onsale? Or am I getting worked up over nothing? 3,000 tickets doesn't seem like very much.
If they say yes, I'm booking my room there. It's cheap and will allow me to drink quite a few pints without worrying about getting home. The atmosphere is going to be fantastic. Not sure about sitting behind the goal because the sight lines suck, but oh well. Given the economic situation, I'm not sure we'll go through all 3,000 tix right away, but who knows? Better safe than sorry. Let's party. Go US!
my guess/hope is the england FA is pretty smart about this. they like to make money just like everyone else. they could probably easily allocate more tix to ussf if it's profitable for them to do so. if demand for tix is weak in england and strong from the us, they could swing more ussf's way. i'm sure the england FA is a well oiled money making machine in things like ticket sales...
This is what I think could happen as well. But I personally dont think the 3,000 tickets that the USSF has are going to sell out on Friday. Hopefully we sell them all though. Come on US !
Yeah the FA will be eager to pay off the debt from building Wembley, I guarantee they are trying to make as much money as possible.
Not sure how to work that Fifa link, but this one worked for me: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/fixtures?league=fifa.friendly&date=20080501&type=month&cc=5901 Will there be any league games going on in Western Europe the last week of May / first week of June?