Rumor: International Match @ Gillette or Boston area?

How does the presale work? I dropped my ticket plan for this year, but my Portuguese buddies are bugging me about getting tickets. I on the other hand will be watching US/Mexico.

 

The question to be asking is "is there a big market for live MLS matches?".

It's never been shown that the general soccer fan in this area has a good potential to become an MLS fan. I think there's a high degree of soccer snobbery in this area and the development of the Revs/MLS has occurred at the same time as an enormous growth in television access to all the top leagues in the world.

I think that's also why they've been more successful with the "family soccer" market. That segment doesn't have to be convinced that live soccer at many levels can be fun and exciting.

Firstly, I don't know how profitable a game like this is. The high profile teams involved know how much revenue is available, so I'm sure they adjust their fee/expense demands accordingly. I'm sure that KSG makes money, but I'm not sure it's a ton.

Second, I don't think that KSG is just going to drop more $$ in the Revs budget. I think there's always been more money available to spend, but my guess is that it's there on a "show how it helps the bottom line" basis. Would profit from an event like this make them more willing to be more speculative about ROI? Who knows.

 

So there's more money available to spend, but the Revs don't spend it because they haven't shown how it helps the bottom line?

I guess all those years when we were one of the better teams in MLS and making regular MLS Cup appearances bears this out. Having a good, exciting team on the field who couldn't draw flies to to the stadium is probably all the proof they need to never spend the slush fund that we recently heard is now available. After all, who wants a playoff game anyway? It's just another reason you have to open up the stadium, not to mention the costs of another road trip to some other city, for what, the usual 7,000 crowd? It doesn't make fiscal sense! God forbid, if we won the first series, then we'd (likely) have to travel again for another road trip. You guys are bleeding us dry with all this "winning" crap!

 

Seriously? Have you seen the prices for tickets? Add that, plus parking and concessions for a sold out crowd? He's raking in the dough on this one, regardless of thee fees and the cost of laying down the grass.

 

He's not getting a red penny of my money on this day. But I will continue to take advantage of his lack of marketing the Revs by enjoying Rev's games at $10 a pop, as part of my season ticket plan with free parking. Because the Krafts wont promote the Revs, nor build them a smaller sss, I get the best sports value in New England, hands down.

 

I'm with you brother..!

And for the life of me, I still can't get over 18years of local TV...my only little bit of KSG that I cannot truly complain about! Apathy? so weird...Yea the announcers, IMO are even bigger homers than San Jose's or Crapids...but, I can always just tune it out..or at least I try.

 

Kudos to you, Monty. We should all work to build the fanbase. And I would like to add that -yes, I am a fan, and- every year I have a conversation with my ticket rep and I tell him every year we stay in Gillette, I'm only going for the bare minimum in terms of ticket categories. I also tell him -every year- that if and when we get a SSS, I'm fully prepared and willing to spend thousands per year with KSG. Only money talks with these people.

 

Where are the KADs telling us that not marketing Revs at these games is a good thing that Monty is destroying by his subversive tactics?

 

C'mon, we're a "small" market, unlike those giant megalopolouses like Columbus and Salt Lake City. There just aren't enough soccer fans in the area to justify this myth that "Boston is a great soccer market." The Krafts are doing everything humanly possible, and it is just being "negative" to keep hating on them for not marketing more and better. Besides, a savvy businessman doesn't need to hire paid staff when he can just get fans to spread the word for free like Monty did.

 

If you don't think this is how it works almost everywhere, you're dreaming. The Yankees, ManU's and RMs of the world don't spend more than anyone else because they value winning more. They do it because they believe they have revenue sources to support it.

There are probably a few rich guys in the world who are willing to dribble down their fortunes to help make their hobby a winner, but they are a very, very rare breed (much more common are those with more money than they can ever spend, yet still won't open their wallets wider for their teams).

Having a championship team gets you status at the country club, but being richer gets you even more (and squandering money gets you ridicule).

Whoever said they didn't want to win? They just (I believe) aren't willing to finance winning at all costs. Winning while losing a ton of money isn't sustainable and I doubt its acceptable to KSG (and almost all responsible team owners).

Bringing it back to the money theoretically available to spend, I'm pretty much talking about DPs. And, they've had serious negotiations over the years with several high profile stars, so they've probably had discussions about the how much those players would help the bottom line.

If the Revs front office wants to sign a $1M+/yr player, I think they're going to have to show ownership how that player will add something to revenue.

Yes, prices are outrageous and there will be a ton of revenue. The question is how that gets split up. I'm sure Brazil and Portugal are guaranteed big slices of that pie.

I don't doubt that it's going to be very good for KSG, but whoever is marketing this game could have easily booked it for Renschler or wherever if KSG wanted too big a share.

 

And forfeit the ticket sales of an additional 25k-30k spectators, additional luxury box revenues, etc.? I don't think so. MetLife Stadium would have been a possibility, but not Rentschler.

 

1) Just as in the Spain/USA game, the FO should absolutely take the opportunity of 68,000 soccer fans to promote the Revs.

2) It's great that Monty was able to garner a new STH, by leveraging that person's desire to attend this match.

Hope no one's head explodes.

 

Why is it always a case of jet black vs. pure white? "Spending more" means a modest increase in the amount allowed for players, going above and beyone the bare minimum. Maybe having a couple of $500,000 DPs on the roster, guys who will contribute on the field and help the team win. At that price, you are not going to get a guy who can "move the needle" with the non-fan public. No player "anyone" has ever heard of will be available for that kind of money, but a lot of very good players will.

No one is arguing that we should be the Yankees or ManU or even the Red Bulls or Galaxy. I would settle for a team building approach like Seattle (despite them being crap this year) or Real Salt Lake.

I'm sure the Krafts would have been very happy if we had won any of the four MLS Cups we were in. But were they willing to go the extra mile, to spend a little bit more to bring in that one extra player who could have made the difference? No.

Again, it isn't black vs. white. Yeah, they have had "serious" negotiations, but when it came to closing the deal, they have failed. Every. Single. Time. What every happened to that list of "20 South Americans" that Steve Nicol wanted to buy? If the Krafts were so committed, don't you think they would have signed... one of them?

Well, they won't get a player like Beckam, whose jersey sales alone account for more than the entire season's worth of ticket revenue. There aren't many players like that, and that isn't the kind of player they could, nor should sign.

The problem is if they had, say, $750,000 more in payroll due to a couple of serious players who would instantly make the team better on the field, the quantitative analysis guys from Sloane School would probably only be able to justify an increase in revenue (due to a better team and marginally better attendance) of half of that, with the assumption that their overall methodology and business practices don't change. So it would be a no-go. End of story, like it always has been here.

Yet to risk losing $400,000 more against everything else a (hopefully) championship team would stand for is penny-wise and pound foolish. The obvious answer is to combine the signings with more effective advertising, marketing and media relations. But would they do that?

Brazil and Portugal's appearance fees are factored in to any equation of what the numbers need to be to get this to work. Even a matchup of quality teams like Belgium vs. Uruguay would have much lower fees, but you won't get the kind of crowd, especially at those prices. Now if only they'd use some of the Brazil-Portugal revenue to offset the risk or spending an extra $750,000 above the cap on DPs...

No, maybe New York or DC, maybe, but this is the area with the largest concentraion of people of Portuguese heritage anywhere. Of course, Brazil is a big draw if they played in Nebraska, so this game would do well in any NFL-sized stadium.

 

Well, what do you know? Looks like the Revs do have at least one employee who understands the concept of cross-marketing.
Brazil vs Portugal - five game pack
Add 4 Revs home games of your choice.

 

I think that was a pig I just saw flying by the window. I wonder if, for halftime, they are going to set up a makeshift rink and have Nancy Kerrigan and Lucifer skating in the pairs competition. I hear El Diablo can do a mean triple sow-cow!

 

"Why, why, why, why ......"

 

I'm sure he's not the first revs STH you've closed in 18 years. You ought to make commission Monty!
The revs could really sweeten the pot if they incentivized us financially to get STHs ..yay capitalism

 

This thought probably doesn't really belong in a revs message board but why is Lucifer always portrayed as being ripped?

That bastard should be scrawny and wimpy. Then again, he has an eternity to hit Hell's gym.

 

Yes, there is a high degree of "snobbery"- and when the presentation of the team is decidedly minor league (Kwik Goals, cheerleaders, security guards shushing cheering fans outside the Fort) that attitude gets reinforced. To say nothing of the absolutely sub-par marketing and zero market penetration the Revs have. Hard to change people's minds if you're not, despite all protestations to the contrary, trying.

How do those other teams in the league possibly convince people to come? Is soccer snobbery a purely Boston/New England issue? Hm.

Yes, it's very easy to convince the family crowd- looking for a fun, cheap day out- to come to Revs games. Then those kids grow up and don't come back, because the Revs are for kids- something they did as kids like mini-golf and trips to Chuck E. Cheese. They "age out" to the Sox/Pats/etc. This works out because suburban families having children is an endlessly renewable resource.

Here's my take, the team isn't taken seriously as by ownership and they're just flat out uninterested in trying to convert those existing soccer fans. Those fans tend to ask those pesky questions about commitment and why doesn't the owner come to games and hey, why can't I buy a jersey anywhere but in the stadium? As we know, the staff cannot abide by those questions- we have the thinnest-skinned bunch in the league by a longshot. So better to just focus on the family crowd.

When you go to a Pawtucket Red Sox games, do you question the manager? The strategy decisions? No, of course not. You enjoy the game, you buy concessions, and you go home. This is the tack KSG takes.

Here's how I'd show it- "Hey Bob, see all these fans? See how the stadium is full and people are paying to park? If you put more time and effort into the Revs you can convince at least half of them to come back every week and not just once in a while."

 

Yeah, but I personally don't have season tickets yet because I haven't fully committed to the idea of spending time generally around you.

That has to factor into your equation

 

Well, I don't go to Rhode Island on principle (Go to hell again, Roger Williams!) but I fully question managerial decisions when going to Minor and Independent League baseball.

But, I just made a Roger Williams joke, so it's likely that I'm not normal