Joe and Jamie's Blog

Last Thursday Jamie and I headed down to Harrison, NJ to the new Red Bull Arena, new home of the MLS New York Red Bulls. Construction is not complete, but all the concrete for the stadium seats were in, even some seats themselves were installed. Jamie and I were part of their seat relocation event for people buying season tickets. Last season we only went to 5 games but loved it enough to fork over the money for season tickets.

For weeks I kept using their online 3D seat locater that gave you computerized images of approximately what your view may be. This just wasn’t enough for me since I am spending anywhere from $300-$600 a seat. I even said, “Boy it would be cool if we got to see the views from the new stadium before buying seats”. With that comment came the notice in the mail of a seat relocation date. Pretty cool, wish other things came that simple.

So after leaving work early to battle rush hour traffic in NJ, ugh, we made it to the new stadium. There we met some of the sales department who took us out into the stadium to pick out our seats, but not before we were given hard hats, safety goggles, construction vests, and watched a safety video. I was curious how the views from the second deck were since our biggest complaint at the old stadium was people in front of us standing up or walking down the isle blocking our view. Since the stadium is brand new, obviously it has awesome seating views and space, no more of that just cram them in mentality.

We ultimately chose seats on the endline of the field in the second deck, front row, isle seats, directly above the goal. This gives us a view of the entire field without even having to move our head. Best of all there is no one in front of us and an elephant could be in the isle and it wouldn’t block our view!

After picking the seats we had to wait our turn to make the seat selection official. This made me nervous since they went in priority order which was based on longevity of accounts, and I only had an account since the 2009 season. Luckily no one chose our seats and we got to go to the board and mark off our seats with our little stickers. After that they enticed us with merchandise that was deeply discounted, so we folded and got the stuff we have been meaning to buy. You can’t go wrong with a $70 half-zip pull-over for $20.

Even though Jamie called me a nerd I took some pictures, so enjoy! They will be up on the picture gallery as well. More info on the stadium at www.redbullarena.us

This past Saturday we went to yet another MLS game, but with Casey and Andrew this time. If you are tired of reading these posts, don’t worry, I don’t have tickets from now until August!

We had a little joke going around that the Red Bulls only win at home when Casey and Andrew come. Why? Well they only did win one game at home and it was the last time they came to the game. Unfortunately that did not hold true as the Red Bulls lost again. It was another upsetting loss as they had many, many changes to score. They dominated the filed and once again had much more possession time then the opposing team, but they just could not put the ball in the net.

Oddly there were two penalty kicks, one for each time. Now if you know the game those are kind of hard to come across since you really must to something bad inside the goalie box for those to happen, and no one wants them to happen since its pretty much a guaranteed goal. Each team scored their penalty kick and it turned out to be the game winning goal for Colorado. The player Conor Casey from the Colorado Rapids scored both his goals with headers. All that guy did is head the ball all game, it was interesting to watch considering he took more shots with his head than his foot.

The Red Bulls lost this match 3-2. I’m going to try and nab some season tickets for next year. I’m trying to figure out where I want to sit in their new stadium. Not sure if I want to go to the second level front row so I have nothing obstructing my view or move down closer. Help me choose my seats by viewing them online in 3d here. I’m thinking dead center, mezzanine level, section 226, first row.

You can watch the highlights of the game here.

On Sunday Jamie and I went to our third MLS game. It wasn’t as hot out as the last time we went there, so we didn’t really come back as lobsters this time which was nice. The NY Red Bulls had possession of the ball for most of the game and had really great opportunities, but they never put the ball in the net. Right at the end of the first half, with only about thirty seconds left, the Chicago Fire scored the only goal of the game. Therefore the NY Red Bulls lost 1-0. So far they are 2-6-3 for the season. You can watch the video highlights from the game here. I remembered to take some pictures this time to share with everyone, so enjoy.

Saturday night Jamie, her sister Casey and her husband Andrew, and myself drove down to Giants Stadium to watch the NY Red Bulls play against Real Salt Lake in an MLS (Major League Soccer) match. This was the first any of us had seen live, we have watched a few on TV before. The stadium wasn’t really packed, only about 8,500 attended which is apparently normal for soccer in this country. The Red Bulls won 2-0. You can watch the highlights of the game here. There was one amazing play by the Red Bulls defender. He stopped a goal by leaping into the goal and kicking the ball out before he or it touched the ground, negating the goal. Truly amazing talent right there, I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.

Overall the game was a fun experience. Our seats where almost midfield and half way up the section, so we were able to see almost the entire field without having to move our heads much. I was able to nab the isle seats as well so we were a bit more comfortable. Glad I purchased tickets to four more games. If you want to read up on the match you can here.

Today I purchased a four game pack of tickets to the MLS team New York Red Bulls. Jamie and I both like soccer, but we have never been to a real MLS game before, go figure.

Pricing for the MLS is really cheap, well at least compared to other sports. I got seats near the midfield line, end row seats, mid section for all four games. This should give us a good view of the whole field without too much disturbance. I believe they currently play at the Giants stadium, but they are having their own stadium built as we speak, well read I guess. You can check out the new arena’s website here. They have a web cam to watch the progress.

Can’t wait for our first game, I’ll have a bunch of pictures to show everyone. For now, you can visit the team’s website here.