Yeah. They already took my money. Good luck taking my seats. I think this is all about a future press release where they announce that their STMs have committed for life or something really disingenuous like that.
Every time I read about Sporting Blue for Life, I'm glad I jumped off the season ticket train. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like Sporting Club's focus has taken a hard turn in the "Let's milk the hell out of this while we can" direction over the last couple of years. I could've sworn I was supporting a soccer team, not a Lifestyle Brand.
What exactly is it? I was thinking that with the recent clearing in availability, I could probably snag my own MS season pass for next year. But if availability is opening because SKC are doing something stupid? Uh.
It's basically an automatic renewal program. You have to opt in and then any changes to terms of service or prices are communicated to you electronically. If you are sure you are always going to renew then it might be great, but if you are a year to year kind of guy then maybe not. I wouldn't have said anything about it if I hadn't seen something on twitter about how it was mandatory, although I don't see how they could possibly enforce that after the fact.
All it means is that the default outcome every year going forward is renewal, rather than cancellation. In other words, if you do nothing, you will keep your seats (and keep paying for them) instead of losing them. If you decide to cancel, you just have to notify your rep by a certain date.
I honestly don't understand what a lot of the fuss is about. It's essentially auto-withdrawl. It doesn't even commit you to future seasons; you can still cancel at any time, it is literally just setting up your account so you don't have to give them the same payment info every single year. People just choose to look at that a lot of different ways. That being said, if they really are threatening to cancel accounts for people who refuse to sign, that's not good.
I'd rather it not "if I do nothing I keep my seats". I'd rather be if I do nothing I lose my seats. Season tickets should be an opt-in thing, not opt-out which is what the Sporting Blue for Life is. On a side note my friends that hadn't signed got an email saying that they don't have to sign this year but will have to next year (presumably because of how poorly they rolled this out as being a mandatory thing).
i hope they change course by the time renewals start rolling around. then again, that seems to be getting sooner and sooner, so i'm surprised they aren't already starting the 2018 push. i'll have to pass on my thoughts to my rep about this and see what she says, since i haven't received that email or anything about it being mandatory. i'm hoping it's one rep going off-message and being too aggressive.
But why? Why is it expected that Netflix or T-Mobile or Dollar Shave Club or State Farm continues service by default but Sporting Kansas City tickets don't? STMs have something ridiculous like a 95% renewal rate; the standard certainly seems to be that people will renew. How much sense does it make to have Account Managers chasing 14,000 STMs down over the phone every single year when you can radically cut that down simply by standardizing what is most likely to happen anyway? I mean, yeah, a couple grand is a fairly big commitment each year, but it's no bigger than your phone plan, and you and I and your Account Manager already know you're probably going to sign-on for another season, so... I just don't get why it's a big deal, even a little bit, even at all.
I don't think it was 95% this year. Not when people on the waiting list for less than a year are bow season ticket holders. This should be entirely optional.
Because most of those other ones don't have the cost associated with it that season tickets do. And the only one close is pretty much something that is required to have a motor vehicle or a home. If it's that much of a financial commitment that isn't required purchasing for any reason I shouldn't have to opt-out of it. And I say this as someone who did sign it. It's not something that I'm a fan of being mandatory though, especially since there is pretty much no precident for it being done in pro sports. And considering the fact that they ended up making it optional this year tells me they got quite a bit of negative feedback about it.
Probably not. Yeah, probably so. But it's just strange to me to see such vitriolic reactions (mostly things I've seen on Twitter, not on here) to a change that is functionally irrelevant. Sporting For Life literally changes nothing about wanting to maintain your season tickets or not wanting to maintain your season tickets. All it changes is the default.
It's a pretty big default change. I've gotten two emails inviting me to sign this thing. The customer service aspect has been pretty stellar until now. They need to slow their roll on this. Good points. I pay Sporting in a lump sum or in 7 installments. It's not a bill I pay every month like AT&T or my utilities. If I paid them every month, it would make more sense.
I guess I just don't agree. Changing the default in a non-obligation situation is literally irrelevant. If you are a [year] STM and want to be a [year + 1] STM, you will be a [year + 1] STM. If you are a [year] STM and don't want to be a [year + 1] STM, you won't be a [year + 1] STM. Changing the default has zero effect on that. And again, we're talking about changing it to the default that the majority of people elect to choose in the first place.
Sorry changing the default option to me is a pretty big change. Just because the end result doesn't change for the majority doesn't mean that the process hasn't changed.
Okay, that's fine. Obviously we don't all think about this the same way and it bothers some people. As far as Sporting Club is concerned, they absolutely need to take these concerns into consideration, and I hope they do. Pissing off fans isn't a good business strategy. But seriously... Sporting KC: We've automatically renewed your season tickets! STMs: How dare you assume that I want to spend money on something I already planned to spend my money on!
Now you're just being obtuse. It's a pretty big sum of money that you are automatically signing up to hand over. Most people are competent enough to log in to their accounts and spend 5 minutes renewing. I never even talked to my rep about renewing.
And that I think is the point for me. While I may be renewing, I'd rather be the one doing it (because of the amount of money I'm spending) not have the team force me to opt-out of it. It's the control over my money and my choice with it that I want to retain.
Honestly not trying to be obtuse here, that's just the way I look at it. Either way gets you to the exact same spot, the only thing that is different is the perception of how you are getting there. And I think that's ultimately what it boils down to: the illusion of control.
I suspect that SKC's administrative folks thought that "Sporting Member for Life" would be a great marketing campaign, and expected almost everyone to have the response that vividox and I are expressing--basically, a shrug of the shoulders. However, since many people seem to be reacting so negatively, they probably need to rethink the whole thing.
the issue wasn't the plan as a whole, the issue that really upset people was not making it clear that it was mandatory that you become 'for life.'
couple things on the stadium. First a little bit about expansion, although I still say it's a pipe dream. http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mls/sporting-kc/article137046573.html Secondly, prices are dropping on some food items. http://www.sportingkc.com/post/2017...ood-and-beverage-items-childrens-mercy-park-0