I wonder when the Quakes made the decision to do this. Did they decide this before the beginning of the season, or did they decide this as the Quakes started being touted as "the hottest team in MLS"? It would be interesting to know how far ahead did they schedule those friendlies. Did they think, oh we're going to make the playoffs, let's schedule a friendly before then?
BTW I couldn't remember what games were bonus games, so I went into the quakes ticketmaster account to see if there was a history. But i could only see lists of pending games. Is there some way to see this? I know i could search this forum, but if someone knows off the top of their head, what were the bonus games? We didn't get a home open cup game, right?
My guess is that they got tired of having to scramble every fall when it was clear that playoffs were not going to happen (again) and had to come up with a "bonus" games rather than a refund (I know we got a refund one year). So this year just left the playoffs out of the picture and figured if they make it, hey, more revenue. But if we do get that home playoff spot, I'll be happy to sit anywhere.
I'd be fine not having a playoff game included in the cost of season tickets as long as they don't also include 3 friendly games. Just give season ticket holders a window to buy tickets before everyone else. I don't mind going to the friendlies and I usually enjoy them but they certainly aren't equal value with regular season games. In all honesty I probably wouldn't spend money on these games if I didn't have to. Well most likely I would buy a cheap ticket on resale or something. For next year I'm hoping they just get rid of friendlies altogether and give season ticket holders tickets to every open cup game, every league cup game, and maybe a playoff game (or at least a discount). If we don't get 3 games out of those then just credit our accounts.
This year we had two friendlies - monterrey and real valadoid. We had one open cup game against sac republic (we lost our second open cup game to LAFC in LA). Last year we had 3 friendlies - Donovan's Leon, MU, and Cruz Azul. 2017 was the best - we only had one friendly against a german team and 3 open cup games SF deltas, sounders and galaxy. We won all of them and then had a magical win against the Galaxy again at Stanford. That was good times.
A lot of the regular season games haven't been equal value with regular season games. In 2004 (can it be 15 years already?) when our team was atrocious despite having won the cup in 2003, my rep said that he felt bad about charging people money to watch such wretched soccer. I appreciated the honesty, and wish we could all get a refund for last March.
I would like all of 2018 refunded - it was pure torture. My most vivid memory of that season was watching a 20-something guy sitting alone in the row in front of me crying at the end of another loss. I should have given him a hug but I wasn't feeling too good myself.
The "guaranteed playoff ticket" was a Kaval innovation. It became kind of a joke because every year except 2012 it ended up being a refund or applied to the price of next year's tickets. I don't believe it's been included since Avaya opened. In any particular year they could leave one of the bonus tickets unused until the playoffs, but it's not a given. I think one of the bonus tickets was left over to be used for the playoffs in 2017, but a home game never happened, so it ended up being the same refund or renewal credit situation. Playoffs are extra--we're not entitled to "free" tickets. (And even it they did use the bonus tickets, those aren't actually free.)
I am ticked that STHs are being charged more for the playoff game. Those that bought ST in 2018 after a god awful season should not be paying extra in 2019. Go after all the empty seats and charge them a premium.
We DO NOT want to finish 4th or 5th as the winner of that game has to face lafc in their house. https://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/scenarios
After the last weeks results... 6 points = 3% chance of a home playoff game 7 points = 11% 8 points = 30% 9 points = 62% 10 points = 84% 11 points = 95%
I'd rather finish 4th than 6th, cuz we'd get a home game. It's not like we'd be favorites in Minnesota.
San Jose has 6 games left. Away at RSL, NYCFC, Atlanta, and Portland. Home against Philly & Seattle. To get 9 points requires either winning 3 of those games or else winning 2 and drawing 3 others.
We played LAFC better than we did MUFC, for what it's worth. I think MUFC might be our systems toughest matchup.
In what way? If we toss out the two early games against those teams I think we played better in our second game against MUFC compared to our second game against LAFC. In our 3-1 loss against MUFC on July 3rd we we pressing hard for the tie, only to give up that 3rd goal in extra time. The stats for the game: San Jose----------------------MUFC Shots-27-----------------------13 SOG-8----------------------------4 Corners-7-----------------------3 Poss.-64%---------------------36% Pass. Acc.-88%-------------77% Def. Clearances-10-----------31 We were totally bossing this game and had them defending for their lives. We were unlucky not to get a better result. We played well against LAFC, but, it wasn't near the domination we showed at MUFC. San Jose---------------------LAFC Shots-22---------------------18 SOG-7--------------------------11 Corners-9-------------------4 Poss.-53%-------------------47% Pass. Acc-82%-----------81% Def. Clearances-22-----13 This was a much more even game stat-wise, we just couldn't convert any chances.
ODE TO THE QUAKES I've run the numbers and we are the most likely team to end up 8th and out of the playoffs. But if we do miss the playoffs, I want to emphasize right now that it is not a choke or an underachievement. We are absolutely playoff quality, probably even top 4 in the West. We just got into a hole at the start of the season when we were finding our new identity, and now the schedule is getting its revenge. No matter how it plays out, I've been greatly entertained by this version of the Quakes and will salute them at the end of the year.
OTOH, If we lose all our remaining away games I am not going to be content with this season. Even tho I am amazed by Almeyda’s turnaround, overall the team’s progress will be a net zero. We’ll continue to be an irrelevant non-playoff team.
I’m sure any of us on the board are ecstatic about the way this season has gone as opposed to last year. Almeyda at least has given the team style and skill and something to believe it. Comparing this team to Stahre’s squad is like night and day. The only trouble is we keep reverting backwards. One step forward and three back.