Interesting comment on DC United attendance by Arena [Archive]

Andy_B

10 Feb 2004, 02:51 PM

From Soccer America

"If we expect too much too soon, we're making a mistake. He happens to be with
the team that has been arguably the weakest team in MLS the last four years and
a team that probably hasn't done well in terms of paid attendance either, and
there's a lot of pressure on them. I'm just hopeful they keep in mind that this
kid is going to need time, and to be patient, even though they are not in the
best situation to be patient."
-- Bruce Arena, referring to Freddy Adu, who’s been training informally with the
U.S. national team in Florida. (The Washington Post)
=====================================

I have never before associated DC United as a team who pumps up their attendance with freebees. Perhaps I need to rethink this.

Andy

da_cfo

10 Feb 2004, 03:03 PM

Originally posted by Andy_B

I have never before associated DC United as a team who pumps up their attendance with freebees. Perhaps I need to rethink this.

Almost ALL MLS teams offer group deals to youth teams at around $5 a ticket.

At least MLS didn't have to stoop to what WUSA did: gave away thousands of tickets to create phantom sell outs, such as the notorious 2001 regular season finale on Long Island (NY Power vs San Jose: announced crowd of over 9000 even though the stands were 2/3 empty as seen on FOX Sports Net Bay Area.)

monster

10 Feb 2004, 03:12 PM

Originally posted by Andy_B
From Soccer America

"If we expect too much too soon, we're making a mistake. He happens to be with
the team that has been arguably the weakest team in MLS the last four years and
a team that probably hasn't done well in terms of paid attendance either, and
there's a lot of pressure on them. I'm just hopeful they keep in mind that this
kid is going to need time, and to be patient, even though they are not in the
best situation to be patient."
-- Bruce Arena, referring to Freddy Adu, who’s been training informally with the
U.S. national team in Florida. (The Washington Post)
=====================================

I have never before associated DC United as a team who pumps up their attendance with freebees. Perhaps I need to rethink this.

Andy

I don't think its pumping up with freebies so much as a 2,000 per-game drop since 1999. And a 1,000 per-game drop from 2002 to 2003.

Of course, they weren't much above the 2003 level in 1998 and the 2000 and 2001 totals were slightly skewed by qualifiers at RFK.

But i think he's just saying other teams have probably grown their fan base better than DC. Even as a DC fan, I wouldn't disagree completely.

Detective40oz

10 Feb 2004, 03:19 PM

I think too much is being read into that sentence. To me it reads that Bruce is just saying DC United's attendance has dropped steadily over the past 4 years which is an obvious statement. The team has been pretty much crap the past 4 years and it has had a negative impact on the box office. DCU is probably then feeling pressure to play Adu to bring back the fans to the previous levels.

superdave

10 Feb 2004, 04:05 PM

Originally posted by da_cfo
I really, really. really hate women.

Thanks for bringing up that complete irrelvancy, Nedra.

uniteo

10 Feb 2004, 04:08 PM

Originally posted by da_cfo
Almost ALL MLS teams offer group deals to youth teams at around $5 a ticket.

Not DCU, their youth soccer deals are still about $15/ticket

Fanaddict

10 Feb 2004, 04:51 PM

The three biggest padders of attendance figures are DC, columbus and Ny,. When you watch home games from those venues and they have a lot of empty seats in prime areas and they still announce 20,000+ you have to wonder. I know they count tickets distributed not in the seats but there are still too many empty seats to justify the crowd figures.

monster

10 Feb 2004, 08:32 PM

Originally posted by Fanaddict
The three biggest padders of attendance figures are DC, columbus and Ny,. When you watch home games from those venues and they have a lot of empty seats in prime areas and they still announce 20,000+ you have to wonder. I know they count tickets distributed not in the seats but there are still too many empty seats to justify the crowd figures.

DC has three attendances of 20K plus. I was at two of them and I thought the crowds were conservative, not padded.

If DC's padding, they're doing a crappy job of itg given that last year they averaged 15,500.

Columbus, IIRC, has standing areas where people like to hang out.

soccertim

11 Feb 2004, 01:05 PM

Originally posted by da_cfo
Almost ALL MLS teams offer group deals to youth teams at around $5 a ticket.

The Revs charge $12 for normally $16 tickets for youth leagues.

Etienne_72772

11 Feb 2004, 02:17 PM

Originally posted by Andy_B
From Soccer America

"If we expect too much too soon, we're making a mistake. He happens to be with
the team that has been arguably the weakest team in MLS the last four years and
a team that probably hasn't done well in terms of paid attendance either, and
there's a lot of pressure on them. I'm just hopeful they keep in mind that this
kid is going to need time, and to be patient, even though they are not in the
best situation to be patient."
-- Bruce Arena, referring to Freddy Adu, who’s been training informally with the
U.S. national team in Florida. (The Washington Post)
=====================================

I have never before associated DC United as a team who pumps up their attendance with freebees. Perhaps I need to rethink this.

Andy

I think you are misreading this. I think he doesn't actually know what the attendance figures are, and assumes, while making the statement, that the attendance cannot be as good as it was during the "dynasty." And he's right, attendance last year wasn't as good as when DC was number one. I don't think it has anything to do with how many freebies DC is giving out.

soyinocente

11 Feb 2004, 11:39 PM

Originally posted by da_cfo
Almost ALL MLS teams offer group deals to youth teams at around $5 a ticket.

Not so. DCU offers youth clubs tickets at $17 for sideline seats. That is a $5 discount (I'm a youth club rep). 2 or 3 years ago, they used to offer vouchers worth $5 that you could only get at one local tournament (McSoccerfest), but I believe they've stopped that. The fact that 2 of their staffers won MLS awards for ticket SALES implies that DCU is not one of the ALL MLS teams.

As an 8 year season tix holder, I do not think that DCU pads attendance either, judging by my eyeballing the crowds from 100+ games, the reported attendance usually jives with what the stands look like. I can't say that TV doesn't make it look padded (I'm at the games), but you must remember that the majority of season tickets are on the shady side (behind the camera).

aleaguer

12 Feb 2004, 01:00 AM

Originally posted by da_cfo
Almost ALL MLS teams offer group deals to youth teams at around $5 a ticket.

How does it feel to be wrong all the time?

da_cfo

12 Feb 2004, 08:37 AM

Originally posted by aleaguer
How does it feel to be wrong all the time?

"Aleaguer" appears to be a totally clueless Title IX product (judging from her earlier attack on me for a comment I made about Comcast bailing out of WUSA in May 2001).

I have it on good authority, with multiple sources, telling me that MLS negotiates deals with youth clubs for less than $5 per ticket.

No, these deals are NOT advertised by MLS and MLS doesn't want too many people to know about them.

monster

12 Feb 2004, 08:43 AM

Originally posted by da_cfo
"Aleaguer" appears to be a totally clueless Title IX product (judging from her earlier attack on me for a comment I made about Comcast bailing out of WUSA in May 2001).

I have it on good authority, with multiple sources, telling me that MLS negotiates deals with youth clubs for less than $5 per ticket.

No, these deals are NOT advertised by MLS and MLS doesn't want too many people to know about them.

How is that different from the Baltimore Orioles' "Junior Oriole Dugout Club" where kids get ten tickets for $10?

How is this different than getting a pair of Washington Capitals tickets for ten fillups at a gas station?

How is this different from going to a kiosk in London and getting discounted tickets to a show?

People discount tickets. Whether they publicly advertise it or not is no big deal. Get over it.

da_cfo

12 Feb 2004, 09:03 AM

I said that MLS negotiates deals with youth clubs for less than $5 per ticket.

Half dozen people replied telling me I was wrong. One took a shot at me by saying that I am wrong "all the time".

I had to defend my statement because my statement was correct.

Originally posted by monster
How is that different from the Baltimore Orioles' "Junior Oriole Dugout Club" where kids get ten tickets for $10?

How is this different than getting a pair of Washington Capitals tickets for ten fillups at a gas station?

How is this different from going to a kiosk in London and getting discounted tickets to a show?

People discount tickets. Whether they publicly advertise it or not is no big deal. Get over it.

Sachin

12 Feb 2004, 09:07 AM

Originally posted by da_cfo
I said that MLS negotiates deals with youth clubs for less than $5 per ticket.

Half dozen people replied telling me I was wrong. One took a shot at me by saying that I am wrong "all the time".

I had to defend my statement because my statement was correct.

But in this case you're not correct. We have evidence from people who do bring youth groups to United games that prices are nowhere near $5.

It would have to be a massive ticket buy - on the order of 10,000+, before any volume discount would drive prices that low. The fixed costs of running RFK are just too high.

Sachin

rocketeer22

12 Feb 2004, 09:51 AM

Originally posted by Sachin
But in this case you're not correct. We have evidence from people who do bring youth groups to United games that prices are nowhere near $5.

It would have to be a massive ticket buy - on the order of 10,000+, before any volume discount would drive prices that low. The fixed costs of running RFK are just too high.

Sachin

I don't know if it is the case here. But sometimes--as fundraisers--certain organizations will distribute (sell) the tickets for the professional team. As part of the deal they retain a portion of the sale.

My church has done this sort of thing with the Capitals before.

DoorKnob

12 Feb 2004, 10:06 AM

soyinocente

12 Feb 2004, 10:41 AM

Originally posted by da_cfo
I have it on good authority, with multiple sources, telling me that MLS negotiates deals with youth clubs for less than $5 per ticket.

No, these deals are NOT advertised by MLS and MLS doesn't want too many people to know about them.

That may well be a true statement for MLS in general - I don't know. However, in the specific case of DCU, I have been working with them for 5 years as a youth club rep and have brought over 1000 kids to games. They give me free stuff over time (shirts, balls, hats, posters, etc.) but I only know of one case of giving free tickets (other than rewards like free mezzanine seats after bringing 4 groups to games) in my 5 years. In fact, they ask you to buy the flex plan vouchers (which the lowest price is $60 for 6 youth or $10 each) for raffles and fundraisers.

They are in business to SELL seats and they do a pretty good job, especially considering the product on the field the past 4 years. Getting $5 vouchers or the like just doesn't happen at DCU like you claim, unless my club is being treated differently than other youth clubs in the area.