New York Red Bull season ticket holders got their first glimpse of the team’s new stadium…

Story and Image via NY Times

“Ron Olesko swung himself around a metal rail and skittered across a concrete terrace of the unfinished Red Bull Arena on Wednesday, all the while jabbering into a cell phone pinned tightly to his ear.

“I’m at the stadium, and it’s gorgeous,” Olesko, 52, said into the receiver. On the other end of the line was a friend from college, with whom he will share a pair of New York Red Bull season tickets for next season when the Major League Soccer team moves to its new home in Harrison, N.J.

After he traversed the lower bowl of the 25,000-seat stadium, testing the sightlines from various angles, Olesko asked his friend, “So, how close do you want to sit?”

Olesko, from Bergenfield, N.J., was one of 20 Red Bull season ticket holders invited to the unfinished stadium to select seats for the club’s 2010 season. Those fans all shared a special distinction: each bought season tickets for the Metrostars on the first day they were available in 1996 — the league’s inaugural season — and each has renewed his or her seats at Giants Stadium every year since then.

Considering the Red Bulls generally torturous history as a franchise, this makes Olesko and the other fans a curious bunch. But, surprisingly, none of the fans who were asked would openly admit to ever having second thoughts about renewing their tickets.

“Well, you go, you sit, you shake your head at times,” said Rody Costanzo of Bayonne, N.J., about his Red Bull experience. Costanzo, 68, said he fell in love with the game of soccer 30 years ago by watching and playing the sport with his son. Other teams soon took a backseat to the Red Bulls, even during the team’s toughest times. “It’s only soccer for me now,” he said.

This summer, the club’s current season ticket holders were invited to schedule an appointment to select their seats for 2010 in person. Full-season ticket plans range in price from $272 per seat to $3,000 for club level seats. The process for choosing seats should take about two weeks.

On Wednesday, the first group gathered in the stadium parking lot, just outside a door that will be the player’s entrance. There, each person was handed a Red Bulls jersey and a plastic helmet— a necessary precaution at a construction site — before being led up a flight of stairs to a cavernous room that will serve as a media work area.

After a brief video presentation, in which Red Bulls defender Mike Petke appeared onscreen dressed in construction garb to lay out the ground rules for the session, the 20 fans were let loose in the stadium.
“I never thought this day would come,” said Olesko, as he surveyed the facility.

The fans had 15 minutes to scout potential seats, and they spread out in all directions. While some in the group scampered around the stands, asking questions and making mental notes, Gary Weitz of Manhattan’s Upper West Side leaned on a rail in a slender strip of shade, seemingly irked by the muggy, afternoon air.

“Honestly? This is a pain,” said Weitz. “I could have done all of this from my office.”
The Red Bulls did not give season ticket holders the option to select their seats online. Weitz said that he was told if he did not show up to select his seats, they would be chosen for him.

But even he conceded that the event was a smart idea for the club to generate buzz for their new building and, for the most part, the other fans seemed to enjoy themselves.

“Some people seemed to be all business, just coming in to get it done,” said Mike Minchella, 22, a sales representative for the Red Bulls who helped guide the fans through the facility. “But most were excited that we finally have our own home.”

When the fans finished scouting seats, they huddled inside around a large seating chart that hung from an otherwise bare wall. The first person to select a seat was Herb Weltig of Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. He walked up to the chart to shouts of encouragement — “C’mon Herb!” When he placed his first sticker on a box representing a corner flag seat, the others gave him a warm round of applause.

One by one, each member of the group stepped forward to place their stickers on the chart. Some took turns afterward posing for photographs with Red Bulls midfielder Nick Zimmerman.
As the members of the first group were finishing up, another group of fans trickled in to take their turn soaking in the new stadium now tantalizingly close to completion.

On his way out, Constanzo motioned to the stadium. “This is going to be beautiful,” he said. ”

RedBull Arena is set to open on March 27th.