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Yeah it may be a recent thing. They also had 2 different drummers between Phil Rudd's departure and return.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/fans-hope-for-the-best-as-rumours-swirl-about-malcolm-youngs-health-and-acdcs-future/story-fni0b7jg-1226884658411 Apparently Malcolm Young is in ill-health (stroke?) and rumors are circulating that the band will hang it up having previously agreed that no member would ever be replaced.

I'm not so sure they don't already do this.

We did suggest that team-sponsored nicotine patches could be a new marketing thing.

Benefit to fans of not having as many people assigned to smoking ban enforcement would be that they would be doing something else - keeping people from sliding down railings and other stupid stuff like that. And yes, E-cigs are also banned because they are too difficult to differentiate from regular cigs.

I think the difference is that RWS is owned by the county and therefore subject to their smoking policy. And I'm not sure you'll find any NFL stadium that allows smoking on premises now. Not sure if it's an NFL rule, or guideline, or recommendation, or what. Now you have to remove all metal objects - keys, phones, etc. They'd just add this to the list. An interesting list of the smoking policies of all NFL teams as of last summer: http://www.no-smoke.org/pdf/smokingpoliciesNFLstadiums.pdf

What you can bring in is now limited by the NFL as to thickness, no zippers or pouches etc. These will be more comfy and you won't have to carry them. Not that I'm selling them or anything just giving the pitch I heard.

They already make you empty your pockets so if they see them, they're out. And if found with a banned item in the stadium, you're out with no negotiation or claiming ignorance.

One thing brought up was that people might want to light up as soon as they leave the stadium. But that doesn't work with beer... "I won't drink it in the stadium, I just want to have it with me to drink after I leave"

There were 2 things brought up as possibilities during the FAB meeting that I'd like to get feedback on. 1) For season ticket holders, they're looking at the possibility of doing what many other teams (college & pro) do and offer season-long rentals on seat cushions that would be attached to your seat. It would be one of the first 2 on this page: http://www.imgcollegeseating.com/our-seats.cfm - They would take care of any maintenance/replacement needed. Cost would probably be about $5/game/seat. These would not be available on a per-game basis - only season-long. 2) Note that this is just an idea and nobody's going anywhere with it right now. But the idea is that since smoking is banned in the stadium, what if they added cigarettes to the list of things not allowed to even be brought in (like alcohol)? A good portion of game-day enforcement is around the smoking ban. If being found with cigarettes was an immediate ejection perhaps the enforcement effort would be reduced. If you attend games and have any thoughts on either of these, I'd be interested in hearing them.

Just watched a squishing of the fish from '94 a couple of days ago

That is my thought as well

Be ready for signage about excessive standing.

Oh you know they will. I did prod a little about the possibility of the opener being MNF. They all said they hope not but didn't tip their hand if they already know. They did put the Packers and MNF in a couple of examples of things so that sounds pretty definite but that being the opener is only coming from one guy who is usually pretty good with that stuff.

Better description of the locking scheme. They just don't want to deal with people without tickets getting into the stadium. And yes, those would be not as much beer-only stands, but beer-only LINES at each concession stand. As for the Wi-Fi - it's not a done deal yet that we in the stands won't see improvement this year, but I guess all the wiring is proving difficult with all the cement.

actually he said about 200 "real" ticket holders and lots of player family seats nearby that are easier to move

So the meeting was held in the media room where the post-game interviews are done. Pretty cool to see. First item was a presentation by the local head of Delaware North, who run the food and retail operations at the stadium. He talked at length about how the stadium renovations would affect things for fans: - No fewer than 6 registers at each stand - POS systems installed at all stands, meaning credit cards will be accepted - Current portable stands are being built in to the existing areas as beer-only lines, should improve traffic flow in concourses and limit the water drippage etc. - New East End Lounge "sports bar" will only be able to sell beer due to the license it has to be under - All new equipment at all concession stands with more ability to actually prepare food so more options than pre-made burgers/dogs type stuff. - New In-Stadium team store will be accessible from outside pre-game with doors into stadium locked. Once game starts, outside doors will be locked and inside doors opened to allow shopping from inside the stadium. Other updates from renovations: - Yes, game audio will be in every lavatory - Unsure if Wi-Fi improvements will be available for this season - concentrating on Wi-Fi requirements for gates and concession stands first and it's proving tougher than they anticipated - Weather put a bit of a delay on things but they do expect the place to be habitable by the first preseason game Some other game-day changes: - Tablets have been approved to be brought into the stadium - Removing seating in first 2 rows behind each bench, hoping to alleviate complaints about "excessive standing" Meeting went 45 minutes longer than scheduled and we still have lots of ideas to talk about. I did talk to director of ticket operations about group ticket purchase options and will be continuing that discussion so stay tuned, as it will apply to the TBD tailgate Met Hammer for a beer at Big Tree afterwards, and who sits down next to me but Ruben Brown. He's a good dude. His yearly bike run is coming up, and he's also looking at some event options for the Bills/Bears game in Chicago next season.

Oh well. There's always 2015.

If it's a retractable dome I'm OK with it - only needs to be closed when WE want it to be. Maybe have fans vote on the way in.

The only band that has me waiting, ready to buy anything new they put out the second it's available, is RUSH. The band that's been playing almost non-stop in my car since being turned onto them, is Karnivool.

Once you know when the opener is, maybe you can have here schedule a C-Section so that you can be where you need to be on opening day.

But you don't know when the opener is yet...

http://forums.twobil...e/#entry3101432 - If the opener is a MNF game do we have the tailgate anyway, knowing attendance would be curtailed or wait to have it until the first Sunday game?

Ticket options are in the works...