Union Chief of Operations: "We have sold 8,000 season tickets, and will be in Chester by 3rd Game"

alky13 · 13 Oct 2009, 01:14 AM

I officially won the prize for longest title. Anyway....

So for all the fake numbers posted around the website, The Chief of Football operations for the Philadelphia Union has stated that the club has sold 8,000 season tickets and will be capping at the 12,000. In an apearance on the Fox Football Fone-In he stated that the club was actually ahead of the curve compared to Toronto's inaugural year.

He also stated that Nowak was the clubs first, second and third choice as manager. He stated that the clubs intentions were not to re-create any other MLS club but to provide a marketable brand name rooted in on field play, here and internationally.

Now their have been reports of the Union selling over 10,000 but these are not true. But they are very much on pace to have a Toronto-like debut. He stated that the club will most like be playing at Union Field by the 2nd or 3rd game.

Everything looks good!

bunge · 13 Oct 2009, 02:07 AM

Perfect. Keep up the good work.

Z010 Union · 13 Oct 2009, 09:05 AM

He was also responsible for the 10,000 number in local papers - they keep on changing the number it's been 7-10k for the last month.

superdave · 13 Oct 2009, 09:35 AM

Could one number be full season tickets, and the other season ticket equivalents?

metros11 · 13 Oct 2009, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z010 Union

He was also responsible for the 10,000 number in local papers - they keep on changing the number it's been 7-10k for the last month.

Good old Nick.

TomEaton · 13 Oct 2009, 10:17 AM

On the show last night he said the 8,000 number was full season tickets. I don't know if they're also selling partial plans or not, but that could explain the different numbers.

chapka · 13 Oct 2009, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superdave

Could one number be full season tickets, and the other season ticket equivalents?

No; only full seasons are on sale so far.

From what I can tell, the 10,000 number included people who put down $50 or $100 season ticket deposits when the economy was better but didn't or couldn't follow through. They are still trying to get those people signed on, but they are no longer counting them in their season ticket numbers.

The 7,000 reported earlier and the 8,000 reported this week are fully paid up or have already started making payments on the installment plan. That likely puts Philadelphia third or fourth in the league in season tickets already, with six months to go and not a single player announced.

rocker · 13 Oct 2009, 10:22 AM

yup... TFC wasn't this high in October of 2006. i remember TFC even had discount plans that were available until Christmas that year... I think they went above 10000 in the new year, but it was Becksy's signing that woke people up and then sales went through the roof.

chapka · 13 Oct 2009, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocker

yup... TFC wasn't this high in October of 2006. i remember TFC even had discount plans that were available until Christmas that year... I think they went above 10000 in the new year, but it was Becksy's signing that woke people up and then sales went through the roof.

That's right. Toronto was reportedly somewhere between 7,000 and 7,500 tickets in early January of 2007, when the Beckham signing was announced. They sold 2,600 packages in less than a week after the announcement to pass 10,000.

So Philly is already well ahead of Toronto's pace. Now we just have to hope that Samuel Eto'o signs with FC Dallas during the winter transfer window.

CACuzcatlan · 13 Oct 2009, 12:10 PM

Cap at 12k? Seems low. Hopefully they sell up to 15 or 16k with full season equivalents. We've seen how bad weather and losing can affect attendance in MLS. I'd hate to see Philly playing to 12k crowds in the rain because the FO decided to cap season tickets. It would also negatively affect people on the waiting list who see the game on TV with a lot of empty seats while they are forced to wait until next season to get tickets.