When the schedule came out this year the first thing I did was book a trip to Green Bay with a bunch of other members of Dolfans NYC. As the season went on I found out more and more of our crew was going. We had at least 20 people who went but there were probably a lot more than that. When word got out that we were going people kept asking us if we were doing some sort of “Lambeau Takeover” and while we would never disrespect such a holy place as Lambeau like that we did want to throw a tailgate there, but less than a week out we still didn’t have any actual plans. That’s where Ace came in.

Andrew Abramson who you might remember as a Dolphins reporter from the Palm Beach Post reached out to us on Twitter about tailgating. He heard a guy named Ace had a great location about a block away from the stadium so I reached out to Ace to see what his plans were. He is the manager of a store called Extreme Audio in Manitowoc, WI and asked his boss if when the Dolphins played the Packers he could use the Green Bay location to throw a tailgate. Extreme Audio serves as a parking lot during Packers games so his boss said as long as he could still sell the parking spaces Ace could tailgate there.

It seemed like a perfect solution so we offered to buy 7 parking spaces that we could tailgate in as well as some money to pay for food. I reached out to Sailor Jerry and got them to send us some rum to make spiked hot apple cider. I posted on our social about the parking spaces and sold all of them in advance of the game in 24 hours and got the word out to hundreds of Dolphins fans who had made the trip. Ace did all the hard work and got all the food and booze and we went from a small tailgate into a massive event in just five days!

The game itself was a disaster but the Lambeau experience was so amazing. I honestly enjoyed the misery of sitting on cold ass metal bleachers in freezing weather and cheering on my team even though only half of them were there because of all the injuries. The fans in Green Bay are great and they understand we are there to appreciate Lambeau and the amazing history of that holiest of football locations. We got to do a tour of Lambeau the night before and it was really amazing. Every bit of the trip was great except for the actual game.

Oh, I totally forgot. We went by the team hotel after the Lambeau tour and we talked to a couple of players (Stills and Asiata) but we also ran into Tom Garfinkel who for some reason wanted a photo with us (Ace and I) and we ended up hanging out with Nat Moore at the bar and he told us some great stories and argued with us about what players belonged in the Ring of Honor. He also kept telling us about how great the #MetLifeTakeover was which is pretty much the greatest compliment we could get. He was saying how much it means to the players when all you can hear is LET’S GO DOLPHINS in the 4th quarter. Such a fun night.

So yeah, our trip was a great success, I just wish I could say the same for the Dolphins. We also ended up raising $800 for the Green Bay Toys 4 Tots at the tailgate! Thanks to everyone who chipped in, brought some booze, or just hung out. I heard it was the biggest contingent of away fans ever at Lambeau. That’s probably not true, but I am willing to pretend!

Now check out all the photos from the tailgate (and a few from the Lambeau tour) below!

Every football fan should go to Lambeau once in their lifetime and every 8 years Dolphins fans get the chance to see their team play in the football world’s Mecca.  As soon as the schedule came out a group of Dolfans NYC members set our plans in motion. Since then our group has grown and I found out that a bunch of our other members were going as well. When I mentioned we were going on Twitter Dolphins fans all over the country reached out to me about what we were doing for a tailgate. Well, we have finally figured that out!

Former Palm Beach Post Dolphins writer Andrew Abramson reached out to me about a friend of his living in Wisconsin who had a perfect spot for a tailgate. Andrew was a #MetLifeTakeover regular when he was covering the team and knew we were going and wanted to connect. He put me in touch with his friend Ace who got us access to a store called Extreme Audio (757 Mike McCarthy Way) that is only one block from the stadium!  The store acts as a parking lot for Lambeau on Game Day, but the owner is willing to sell us the parking spaces in advance.

Between Andrew, Ace and Dolfans NYC we have purchased 6 spaces that we are going to leave empty for the tailgate as well as a couple of spaces that we are going to be parking in. If you want to park in the lot as well (way cheaper than actual Lambeau parking) email ace@extremeaudio.com and let him know ASAP. There are only about a dozen spots left so first come first serve!

As far as the actual tailgate goes, we will be kicking off at noon, with the game starting at 3:25pm we should have plenty of time to pregame. We have 50 burgers, 50 brats and some vegetarian options. We are gonna have some beer and water, but please BYOB because we aren’t going to have enough for everyone. The tailgate is technically free but we ask everyone to make some sort of donation. After we recoup the funds we spent on food/parking all left over money will be donated to Toys 4 Tots. You can also bring an unwrapped toy as payment as well. Extreme Audio does a Toys 4 Tots fundraiser every year so we figured this was a perfect way to thank them for hosting us and to do some good for the Green Bay community. If you want to donate directly please PayPal us at dolfansnyc@gmail.com. I think a $10 per person donation would be perfect.

So to sum it all up, every Dolphins fan is invited to party with us before the Green Bay game. If you want to eat our food bring $10 or a toy for the charity drive. If you want to park near us make sure you email Ace ASAP. And if you want to drink, please BYOB. Obviously anyone who wants to bring other snacks and stuff we would love it. This should be an amazing experience no matter what happens on the field. Stay warm out there!

The #MetLifeTakeover was such an amazing success this year. From our pre-party to our tailgate to our fundraising efforts to our impact from the stands to the score of the game everything was pretty much perfect. I didn’t take a ton of photos because I was too busy running around the whole time but I wanted to give you a quick rundown of the weekend and share some of my photos, but the real fun is going to be when you see the video we filmed at the game. It should be pretty incredible.

The first group of photos are from our party on Saturday night at Slattery’s Midtown Pub. We had a great turnout and ended up raising about $1000 for the Miami Dolphins Foundation through our raffles and auctions. We had DJ Tropic spin and Solo D performed, or at least he tried to. The speakers at Slattery’s aren’t exactly ideal for a live performance, but it was still a lot of fun. I love this party we do every year. It gives everyone in from out of town a chance to meet up and check out our bar and our little Dolfans NYC museum we have in the back.

The rest of the photos are from our tailgate which has to have been the best one yet. Last year we ended up partnering with Urban Tailgate at the last minute and things went great but we had some minor issues that all seemed to have worked out this year. It was also the second year in a row that Joe Rose filmed his show “Cup of Joe” live from our tailgate and this year his guests included the legendary Marks Brothers, Mark Duper and Mark Clayton. He also had Kim Bokamper as a guest who has always been super supportive of our group. Nat Moore also came to the tailgate for the 7th or 8th time which is pretty amazing. He was the first person from the Dolphins who ever checked out the club way back when it was at Third and Long and there were only a few dozen of us. Michelle and I also went on the show and donated a $2000 check to the Miami Dolphins Foundation to Jason Jenkins from the Dolphins, another one of our early supporters at the team.

Once again DJ Tropic DJ’d at the tailgate and this time Solo D got some redemption from the bad sound the night before at Slattery’s. He played to a completely pumped group of people at the tailgate and the soundsystem was great. I took photos of his first song and then got myself up on Urban Tailgate’s UHaul so I could get a good group photo and I got to see the end of his set from a above and the crowd was rocking. It was so much fun to watch people just getting crazy hours before kickoff. That energy really carried over because despite the heat our section was loud and going nuts all game long.

Obviously the game was amazing and our crew could easily be heard on TV during the game and our camera guy got his camera into the stands so we should have some really amazing crowd footage for the first time ever. So huge shout out to Curtis and his crew from RizeOptix and our buddy Oscar who hosted the video for us. I can’t wait to see the finished thing and I can’t wait for you to see it, but in the meantime check out this trailer Curtis put together!

Lastly, we did a raffle for the Jason Taylor Foundation and they sent us a signed TJ jersey and we sold raffle tickets for it online, at the party at Slattery’s and all day long at the game, and we raised $1000 for the Foundation and then we as a club matched it. So that’s $2000 for the JT Foundation to go with the $2000 we donated to the Miami Dolphins Foundation. And that doesn’t even include the money we raised from merch and ticket sales. We are gonna be able to do a lot of good with the money we raised.

Now it’s time to check out my photos from both days of the #MetLifeTakeover and we will be back soon with our epic #MetLifeTakeover video!

When the Dolphins take the field in East Rutherford, N.J. on Sunday, players know the inter-division tilt won’t feel like a typical road game.

Not with over 1,000 aqua-and-orange-clad fans spread across four sections at MetLife Stadium, whose boisterous chanting and unwavering celebrations have left a lasting impression.

“It’s big-time,” said Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills. “It’s not too often that you go on the road and you have such a heavy presence in another stadium, so we always appreciate them.’”

For wide receiver and kick returner Jakeem Grant, the warm reception from one of the most significant contingents of Miami fans he’s witnessed at an away game has inspired him and his teammates.

“We feed off them,” Grant said. “They basically give us that momentum, with them cheering if we make a big play. We’re like, ‘Man, we can continue to do this!’ With the fans traveling with us and doing all those things, we greatly appreciate that.”

Throughout the eight previous #MetLifeTakeover games – especially the six triumphs – the loudest cheers have come from Dolphins faithful in attendance, who’ve shouted after every first down and belted out the team fight song following each touchdown.

 

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“I remember in the past, we’ve seen some good support there,” said linebacker Kiko Alonso. “It’s definitely critical to have our fans come to those games.”

Alonso won’t be disappointed on Sunday afternoon, as Dolphins supporters’ voices will echo through the stadium, rooting for him to come up with a game-changing interception and Stills to beat his defender for a crucial score.

The applause emanating from Sections 344 to 347 is not only audible on telecasts, but travels all the way down to the Dolphins sideline.

“We definitely hear it,” Stills said. “It’s nice to have our fans with us on the road … I always make sure to go over there and dap everybody up and tell them face to face, ‘Thank you for being here.’”

As of this morning the #MetLifeTakeover tickets are all sold out! We are talking to the Jets about trying to get a couple more rows in another section close by but we have already sold over 1000 tickets! Even if you don’t get tickets with us everyone is invited to both the tailgate and the pre-party at our bar Slattery’s Midtown Pub. We also partnered with the NFL Experience to get you guys discount tickets with to their Times Square attraction.

Let’s start with the tailgate! The catered tailgate is being offered by Urban Tailgate up until game day, but our discount code only works until tomorrow night so this is your last chance to get the all you can eat and drink tailgate for $65. You can read more about it over on the #MetLifeTakeover FAQ and you can buy your tickets via Urban Tailgate here. The $20 off coupon is “DOLFANSNYC2018” and if you get the cheaper no alcohol option you can still get $10 off using “FINSUP” as the coupon code. And as always you are more than welcome to enjoy the tailgate party with us for free. Just BYO if you want to eat or drink but come party with us. We have a ton of stuff going on including raffles, merch sales, a live taping of Joe Rose & Nat Moore’s “Cup of Joe” and a performance from Solo D.

Speaking of Solo D he is also going to be performing at our Pre-Party at Slattery’s Midtown Pub. The party is going to start early at 6pm so that we can end by 9pm so people can still get some sleep before the #MetLifeTakeover. Slattery’s is at 8 E. 36th St in Manhattan and is walkable from Penn Station, Times Square and a ton of other Subway stops. On top of the Solo D performance we will have merch for sale, raffles and maybe even a live auction if we get a good crowd. We also just redid our Dolfans NYC museum in the back of Slattery’s so make sure you check that out. A lot of work went into that space.

Lastly I want to mention the NFL Experience promotion we are doing. The NFL Experience Times Square is a “football theme park” that features memorabilia, games, photo ops and much more. This article gives a pretty good run down of what you can expect if you visit. They call it “Disney meets the Hall of Fame meets Dave & Busters”. They reached out to us about doing something with us so we figured the #MetLifeTakeover weekend was a perfect opportunity since a bunch of people will be in town for the game. If you want to check it out we have discount tickets available on Friday and Saturday. It’s not too far away from Slattery’s so if you want to stop by before our event Saturday it should be the perfect pre-game to the pre-party. You can use the coupon code “DOLFANSNYC18” to get tickets for just $25 which normally run you $39. Should be a really fun weekend.

Okay, so that’s it! See a lot of you at Slattery’s on Sunday for the first bit of real football in a long, long time! Phins up!

Here’s your official #MetLifeTakeover pre-party announcement! Saturday September 15th from 6-9pm at @Slatterys111! Music from @SOLOD305 & @Tropic2PointOh. Plus raffles, merch and a live auction! Let’s party! pic.twitter.com/IAHGq3CbAi

— Dolfans NYC (@DolfansNYC) September 6, 2018

Ignoring everything that happened after 1pm, yesterday was a tremendous success. We had over 1000 Dolphins fans sit together, threw one hell of a tailgate and raised a TON of money for charity. I just wanted to quickly thank everyone who came out especially our volunteers and everyone who helped us get stuff on and off the busses. The day went very smoothly right up until the moment the game started.

Huge shout out to Urban Tailgate for their help with the party. We had a few tiny hiccups (the Jets wouldn’t lets us park our busses by the tailgate!) but overall it was amazing. We had some complaints about the cost before the tailgate but I didn’t hear a single complaint afterwards. I have a feeling we are not gonna have any trouble selling tickets next year.  This tailgate was fairly last minute and I can’t wait until next year because we are gonna up the game on everything. Next year should be epic.

Thanks to DJ Tropic for playing music and Solo D and DWA for playing a few songs and keeping the crowd going long after the performance.

Thanks to Joe Rose and the team at Cup Of Joe for taping their show live at our tailgate.  Nat Moore and Tom Garfinkel were guests on the show and hung out a bunch. Thanks to Jason Jenkins who helped put that together and has been at pretty much every Takeover. He’s a huge supporter of what we do. Jim Jenson came by the tailgate too just to hang out. That was pretty amazing. Thanks Crash!

And finally thanks to our liquor sponsor Sailor Jerry. They have sponsored the last few tailgates and we really appreciate the love. I think they actually have a bar at Hard Rock Stadium.

I am sure I am missing some people but we will thank them all in the wrap up video. We will also have an update of all the money we were able to donate to charity thanks to this weekend, but I should mention that the Cam Wake signed helmet raffle raised nearly $1800 alone for the Miami Dolphins Foundation and we donate $500 to Kiko Alonso’s hurricane fundraiser after the raffle we did at the party at Slattery’s Saturday night.

I gotta be honest and tell you that after the tailgate last year I was completely burnt out and ready to never do this again, but this year I am just sunburnt and ready to start planning the 2018 Takeover!

Phins up, Jets still suck, check out all the pictures below!

We are excited to announce that Dolfans NYC has been approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to receive 501(c)(3) status. Our rapidly-growing fan club is now officially a non-profit, charitable organization.

Under these new guidelines, we are able to continue raising funds for those less fortunate and hope to make an even bigger contribution in our local communities — both the New York metropolitan area and South Florida.

We are very grateful for the continued support of the Miami Dolphins organization. It is thanks to them that we are able to ramp up our events and take our fundraising goals to the next level. In addition, we are extremely fortunate to have such generous and kind-hearted members of our club, without whom our fundraising efforts would be impossible. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to them for their contributions over the years to all of the causes we have supported, including the Miami Dolphins Foundation, the victims of the Metro-North crash, Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, The Concern Foundation and many more.

In South Florida we have made an impact by donating annually to the Miami Dolphins Foundation, which provides support in South Florida communities under education, health and volunteerism initiatives. We have also made yearly donations to a number of riders participating in the Dolphins Cycling Challenge to raise money for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

We are looking forward to hosting our first fundraiser as a non-profit organization during our watch party on September 10th at Slattery’s Midtown Pub as the Miami Dolphins take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers week one of the 2017 NFL season.

Two weeks later, on September 24th, we are anticipating a record-setting crowd at our annual #MetLifeTakeover. Since 2013 we have brought an average of 1000 Dolphins fans to the Dolphins at Jets game in New Jersey. Part of every ticket sale goes to our charitable efforts and combined with raffle and merchandise sales it is far and away our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Going forward, Dolfans NYC aims to support the respective causes of past and present Miami Dolphins players, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (Jarvis Landry), Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (Jay Ajayi) and the Anthony Fasano Foundation to name a few.

For any organizations affiliated with the Miami Dolphins or the NFL interested in partnering with us in our future fundraising efforts, please contact Michelle Kramers and Nate Igor Smith at DolfansNYC@gmail.com.

Make a tax deductible donation via PayPal here:

Sign ups are live! Read carefully. If you want to go to the 2016 #MetLifeTakeover sign up ASAP. We will send an email when it’s time to pay. Tickets are $65 and as always you will be surrounded by Dolphins fans in the upper decks. Win or lose it’s one of the greatest times you will ever have as a Dolphins fan and our tailgate gets better every year. Come join us and 1000 of our closest friends!

SIGN UP HERE! READ CAREFULLY! PHINS UP!

Wow, it’s been a long time since we have updated this website. Last year was brutal but it all starts again soon. I have tried to ignore football as long as possible after an exhausting season but it’s time to get back in that NFL mood.

We are having a watch party at Slattery’s Midtown Pub for the first round of the NFL Draft. The draft starts at 8pm on Thursday April 28th and we will be getting started a little bit early so if you feel like pre-gaming I will be there by 7.

As per every game day we have DJ Tropic DJing during commercials and stuff and unlike game day we have free appetizers for anyone wearing Dolphins gear!

That being said, feel free to bring all your friends who root for other teams. This is the one day of the year we can get a long with only mild smack talk. They just have to pay for their food!

Anyway, just wanted to give you that quick update. Hope to see a bunch of you on Thursday! Phins up!

Tonight is Monday Night Football and in celebration today the 2015 #MetLifeTakeover video is here! The Dolphins might have lost the game but looking back in 10 years hopefully all we will remember is how much fun we had!

This video was shot by Greg Jeske and edited and hosted by Alex Bente. It featured interviews with Nat Moore, Tom Garfinkel, Andrew Abramson, Solo D, The Fintroopers and even Ace Ventura! Plus there is dancing… lots of dancing!

Thanks again to our sponsors Pabst Blue Ribbon, Sailor Jerry and AquaHydrate! Thanks to everyone who helped with the tailgate and everyone who helped with this video!

Honestly I don’t really know what else to say but watch the video and show it to everyone! Phins up!

2015 #MetLifeTakeover from Dolfans NYC on Vimeo.