FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – True story: many New England Revolution supporters, myself included, spent a chunk of last Saturday afternoon feverishly refreshing their Twitter timelines as Midnight Riders president Fran Harrington counted down how many tickets remained for this Sunday’s trip to Red Bull Arena.
When figures first started to roll through last Tuesday – the day tickets went on sale – they were going up. At first, an excited proclamation that more than 250 tickets had been sold.
But it was just the start. By Wednesday afternoon, the updates were simply numbers. 501. 622. 735. It was all the supporters groups had time to Tweet as they frantically tried to keep up with incoming orders.
Revolution president Brian Bilello, who’d already pledged that the club would foot the bill for enough busses to send 850 fans down to New Jersey, upped the number to 1,150 – the entire ticket allotment.
By Friday, it was clear the trip was going to sell out. 983. 1,001. 1,048.
On Saturday, when the number of remaining tickets dipped below 25, Harrington began updating his feed every few minutes. But now it was a countdown. 24. 22. 19. 15. 14. 13. 11. 10. 5. 3. 2.
For many, it was only then that the reality set in – more than 1,000 Revolution supporters will be piling onto 20 busses early Sunday morning, trekking down to Red Bull Arena, and putting their voices behind the Revs for 90 minutes in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship.
“It’s awesome,” said Charlie Davies, who himself sat in the stands at Revolution games as a youngster growing up in New Hampshire. “When I saw that 1,000-plus fans were coming to support us, that only gives us more energy. We feel the love.”
“It’s nice to see how it is when you play good and if you always make [improvements], the people come and support you,” said Jermaine Jones. “I don’t know how many times this happens that people drive to games not at home, but it makes the whole team happy.”
Busses will be originating from Boston and Gillette Stadium, making pickups in Connecticut and Providence, respectively. Supporters have assigned each bus a player-driven call sign, ranging from club legends like Steve Ralston and Matt Reis, to cult figures like Rajko Lekic and Edgaras Jankauskas. There’s even a “Fangoso” bus, although there’s no truth to the rumors that it will make a pickup in Gibraltar.
Sunday’s trip has the potential to be epic, for sure – even more so if the Revs get a positive result against the Red Bulls and take an advantage back to Gillette Stadium for the second leg next weekend.
And Davies wants Revs fans to know, when the players take the field at RBA on Sunday, those supporters will be right there with them.
“We’re excited to have so much great support,” he said. “It goes to show that soccer is big here in New England. The support, we feel it. We see it. And it definitely makes a difference.”
