Warren Smith is on KVIE PBS right now, discussing the economic recovery. Just said "over 2,000 season tickets sold."
Found the video on the KVIE website: Your point is a good one, SoccerPrime. I was hoping they would have had a higher number of deposits thus far, having to do with the high prices IMO, but still good. Warren also says that's just the people who already support the team, not even trying to market to the general public yet, which I guess is true considering I see no presence at all outside of social media.
There's always going to be at least a little bit of a drop off when you go from deposits to ticket purchase. It's suddenly a large financial hit and less of an impulse buy.
Even if Indy lost 20% of the depositers (from backing out), I'm still very impressed. It is definitely a bar Sac should be shooting for.
Already said this in another thread, but I talked to Brent Sasaki and a few Republic execs a few weeks ago at the US vs Panama viewing. They described the current season ticket push as a "soft launch", and said it would be ramping up heavily in the near future. I would guess they are waiting to finalize a stadium agreement, in case they had to use the nuclear option of playing at Raley Field (my guess as the back up stadium plan)
Besides the stadium, the schedule still being up in the air seems to be the main road block for (I assume) all teams. When we talked to the Hounds the other week they said that's the main stopping them from pushing season tickets. They don't know how many games there's going to be next season, nor how many are home, so they can't price it out.
I wonder if this means OKC in '14 is no sure thing, what with the lawsuits flying between USL & NASL over OKC.
Or, maybe it had more to do with Phoenix: USL PRO News Release Saturday, November 2, 2013 TAMPA, Fla. -- Earlier this week, the ownership rights for USL PRO in Phoenix held by BDR Sports were formally terminated due to the entity’s failure to meet its franchise obligations. However contrary to published reports, Phoenix FC Wolves will continue to participate in USL PRO in 2014 under new ownership. A public announcement of the ownership group and other details related to the team will be made later this month.
It's starting to get off topic but yeah I'm sure Phoenix, whatever is going on with OKC, and figuring out which MLS owned teams are going to be ready in 2014 is slowing everything down. Still the Hounds said the schedule is supposed to be out in December, so it shouldn't be too much longer.
IMO, the 2014 season is going to have Sac as the only addition. There's just not enough time for a new team to start from scratch at this point. There may be more MLS reserve team play, only guessing though. I forsee Phoenix not playing in 2014, but returning in '15, owned and operated by an MLS club. I think 2015 is going to be a big year for USL, with a bunch of MLS owned clubs begining play. And in 2018, USL loses a team when Sacramento moves up to the MLS ;-)
I thought OKC was joining next year as well? And there's plenty of time to put together a team; essentially, Sacramento will put together a team in the next few months. You're right in that 2015 will be a watershed year for the league. It will likely lose Orlando that year, but what happens with MLS affiliation should make it very interesting and increase the level of play in the league overnight, with MLS reserves flooding the league. The MLS reserve league will be gone with this transition, right?
The 2014 season starts in 5 months. I can't imagine the behind the scenes work that has gone on for Sac Republic so far. If a new team hasn't even started at this point, I can't see them ready for '14. OKC is on hold, as far as I know. Battling with the NASLs expansion plans. They haven't ID'd a coach, done any marketing, no tryouts, and no stadium as far as I know.
It could be easy to do if a MLS team decides to create an affiliate. Roster full of guys who can start playing immediately, an assistant coach they can peel off, plenty of additional players and coaches. A venue might be the big limiting factor at this point, but something could be put together fairly quikly. Afterall, we're still having try outs, looking for sponsors, and have yet to have a "hard launch," and the league starts up in less than 5 months. I must say I'm kind of hoping there are minnows in the league next year and we compete for the championship, despite it being our first year. With a coach like Preki and the talent available to us and the state of teams around the league, we are in pretty good standing already!
Personally the roster and coaching staff are the least of a start-ups problems. A proper venue and a engaged ownership driving a marketing campaign is key, and the greatest thing to suffer when they try to "rush it".
It's been several years since I've lived in OKC, but a proper venue may be a big problem. The NASL team won the rights to play in the only large enough stadium in the city, and they also own the PDL team that is there currently (not sure where they play). That leaves suburban high school football stadiums, all with running tracks to limit the playing surface.
http://indyeleven.com/season-tickets-2014/ $25 deposits (thats what they have 7,000 of) and season ticket prices start at $135.
Literally half the price of ours.. And they've triple the amount of deposits.. Hey Sacramento Republic FC, are you listening?