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Prep for Canada-Honduras, Sep. 4 (Edmonton)


beachesl

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I was finally able to get a hold of Liz Ferguson, Executive Director of the Alberta Soccer Association, about setting aside a Voyageurs Section at Commonwealth for the September 4 match against Honduras.

She has told me that she will block the first 20 Rows of Section U

(that's "U" as in university), East stand ($29 Reserved tickets), for exclusive use by the Voyageurs. She has asked that we not start booking until Monday, July 12, so that she can finalize the arrangements with Ticketmaster. She has also requested that the individual bookings be done through the ASA office (which is a Ticketmaster outlet) to avoid confusion. To book through the ASA offices, there are four options:

1. Contact either Sean or Pam at the ASA office by phone during normal business hours (MDT) Monday to Friday, at 1-780-474-2200.

2. Send an request by fax, attention "Sean or Pam", at 1-780-474-6300

3. Send an email to Sean Pope at: spope@albertasoccer.com

4. Send a cheque in the mail with your request to:

Alberta Soccer Association Staff

Commonwealth Stadium

11000 Stadium Road

Edmonton, Alberta

T4H 4E2

Attn: "Sean or Pam"

State that you are with the Voyaguers and that you wish to book a certain number of seats as far in the front of Section U as possible, and set out your payment details.

You can pay by Mastercard, VISA or by received cheque. Sean told me that he will send the tickets upon payment through the mail at no extra charge. If you are interested in the "VIP Package" I have described previously, ask about that at the time of contact (although it may take a few weeks beofre it is finalized).

Sean will also sell you General Admission tickets ($8.00) directly, as those are available at the ASA office(Ticketmaster not involved) as well as the local zones of Edmonton Minor Soccer.

The section set aside for us represents about 125 seats. If those are sold out, then we can start booking back from Row 20 in Section U individually. Very few reserved seats have been sold, so I expect the area will be largely free.

If Edmonton is awarded the October 13 match, or if we make the hex, we can hopefully call on the ASA to keep this as the Voyageurs section.

I will keep you posted on further developments.

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Awesome job dude....i guess there is a first time for everything...it surely beats the hell out of buying out a hundred ticket for people...

anyhoooooooooooooooooooooo, I got about 6 so far and maybe more.

take care

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quote:Originally posted by Current Champ

Dude!!! Awesome job!

Put me down for a comfirmed 5 and hopefully 40 or 50 more.

Wooooo! Dave

Put yourself down man, you do a good enough job doing that! (joke) :D

Actually, you are aware that I now have no responsibilty, except maybe for sorting out misunderstandings? You will have to "reserve" and buy the particular tickets yourself...just want to make sure there is no misunderstanding.;)

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In terms of anyone that wants to stick with General Admission tickets, I suggest that on game day they make an early rush when the gates open for the front of Section Z, which is in the Southeast corner, to the left of the East stand when facing west towards the field. This is the portion of the stands near where the teams enter and exit the field from the glass window areas (and the endzone side not visually obstructed by the beer tents on the North Side). The Southeast corner entrance will be less crowded than the main Northeast entrance as well.

In terms of a pre-game meeting place, preferably with suds and grub available, the local V's are working on some ideas. Of course, there could be several alternatives for various preferences. A post-game meeting place downtown or on Whyte Avenue would be a good idea too.

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For pre or post game, I would pick Terry Vaughn's or Sherlock Holmes in downtown just for the ease of access (i.e. they are right next to Central station which is two stations away from the stadium). Just some ideas to kick around.

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Excellent work, Beaches!! Yes, I'll buy you a beer, too.

It appears that I will be heading from Vancouver in a small convoy now. We may have as many as 8 of us packed in to two or three vehicles. 4 of us are guaranteed. Not sure if Edmonton is ready for the Beaver, but I can't wait to meet my fellow Voyageurs!!

Hey, anybody up for some pre-match footie? Any chance the Edmonton Vs could arrange a field early in the day? Then we could all head over to a watering-hole to get further prepped for the game. Next time the Nats play in Vancouver, I volunteer to arrange the field and watering hole.

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quote:Originally posted by The Beaver

Hey, anybody up for some pre-match footie? Any chance the Edmonton Vs could arrange a field early in the day? Then we could all head over to a watering-hole to get further prepped for the game. Next time the Nats play in Vancouver, I volunteer to arrange the field and watering hole.

Now that the kick-off for the Honduras match has officially been moved to 7:00 pm, the possibilty of a kickaround starting at about 1 or 2 o'clock sounds good. Maybe some of the local guys still involved in the rec or minor side of things might be able to arrange a field.

Short of that, the best bet would be a public school near the stadium, even if the pitches would be real grotty. They at least have metal goal frames. No chance of booking them, but we could always chase away any kids.;)Any well-maintained pitches might be busy handling minor soccer matches that weekend.

Norwood Public School, about a 10 minute walk to the stadium (West of Commonwealth), at the corner of 95th Street and 111th Avenue, could be an option. It has the added of advantage of being near two bars, Tony's Ribs (an Italian restaurant) and Chicago Joe's Pizza(a very large and nice restaurant, even if it looks like a small dive from the outside, with a separate lounge, with an outside balcony), both just a block or so to the west on 111th Ave. In fact, on behalf of Current Champ (who wants to bring a busload up from Calgary and stop for lunch before) I have already talked to Chicago Joe's owner Sam, about getting extra staff into Chicago Joe's to handle us on that day. If you park on the streets a few blocks west of that, you get out of the stadium zone with it's draconian parking restrictions.

There is a closer public school about 4-5 blocks North of the Stadium, Parkdale Elementary, at the corner of 86 Street and 116th Ave, a block from where I live. It is close to few real skanky small suds dives on 118th Ave, but I wouldn't eat anything in that vicinity.

To the east of the stadium, 10 minutes walk on 112th Avenue, is Borden Park with some nice picnic areas with washrooms. They have some open areas, and some baseball fields to the east side of the parks. Halfway to the stadium is a mini-mall area at Save-On Grocery, with a McDonalds, Panago Pizza, Subway and Giro shop (but no licensed place). These places will be packed before the match. The closest bar to that is the truly awful (and probably overcrowded) Endzone Pub, right across the street from the stadium.

The parking situation (restricted to residents with tags, unless you go into the limited, pay lots) in the 10-15 block area around the stadium is truly problematic, which is why the LRT is always such a great option for residents going to the Eskimo games. But if you arrive early enough outside that area, you can walk to the fields, bars, restaurants, stadium with plenty of time to spare. I'll try to get a parking zone map from the city and link here a few weeks before the match.

Anyways, just some idears.

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Hey!

Anybody ever think of a tailgate party at the Stadium (hour or so before the game)? That would be a pretty convenient place to meet for all, and we wouldn't be hard to find. A couple of locals, could bring hibatchis. Beer would be a lot cheaper. I'll chip in for someone else's parking. We could treat the outta towners to some Alberta Beef (****! that should have been my knickname).

Just a thought.

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Hmmm, tailgating sounds great. I don't go to the Eskimo games, but would the policing/security set up in the Stadium lots there let you get aawy with it?

(a question for those Esk fans here).

It may be more practical to break the Alberta Liquor Control Act someplace like Borden Park, where there is not much security.

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Okay, changed the email address on the first post, sorry.

I phoned the ASA this morning, and they are still working out the bugs today with Ticketmaster. I suggest that we wait until tomorrow to order.

In terms of payment, Sean Pope confirmed today that they will take the credit card information by email and fax and take payment that way.

In terms of a "will call" booth at the stadium for ticket pick-up, Sean said that they have not set anything like this up yet, but will look into it. I would respectfully suggest, however, that receiving the tickets by mail is the best option in terms of assurance before you arrive in Edmonton. There is always a chance that mistakes will be made in such an arrangemnet, and you do not want to be sorting this out just before kick-off. I have witnessed confusion at the pick-up windows at Aviator and Eskimo games, and you have to remember that the Septemeber 4 match is a large, one-time event where most of the people involved in the process will be doing it for the first time. For this reason, ensuring that you receive the tickets beforehand by mail, with follow-up in the unlikely event of non-receipt, is definitely preferable.

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Hey, I ordered a couple of tickets this morning, and as Beaches has pointed out, they are still sorting out some bugs. Still, I've paid for two tickets by credit card and was told they'd confirm my Voyageur seats asap.

Damn, I'll be pissed off if I end up separated from the bulk of the Voyageurs.

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Okay, I tried an experiment this afternoon to see if the ASA did block off those tickets for us from Ticketmaster.

They have. I phoned the general Ticketmaster number and tried to order some seats in the "Voyageurs" section (I picked an arbitrary row in Section U, Rows 1 to 20). I was told that there were none available. I was then asked if I would like to have some seats in Section T (as per Ticketmaster salesperson training, the higher price section[xx(]). I said no, I wanted to sit in Section U. I was told that they only had tickets available in U from Rows 21 upwards.

I asked her if I could buy a ticket in the front rows, as I understood they were reserved for Voyageurs. She said no, they were just not available.

It looks like the ASA has made the arangements with Ticketmaster as promised:), and the only practical way those arrangements could be put in effect was for us to buy through the ASA office only, for our section. The only downside for you out-of-towners is that you have to phone long distance. Keep me posted on how things transpire.

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I phoned the ASA yesterday afternoon and spoke to Sean - like Varisty Tyler and The Beaver, I was told that they still hadn't finalized things with Ticketmaster but he took down my info anyway and said he would call me to let me confirm before going ahead with the charges on my credit card.

When I asked what the problem was, Sean told me that the first five rows in Section U were not showing up on their system and they were checking with Ticketmaster to see if they'd already been sold. If they have been sold, they'll need to put us in another section.

In any case, Sean promised to call me back when it's sorted out so there should be some more info soon.

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Guest Georgio

Ok, what is the scenario, is it still the same?

I am going to attempt to buy two tickets tomorrow and as I can tell so far from this thread, that is very much feasable. The only issue now is whether the section U dilemma has been solved.

Any news and is most everyone waiting for this detail to be sorted, so you know exactly where you'll be seated, before buying tickets?

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Yeah I'm waiting until we know for sure. I don't really care to be up front anyway, so being a few rows up suits me fine. I'm also still haggling and negotiating for Vancouver so that's my priority for now. Nazz you'll get an answer tomorrow. I have an afternoon meeting to see what they're going to do.

Reza> for your count we'll be two, probably three and possibly four for Edmonton Labour Day weekend. Time will tell.

cheers,

matthew

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