My letter to RSL President Bill Manning
August 4, 2009 by f4denz.
Prelude
Before I post the letter, which will be an exact copy of what I sent to Bill, I need to explain a couple things. First I am as loyal of a fan as RSL has, I have missed just 3 matches in 5 seasons, I now own 5 season tickets (not sure how I got that many, but something about a bet with Jason last year), I have since Rio Tinto opened showed up at every RSL event to take pictures, I often take vacation time at work to go to practices to take pictures and update this blog. When I started this blog I had no idea the amount of time and energy it would require but I enjoy doing it and it allows me to learn more about RSL, MLS, and soccer in general, it has lead me to find a new hobby, photography (not a cheap hobby), and if it continues after this season who knows. It doesn’t matter if it has been comments on other blogs, big soccer (which I no longer visit), or in public there are few people who have tried to look for the positive more than I have, which is really strange considering I am a cynical person by nature. So a number of events over the last couple months have really bugged me, but I tried to look the other way, I tried to understand what must be going through the minds of others involved, but in the last 7 days I hit a wall that lead to my writing a letter to Bill Manning, along with a couple others in the RSL front office.
There are two major events that happened; the first was last Tuesday as I went to Rio Tinto stadium to watch the closed to the public practice of the MLS All Stars. As I walked up to the stadium I noticed that all the west side parking lots looked really, really full and wondered had the worldwide soccer media arrived to cover the lowly MLS All Stars? As I got closer I noticed a large number of people with yellow and blue jerseys, Club America fans were going into Rio Tinto, maybe there was some type of Blanco event later in the morning, but as I entered the stadium via the player tunnel I could hear a lot of noise and as I got out of the tunnel there were hundreds of fans in the stadium. Now I am really OK with the kids that were taking part in the pregame activities being there to practice after the players were gone but when I looked and saw well over a hundred Blanco/Club America fans I got pissed, so people who show up once a year can get in but not loyal season ticket holders. I did vent on a number of RSL staff people, and I owe them an apology as I know they had nothing to do with it and were just doing their jobs. But honestly how in the world could anyone in the RSL front office allow this to happen? Our biggest match of the year and there was nothing for the season ticket holder, a couple of poorly advertised public events around the city, a concert with a group nobody knew up in Park City, but nothing specific for those who support the organization by purchasing season tickets.
It was after this that I knew I would be writing a letter to Bill, or chasing him down for a chat. Now I have to say that the next event may or may not be all RSL’s fault but it shows the symptoms of many other issues that have happened this year. Last Tuesday I received an email from the team letting me know the weeks events and in that there was the mention of a follow up email that would offer season ticket holders instructions on how to order presale tickets for the US vs. El Salvador. A match just days after my birthday and one that I planned on picking up a number of tickets for friends and coworkers, since we could get them early. I never got the email, so I on Thursday emailed my ticket rep and let him know what I wanted to do, heck I had asked a month ago if I could purchase the first two rows in Section 8 (the bunker) which I planned on reselling to those with season ticket there and those being displaced by Sam’s Army and the American Outlaws, but I was told that was a no-go. So I heard nothing back, but when I got home on Friday evening I noticed that my old cell phone had a message on it from a ticket rep (not mine) wanting me to call them about my ticket purchase. First, if I email you it is professional courtesy to respond via email. Second, email is a much easier form of communication for most people, especially those with day jobs that frown on personal calls. Third, who was this person and why wasn’t my rep calling me (I know find out that only a few RSL staffers were granted special access to sell tickets for this event). So I responded to that person late on Friday with an email again spelling out my ticket request, but nothing until a call on Monday morning wanting to know if she could place my order for me. Well, all 5 of my season ticket seats were gone and the best they could do were seats about 10-15 rows behind my season ticket seats, no discount, but a tepid apology. I thanked her for calling but said I would purchase the two tickets I was getting for a coworker via the US Soccer presale, to say I was now more than a bit upset is a huge understatement, I never got the email with the preorder code (by the way I never got one from the US Soccer Supporters Club either, but the AO run out of someone’s house had no issue getting me plenty of info) and now I had no way of getting my seats for the match, so much for inviting friends to a great event and promoting the sport and our team.
So based on those two things and a lot of other small things over the season, I wrote this email:
The Email
Let me start by ensuring you I will not be purchasing 5 season tickets next year and not sure if I will purchase any, and coming from me those aren’t light words.
You have some incredible people on your staff, Spencer, Brent, Juan, Trey, John, Elliot, and others but for all the good pieces of your organization you guys really suck. I can’t think of another way of putting it, sorry for being a bit crude, but today was the last in a long line of just sad, sorry, simple mistakes and things done wrong that have put me over the edge.
I for almost a month have expressed to my ticket rep, and several others that I really desired to work with you to purchase the seats in section 8 rows 1 and 2 for myself and members of the RCB for the US match. I was told a couple weeks ago that I could only purchase 10, but nobody would take the time to listen that I was buying them for over a half dozen season ticket holder with seats in section 8 or 9 that would be displaced by the US Soccer relationship with the American Outlaws or Sam’s Army. Heck I could accept that, so when I expressed interest two weeks ago in person that I would love to purchase my 5 season ticket seats if possible and two additional in the north end zone, I thought I would be taken care of. Then last week despite all that was going on I got an email on Tuesday telling me that I would be getting details later in the week to purchase tickets online, but I never got that email. Don’t feel bad, I didn’t get the presale email from the US Soccer Supporters group either, and they blew me off as well.
So I emailed my ticket rep *****, who has gone above and beyond in taking care of me this season and most of the people I know would say the same thing, on Thursday with my desired order, but I heard nothing back from him. Friday I heard nothing, until I got home and I had a voicemail on an old phone, one I have asked several times to be removed from my account, telling me to call Stephanie about my tickets. First let me say when I communicate via email, I really believe professional courtesy is to respond by email, since it isn’t tied to a single phone or computer, so I responded to ********* by email with my request on Friday evening, it was past 7 when I got the phone message.
Fast forward to this morning when I get a call from ********, again not an email, asking me if she could help me place my order for my tickets. With very little surprise each of my season ticket seats are gone, so I simply said no thank you. I will go online and place my order with US Soccer and I have to tell you I am not happy at having to pay $14.00 plus in service fees to order two tickets, and while the seats will suck since I am now 5 days behind on ordering, the friend at work who emigrated to the US from El Salvador with nothing but the clothes on his back will have a great time. I purchased a single ticket with the American Outlaws this weekend because I had no doubt that my order was going to be screwed up, and while I hope I get photo credentials for the match, I wanted to ensure I was covered either way.
So you may ask yourself why is he bitching at us about this, because to be honest you deserve it. It started this year with the debacle of the flash seats, it continued with the pole incident, ever changing rules on what fans could or couldn’t do, the establishment of a Hispanic group that if anyone said in English what they say in Spanish, they would and have been kicked out, the blaming of the RCB for an incident that had nothing to do with them, and on and on and on. What makes this email hard for me to write and send is that I know you are better than this, I know you have great people who do great things for the fans, but when I attended the MLS All Star practice as a member of the media and saw that hundreds of Blanco and Club America fans were allowed in but nothing was offered to season ticket holders I lost it, and I let several members of your staff take the brunt of my disgust. Then it was followed up by this mess and I simply had to ask myself was it, and is it worth it.
I spend about 20 hours a week promoting your team and organization via my blog and I found myself unable to write anything positive for the first time in two years. To be honest I am having a very hard time convincing myself that I want to continue doing my blog, something I have a great passion for because it all seems so very, very hollow right now.
I am sorry for ranting and raving about this, but I thought it was well past time that I simply let you know what is going on in the mind of one of your most loyal supporters. Now imagine what a casual fan must be thinking?
I will be publishing this letter as a blog post tomorrow, if you would like to respond I will publish that response as well.
Good Luck,
Denzel Eslinger
The response and a call for your participation
First let me say I got a response within hours from several RSL staffers including Bill Manning who is on vacation and had I known that I would not have sent the email when I did. I have been asked by them to keep our communications private for now and I will respect that request. I will be having a sit down meeting with Bill in the near future, to discuss the issues I have had but I also want to ensure he knows about the other issues that I hear about from you all. I believe the biggest issue is communications within the RSL organization and how they communicate with fans. Things like finding out that next Tuesday is “Meet the team” day at Snowbird for season ticket holders, but not via email or mail but rather by reading the team blog, way to go guys, or the half season mess that is simply known as “the pole”.
So what I need from you are specific issues or problems that you felt were neglected this year, and more importantly solutions. I am not looking for a bitch session with Bill, but I want to sit down and work with him on what can be done to make the future better for both his staff and us the fans. I have seen great things done all season by some of the staff members, while other things have been handled less than professionally and I can make a list of what I have seen and heard but without dates, facts, and names it will be hard to get solutions to the issues. If you don’t want to post your issues in the comment section, I understand, here is an email address you can use roguecavaliers@comcast.net.
I am a fan of RSL and when I find myself questioning if I want season tickets next year, and wondering if it is worth continuing a blog, I don’t like it and based on comments I have gotten on Facebook and emails from many of you, I know I am not alone so instead of bitching and moaning about it, let’s move forward and see if we can make things better. The sad part is if RSL were 8-6-5 instead of 6-8-5 a lot of these issues would be much more bearable. This is your chance to be heard, so speak up.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
“Audentis Fortuna Juvat”