Try this way...

[Zeppelin]

A new tv talk show usually pays anyone who wants to come to the studio to become studio audiences until it gets popular so, why don't soccer do the same, pay anyone who wants to come to the stadium until they can't live without it, than starts to charge them. I think this is the most extreme thing that we should try to bring soccer to the highest possible level of popularity in the States. What do think ?

[TxFan]

Listen, i've been saying for years, if mls gave away say 1000 tickets a game (tickets they probably won't sell in many of the huge stadiums they have teams in) they would easily make money off of parking/concessions etc that they wouldn't have if those seats were empty.

[orbie]

Listen, i've been saying for years, if mls gave away say 1000 tickets a game (tickets they probably won't sell in many of the huge stadiums they have teams in) they would easily make money off of parking/concessions etc that they wouldn't have if those seats were empty.

agreed. I have talked to several people that have wanted to attend a MLS game, but have never gotten around to it. If they had a free ticket they just might make the time and get hooked like myself.

[leg_breaker]

So if a game that would otherwise have sold 15,000 tickets sells no tickets, will they make up the cost of those 15,000 tickets in concessions, parking etc?

[Zeppelin]

So if a game that would otherwise have sold 15,000 tickets sells no tickets, will they make up the cost of those 15,000 tickets in concessions, parking etc?

think of it as a promotion expenses .... the money will come back easily later on.

[scarshins]

It should be retroactive too. MLS owes me a ton of money.

[JRstriker12]

A new tv talk show usually pays anyone who wants to come to the studio to become studio audiences until it gets popular so, why don't soccer do the same, pay anyone who wants to come to the stadium until they can't live without it, than starts to charge them. I think this is the most extreme thing that we should try to bring soccer to the highest possible level of popularity in the States. What do think ?

I can imagine the headlines that would create around the world.

"Lack of Attendance Forces MLS to Pay Fans to Show Up"
"US Soccer Falls to New Low - Has to Pay Fans to Attend"

Then Jay Leno could do his Jay-Walking bit:

Jay: Could I pay you to sit down and watch a MLS soccer game?
Man on the Street: Heck No!

Yeah - That's great marketing.

Also - giving a way a few tickets is not a bad idea, but making money back off of parking and food sales is going to be very difficult when most MLS clubs don't own thier own stadiums, have to split food sales costs, and may not even receive money from parking.

I'd give away tickets as a promotion, but would count on it generating much income.

Besides, if you could give away tickets and make money off the food and parking sales instead, don't you think most businesses would do that if is guranteed a full-house every night? My bet is that teams still manage to generate more money from ticket sales and the food and parking is just cream on top of that.

[ossieend]

I like the idea of giving away free tickets, but it has to be done subtly, so it doesn't look like the league is desparate and also not to P.O. fans who've bought tickets. How about giving tickets away as easily won prizes on local radio and local papers? Maybe special packs of the league sponsors' products could have tokens which give free admission to games eg. a bottle or can of Sierra Mist would have admit three people to any MLS game, printed inside the cap or under the ring pull.

[helmzgk]

A new tv talk show usually pays anyone who wants to come to the studio to become studio audiences until it gets popular so, why don't soccer do the same, pay anyone who wants to come to the stadium until they can't live without it, than starts to charge them. I think this is the most extreme thing that we should try to bring soccer to the highest possible level of popularity in the States. What do think ?

That's really bad Public relations. First, you sucker them in with free tickets, and as soon as their hooked (hooked on the game or hooked on the tickets?), you start charging them, effectively hitting them right in the pocket books. Your fans will suddenly feel, well, suckered. The thing you need to watch out for is, are they hooked on the game or hooked on the free tickets. I think many would be hooked on the free tickets, will leave as soon as you charge for tickets, and you'd be back at square one if you tried to pull off this stunt.

Giving away tickets to fill up a stadium is not a solution either. Many people will just call in, saying they don't want to go to the game, but might think otherwise with a free ticket. Contests, like Section 131 at the HDC gets free tickets to next weeks game if Albright scores, or radio contests, school contests, club soccer contests, etc, would work, and I would imagine they would work very well for the teams in terms of interest, but as said before, we need more SSS's to make this actually pay any dividends.

Right now the best solutions is marketing. Get exposure out to the people, get them interested in the game, start contests as mentioned above, etc. MLS is on the right track, and until there's some serious decline in the league in attendance and quality, they should not do anything drastic.

[TxFan]

When I suggested free tickets, I didn't think of this as a way to hook most people in. Sure some will become fans, but for most the free tickets will provide the only incentive to attend.

My point was that free tickets are a way to increase REVENUE. You get money for parking/concessions from those extra fans who wouldn't even be there that night...

[TxFan]

Also, i don't think that the effect of removing a freebie will result in this massive backlash against soccer. I used to be able to listen to any baseball games for free on mlb.com... now they charge for the entire season. while i miss the free games, i don't think that i feel like i've been cheated by baseball nor am i furious against them. I just understand that they are trying to take care of a revenue stream.

[JRstriker12]

When I suggested free tickets, I didn't think of this as a way to hook most people in. Sure some will become fans, but for most the free tickets will provide the only incentive to attend.

My point was that free tickets are a way to increase REVENUE. You get money for parking/concessions from those extra fans who wouldn't even be there that night...

I doubt giving away tickets would affect revenues that much as many MLS teams don't have thier own stadium and don't get much money from parking and have to split concession money.

Also, how many tickets are we talking about giving away here? A few hundred probably will not bring in that much money. Give away a few thousand and you are defintely loosing out on ticket sales.

As I said before: If you could give away tickets and make money off the food and parking sales instead, don't you think most teams would do that if is guranteed a full-house every night? My bet is that teams still manage to generate more money from ticket sales and the food and parking is just cream on top of that.

[TxFan]

As I said before: If you could give away tickets and make money off the food and parking sales instead, don't you think most teams would do that if is guranteed a full-house every night? My bet is that teams still manage to generate more money from ticket sales and the food and parking is just cream on top of that.

I don't know why teams would not do this... there was a wall street journal article about the chicago white sox (from early in last season) and they talked about this very idea. in the case of the white sox, they get most of the money from parking and concessions (correct me if i'm wrong)... there really wasn't a reason given for why the team didn't do this.

i know that parking at us cellular field is $20 a car.

[TxFan]

i guess one possible explanation for the lack of free tickets as discussed here is to maintain the artificial scarcity of mls tickets. you start handing out tickets, then fans are less willing to purchase their own. if ticket revenue is an overwhelming part of total revenue, this could totally create a negative effect...

you may be right, i just don't have the figures either way...

[yellowtruck61]

last year i was at a NASCAR function, i have since seen the error in my ways, and saw an FC DALLAS booth and went up and talked to the guy there and he asks me if i want some tickets to a game, of course i say yeah and i get 5 free tickets, my dad, and 3 of his friends go up and get 5 more each. Because of this one guy i got back into soccer and began playing again, i never realized how much i missed the game. So, i think it might depend on each team and their given market as to what they should do to boost interest, in my case all i needed was a couple of free tickets and now i'm a season ticket holder!