NYRB Home Opener review

On March 9th I went to the home opener for the New York Red Bulls. It was a rain filled night but the team won 2-1 against FC Dallas with goals by Emil Forsberg and Lewis Morgan. In the second half Dallas resurged and scored a goal and were close to tie the game. Near the end of the game, the Red Bulls were close to a third goal but that was disallowed because of an offside. However that is not the end of the story.

There was a promotion of the first 15,000 people who entered the stadium they'll get an LED Stick. Naturally I thought that this was to have a light show when the game is over but it was to be before the game. I mentioned the light show to some family members and friends and they concluded that it should be emulated in stadiums in Costa Rica like the Alejandro Morera Soto or the Ricardo Saprissa Ayma. While it was a rainy evening in Red Bull Arena, the seat that I had was not wet because of the way that the roof is built to contain the crowd noise.

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The light show continued when NYRB scored a goal. In the 30th minute when Emil Forsberg scored his first ever MLS goal. The floodlights went in a cycle of red and then a wave of the white lights. Moreover by the goals themselves, instead of just releasing the white smoke whenever the team scored, now there's pyrotechnics attached to them.

Even though the stadium was 77% full, it didn't feel that it was at that level. Credit to the way that the roof is built in how it traps the sound in. The sound that the chants of the South Ward and the Viking Army was reverberating throughout the arena and there was a tiny group of fans around section 230 that were dancing throughout the game except for the time when Dallas scored.