With the start of the regular season (almost) upon us, I was wondering: are practices at the Obetz facility open to the public? If so, are they worth checking out? I work right down the street, so thought it could be a worthwhile endeavor.
They were closed off during the Warzycha (or Sigi?) era. There was a member here who had a "Gentlemen's Agreement" with Warzycha that Gregg ixnayed. I forget who it was, but if they see the thread, I'll let them explain more. Anyway, somewhere along the line, they put a huge black tarp around the fence, making it impossible to see through. Back when they had a reserve league, I know @eboe used to attend a ton of the reserve matches down there, but these are also a thing of the past. I asked Gregg about the possibility of opening up practices, at least "once in a while" to season ticket holders, as a type of benefit. His main worry was people using social media and basically giving away the team's secrets. Plus, the players would probably count that as a precious appearance.
All scrimmages now are behind closed doors, They bring in some college teams to play and those too are closed to the public. You have to pay at the gate In order for it to count with the CBA, That's why the OSU charity game had to be canceled.
Gregg is extremely guarded during every press conference and frequently masks his intentions. This includes player availability, formations, general tactics, practice regiments....basically anything he could have to talk about as a manager. No surprise he doesn't want fans casually watching his training sessions.
Can't remember his screen name. But I know it and/or his avatar had some sort of rasta theme. I seem to remember him saying he was even told by Gregg, or someone else under Gregg that he could still go to practices, then a few weeks later was suddenly not allowed anymore.
BigStrongPatrick. I don't think he posts on here anymore. He was pretty pissed about the Crew last time I was in his record store.
Because he couldn't watch practices? I'd like to sit in on the tv negotiations. You think they'll let me? I can absolutely see why the CBA had to go that route.
All I really know about it is that a VERY SMALL number of fans had various "we know you, you know us" agreements with previous coaches. It wasn't every practice, either. Of course, "back in the day," practices were legit open to the public to the point where such things were almost advertised. Of course, this was before Twitter, Periscope, etc. I don't think this was a CBA thing since they weren't ticketed. More like "hey, my kid goes to school with Bartoz and we know the coach and he lets us in on an occasional basis."
In 1999, the Regional Olympic Development Program was at Obetz and included Ned Grabavoy, Danny O'Rourke and probably some other future MLS players. I was an AR for those matches, and they scrimmaged the Crew (I especially remember Stern John). The games weren't all that great as it was a lower level skill set, but they restricted viewers to family/friends. I also recall watching the reserve league. During a F!re match Dave Sarachan sat next to my wife and I and would not shut up. A magical experience.
During the reserve matches, the opposing teams were supposed to be coached by assistants. So the head coaches would sit separate from their teams, sometimes on the same side as the fans. I chatted with Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena at reserve matches.