I saw some new faces in the row ahead of me. I can tell that of the 6/10 people in the group were established fans (not sure how often they go) that would stand and cheer despite not knowing all the songs. The other 4 in their group took forever to stand. They would look at me and their group as if we were crazed lunatics. I told one couple in their group, us soccer fan ARE crazed lunatics and this is what we do. Needless to say, despite a few of those watered down Dynamoritas, they finally stood to cheer. I'm sure the score sheet had something to do with it. Hope they had a great experience and will come to more games
I have been to every Dynamo playoff game here at Houston since 2006 but last night was the exception. As much as I love my team I love my two little girls more. The attendance was predictable. Everyone knew the draw would be minimal due to Halloween. Seems a little harsh to judge based on last nights attendance but we should used to it. I've been judged for playing/ following this sport since I was 7. It's no holds barred on Sunday. Look for the crazy tailgate guys jamming cooler radios and playing flip cup. That'll be us! DALE!
IMO last night's attendance was because they screwed up not including a Game 1 playoff ticket in the STH package. I agree with others who have posted about this and said that STH's shouldn't necessarily expect playoff tickets as part of STH games. But when there is a very strong chance that a game would be on halloween, then not including that ticket makes the decision to skip the game a lot easier. It wasn't just a choice of "trick or treat" v. Dynamo. It was "Trick or treat" v. spending an extra $50-$100 (or whatever a specific families seats costs) to attend the Dynamo. I think more folks would have ignored Halloween and gone to the game if the ticket had already been paid for. On the the larger question of ticket sales....I haven't seen an attendance thread all year!? Are ticket sales/attendance actually down? (I realize sales and attendance aren't the same.) But if the tickets are sold, then the sales people have done their jobs. I don't know any way you can actually make people sit in the seats! There is a guy near me whom I have mentioned here before. He's a STH and apparently has been for years. But he NEVER shows up until at least halftime. Day games, night games, I don't think it's his work schedule, he just doesn't care that much. It's extremely weird to me, but thats his habit.
Our FO laid off 25 sales and marketing staff members that had been with our club, err franchise, for many years now. If you have not noticed we have fresh from college campus staff nowadays. Perhaps it is the perfect storm of bone head move to drop the playoff ticket from our STH package, the Halloween/family night thing, the shitastic weather and the short run up with novice soccer sales staff.
I did just get an email from a different rep. That would be my third different rep this year if my current (or former) rep doesn't work there anymore
Our visit to Bridgeview last year for the play-in game drew just under 11k. It's two ostensibly mediocre teams - the 4 and 5 seed are the definition of "middle of the pack" - on Halloween. On short notice. It doesn't help that this week has been big in Houston sports: Nationally televised game for UH; Rockets home opener; and the Texans on Sunday Night. People only have so much disposable income; even without the rain or trick-or-treating, I would've expected 12k-13.5k.
5% decline in attendance. Bad decisions like not including this game with the STH package. Easier to lay off the mid-level workers than to fall on the sword yourself. Don't know if this is true, but I would think a chunk of the season tickets last year were probably purchased by ticket brokers/agencies. I also wouldn't be surprised if several of these brokers/agents bought large chunks of tickets for the "big" matches last year. AEG....err the stadium..... gets its fees from the ticket transactions and the Dynamo get tickets sold last year. This year though, those same brokers/agents do not convert to fans. Maybe the person who buys the ticket from them does, but no one in the front office has their contact information more than likely as they purchased via stub hub/craigslist/etc. Just a thought. Don't have any clue if it is right or not.
I'm not sure what you guys want in a newspaper, but I can honestly say that Jesus loves the Dynamo. Reporters have a responsibility to ask questions when they see something wrong - and something was wrong last night with the attendance. We can blame trick or treat, UofH, the lousy weather earlier, a workday night or any of a myriad of other excuses - but the fact remains that in the 2013 knockout round of the MLS playoffs - people did not show. If you didn't think the same thing when you looked out there and saw all the empty seats, then you're in the minority. The real question is how do we fill those unsold seats. I think it is probably correct to assume that because this was not on the season ticket package, the folks who purchased seats for this game actually showed up. The problem is in selling the other seats - how do you do that? If you discount them, you'll wind up pi$$ing off the season ticket holders and people who paid for the full ride. I really don't think it helps to attack those who point out the obvious, we definitely have had a drop off in attendance and to my mind the best course of action is to acknowledge the problem rather than offer excuses. The Dynamo did in my estimation try to exploit the Halloween aspect, they had trick or treating for kids at the suites, kids got to knock on doors and a Dynamo employee opened the door and handed out candy. They had a contest for folks who dressed up. I don't know what else they could have done short of just giving away tickets to fill seats. Let's face it - if any of us had the answer we'd be sitting in Travis' office.
We will see Sunday the impact of Halloween. This match has big name appeal in Henry. The arguably best team in MLS v. the best playoff team in MLS. The stadium should sell out. Texans game later that night be damned.
The brokers and many corporate/business accounts passed on the game. Our section/area had a lot of new faces and frankly many seats that are usually empty were full. And the atmosphere was better.
We have not had more local media coverage than we had when we opened the new stadium last year. Newspapers, radio, tv stations, etc. are doing less to promote our club has something to do with the attendance. Also, the CSN blacking out half the city's viewers hurts them.
I drove in from ABQ, NM and bought my 6 tickets at BBVA to save almost $50 in just fees alone. I'm hoping for a good showing from the Dynamo.
I have come to expect nothing from newspapers, this one in particular. And I am fine with that. I dont expect anything and dont want anything. But the last thing i want to see is the little content he does have is just drive by shots at the Dynamo and/or US Soccer. Be it in a blog or his twitter. If he wanted to write about last night, then REALLY report on it. Gather information and actually analyze something! I cant argue that Oriz may like the Dynamo, but he is a hater, plain and simple.
This is a key point. We hate on the brokers and rightly so, but they play a part in ticket sales and promoting games. Once they get the tickets, they become marketers for the dynamo.
I honestly don't know what a "hater" is. It seems to me that the term "hater" started a few years back and initially had a political context. Disagree with the administration - you're a hater. Follow your religion re-whatever - you're a hater. No-one likes to see something they love criticized, most will take it as a personal attack, but sometimes questions have to be asked. And to my mind the lack of attendance last night is a legitimate question which requires an honest answer, and you can bet the the ticket sales folks are working the phones hard tonight. It is all very well to embrace someone who writes ""There’s more emotion in one Dynamo game than the Texans, Astros and Rockets have in an entire season. Cynicism takes a day off when the Dynamo play." But did he really mean it - or was he just waxing poetic. And Jesus actually did report on the game http://www.chron.com/sports/dynamo/article/Dynamo-advance-to-Eastern-Semis-after-win-over-4945087.php You'll note that Dom and Tally both commented on the attendance too should we also pillory them? So - you'll probably note that I'm kinda doing what you and others are doing when you take exception to criticism about the team you love - I'm defending someone that I respect. It's natural.
Oooooh, I don't believe that to be true. You the seller should control your marketing message. The brokers should be the secondary market of your product. You see a broker sells multiple lines of product to their clients (Texans, Rockets, Lady Gaga, ballet). They're going to push what the market demands.
I will take your word that Ortiz loves the Dynamo, but the fact still is, i dont care for his writing. I wish somebody different was covering the Dynamo. Something is wrong with last nights attendance, i agree. Dynamo FO must do something to improve attendance. Disagree that its good to read it from Ortiz. He could write about so many other things but he keeps writing about attendance. Him pointing it out is not needed, the Dynamo should know they arent making as much money as they should. I dont need a bright reporter to tell me that theres is an attendance problem. I want info that is insightful, that only an insider knows and dumbass fans like me don't. Disagree that the Dynamo did enough. Their advertisements that i received said NOTHING about Halloween celebrations. Many of my friends told me they were skipping it because their kids wanted Halloween and i didnt have info to tell them they would not miss the candy experience. The dynamo marketing dept should have been working on marketing strategies weeks before, preparing for scenarios. Halloween is the easiest thing to prepare for Big Halloween experience, zombie parade, vampire parade, ipads and electronic stuff for contest winners, indoor activities in case of rain, best halloween ever, kids will demand dynamo halloween again next year, safe for your kids, lots of candy, no fear of scary neighbor, all about halloween. Free popcorn for everybody in costume, one free beer for top 100 couples in matching coatume, Xyz celebrity, haunted house, etc etc. Instead, their efforts were just... Lame. And i dont know who Travis is, but i wouldn't be sitting in his office. Im doing alright in my own office. With all respect mon.
The front page Sports above the fold today was a refreshing change for the Chronicle, and Solomon doing his byline was also a great piece. It has been a while since the Orange got this kind of space in the fish wrap, so give props where they are due. It's important to those we are trying to attract. I've actually enjoyed the reads both from the Chron and from the Dynamo website. What ever happened to that fan board that provided ideas to the FO on subjects like this?
Chronicle did give it good coverage today. But you have to admit that Ortiz continually takes shots at the Dynamo FO while not saying anything about obviously phony Astros attendance figures or current Astros FO people presiding over a terrible business situation (I note the only guy he criticized was Postolos - AFTER he was fired)
I couldnt find anything in chron.com, about todays big game here. http://www.chron.com/sports/dynamo/
'Haters' are people who just like to bring things down, talk trash, and stir the pot. They typically offer nothing of value, but just take drive-by shots at things. For example, i would call Jerome Solomon a hater. The political context was a new and just part of the recent strategy of labeling any dissent with over-the-top generalizations, like intolerant, extremist, racisms, anti-this or anti-that. Like I said, I am okay with media asking hard questions. But…His job isn’t to talk trash and just ask questions, it is to ask questions and REPORT on potential answers. WHY is the happening? WHO is to blame? WHAT are potential solutions? Steve Davis asked the same questions, but did RESEARCH and a little analysis and tried to dig into it. I am over this topic now. Im out.
I actually emailed Ortiz and commended him on the last two peices on the NYRB games **GASP!** I also gave props to the Chron for sending him (which they should). Let's hope the good reporting trend continues.
You and i should sit down and talk about setting realistic expectations. I don't want you to grow up disappointed.
The sports editor, Nick Mathews praised Jesus in a tweet this morning, and I tweeted back that it was a good story and his tweets during the game were good too, but I was expecting a color picture on the front. He tweeted back that there was no satisfying me. I'm not sure if he was joking or not, but I wrote back and said I didn't want to sound like a whiner and I really did like what they did, I just would have liked a picture on the front. He told me it was impossible to please everyone, to which I responded again that I do appreciate the effort. His final words were that I should share my appreciation with other Dynamo fans. In real time, his tweets were friendlier than they sound here, and I think it was generally positive. But I don't think Nick has much real love for soccer. That's not true with Ortiz, and regardless of what you think about him and his writing skills, I think he would provide better Dynamo coverage if he were allowed by his boss.