FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Red Bull Arena will look noticeably more red, white and blue this Saturday evening when the New York Red Bulls host the New England Revolution (7:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
Specifically, nearly 1,000 Revs fans will pour into the Harrison, New Jersey-based stadium as part of the club’s season membership program. In all, 17 buses head south down Interstate 95, then will occupy sections 219 through 221 of their Eastern Conference rival’s stomping ground.
For Brian Bilello, president of the Revolution, the club-sponsored and funded trip is a great source of pride.
“It’s very, very unique, and in talking with away fans about what gets them engaged and excited, the away trips are a big thing,” Bilello told MLSsoccer.com inside his office at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday. “We put our heads together and asked, ‘How can we help with that?’”
The solution, it turns out, is the gameday experience, and the match against the Red Bulls made sense geographically when front office members got to planning.
The genesis of this trip has roots in 2014, though, when the Revs faced New York in the Eastern Conference Championship. Bilello, through Twitter, offered fans free buses to that playoff match, and he estimates they sold out of spots in 15 minutes.
Then last year, the Revs organized a similar trip to Red Bull Arena, at which nearly 450 fans traveled. They’ll more than double their traveling support this go-around, and Bilello said the reason is they’ve expanded eligibility to all season members.
“When you go on an away trip and are in an arena with a big group of people, it’s a special feeling,” Bilello said. “It’s very different than any other sport in the world. You don’t do that in baseball or football or basketball.”
As special as the trip to Red Bull Arena will be for fans, Revs players said they’ll greatly appreciate the support. Juan Agudelo said it reminds him of his brief spell in Europe, when away fans in the hundreds or thousands is commonplace.
Chris Tierney, meanwhile, harked back on that 2014 matchup at New York, an instance he called one of the best memories of his career.
“There’s just something about going into a hostile game in a tough environment and having a group of fans that have your back,” Tierney told MLSsoccer.com. “I think our fans that day were as loud as the 20,000 Red Bull fans, and we had 1,500 people. It’s definitely something that gives us something to work extra hard for on the road.”
In sum, this Revs-funded trip isn’t MLS's largest ever – that distinction belongs to Toronto FC in 2013, when 4,200 fans traveled to Montreal's Olympic Stadium – but don’t expect it to go anywhere soon. After all, Biello said, there’s no real reason to stop.
“We’ll keep going with these trips until members don’t want to take them anymore,” Bilello said.
