August 2018 Supporters Summit Recap

Here is are minutes for the March 2018 Supporters Summit between the leadership of all three supporters groups at FC Dallas and members of the FC Dallas front office.

If you would like to raise a concern for next month's meeting, on Tuesday, September 4, please use this form. You can also look at archive meeting minutes on this page.

1. the selling and allowing Vuvuzelas or Cornetas at FCD games...take one into the front office and blow it 2 feet from front office personnel...try sitting in front of a couple kids at game with these...try having season tickets and the season ticket holders behind you show and don't manage their kids with these regularly....at 120 decibel...ya google it...just ruined the LAFC game for us...parents don't care and think its your problem...staff/usher wont address..GO FCD!!!

If a fan is blowing a vuvuzela in your ear, please share it with the ushers/security. We will address this with Security and Stadium Operations Personnel to ensure the proper follow up is happening.

2. Lack of food choices in the Beer Garden. Maybe provide a food truck type booth with more choices.

There are 4 different food options provided in the Beer Garden: chicken tenders, turkey leg, bratwurst and jalapeño poppers. There have not been enough food sales to warrant additional food options down there. Also, if we added a food truck, there is a minimum cost guarantee to make sure it’s worth their time. With the way food sales have been in the Beer Garden, we cannot make that investment.

3. During the Chicago game, the beer garden ran out of half its beer at halftime, why was that? Are there protocols put in place so that it doesn't happen again?

The Chicago game was an anomaly. Legends was prepping for 2 events: July 4th match and a Liga MX match on July 5th. They had extra inventory from those matches so they decided to do all $5 beers for the 7/14 Chicago Fire match. Once they ran out of a certain type of beer, they replaced it with whatever they had in their inventory. So long story short, yes, they ran out of specific types of beer. However, they did not run out of beer in general. In the future when specials are done, Legends will work with their staff to better communicate the specials and put temporary signs up.

4. Lack of beer selection in the Beer Garden. Saturday night the beer selection in the Garden was very limited due to short-sighted management by Legends. Two taps of Bud, two taps of Bud Light, two taps of Ultra, one of Weekend Warrior and an empty tap where the one LONE Hopadillo keg was located before it blew. I get that InBev is a major sponsor, so we will never get TRUE NTX craft beer in the Garden, but can we at least get some variety? Instead of 6 taps of virtually the same beer?

Yes, we typically have 3-4 different varieties of beer on the taps down in the Beer Garden. The Beer Taps are rotated based off of inventory which means it’ll change from game to game.

5. Tailgate portapotties. Hand sanitizer dispensers need to be refilled every time the units are serviced.

This has been communicated and will be fixed moving forward.

6. Liquor sales in the Beer Garden. Given the lack of selection of decent beer in the Garden lately, could we get liquor sales down there?

Since it’s the Budweiser Beer Garden, we will continue to sell beer.

7. Video boards on the south end (HoF end). Why are these boards just showing ads???? They should be used just as the big boards on the north end are used, to show replays, the game, etc. when you are up on th concourse getting food, etc, the north end boards aren’t easily visible from the lines, but those south end boards are....please put them to better use than spamming ads.

The plan for the video boards on the South End is to show replays, statistics as well as promoting our partners that support the National Soccer Hall of Fame, FC Dallas and Toyota Stadium.

8. Parking. Especially as a STM and having to park on the opposite side of the stadium.

Parking is free and available for all fans in the Corolla Red Lot, Highlander Green Lot, and Rav4 White Lot. There is also a cash only lot closer to the stadium in the Camry Gold Lot for fans who are interested. For more information visit https://www.fcdallas.com/stadium/parking

(Leadership note - The Red and Green Lots were full to capacity leaving a lot of people parked in the new farmers market or along the side streets. We would like clarification of the status of the North Blue Lot going forward since this was empty)

9. Why are we only one of seven teams in MLS that doesn't have a pride night? All other teams have a gay pride game with rainbow numbers on their jerseys, where is FC Dallas?

This is something we are actively discussing and should be able to provide you an update in the near future.

Additionally we spoke to the FC Dallas technical staff first hand on Tuesday regarding the warm ups being moved to the south side of the stadium away from the Beer Garden. Assistant Coach Marco Ferruzi oversees the warm up and said this change was made so that the warm up stays within close proximity to the changing rooms, not at the direction of marketing or as preference to any FC Dallas fan over another. It is considered a home field advantage that the away team has the furthest space to warm up in. In addition to this, staff already have to relocate several large carts of equipment from the old locker rooms in the north end of Toyota Stadium, where the team are still based during the week for practice, along the concourse and down into the south side locker rooms, so it made sense logistically to not have to take equipment further than necessary. The decision was made on Thursday during the team’s walk through in the stadium, having moved the equipment from the north end to the south locker rooms, down to the field and back again.

Marco and the coaches would like to thank fans in the Beer Garden for their passionate support and encourage fans to help create an intimidating atmosphere for the away team during warm ups, and cement that home field advantage.