This is repeat info for some of you but for those unaware or curious:
This post contains important information, procedures, and timelines for the following topics:
- ARRIVING AT HARRISON
- TAILGATE DETAILS AND LOCATION AT RBA
- TAILGATE RULES
- ENTERING THE STADIUM
- LEAVING THE STADIUM AFTER THE GAME
- LEAVING HARRISON
- SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR 7/24 at RBA
Please read through this post to be clear on Sunday's procedures and plan your trip accordingly. Also feel free to copy, paste and email to any other NYCFC supporters attending the match.
1. ARRIVING AT HARRISON
In an effort to provide the safest and most secure trip to Red Bull Arena, we and the NYCFC front office strongly recommend that
ALL NYCFC supporters take one of their free chartered buses to the stadium and that we arrive as a large group. There will be several chartered buses at two pick-up locations in NYC. All buses are departing their location at
7:30 am on Sunday Morning. There is only one round of bus departures, at 7:30. Buses are departing from the following locations:
- Lower Manhattan
- Lilly Obrien's pub
- 18 Murray Street, New York, NY 10007
- Queens - Jackson Heights
The buses will arrive at RBA sometime between 8 am and 8:30 am. It is strongly recommended that you plan to take one of these buses to the stadium.
If you miss the 7:30 bus departure or are unable to make these buses, please be careful when arriving outside the stadium and come meet us at our designated NYCFC tailgate area (info below). Additionally, parking at the stadium is very limited and mass transit is strongly recommended in this case (The Harrison PATH station is very close to RBA). It would be in the best interest of NYCFC fans to avoid using Guyon Drive on match day. This is the road where the majority of Red Bull fans will be located. Ideally, NYCFC fans should use Cape May Street to join others at the tailgate, as well as post game, if returning to the PATH station.
2. TAILGATE DETAILS AND LOCATION AT RBA
The Third Rail NJ and The Third Rail are hosting a tailgate outside of the stadium for all NYCFC supporters. We will be providing kegs and food from the grill.
Due to the early start time and heightened security around the match, we have worked with NYCFC and Red Bulls to come up with a plan to help ensure a safe environment while allowing our group to tailgate onsite at the stadium. The buses will take us directly to this area. Please see the map below for location: the tailgate will be hosted on the extension of Cape May Street, behind the stadium and closest to our entry gate. There will be no parking for cars in the tailgate location.
If you purchased a Derby T-shirt from The Third Rail we will be distributing them at the tailgate location. If you did not purchase a shirt but would like to, there will be some available for purchase on site in limited quantity.
3. TAILGATE RULES
Because we will be tailgating on public land there are some very specific and restrictive rules for the tailgate that we must follow. If we fail to follow these rules the tailgate could be cut short, we could be denied the opportunity to tailgate outside RBA in the future, and we could even be denied entry into the stadium and/or arrested.
- Do Not Bring Outside Beer or Alcohol. This one is strict, but we cannot bring beer cans, beer bottles, liquor bottles, wine bottles, or any other liquor/beer to this area. There cannot be visible public drinking. We will have the alcohol covered with our kegs and solo cups but please do not bring your own liquor supplies. This tailgate, per RB and Harrison rules, is unfortunately not BYOB.
- Under-21s Cannot Drink Our Beer. Not a big surprise, but if you are U-21 or with a U-21 supporter, please do not let them partake in our kegs or even hold our solo cups. We would be personally liable if they drank our beer (providing alcohol to a minor) and we would also not be allowed to tailgate here again.
- Keep The Area Clean. All garbage must be thrown out before we enter the stadium. It's public land and we need to keep it clean.
- No Smoke Bombs, Pyro, or Explosives. Again, we'll be on public property, supervised by two different front offices who, along with MLS, do not tolerate this.
Feel free to bring your own food or meat to throw on the grill (the grills will be up and running by 8), but please make sure that anything brought to the tailgate is disposed of in one of the large garbage bags that we will be providing, or is brought into the stadium with you.
4. ENTERING THE STADIUM
Our group will be escorted into the stadium at 11:30 am by stadium security and FO staff. This is for our security, as well as the security of others in the stadium. As you are all probably aware, we will have our own section in RBA for NYCFC supporters. There will be restrooms and concession stands near our section and we are discouraged from wandering the stadium.
Before entering the stadium we will break down the tailgate and collect all left over trash.
5. LEAVING THE STADIUM AFTER THE GAME
After the game is over security wants us to remain in our area for 20-25 minutes after the game to allow the stadium to clear out. We will then be escorted out of the stadium and back to the buses in our tailgate area. It’s extremely important that we get support and cooperation from everyone in holding our group in sections 219 & 220. This goes a long way in providing a safe exit from the stadium.
6. LEAVING HARRISON
The buses will then take us back to NYC and will drop us off in the following locations:
- Lower Manhattan
- Lilly Obrien's pub
- 18 Murray Street, New York, NY 10007
- Queens - Jackson Heights
7. SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR 7/24 AT RBA
- 7:30 am - Buses pick up NYCFC supporters at multiple NYC locations
- 8 to 8:30 am - Buses arrive at RBA
- 8 to 8:30 am - Tailgate begins outside RBA
- 11:30 am - NYCFC supporters are escorted to our sections in RBA (219 and 220)
- 1 pm - Match starts
- ~3 pm - Match ends
- ~3:20 pm - NYCFC supporters are escorted out of our sections and to our buses
- ~3:45 pm - Buses depart RBA tailgate area for NYC locations
- ~4:30 pm - NYCFC supporters are dropped off by buses in NYC locations
WRAP UP
Please help us all have a great day out in NJ, keeping the focus on supporting the team inside the stadium and preserving our rights to hold large All-NYCFC supporter tailgates outside RBA in the future. We will be back to RBA twice in 2017, and possibly later this season in the playoffs.
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANY DISCIPLANARY ACTION TAKEN BECAUSE OF INCIDENTS AT THIS MATCH WILL ALSO BE ENFORCED AT YANKEE STADIUM.
If you have any questions please reach out to me (
rox@thirdrail.nyc) or Andy (
andy@thirdrail.nyc).
FootyLovin for maybe slightly different reasons. I'm not big on trash and banter, but it's definitely better when it's focused on results instead of our 47th joke about geography and their 58th tifo about old players. And when you do it based on results you use what tools you have. 7-0 is a good tool, especially since they can't go by the most recent game or place in the standings. And it's perfectly right for us to remind them of that. If they can't use 7-0 you are basically saying they have to go back to "your players are old" or "built not bought." You really want to see that again?
