for M'ia: question answered

[winterbadger]

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191781

D.C. United Makes Statement Regarding Concession Policy

WASHINGTON, DC (April 22, 2005) – In response to inquiries received this week following the announcement that the Washington Nationals would allow food and drink to be brought into RFK Stadium for their games, D.C. United is issuing the following statement:

“In accordance with our long-time agreement, D.C. United and RFK Stadium will not allow outside food and drink into the building for D.C. United matches. This decision stems from a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the number of soccer games played at the facility during the course of each season and the terms of the lease between the two entities.

IOW, DC Sports and Enterteinment Commission says "Screw you, soccer fans." ..|.. Interesting tactic; I foresee a drop in stadium concession sales during games.

Comments

[tall-man.livejournal.com]

Odd, usually the standard for sporting events is "no outside food or drink." There's a variety of rules for that, but it boils down to "if there's nothing other than $5 hot dogs to eat, people will buy them." Was there some question about RFK allowing outside food for United games?

[winterbadger]

No, they've never allowed outside food or drink in for United, other MLS, or US national team matches. Apparently (at least according to someone who posted in that Big Soccer thread), this is a gimme slipped to the Nationals for some of the hiccups in the political process that led to their getting here. Which means, probably, that it will only last while they're in RFK and when they move to the new ballpark the DCSEC will piss of a new, larger group of sports fans by telling them that, after bringing food and drink into Nats games to start with, they will now be banned from doing so.

And, you know, the thing is, what can you do? Boycott the concessions, yeah, but the larger issue is that the SEC are pretty astonishingly unaccountable to anyone. The majority of the fans are not DC residents, and even the ones who are, due to the way DC politics works, can't get any leverage on a body like the SEC. And we can't exactly go somewhere else to see United or the Nationals--these guys have a monopoly. :-(