When San Jose left for Houston, social media platforms were not as expansive. There was no Twitter and YouTube was in its infancy, so it was difficult to gauge how outraged South Bay fans really were over the prospect of losing the Clash (or were they called Earthquakes by then?). Concerned fans could only voice their displeasure on a site like BigSoccer or on other sports message boards along with the San Jose Mercury News. Hearing and reading about fan displeasure is not as effective as seeing people upset about such things in a video feed or presentation, so I think the timing of when all this stuff went down about Columbus losing the Crew to Austin was most beneficial in rallying support to keep the Crew in Ohio. MLS was seen as complicit in allowing or fostering the move by the new Crew ownership, and it gradually became a public relations nightmare for the league. Contracting Miami and Tampa Bay from the MLS landscape didn't generate a lot of negative publicity from both Florida fan bases. Most fans understood (aside from those supporting the Mutiny and Fusion) that the league did it to try and save itself from going under within a scant 10 years of its existence. Now, MLS is thriving in many locations and the outlook is as rosy as it's ever been. I put myself in the camp that doesn't like the owner of Austin FC and how he went about getting a franchise located there. However, I harbor no ill will toward Austin fans or the local politicians who were equally excited about the prospect of having a visible pro sports team come to their town. How could you not help feeling giddy about the "Wow, of all the places in America to go, they chose us!" factor? So, I say welcome, and good luck to Austin FC. I only hope your owner doesn't try to screw over the fans in Texas like he tried to do to the ones in Columbus. I was sad to see the Rams leave St. Louis when they went back to Los Angeles. While I cannot stand the owner of the team, I still root for them to do well. I like their players and their head coach...too bad he wasn't hired while the team was still in St. Louis. The Rams, despite being so poor prior to their move back to southern California, were drawing more fans than when the Rams left Anaheim to come to St. Louis in the mid-90's.
30,000 deposits for a stadium that won't have nearly that many seats. Prompts more questions than it answers.
What questions does it prompt? Why are they only building a stadium with 18k capacity (possibly up to 23k)? Why wasn't there a local ownership group interested in bidding on a MLS expansion rather than Precourt swooping in? How could people be so wrong about whether Austin would support a MLS team?
Are the deposits fully refundable? What is Austin FC going to do with the thousands of deposits that inevitably won't be fulfilled? And with accrued interest on those deposits for the several years they are held without any prospect of fulfillment? Or, is there an assumption that a percentage of the deposits will not be sought by depositors to be converted into season ticket purchases? If so, what percentage? And on what basis was the percentage calculated? Is the calculation warranted in light of the fact this situation is "unprecedented"? Why weren't deposits simply capped at stadium capacity or some lower number? What sort of con game is being played to make use of other people's money for a period of unspecified years on the possibility and, in some several thousand cases, the certainty that what they bargained for will not be fulfilled? Might it be illegal under Texas law? Under federal law? I'm merely asking questions because it seems curious that Austin FC is selling more product than it knows it can possibly fulfill.
I really hope that changes now. There was at least one other group trying to build a 40k stadium, but it sounded preposterous because Austin's never had a major team, and this fills that gap. The #savethecrew movement inspired hate towards anything austin related for over a year.
What does “seats” mean? Individual game tickets or full season tickets? That number first jive with their stadium proposal as far as capacity.
Atlanta United did the exact same deposit drive. Here is a reference. This was a season ticket drive. Everyone knew that.
If only there were an FAQ conveniently located on Austin FC's website that answered this question. \https://www.austinfc.com/?_ga=2.38477163.911555404.1560455875-48546249.1559934998#questions Perhaps you've heard of a concept called "waiting list", which often require a deposit to be included on. Heck, in some cases, there is an annual fee. Traditionally, conversion rate of deposits has been at over 100%, particularly in instances when the season ticket deposits exceeded the the ST limit as people that placed deposits at the very start asked for more tickets than they made deposits on. So they can build a waiting list prior to their inaugural season and also build up a list of people that they can spam with their marketing. They just had people that are, apparently, interested in soccer pay them $50 to $100 to give them their email and physical addresses. That's marketing gold right there. Again, having a waiting list for season tickets and charging people to be on that waiting list is not uncommon in US sports. Of course, just because the practice is common, it doesn't mean it is legal, but there might be a reason why people haven't made a stink about it before. The extent that you're going to make this sound like a bad thing is.. curious.
Thanks for the link, but why the snark? It's unbecoming, especially for a moderator. You asked what questions I had and I told you in good faith. As for the link to the Austin FAQs, it does not answer all my questions, and nevertheless it appears to confirm, as I suspected, that the Austin FC deposit process is deceptive. Whether or not it is illegal is another question, but if not perhaps it should be. First, although the deposit is supposedly "fully refundable", a refund of the face amount of the deposit two or three years from now does not fully repay present value. There is no mention that interest on the deposit will be repaid, so the supposed fully refundable nature of the deposit is deceptive. It should be clearly explained whether or not the refund of a deposit of money being held for a period of years includes interest. Second, the process is deceptive in not explaining that many more deposits are being accepted than there will be season seats. I did not see the words "waiting list" anywhere in the FAQs. A deposit is for a "Membership," which supposedly "gains you access to all regular season home MLS matches," presumably meaning Austin FC regular season home matches. The effect of a Membership deposit is vaguely explained: it "reserves your place in line to purchase available Memberships." But the number of available Memberships is not given, nor is there any suggestion that there are far fewer (by an order of many thousands) of them than deposits being accepted. This deception is reinforced by the answer to the question, "When do I select my seat location?" The correct answer is "maybe never." But, instead, the FAQ says: "Everyone who places a deposit will receive information regarding the seat selection process as it becomes available. Specific Membership locations are not guaranteed by placing a deposit. The sooner you place a deposit the sooner you will be able to select your seat location." There is no suggestion in this answer that the depositor may not get to select a seat altogether, merely that "Specific Membership locations" are not guaranteed. The implication is that there are sufficient seats to be had, although perhaps not one's preferred seat. The implication that a seat will be available to the depositor is false, since the truth is precisely the opposite. There will, in thousands of instances, be no seat available. This deception is furthered again by the answer to the question, "What happens after I place my deposit? There is no mention of a possible "waiting list." Instead, the FAQ says, "You will receive a confirmation email" and "Leading up to your seat selection, you will receive additional information . . ." The obvious -- and deceptive -- suggestion is that a depositor has purchased an option to obtain season tickets and that the supply will be sufficient to meet his or her demand. The truth, of course, is to the contrary. I repeat: I don't know if this illegal, but it is most certainly deceptive. It is definitely a "bad thing" and there is nothing "curious" about my saying so, let alone simply asking questions about the odd process of taking more deposits than available seats without being fully transparent. Further, the alleged fact that Atlanta United may have engaged in the same deceptive business practices does not make it right.
Seeing as they had deposits for 25,000 season seats in the first 3 hours and 30,000 by 1pm today I think I’m safe. It took Atlanta 6 months to get to 31k season tickets commitments from deposits and 21k became full STH’s before their first match. Of course it’s much higher now.
30k in a day is such an insane number I just really have a hard time believing it. Not saying it isn't true. Just saying I am having a very hard time with it.
I sort of had to back track as well. And there was 25,000 in the first 3 hours... link below Exciting news: I’m starting a new, independent podcast with @michelleS_CBS and @LuisdeLeon15.We had our first interview today with @APrecourt, where he told us that #AustinFC had deposits for 25,000 seats within the first three hours on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/LyJtCRGzrM— Chris Bils (@ChrisBils) June 13, 2019
Although, it would be interesting to see if the number of seats selected is accurate.. They only require one deposit for up to 8 seats, so if you're of that type of persuasion, there isn't anything really stopping you from making a deposit and selecting the maximum without actually planning to get that many, but rather to allow yourself the opportunity to do so if you so desire.
#AustinFC, Austin’s @MLS club, announced that at 1 p.m. CDT today it has secured deposits totaling over 30,000 seats. #GrowTheLegend Read more: https://t.co/dUpXUOKZm9 pic.twitter.com/slwI7DFc8p— Austin FC (@AustinFC) June 13, 2019 #AustinFC sets @MLS record with largest number of season ticket membership deposits secured in a single day. #GrowTheLegend Read more: https://t.co/dUpXUOKZm9 pic.twitter.com/gZYqRuDqv9— Austin FC (@AustinFC) June 12, 2019
Someone pointed out in another thread that they may be using misleading wording on this. Some are assuming they mean 30k season ticket deposits, but that isn't what they say. "secured deposits totaling over 30,000 seats" What does totaling 30k seats mean? This could be fancy wording to make it sound much larger than it is.