Nov. 9th meeting (first half)

[montgjules]

The scheduled Nov. 9th meeting of the Loyalists had a great turnout, with nearly 20 people attending. Trey Fitz-Gerald, the Senior Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Real Salt Lake, attended the meeting and answered several questions. (His comments will be written up separately.)

The meeting lasted over 90 minutes and a wide spectrum of issues was discussed. Several organizational details were finalized. Here is a summary of what was discussed during the first half of the meeting. See my other posts for the information Trey gave us.

· “The Loyalists” are now a legal non-profit entity within the State of Utah. We have a bank account set up to handle finances, and dues are now being accepted.

· The dues were approved at $15/year. This membership will last from Super Draft to Super Draft of each season. The $15 membership fee will have several benefits, as listed elsewhere.

· The issue of whether to offer a free scarf or free t-shirt was discussed, and the group unanimously agreed to offer a T-shirt. The T-Shirt has the following advantages:

o Inaugural season scarves are available otherwise to people, and most people don’t need two scarves during July!

o If the Loyalists all wear their t-shirts to games and stand together, this will create good presence and help the group stand out at games.

· Two websites are currently active for RSL fans:

o The official Loyalists website : www.theloyalists.com

o A forum and information site : www.realsaltlake.org

o These websites can be used as official meeting spots to discuss issues relating to the Loyalists.

· Earlier, the Loyalists were asked to choose which section in RES would be most appealing. The majority of people voted in favor of the cheaper section, E30/E32. This section offers the following advantages:

o It is right on top of corner kicks, so we shout “encouragement” at both teams as they make corner kicks.

o We will be able to drop stuff over the front

o Good TV coverage (second best to team bench area). Dave Hale (dysko) has worked in TV sports production and assures us this is a great spot for TV coverage, facing the cameras, and that the sound carries well from this area to the rest of the stadium.

o Why E30/E32 and not E31? E31 is an upper section that will be tarped over, so there won’t be other seating between us or yelling at us to sit down. E30/E32 are essentially next to each other.

· The need for more leadership was discussed.

o Dave Hale (“dysko” at BigSoccer) offered to demote himself to Vice President considering his pending marriage and distractions.

o We voted unanimously to confirm Glenn Webb as our Loyal President. (For those who don’t know, Glenn is “maldini” at the USL forums, “Loyal1” at the realsaltlake.org forums, and “Blitzzfan” at the BigSoccer forum.) Glenn has been involved with Utah soccer for years, and was one of the main presences at the Utah Blitzz games standing and cheering and harassing players with the RAF. His long-standing association w/ supporting Utah soccer has already earned him the respect of many in this group.

o Steve McAfee (Lucky13 at BigSoccer) volunteered his experience to act as Treasurer for the group. The group approved this.

· Several logos were introduced to the group as possibilities for the Loyalists. One possibility was created by Scott (“McKid”) and was well received by the Loyalists. Several other possibilities were created by “TheCup” and were also well received. Several people liked the idea of using more than one logo, perhaps one on T-shirts and one on banners for games. All the logos will be online soon for others to review and consider, and we have a little time to make a decision about this. McKid’s logo is currently on the Loyalists website.

· A Loyalists Code of Conduct is online at www.TheLoyalists.com and should be reviewed by all members of the Loyalists. Glenn would like everybody to be familiar with this information and agree to follow it. It is clear that every individual will have his own comments to make, and some may be more appropriate than others, but as a group we should be committed to making the Loyalists fairly clean and respectful and keeping our comments PG or PG13.

· After each game, we would like to have a poll online at one of the two websites for the Loyalists to vote on a “Man of the Match.” This may be within one of the forums, but would preferably be a separate poll on the main page of the site. The responsibility for updating this right after each game will be delegated later.

· We will probably need (and want) a correspondent with the FO and team to write up reviews of each game. This would be a regular column that would go on the RSL official website. This idea was initiated by the Director of Operations at the team, and also encouraged by Trey Fitz-Gerald.

o We will need to choose somebody who is articulate and well versed in soccer.

o This column should be fairly respectful and appropriate, since it will be associated with the official MLS website, but should also have its own opinions and personality (that is what makes that kind of article interesting to read!)

o There are other sites that may want a correspondent from our ranks.

o There is also a possibility of somebody to be officially associated with the team. If anybody is interested, please contact Trey Fitz-Gerald. (If you would like to speak with him, please contact me (montgjules), or one of the aforementioned leadership to get his email address or phone number.)

· Be aware that the deadline for the “ReAL challenge” will be moved up to correspond with the Expansion Draft on Friday, Nov. 19th.

· Those interested in a viewing party for MLS Cup 2004, please contact Dave Hale. He will be arranging something for this Sunday at a local public venue.

· Jake (“Czar Pazzo” at BigSoccer, “Czar Jake” at realsaltlake.org) reminded us of an idea to get the crowd excited at games. The announcer says the first name of the player and the crowd responds loudly with the last name. This is a great way for people to get the crowd involved from the very beginning. Mr. Fitz-Gerald recommended that we remind him of this idea sometime in January when more of the game day experience details will be finalized.

· The Expansion Draft can be viewed at SkyBox Sports Grille at 2:00 on Friday, Nov. 19th. This will be a big event, with media invited. Season ticket holders will all receive an invitation. This event will be covered on ESPN news, etc. so we should plan to go and create some good presence for the event.

o There will be a coin toss at MLS Cup 2004 to determine who gets first pick for the Expansion Draft (RSL or Chivas.) The loser will get first choice at the Super Draft later on.

[montgjules]

As much as it pains me to put up a picture of myself when I'm very very pregnant and retaining water... sigh... here it is. Reply here if you are one of the unknowns or can identify one for me. (My apologies to those of you I can't yet identify... I wasn't there for introductions!)

Loyalists at Nov. 9th meeting

There were several other people present that aren't in the picture, including James Edwards (the Deseret News reporter) and Trey Fitz-Gerald (the director of marketing for RSL), and mckid's wife who took the pictures. Anybody else missing from the picture?

[Jim Umber]

Well done, Jules, though how you managed to get all that down, I'll never know. You must type FAST. Let me just add that it was interesting and I was very glad to see Mr. Fitz-Gerald in attendance and hear what he had to say. 😎