Metrostar fan club patch

Back when my boys were younger they were members of the Mighty Metros fan club. This was a great promotional tool for the clubs to bring kids to the stadium. Members could earn points by attending games and earning jerseys, soccer balls, training sessions, autograph sessions, player trading cards or stickers. The Metrostars were not the only club to have a kids based club.

Currently a review of the MLS clubs show that the Chicago Fire offers a free kids club for fans 14 and under.

The Philadelphia Union offers a Junior Supporters Club at three prices ranging from $35 to $130.

Real Salt lake Kids Club with a $5 membership fee for a signed player photo and birthday greeting. Members receive a promotional item on Kids Club game nights...

Old man rant: I personally think it is a shame that the MLS clubs forget the kids, the foundation of their future fans. Their web-sites seem to focus on their academy teams (which will accommodate a very small percentage of kids going to see a game), their supporters (adult fan clubs that offer great support for the teams) and their training camps... I understand that these are businesses out to make money, but I always wonder why they only focus on the big dollar and not the little guys who will be their future fan base...

Mighty Metros Fan Club

2001 Fan Club Membership Card...

2002 Fan Club Membership Card

side of the card had punchouts for promotional events - Team Poster (4 dates), Modell's T-shirt (3 dates), Snickers boot bag (3 dates) and autograph session (2 dates)...

2003 Fan Club Membership Card

bottom of card has punchouts for promtional events - Modell's T-shirt, replica jersey, replica shorts, replica socks...

2004 Fan Club Membership Card

bi-fold card - inside of card had placements for stickers to earn points to collect promotional items -

Poster, club patch, T-shirt, on field during warm-ups, ball-kid for a day, practice with a Pro...

A table was set up at each game for members of the fan club to check in and receive player trading cards or stickers as well as other promotional items...
Thought the Metros did a great job of promoting the game for kids...

2002 - MetroStars Lunchbox

2002.08.17 - The MetroStars hosted the Dallas Burn, and the first 5,000 kids 12 and under received a special metroStars lunchbox, courtesy of Sunny Delight, Downy, Tide and Crest...

The front of the box featured images of Rodrigo Faria, Tim Howard, Clint Mathis, Mike Petke.
The back of the lunch box featured the backs of Faria, Howard, Mathis and Petke, the sides of the lunch box featured player profiles...

2002 - MetroStars calendar

2002 - The Might Metros fan club distributed a calendar to the members. The calendar ran from April 2002 - March 2003, with an individual MetroStar player featured each month. The centerfold was a duplicate of the min-poster, without the Mighty Metros logo in the lower left hand corner. Each month also featured a "Did You Know" with interesting information about the MetroStars. The "Did You Know" from August to November 2002 and January 2003 were bilingual advertisements for Palmolive-Colgate products, the sponsor of the calendar..

April 2002 - Clint Mathis #13

Did You Know - Tim Howard made his international debut with the US Men's national Team on march 10, 2002 with a 1-0 shutout against Ecuador...

May 2002 - Tab Ramos #10

Did You KNow - Tim Howard and Steve Jolley were the only MetroStars players to play in every minute of every MetroStars game during the MLS regular season, the MLS playoffs, the US Open Cup and the Copa MercoNorte tournament in 2001...

June 2002 - Tim Howard #18

Did You Know - Striker Rodrigo Faria became the first MetroStars player to win the MLS Rookie of the Year award...

July 2002 - Rodrigo Faria #22

Did You Know - Defender Mike Petke, during the 2001 season, became the team's all-time leader in games (107) and minutes (9,122)...

August 2002 - Mike Petke #12

September 2002 - Petter Villegas #8

October 2002 - Marcelo Balboa #17

November 2002 - Ross Paule #11

December 2002 - Orlando Perez #2

Did You Know - In 2001, defender Daniel Hernandez recorded a career-high 7 assists during the regular season. Prior to 2001, he had only recorded 3 assists total in his previous 3 years.

January 2003 - Steve Jolley #5

February 2003 - Daniel Hernandez #21

Did You Know - Diego Serna, as a member of the Miami Fusion scored 4 goals against the MetroStars in a 4-1 win on September 2, 2000.

March 2003 - Diego Serna #71

Did You Know - Head Coach Octavio Zambrano is the MetroStars' all-time coaching leader with 30 wins in the regular season.

I like this calendar, it has a nice design and graphics, most of the photos are excellent, especially Mathis challenging 3 defenders...

2002 - MetroStars mini-poster

2002.09.12 - Courtesy of the Mighty Metros fan club, members received this mini-poster (17 x 11) which featured a collage of MetroStars - Tab Ramos, Mike Petke, Tim Howard, Marcelo Balboa, Clint Mathis, Steve Jolley, Rodrigo Faria, Petter Villagas, Ross Paule, Orlando Perez, Daniel Hernandez, Diego Serna.

A version of this poster was also placed in the center of a 2002-2003 calendar distributed by the Mighty Metros fan club. The individual player images on the poster are used for  each of the months...

2004 - MetroStars stickers

Michael Bradley

Metro mascot - - Des McAleenan (goalkeeper coach)

Chris Leitch - - Mike Magee

Joselito Vaca - - Amado Guevara

Tim Regan - - Bob Bradley

This set of sticker was given out in a manner similar to the 2001 MetroStars player cards, by attending a game and visiting the Might Metros fan club table. The set of stickers came with a poster of the pitch. Each sticker could then be placed on the poster in their position. As will usually happen with stickers, most of them were placed on the poster or other surfaces. These are the only ones that could be located within our collection...

The design of the stickers matched the design of the player cards that were used for autograph sessions...the stickers are the same size as a trading card 2.5 x 3.5 inches...

2001 - MetroStars Player Cards

card 18 - Billy Walsh

card 19 - Richie Williams

card 20 - Octavio Zambrano

card 21 - Nick Sakiewicz

card 22 - Metro

card 23 - Eastern Division Champions

card 24 - Giants Stadium

card 25 - Checklist

2001 - MetroStars Player Cards

card 12  - Mike Petke

card 13 - Tab Ramos

card 14 - Mark Semioli

card 15 - Steve Shak

card 16 - Adolfo Valencia

card 17 - Petter Villegas