No Fan Alone Colorado Rapids Supporters

Every team in MLS was represented at the Supporters Summit including supporters of the future teams in Philadelphia, Portland, and Vancouver. The crowd was mostly wearing the green of Seattle Sounders FC however, two men in Maroon represented the Colorado Rapids!

I hope you were able to see the live webcast – it was enjoyable listening to Don Garber. First
Commissioner Don Garber came out with his state of the League. And then minority Sounders owner Drew Carey came sat down with the Don and and conducted a Q&A on the fan’s behalf.

Supporters asked many good questions and Garber spoke to the leagues efforts in facilitating league relations between the teams and their supporters groups. He spoke to the credit of Seattle and Drew Carey about how the new teams were learning from the successes of past teams and building on those. Drew himself mentioned taking all the positives from Toronto FC and moving forward on them.

There was talk about having a league standard set for away fans and how they are to be treated at other team’s stadiums. One LA fan in particular recounted how the Rapids treated him and a further underground supporters meeting tonight that lists concerns to be addressed around the league specifically mentioned the treatment of visiting fans at DSG Park.

Drew Carey is fully behind building a “Super Supporter” membership where league supporters can ban together to gain stature with vendors around the country and using their collective weight to negotiate deals with airlines and hotels. Other ideas that were floated around were the leagues idea of each team having a dedicated employee that assists and facilitates all the needs and wishes supporters group memberships present.

Other league issues were discussed to, like the possibility of moving from a neutral MLS Cup venue to a system where the highest seed hosts the Cup. I’m a big fan of that since it would likely be the only way Colorado would ever host the game – as well as make the regular season that much more important. Garber spoke to how fans want the Conferences to be dissolved and moved to a single table, but it would seem that it’s not going to happen under his watch. He had the very valid point that without Conference Champions, only one team would ever celebrate their success for the season. He relayed the story about how David Beckham didn’t participate in the Western Conference Trophy presentation because he didn’t understand why they were celebrating when the Galaxy hadn’t won anything yet.

There was also another good story about how FIFA President Sepp Blatter visited President Barack Obama, where Blatter told Obama that his countries league had to conform the FIFA calander to which our President responded that he’s proud of the league and how soccer in America has progressed, and Go Chicago Fire.

After lunch, there was a presentation by the MLS Discipline Committee featuring about MLS’ fan’s largest concern: Officiating. They gave an overview of how officiating works within the rules of FIFA and their relationship with US Soccer and the CSA (Canada). They reviewed all the suspensions throughout the season and why the issued the additional penalties. Unfortunately Pablo’s flying elbow was one of the featured suspensions. However he was on the receiving end too when shown about how a player can get a suspension without a red card after he took that nasty elbow to the noggin against RSL.

We’re having a fine time, riding elevators with Preki and Jeff Cunningham. Wish you were here!! Hugs and Kisses – Mark & Quinn.