...the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. Mark Twain never actually said that but it's still at least partially true. People in the city are used to the weather, that seems to be the least of the Deltas problems. Clearly Brian Helmick is going to keep plowing on but it's a massive task ahead.
Speaking as a native to the area, don't be so sure. There's been too much happy talk around this team, and too little deference to the doubts expressed by those who know SF best.
And when you look at the promotions, what is Miami FC really spending on any of these nights? Look at the list of giveaways, there's nothing there that is going to break the bank. They gave away schedule magnets to the fans last night...like virtually every other team in America at its home opener. Concerts or special appearances are more expensive, but they only had a couple of those last year.
You have a point, but if you have to spend $99 to make 100 it is not good business. To have promotions once in a while is normal in minor league sports but the purpose should be long time gains not just to get a people in the stands for a one off. Miami FC has special promotions for every single home game. 8 500 in the stands for Indy is totally different business wise from the same number at Miami FC. At the same time Miami is a special case, Ricardo Silva obviously don't mind throwing money at them with no chance of getting any short time return. What he hopes to gain is a matter for an other discussion. My original point was that Miamis turnaround with attendance during last season should not be used as an example for SF Deltas and others to follow. The goals of the owners are fundamentally different.
No spending $99 to earn $100 is good business as you are making a profit. A lot of businesses run on tight margins. Such a tight margin means they won't have a lot of extra cash to invest back into the company, but every dollar you make is another dollar you can use to grow your business. When it comes to new businesses you rarely make profits the first few years, I believe Indy Eleven said they didn't expect any until year 5. So any course you can take to move the needle closer to breaking even is a good thing. In the early years of a team the goal isn't to turn profits, the goal is to build a fan base. Every fan you can get into the game with a promotion is a chance to get them emotionally involved with the team. Hopefully by year 5 you do not have to rely on gimmicks to keep people coming back. The key is to get them into the game without undermining the value of the tickets. So in my opinion if they are getting 8k with only promotions without significant amount of free or heavily discounted tickets they are heading down the right path for future stability.
This. Any sports fan who has spent time in SF could have told you how this one will go. Right now, the Deltas have to pray that the Giants continue to utterly suck this season, but even at that the casual fan ain't gonna schlep out to Kezar and halfway freeze to death. If Deltas live out the season (a big if in my opinion), look for a venue change out of Kezar for the next season, possibly to Balboa Park if they want to stay in The City, or over into the East Bay with a probable name/identity change. Kezar is a great old dump, and it brings back many fond memories in my old, dark 49er fan heart, but it's isolation from BART and MUNI Metro pretty much dooms it as a pro footy venue.
You know I was going to look up Kezar on google maps to see where it is and how close it is to BART or MUNI. I spent 11 months in SF for work, supposed to be 3 weeks but it kept getting pushed further and further out. Because I lived in the Hyatt at the Embarcadero I basically took my car out of the garage every 14 days. Usually to go to a Target or Wal-Mart in the East Bay, sometimes I'd drive down to San Jose for a Sharks game. Anyways, BART and MUNI were my sole means of transportation. From Embarcadero station you can be at Oakland airport in 15 mins, SFO in 30-35 mins. The public transportation was excellent. However vast parts of the city I never looked at or visited, because they were inaccessible from BART or MUNI. Sadly NASL is not cheap, unless this turns around quick it will go from a problem, to a mushrooming problem, to a mushroom cloud problem. Paying guys enough to live in SF, travel, rent, insurance is going to be a big bill. Crowds of under 2000 with freebee's thrown in are not going to cut it. I worry about the Delta's getting to the half-way point of the season, let alone next year.
It's amazing to me you're not running a team yet. If advertising or a promotion doesn't return significantly more than one percent return on investment, no,it's not good business.
Any business, especially in minor league soccer, that is making a profit is doing good business. Doing good business does not mean they are doing great business.
Code: Team Season Average(2016) Weekly Total Miami FC 9515(5426) N/A Indy Eleven 9064(8421) N/A New York Cosmos 6274(3775) N/A Carolina Railhawks 5175(5114) 4293 Puerto Rico FC 4812(3801) N/A Jacksonville Armada 3492(3499) 3512 FC Edmonton 3269(2059) N/A San Francisco Deltas 2936 N/A Season Average (Mean-Median) Week Average NASL 2017 5079-4293 3902 NASL 2016 4713-4412 Difference 366 -119 NASL Spring2017 5079 NASL Spring2016 5071 Difference 8 League Total 2017 60954(12 games) League Total 2016 862532(183 games)
That is not Indy's lowest ever, but for them on a Saturday, it's troubling. And enough about the Cosmos and location and Brooklyn and blah blah blah blah
Code: Team Season Average(2016) Weekly Total Indy Eleven 8094(8421) 7124 Miami FC 7765(5426) 6015 Carolina Railhawks 5175(5114) N/A New York Cosmos 4939(3775) 3605 Puerto Rico FC 4812(3801) N/A Jacksonville Armada 3492(3499) N/A FC Edmonton 3425(2059) 3582 San Francisco Deltas 2936 N/A Season Average (Mean-Median) Week Average NASL 2017 5080-4293 5081 NASL 2016 4713-4412 Difference 367 -119 NASL Spring2017 5080 NASL Spring2016 5071 Difference 9 League Total 2017 81280(16 games) League Total 2016 862532(183 games)
- Cosmos are forever stuck at 3,500 to 5,500 number. - impressive number in Edmonton actually. Snowing at game time and Oilers huge playoff game. - Indy, meh...they'll always pull a good number, this wasn't their best showing. - Miami continues to impress, but the stadium is just so massive compared to its 6k-10k crowds. I am guessing they are getting incredible rent on that place, if that is the case, then it's all good...more revenue for the club. Would be nice to see them host an USOC match vs Orlando or Atlanta.
Owner made a huge gift to the school and got his name on the stadium, so maybe that was part of the deal.
Yeah I heard that, obviously details beyond that are slim...but he's obviously tapped a bit into the FIU market (who know's what number that is)...but with such a large donation, a rent discount is almost guaranteed. I mean $1.3 million is some decent dough. It's nice to see Miami doing well, ironically they seem to be helping with "propping" up NASL, at least for now.
Do you have the end of the year 2015 average (kenn.com probably has it) That was the high mark for NASL correct.
Everyone was probably up in Westfield watching UK & Notre Dame playing a spring game. Weather sucked - was cold and very windy in Indy this past weekend - I know I was there watching soccer.
Problems are rarely solved over night. Moving into the city will probably help them to grow their attendance over time, but it was never going to be an instant fix.