Jets unplugged 4/13

[Dcat]

Anyone else get this?  Who's going?

 

As a valued Jets Season Ticket Holder, you and a guest are invited to the first-ever Jets Unplugged
Featuring Jets Owner Woody Johnson and Team President Neil Glat
Monday, April 13, 2015 - 6:00PM to 8:00PM at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, One Jets Drive, Florham Park, NJ 07932
Availability is limited; first-come, first-served

 

 

[Jet9]

Is Woody going to play some Jim Croce and Cat Stevens on guitar?

[Dcat]

Is Woody going to play some Jim Croce and Cat Stevens on guitar?

 

LOL!  I guess I'll find out. 

[Dcat]

So the Jets said they would send more details for tonight's "event" but never did.  

 

 

David,

 

Thank you for your response. You and 1 guest are confirmed to attend. We will be sending a more detailed email later this week with some additional information. In the meantime, please email me your guests name.

 

Thank you! 

Taylor Worthington

 

 

Does anyone have any idea what this is all about?  Is it a Q & A with Woody and other Jets execs?  Is anyone else from this board going except me?

 

[32EBoozer]

[Cornfed]

I also got that invite but unfortunately can't make it tonight.  Definitely interested in what it's all about, so let us know.  I am going to try to go to the Draft party and maybe that Saturday event a couple days after (family fun day?).

[Maxman]

So the Jets said they would send more details for tonight's "event" but never did.

Does anyone have any idea what this is all about? Is it a Q & A with Woody and other Jets execs? Is anyone else from this board going except me?

Email them, they sent out a confirmation email and it says to bring it to get in.

I am going with my son. It looks pretty cool.

[SouthernJet]

Email them, they sent out a confirmation email and it says to bring it to get in.

I am going with my son. It looks pretty cool.

wow, looks cool......

 

But represent JN, and dont do a Ray Barone though and stuff appetizers in your pants pocket

[Dcat]

Email them, they sent out a confirmation email and it says to bring it to get in.

I am going with my son. It looks pretty cool.

 

Yes I got the confirmation email which said they'd send more details. 

 

I'm going with my son too if he can get out of work early.  Thinking about wearing my old Revis jersey, which I am glad I didn't throw out.  How will I recognize you Phil?  Any distinguishing characteristics?  Mutiple scars across your face?  Tattoo of semi-nude Michelle Ryan?  Pirate's eye patch over your left eye?  

[Dcat]

So my son decided that seeing his g/f tonight was more appealing than sitting and listening to Jets execs answer questions for 2 hours. I'm still going. I am entitled to bring one guest, so if anyone wants to attend send me a PM. You have to be at Atlantic Health in Florham Pkwy by around 5:45 - 6:00.

[jetscrazey]

Is Woody going to play some Jim Croce and Cat Stevens on guitar?

let's hope not. we already have one NY sports owner who incorrectly thinks he can play music (Dolan)

[Jet9]

let's hope not. we already have one NY sports owner who incorrectly thinks he can play music (Dolan)

As a Ranger fan and not really an NBA fan (anymore) I'm glad that dope focuses his efforts on the Knicks.

[joewilly12]

Maybe SAR I will be a guest and lead us all in a spiral half time chant.  

[joebabyny]

It was a good little event, I commend Woody and Neil for making the attempts at fan outreach. I liked the fact that Neil Glat seemed to really listen to suggestions, even taking notes as we went along. I tried not to monopolize the conversation too much, lol!

[Maxman]

So my son decided that seeing his g/f tonight was more appealing than sitting and listening to Jets execs answer questions for 2 hours. I'm still going. I am entitled to bring one guest, so if anyone wants to attend send me a PM. You have to be at Atlantic Health in Florham Pkwy by around 5:45 - 6:00.

 

Did you go?

[Maxman]

It was a good little event, I commend Woody and Neil for making the attempts at fan outreach. I liked the fact that Neil Glat seemed to really listen to suggestions, even taking notes as we went along. I tried not to monopolize the conversation too much, lol!

 

Definitely a pretty unique experience. Can't believe there were only like 50 people (or less) there.  Pretty cool.

[Lith]

Anything interesting come up that might be worth sharing?

[BurnleyJet]

So my son decided that seeing his g/f tonight was more appealing than sitting and listening to Jets execs answer questions for 2 hours. I'm still going. I am entitled to bring one guest, so if anyone wants to attend send me a PM. You have to be at Atlantic Health in Florham Pkwy by around 5:45 - 6:00.

In 15 years time, he will realise it's better to spend 2hours listening to Woody then seeing his G/F

[Ex-Rex]

With Woody's track record as a public speaker the team should muzzle this fool forever or risk tampering charges or worse. The guy has no clue how to address the media or the public and always comes across as a doofus rich guy with his head firmly up his a$$.

[Dcat]

Anything interesting come up that might be worth sharing?

 

It was pretty generic, for obvious reasons.  But an excellent opportunity to meet the brass and share thoughts.  They were EXTREMELY receptive to our thoughts, complaints, suggestions.  I really believe that they want desperately to improve the fan experience but need help and suggestions on how to do so.  

 

I actually tried to count the number of fans/guests in attendance and it was about 55-60. Plus or minus a few.  One interesting thing to note:  There walmost no black fans or guests in attendance. Almost a completely white group with a couple of hispanic names on the name tags.   I'm not saying that was intentional, but it was very noticeable.  At least by me.  Also, this group of fans has some money.  It was an older group, mostly in their 50's and up.  I wonder if only Club seats and 137/140 were invited.  I have no idea, but it certainly was NOT a representative sample of what you see at the stadium on game day in terms of age, ethnicity and income level.

 

The Town Hall meeting took place in the auditorium and was moderated by Bob Wischusen, with Woody and the very personable Neil Glat sitting next to him.  The first 25-30 minutes of the Town Hall were dedicated to football questions.  Although Mike Maccagnan was there for the reception (before the Town Hall meeting), he was not there for panel discussion.  I briefly spoke to Mac at the reception and he is such a congenial easy going guy.  Very personable and intelligent.  Does not seem at all to be in over his head.  I thought that he should have been there for the panel discussion, at least for the football questions.  

 

The football discussion was fairly generic.  No way are they going to tell us who they are targeting in the draft.  One thing Woody did say is how impressed he is with Mac's scrutiny of prospects, based on his scouting background.  He must of referenced Mac's expertise as a talent evaluator and scout about 8 times.  Woody pointed to an adjacent room and spoke of how Mac is getting the draft board "to perfection".  He also provided a slight dig to Korn Ferry saying they are "not football" people, but that they do know "people".  Although he didn't apologize directly or mention Idzik by name, his tone sounded remorseful about the way he went about selecting Idzik and he said Korn Ferry just didn't work out.  That was very revealing and I appreciated his candor.  I'm probably forgetting anything else from the football portion of the discussion.  Again, it was very generic and nothing eye popping to share.

 

Then came the Stadium/Fan experience portion, which lasted much longer and had many people engaged, including myself.  And yes, Tailgate Joe.  LOL.  I honestly believe Woody and Neil want desperately to improve the game day experience for us.  They just don't know how.  I think that was the real purpose of this meeting.  Specific topics were discussed in detail.  Parking, reviving the Chant (went on a long time), stadium safety and security (which also went on a long time due to a couple of ugly incidents that happened to two of the attendees, one inside the stadium and the other in the cattle-walk tunnel to the Arena parking lots), the Reward Program and a couple of others.   I don't remember it all, just a few tidbits.  They seem to think the reward program is the best thing since sliced bread.  The responses weren't very supportive of that opinion.  Look for changes to be made there.  I mentioned that the quality of the rewards is poor.  Sure there are a few big ticket items, but the vast majority is just trivial.  I mentioned that I saved my points throughout the season so I could get a bigger reward, but the points needed for prizes just kept escalating. For example, an autographed photo in October cost 1/4 the points that they are now asking.  I pointed out the futility of saving my points and the frustration that there is nothing decent except for a few drinking glasses that cost 20,000 points.  Those same glasses would have been 2,000 points earlier in the season.  I also said they should have better player merchandise in the rewards program instead of having to spend 20,000 points on an autographed photo of some back-up player (I made reference to a Clyde Gates signed photo for 8,000 points, which made all 3 panelists smile).  Neil said they will make a strong effort to improve the quality of the low to mid level rewards.   Neil explained the wisdom of not allowing PSL holders to combine points from all their seats, which I agree with.  Said they might consider allowing points to roll over for a max of 2 years down the road.  The primary motive of the points program is to lure fans to the stadium and have the same people sitting near each other each week.  People spoke about the flood of opposing fans (49er game, Steeler game, etc) but the consensus was that an exciting winning team is the best cure for that.  

 

Parking:  Solicited opinions on the one pass-one spot "rule".  Conceded it was not realistic (my words, not theirs)  and very difficult to enforce.  Discussed the reasonableness of letting tailgate groups have an extra spot or two depending on size to set up grills and tents.  Don't want each participant at a tailgate group to take up more than one spot, which is a very reasonable request.  Discussed selecting one lot to be tailgate-free, so people who don't tailgate and don't want to be near tailgaters can go there instead.  Of course it was mentioned that the parking deck next to the arena is already tailgate-free. 

 

Chant:  So is it owned by the fans or is it team-generated?  We discussed its origins (dueling end-zones) before Ed "hijacked" the chant (not my words but that of a fan in attendance).  Most people want it to return to a fan inspired organic chant, not dependent on any one person or jumbotron to initiate it.  Again, an exciting winning team would greatly help the chant.  One of the reasons the chant has died down is that the team's offense has been woeful for many years and we just haven't had the opportunity to have much excitement during the games.  I also mentioned that if people want the chant to be organic, then they have to stop the constant bombardment of noise from the loudspeakers in between every single play, pause and commercial time out. How can the chant be organic when we are constantly distracted by ads and useless noise making our experience more like attending an annoying NBA game.  I was pleased when both Woody and Neil nodded their heads and Neil said good point there and took notes.  (pause to pat myself on back).

 

Security:  Very long discussion.  Seems like most people in attendance were unaware that when an incident occurs, they should immediately text and that is the best way to nip an incident in the bud before it gets out of hand.  Woody and Neil kept asking "did you text it?"  I don't think the fans discussing it understood what they were asking because they said they "reported" it (i.e. by walking down to the security office).  Anyway... I kind of drifted out of consciousness at this point because in all my 34 years of being a STH, I have never had one problem with another fan, just ignoring the drunk morons that attend.  

 

Well that's all I remember.  I enjoyed the tour of the facility very much after the meeting.  All in all, it was a unique and worthwhile experience and they should do these again several times a year.

[Jet9]

It was pretty generic, for obvious reasons. But an excellent opportunity to meet the brass and share thoughts. They were EXTREMELY receptive to our thoughts, complaints, suggestions. I really believe that they want desperately to improve the fan experience but need help and suggestions on how to do so.

I actually tried to count the number of fans/guests in attendance and it was about 55-60. Plus or minus a few. One interesting thing to note: There was not a single black fan or black guest in attendance. Completely white group with a couple of hispanic names on the name tags. I'm not saying that was intentional, but it was very noticeable. At least by me. Also, this group of fans has some money. It was an older group, mostly in their 50's and up. I wonder if only Club seats and 137/140 were invited. I have no idea, but it certainly was NOT a representative sample of what you see at the stadium on game day in terms of age, ethnicity and income level.

The Town Hall meeting took place in the auditorium and was moderated by Bob Wischusen, with Woody and the very personable Neil Glat sitting next to him. The first 25-30 minutes of the Town Hall were dedicated to football questions. Although Mike Maccagnan was there for the reception (before the Town Hall meeting), he was not there for panel discussion. I briefly spoke to Mac at the reception and he is such a congenial easy going guy. Very personable and intelligent. Does not seem at all to be in over his head. I thought that he should have been there for the panel discussion, at least for the football questions.

The football discussion was fairly generic. No way are they going to tell us who they are targeting in the draft. One thing Woody did say is how impressed he is with Mac's scrutiny of prospects, based on his scouting background. He must of referenced Mac's expertise as a talent evaluator and scout about 8 times. Woody pointed to an adjacent room and spoke of how Mac is getting the draft board "to perfection". He also provided a slight dig to Korn Ferry saying they are "not football" people, but that they do know "people". Although he didn't apologize directly or mention Idzik by name, his tone sounded remorseful about the way he went about selecting Idzik and he said Korn Ferry just didn't work out. That was very revealing and I appreciated his candor. I'm probably forgetting anything else from the football portion of the discussion. Again, it was very generic and nothing eye popping to share.

Then came the Stadium/Fan experience portion, which lasted much longer and had many people engaged, including myself. And yes, Tailgate Joe. LOL. I honestly believe Woody and Neil want desperately to improve the game day experience for us. They just don't know how. I think that was the real purpose of this meeting. Specific topics were discussed in detail. Parking, reviving the Chant (went on a long time), stadium safety and security (which also went on a long time due to a couple of ugly incidents that happened to two of the attendees, one inside the stadium and the other in the cattle-walk tunnel to the Arena parking lots), the Reward Program and a couple of others. I don't remember it all, just a few tidbits. They seem to think the reward program is the best thing since sliced bread. The responses weren't very supportive of that opinion. Look for changes to be made there. I mentioned that the quality of the rewards is poor. Sure there are a few big ticket items, but the vast majority is just trivial. I mentioned that I saved my points throughout the season so I could get a bigger reward, but the points needed for prizes just kept escalating. For example, an autographed photo in October cost 1/4 the points that they are now asking. I pointed out the futility of saving my points and the frustration that there is nothing decent except for a few drinking glasses that cost 20,000 points. Those same glasses would have been 2,000 points earlier in the season. I also said they should have better player merchandise in the rewards program instead of having to spend 20,000 points on an autographed photo of some back-up player (I made reference to a Clyde Gates signed photo for 8,000 points, which made all 3 panelists smile). Neil said they will make a strong effort to improve the quality of the low to mid level rewards. Neil explained the wisdom of not allowing PSL holders to combine points from all their seats, which I agree with. Said they might consider allowing points to roll over for a max of 2 years down the road. The primary motive of the points program is to lure fans to the stadium and have the same people sitting near each other each week. People spoke about the flood of opposing fans (49er game, Steeler game, etc) but the consensus was that an exciting winning team is the best cure for that.

Parking: Solicited opinions on the one pass-one spot "rule". Conceded it was not realistic (my words, not theirs) and very difficult to enforce. Discussed the reasonableness of letting tailgate groups have an extra spot or two depending on size to set up grills and tents. Don't want each participant at a tailgate group to take up more than one spot, which is a very reasonable request. Discussed selecting one lot to be tailgate-free, so people who don't tailgate and don't want to be near tailgaters can go there instead. Of course it was mentioned.

Chant: So is it owned by the fans or is it team-generated? We discussed its origins (dueling end-zones) before Ed hijacked the chant. Most people want it to return to a fan inspired organic chant, not dependent on any one person or jumbotron to initiate it. Again, an exciting winning team would greatly help the chant. One of the reasons the chant has died down is that the team's offense has been woeful for many years and we just haven't had the opportunity to have much excitement during the games. I also mentioned that if people want the chant to be organic, then they have to stop the constant bombardment of noise from the loudspeakers in between every single play, pause and commercial time out. How can the chant be organic when we are constantly distracted by ads and useless noise making our experience more like attending an annoying NBA game. I was pleased when both Woody and Neil nodded their heads and Neil said good point there and took notes. (pause to pat myself on back).

Security: Very long discussion. Seems like most people in attendance were unaware that when an incident occurs, they should immediately text and that is the best way to nip an incident in the bud before it gets out of hand. Woody and Neil kept asking "did you text it?" I don't think the fans discussing it understood what they were asking because they said they "reported" it (i.e. by walking down to the security office). Anyway... I kind of drifted out of consciousness at this point because in all my 34 years of being a STH, I have never had one problem with another fan, just ignoring the drunk morons that attend.

Well that's all I remember. I enjoyed the tour of the facility very much after the meeting. All in all, it was a unique and worthwhile experience and they should do these again several times a year.

Good stuff. Thanks for posting this.

[nyjets782]

 

Chant:  So is it owned by the fans or is it team-generated?  We discussed its origins (dueling end-zones) before Ed hijacked the chant.  Most people want it to return to a fan inspired organic chant, not dependent on any one person or jumbotron to initiate it.  Again, an exciting winning team would greatly help the chant.  One of the reasons the chant has died down is that the team's offense has been woeful for many years and we just haven't had the opportunity to have much excitement during the games.  I also mentioned that if people want the chant to be organic, then they have to stop the constant bombardment of noise from the loudspeakers in between every single play, pause and commercial time out. How can the chant be organic when we are constantly distracted by ads and useless noise making our experience more like attending an annoying NBA game.  I was pleased when both Woody and Neil nodded their heads and Neil said good point there and took notes.  (pause to pat myself on back).

 

 

Thanks for the great summary!  Could not agree more with you here.  The nonsensical noise and sensory overload is out of control in sports as a whole and I say this as a fan in my thirties not my eighties.  I find that the only time I can actually share thoughts on the game with my friends I am sitting right next to is when the play is actually happening because we can't hear each other during stoppages.

[Villain The Foe]

It was pretty generic, for obvious reasons.  But an excellent opportunity to meet the brass and share thoughts.  They were EXTREMELY receptive to our thoughts, complaints, suggestions.  I really believe that they want desperately to improve the fan experience but need help and suggestions on how to do so.  

 

I actually tried to count the number of fans/guests in attendance and it was about 55-60. Plus or minus a few.  One interesting thing to note:  There was not a single black fan or black guest in attendance.  Completely white group with a couple of hispanic names on the name tags.   I'm not saying that was intentional, but it was very noticeable.  At least by me.  Also, this group of fans has some money.  It was an older group, mostly in their 50's and up.  I wonder if only Club seats and 137/140 were invited.  I have no idea, but it certainly was NOT a representative sample of what you see at the stadium on game day in terms of age, ethnicity and income level.

 

The Town Hall meeting took place in the auditorium and was moderated by Bob Wischusen, with Woody and the very personable Neil Glat sitting next to him.  The first 25-30 minutes of the Town Hall were dedicated to football questions.  Although Mike Maccagnan was there for the reception (before the Town Hall meeting), he was not there for panel discussion.  I briefly spoke to Mac at the reception and he is such a congenial easy going guy.  Very personable and intelligent.  Does not seem at all to be in over his head.  I thought that he should have been there for the panel discussion, at least for the football questions.  

 

The football discussion was fairly generic.  No way are they going to tell us who they are targeting in the draft.  One thing Woody did say is how impressed he is with Mac's scrutiny of prospects, based on his scouting background.  He must of referenced Mac's expertise as a talent evaluator and scout about 8 times.  Woody pointed to an adjacent room and spoke of how Mac is getting the draft board "to perfection".  He also provided a slight dig to Korn Ferry saying they are "not football" people, but that they do know "people".  Although he didn't apologize directly or mention Idzik by name, his tone sounded remorseful about the way he went about selecting Idzik and he said Korn Ferry just didn't work out.  That was very revealing and I appreciated his candor.  I'm probably forgetting anything else from the football portion of the discussion.  Again, it was very generic and nothing eye popping to share.

 

Then came the Stadium/Fan experience portion, which lasted much longer and had many people engaged, including myself.  And yes, Tailgate Joe.  LOL.  I honestly believe Woody and Neil want desperately to improve the game day experience for us.  They just don't know how.  I think that was the real purpose of this meeting.  Specific topics were discussed in detail.  Parking, reviving the Chant (went on a long time), stadium safety and security (which also went on a long time due to a couple of ugly incidents that happened to two of the attendees, one inside the stadium and the other in the cattle-walk tunnel to the Arena parking lots), the Reward Program and a couple of others.   I don't remember it all, just a few tidbits.  They seem to think the reward program is the best thing since sliced bread.  The responses weren't very supportive of that opinion.  Look for changes to be made there.  I mentioned that the quality of the rewards is poor.  Sure there are a few big ticket items, but the vast majority is just trivial.  I mentioned that I saved my points throughout the season so I could get a bigger reward, but the points needed for prizes just kept escalating. For example, an autographed photo in October cost 1/4 the points that they are now asking.  I pointed out the futility of saving my points and the frustration that there is nothing decent except for a few drinking glasses that cost 20,000 points.  Those same glasses would have been 2,000 points earlier in the season.  I also said they should have better player merchandise in the rewards program instead of having to spend 20,000 points on an autographed photo of some back-up player (I made reference to a Clyde Gates signed photo for 8,000 points, which made all 3 panelists smile).  Neil said they will make a strong effort to improve the quality of the low to mid level rewards.   Neil explained the wisdom of not allowing PSL holders to combine points from all their seats, which I agree with.  Said they might consider allowing points to roll over for a max of 2 years down the road.  The primary motive of the points program is to lure fans to the stadium and have the same people sitting near each other each week.  People spoke about the flood of opposing fans (49er game, Steeler game, etc) but the consensus was that an exciting winning team is the best cure for that.  

 

Parking:  Solicited opinions on the one pass-one spot "rule".  Conceded it was not realistic (my words, not theirs)  and very difficult to enforce.  Discussed the reasonableness of letting tailgate groups have an extra spot or two depending on size to set up grills and tents.  Don't want each participant at a tailgate group to take up more than one spot, which is a very reasonable request.  Discussed selecting one lot to be tailgate-free, so people who don't tailgate and don't want to be near tailgaters can go there instead.  Of course it was mentioned. 

 

Chant:  So is it owned by the fans or is it team-generated?  We discussed its origins (dueling end-zones) before Ed hijacked the chant.  Most people want it to return to a fan inspired organic chant, not dependent on any one person or jumbotron to initiate it.  Again, an exciting winning team would greatly help the chant.  One of the reasons the chant has died down is that the team's offense has been woeful for many years and we just haven't had the opportunity to have much excitement during the games.  I also mentioned that if people want the chant to be organic, then they have to stop the constant bombardment of noise from the loudspeakers in between every single play, pause and commercial time out. How can the chant be organic when we are constantly distracted by ads and useless noise making our experience more like attending an annoying NBA game.  I was pleased when both Woody and Neil nodded their heads and Neil said good point there and took notes.  (pause to pat myself on back).

 

Security:  Very long discussion.  Seems like most people in attendance were unaware that when an incident occurs, they should immediately text and that is the best way to nip an incident in the bud before it gets out of hand.  Woody and Neil kept asking "did you text it?"  I don't think the fans discussing it understood what they were asking because they said they "reported" it (i.e. by walking down to the security office).  Anyway... I kind of drifted out of consciousness at this point because in all my 34 years of being a STH, I have never had one problem with another fan, just ignoring the drunk morons that attend.  

 

Well that's all I remember.  I enjoyed the tour of the facility very much after the meeting.  All in all, it was a unique and worthwhile experience and they should do these again several times a year.

Great info.

[Maxman]

It was pretty generic, for obvious reasons.  But an excellent opportunity to meet the brass and share thoughts.  They were EXTREMELY receptive to our thoughts, complaints, suggestions.  I really believe that they want desperately to improve the fan experience but need help and suggestions on how to do so.  

 

I actually tried to count the number of fans/guests in attendance and it was about 55-60. Plus or minus a few.  One interesting thing to note:  There was not a single black fan or black guest in attendance.  Completely white group with a couple of hispanic names on the name tags.   I'm not saying that was intentional, but it was very noticeable.  At least by me.  Also, this group of fans has some money.  It was an older group, mostly in their 50's and up.  I wonder if only Club seats and 137/140 were invited.  I have no idea, but it certainly was NOT a representative sample of what you see at the stadium on game day in terms of age, ethnicity and income level.

 

The Town Hall meeting took place in the auditorium and was moderated by Bob Wischusen, with Woody and the very personable Neil Glat sitting next to him.  The first 25-30 minutes of the Town Hall were dedicated to football questions.  Although Mike Maccagnan was there for the reception (before the Town Hall meeting), he was not there for panel discussion.  I briefly spoke to Mac at the reception and he is such a congenial easy going guy.  Very personable and intelligent.  Does not seem at all to be in over his head.  I thought that he should have been there for the panel discussion, at least for the football questions.  

 

The football discussion was fairly generic.  No way are they going to tell us who they are targeting in the draft.  One thing Woody did say is how impressed he is with Mac's scrutiny of prospects, based on his scouting background.  He must of referenced Mac's expertise as a talent evaluator and scout about 8 times.  Woody pointed to an adjacent room and spoke of how Mac is getting the draft board "to perfection".  He also provided a slight dig to Korn Ferry saying they are "not football" people, but that they do know "people".  Although he didn't apologize directly or mention Idzik by name, his tone sounded remorseful about the way he went about selecting Idzik and he said Korn Ferry just didn't work out.  That was very revealing and I appreciated his candor.  I'm probably forgetting anything else from the football portion of the discussion.  Again, it was very generic and nothing eye popping to share.

 

Then came the Stadium/Fan experience portion, which lasted much longer and had many people engaged, including myself.  And yes, Tailgate Joe.  LOL.  I honestly believe Woody and Neil want desperately to improve the game day experience for us.  They just don't know how.  I think that was the real purpose of this meeting.  Specific topics were discussed in detail.  Parking, reviving the Chant (went on a long time), stadium safety and security (which also went on a long time due to a couple of ugly incidents that happened to two of the attendees, one inside the stadium and the other in the cattle-walk tunnel to the Arena parking lots), the Reward Program and a couple of others.   I don't remember it all, just a few tidbits.  They seem to think the reward program is the best thing since sliced bread.  The responses weren't very supportive of that opinion.  Look for changes to be made there.  I mentioned that the quality of the rewards is poor.  Sure there are a few big ticket items, but the vast majority is just trivial.  I mentioned that I saved my points throughout the season so I could get a bigger reward, but the points needed for prizes just kept escalating. For example, an autographed photo in October cost 1/4 the points that they are now asking.  I pointed out the futility of saving my points and the frustration that there is nothing decent except for a few drinking glasses that cost 20,000 points.  Those same glasses would have been 2,000 points earlier in the season.  I also said they should have better player merchandise in the rewards program instead of having to spend 20,000 points on an autographed photo of some back-up player (I made reference to a Clyde Gates signed photo for 8,000 points, which made all 3 panelists smile).  Neil said they will make a strong effort to improve the quality of the low to mid level rewards.   Neil explained the wisdom of not allowing PSL holders to combine points from all their seats, which I agree with.  Said they might consider allowing points to roll over for a max of 2 years down the road.  The primary motive of the points program is to lure fans to the stadium and have the same people sitting near each other each week.  People spoke about the flood of opposing fans (49er game, Steeler game, etc) but the consensus was that an exciting winning team is the best cure for that.  

 

Parking:  Solicited opinions on the one pass-one spot "rule".  Conceded it was not realistic (my words, not theirs)  and very difficult to enforce.  Discussed the reasonableness of letting tailgate groups have an extra spot or two depending on size to set up grills and tents.  Don't want each participant at a tailgate group to take up more than one spot, which is a very reasonable request.  Discussed selecting one lot to be tailgate-free, so people who don't tailgate and don't want to be near tailgaters can go there instead.  Of course it was mentioned that the parking deck next to the arena is already tailgate-free. 

 

Chant:  So is it owned by the fans or is it team-generated?  We discussed its origins (dueling end-zones) before Ed "hijacked" the chant (not my words but that of a fan in attendance).  Most people want it to return to a fan inspired organic chant, not dependent on any one person or jumbotron to initiate it.  Again, an exciting winning team would greatly help the chant.  One of the reasons the chant has died down is that the team's offense has been woeful for many years and we just haven't had the opportunity to have much excitement during the games.  I also mentioned that if people want the chant to be organic, then they have to stop the constant bombardment of noise from the loudspeakers in between every single play, pause and commercial time out. How can the chant be organic when we are constantly distracted by ads and useless noise making our experience more like attending an annoying NBA game.  I was pleased when both Woody and Neil nodded their heads and Neil said good point there and took notes.  (pause to pat myself on back).

 

Security:  Very long discussion.  Seems like most people in attendance were unaware that when an incident occurs, they should immediately text and that is the best way to nip an incident in the bud before it gets out of hand.  Woody and Neil kept asking "did you text it?"  I don't think the fans discussing it understood what they were asking because they said they "reported" it (i.e. by walking down to the security office).  Anyway... I kind of drifted out of consciousness at this point because in all my 34 years of being a STH, I have never had one problem with another fan, just ignoring the drunk morons that attend.  

 

Well that's all I remember.  I enjoyed the tour of the facility very much after the meeting.  All in all, it was a unique and worthwhile experience and they should do these again several times a year.

 

Did you ask questions? Where were you sitting?

[Maxman]

With Woody's track record as a public speaker the team should muzzle this fool forever or risk tampering charges or worse. The guy has no clue how to address the media or the public and always comes across as a doofus rich guy with his head firmly up his a$$.

 

I felt like Woody did a good job at this event. He came off as genuine. He didn't read anything prepared, just sat there and answered questions. Seem to try to answer stuff honestly.

[Maxman]

  I mentioned that the quality of the rewards is poor.  Sure there are a few big ticket items, but the vast majority is just trivial.  I mentioned that I saved my points throughout the season so I could get a bigger reward, but the points needed for prizes just kept escalating. For example, an autographed photo in October cost 1/4 the points that they are now asking.  I pointed out the futility of saving my points and the frustration that there is nothing decent except for a few drinking glasses that cost 20,000 points.  Those same glasses would have been 2,000 points earlier in the season.  I also said they should have better player merchandise in the rewards program instead of having to spend 20,000 points on an autographed photo of some back-up player (I made reference to a Clyde Gates signed photo for 8,000 points, which made all 3 panelists smile).  Neil said they will make a strong effort to improve the quality of the low to mid level rewards.  

 

Oh you were the Clyde Gates guy, lol.  That was awesome. I was glad that you brought that up because it was a really good point.

 

I cashed in my point for a Jace Amaro 8 x 10 and a Nick Folk 8 x 10, both autographed. Now I have like 8,000 points left on each account, doubt I will be able to use them. More options would be good, great job.

[Dcat]

I felt like Woody did a good job at this event. He came off as genuine. He didn't read anything prepared, just sat there and answered questions. Seem to try to answer stuff honestly.

 

agreed.  Yes I was in row 5 a little left of center.  I made the comment about the loudspeaker noise preventing any organic chant from ever happening and the rewards program comments too.  A couple of others as well.  

 

I would have introduced myself, but don't know what you look like.  I saw a couple of people with the name "Phil" on his name tag.  I guess that was you on the field having pictures taken with your son?  Didn't want t interrupt.

[Dcat]

Oh you were the Clyde Gates guy, lol.  That was awesome. I was glad that you brought that up because it was a really good point.

 

I cashed in my point for a Jace Amaro 8 x 10 and a Nick Folk 8 x 10, both autographed. Now I have like 8,000 points left on each account, doubt I will be able to use them. More options would be good, great job.

 

 

Woody actually chuckled at the Clyde Gates comment.  LOL.  

 

I forgot to mention in my notes that Woody was a straight shooter when it came to last year's QB play.  No sugar coating.  I appreciated that.  I thought he was quite sincere in everything he said.  Neil Glat too.  I was impressed.... and I didn't expect to be.

[Scoop24]

Woody actually chuckled at the Clyde Gates comment. LOL.

I forgot to mention in my notes that Woody was a straight shooter when it came to last year's QB play. No sugar coating. I appreciated that. I thought he was quite sincere in everything he said. Neil Glat too. I was impressed.... and I didn't expect to be.

That got any details on that kinda stuff? Don't gets wrong rewards and stuff are cool. I just would like to hear more what was said about the team personal

[Maxman]

agreed.  Yes I was in row 5 a little left of center.  I made the comment about the loudspeaker noise preventing any organic chant from ever happening and the rewards program comments too.  A couple of others as well.  

 

I would have introduced myself, but don't know what you look like.  I saw a couple of people with the name "Phil" on his name tag.  I guess that was you on the field having pictures taken with your son?  Didn't want t interrupt.

 

Yes, you should have said hello, I wanted to meet you!

 

Excellent write up.  And Woody did laugh at the Clyde Gates thing. I think everyone laughed, that was a really good line!  

[JetsFanInDenver]

It was pretty generic, for obvious reasons.  But an excellent opportunity to meet the brass and share thoughts.  They were EXTREMELY receptive to our thoughts, complaints, suggestions.  I really believe that they want desperately to improve the fan experience but need help and suggestions on how to do so.  

 

I actually tried to count the number of fans/guests in attendance and it was about 55-60. Plus or minus a few.  One interesting thing to note:  There was not a single black fan or black guest in attendance.  Completely white group with a couple of hispanic names on the name tags.   I'm not saying that was intentional, but it was very noticeable.  At least by me.  Also, this group of fans has some money.  It was an older group, mostly in their 50's and up.  I wonder if only Club seats and 137/140 were invited.  I have no idea, but it certainly was NOT a representative sample of what you see at the stadium on game day in terms of age, ethnicity and income level.

 

The Town Hall meeting took place in the auditorium and was moderated by Bob Wischusen, with Woody and the very personable Neil Glat sitting next to him.  The first 25-30 minutes of the Town Hall were dedicated to football questions.  Although Mike Maccagnan was there for the reception (before the Town Hall meeting), he was not there for panel discussion.  I briefly spoke to Mac at the reception and he is such a congenial easy going guy.  Very personable and intelligent.  Does not seem at all to be in over his head.  I thought that he should have been there for the panel discussion, at least for the football questions.  

 

The football discussion was fairly generic.  No way are they going to tell us who they are targeting in the draft.  One thing Woody did say is how impressed he is with Mac's scrutiny of prospects, based on his scouting background.  He must of referenced Mac's expertise as a talent evaluator and scout about 8 times.  Woody pointed to an adjacent room and spoke of how Mac is getting the draft board "to perfection".  He also provided a slight dig to Korn Ferry saying they are "not football" people, but that they do know "people".  Although he didn't apologize directly or mention Idzik by name, his tone sounded remorseful about the way he went about selecting Idzik and he said Korn Ferry just didn't work out.  That was very revealing and I appreciated his candor.  I'm probably forgetting anything else from the football portion of the discussion.  Again, it was very generic and nothing eye popping to share.

 

Then came the Stadium/Fan experience portion, which lasted much longer and had many people engaged, including myself.  And yes, Tailgate Joe.  LOL.  I honestly believe Woody and Neil want desperately to improve the game day experience for us.  They just don't know how.  I think that was the real purpose of this meeting.  Specific topics were discussed in detail.  Parking, reviving the Chant (went on a long time), stadium safety and security (which also went on a long time due to a couple of ugly incidents that happened to two of the attendees, one inside the stadium and the other in the cattle-walk tunnel to the Arena parking lots), the Reward Program and a couple of others.   I don't remember it all, just a few tidbits.  They seem to think the reward program is the best thing since sliced bread.  The responses weren't very supportive of that opinion.  Look for changes to be made there.  I mentioned that the quality of the rewards is poor.  Sure there are a few big ticket items, but the vast majority is just trivial.  I mentioned that I saved my points throughout the season so I could get a bigger reward, but the points needed for prizes just kept escalating. For example, an autographed photo in October cost 1/4 the points that they are now asking.  I pointed out the futility of saving my points and the frustration that there is nothing decent except for a few drinking glasses that cost 20,000 points.  Those same glasses would have been 2,000 points earlier in the season.  I also said they should have better player merchandise in the rewards program instead of having to spend 20,000 points on an autographed photo of some back-up player (I made reference to a Clyde Gates signed photo for 8,000 points, which made all 3 panelists smile).  Neil said they will make a strong effort to improve the quality of the low to mid level rewards.   Neil explained the wisdom of not allowing PSL holders to combine points from all their seats, which I agree with.  Said they might consider allowing points to roll over for a max of 2 years down the road.  The primary motive of the points program is to lure fans to the stadium and have the same people sitting near each other each week.  People spoke about the flood of opposing fans (49er game, Steeler game, etc) but the consensus was that an exciting winning team is the best cure for that.  

 

Parking:  Solicited opinions on the one pass-one spot "rule".  Conceded it was not realistic (my words, not theirs)  and very difficult to enforce.  Discussed the reasonableness of letting tailgate groups have an extra spot or two depending on size to set up grills and tents.  Don't want each participant at a tailgate group to take up more than one spot, which is a very reasonable request.  Discussed selecting one lot to be tailgate-free, so people who don't tailgate and don't want to be near tailgaters can go there instead.  Of course it was mentioned that the parking deck next to the arena is already tailgate-free. 

 

Chant:  So is it owned by the fans or is it team-generated?  We discussed its origins (dueling end-zones) before Ed "hijacked" the chant (not my words but that of a fan in attendance).  Most people want it to return to a fan inspired organic chant, not dependent on any one person or jumbotron to initiate it.  Again, an exciting winning team would greatly help the chant.  One of the reasons the chant has died down is that the team's offense has been woeful for many years and we just haven't had the opportunity to have much excitement during the games.  I also mentioned that if people want the chant to be organic, then they have to stop the constant bombardment of noise from the loudspeakers in between every single play, pause and commercial time out. How can the chant be organic when we are constantly distracted by ads and useless noise making our experience more like attending an annoying NBA game.  I was pleased when both Woody and Neil nodded their heads and Neil said good point there and took notes.  (pause to pat myself on back).

 

Security:  Very long discussion.  Seems like most people in attendance were unaware that when an incident occurs, they should immediately text and that is the best way to nip an incident in the bud before it gets out of hand.  Woody and Neil kept asking "did you text it?"  I don't think the fans discussing it understood what they were asking because they said they "reported" it (i.e. by walking down to the security office).  Anyway... I kind of drifted out of consciousness at this point because in all my 34 years of being a STH, I have never had one problem with another fan, just ignoring the drunk morons that attend.  

 

Well that's all I remember.  I enjoyed the tour of the facility very much after the meeting.  All in all, it was a unique and worthwhile experience and they should do these again several times a year.

 

 

Kids, this is how you give an account of an event you have attended.

[Dcat]

That got any details on that kinda stuff? Don't gets wrong rewards and stuff are cool. I just would like to hear more what was said about the team personal

 

 

no, nothing specific other than referencing the Miami game with an if only the whole season was like that from Wischusen

[Dcat]

 

From left to right: Bob Wischusen, Woody Johnson, Neil Glat

[Dcat]

just looking through my photos and I was wrong.  There were a couple of black attendees.  My bad.  Sorry everyone for the misinformation.  Still, the audience was in no way a representative sample of actual game day attendance.

[joebabyny]

just looking through my photos and I was wrong. There were a couple of black attendees. My bad. Sorry everyone for the misinformation. Still, the audience was in no way a representative sample of actual game day attendance.

I highly doubt the Jets have our accounts coded by race anyway, lol. And I have 3 separate accounts set up with different email addresses, 2 high price club psl and 1 lower level corner low price psl. I was invited through the cheap psl account.