By now, most of y'all have seen what FCD is doing with the pricing for the beer garden and sections 105-107 in 2016. They haven't announced what they're doing in other sections, but having paid the insanely low $6 per game for my beer garden season ticket in 2014 and 2015, that hike to $18 a game in 2016 and 2017 is really gonna be a crotchshot... assuming I renew. If I don't, FCD thinks that somebody else will pay $25 a game for that seat. Oh yeah, they're turning some of the free parking into paid parking. Vent about it here.
Let's hope they make the parking near the tailgate area part of the paid parking to kill off all those pesky supporters for good.
I'm a 106er and if there are no renewal discounts it pretty much doubles the price I'm paying. Plus there is no mention about being able to exchange tickets to select games or whether you get the $20 per game dining credit like in the past. Expected some increase but that's pretty insulting. That bold ask coupled with continued mediocrity means I doubt I sign up again.
My ticket rep explicitly said no exchange dates. They say the Flash Tickets internal market will replace exchange dates. Ugh. Dreading seeing the prices when they get to my section.
Yeah, I thought that was an especially amusing part of the e-mail. You can almost imagine how that went down with the FCD braintrust: "Instead of quickly and easily exchanging a ticket for a ticket to a future game for free, let's make people sell that ticket! And let's take a cut of that ticket sale!"
A couple of years ago every game was an exchange date, subject to availability, which meant every game was an exchange date. It's one of the main reasons I became an STH. Then they started limiting it to a few low demand games. Now they're gone. This is going the wrong way. Marketing Intern One: "People don't think we act like a major league team." Marketing Intern Two: "What do major league teams do?" MI1: "Treat their customers like crap." MI2: "Brilliant!"
Saw the ruckus on twittersphere but didn't know the details so thanks for posting...based on what I think I know, for me it seems like: The Bad: *Increasing BG prices so much, maybe up to $10 if they were really $6 would've been max 'acceptable' amount. But really, these should be GA and almost free like they give away to Mavs games for the 'ultra' fans that paint their faces, wear masks, etc. *No exchange. No explanation needed and this is probably a deal-breaker for me renewing STH...summer trips, flash floods, other commitments and sometimes it's just too damn hot. I guess this is probably the norm with other sports though, just liked it as a benefit. *Removal of free SG tailgate area and no discussion/communication of parking changes with SG. Couldn't a compromise be reached where X number of each SG gets a free parking pass to the tailgate area and the others can choose to pay or park in free and walk? The Less Bad: *Free parking wasn't gonna last forever, but this one doesn't really impact me since I don't go early and park in the areas that remain free. *I've been considering moving to per-game approach instead of STH anyway due to the promotions offered, but I always felt like I was doing my part to support/keep pro soccer in the area. Maybe I should think, like HSG apparently does, that we are stable enough to change things up.
I looked up my renewal on the account manager and my tickets are going up 294%. I don't mind paying more for my seats, but that's a huge increase with zero incentives. The FO has always been a little lacking as far as STH perks, but I always rationalized that by going "well, at least the seats are cheap". Not so much anymore. Ridiculous!
Maybe they realize they need more spending to keep up and are hoping to raise revenue. If not, if they are only raising prices without putting out a better product (a pretty good product, atm, tbf) then I would be upset, if I were a STH. Strangely, though, I take it they are not saying that, to help the medicine go down?
From 3rd Degree: http://soccerblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/fc-dallas-discusses-price-increases.html/ In summary: there's a puzzle. It's a secret puzzle. You are too stupid to understand how cool the puzzle is.
hey guys... I'm writing a long post about my thoughts and stuff about this - but I share a preview here: 1) something else is coming. if you listen to Kats, his vagaries surrounding the "puzzle pieces" tell me they've got a bigger announcement that is going to explain the pricing increases. Now why they chose to do this part of it now and not wait is a real head scratcher. I don't know what it is but I suspect its something tied to the stadium itself because of Kats comments about not yet understanding how the blue lots will be configured, "We just don’t know how that space is going to be configured or exactly how that’s going to look next year in order to be able to speak to any plan right now" - Why they wouldn't know that after 10 years is odd to me. 2) HSG absolutely sucks at fan communication. best example alone is the fact tailgating at this moment has not been moved and they haven't decided to charge tailgaters to pay for that lot (per the interview) - but then why they would post the graphic on the new page with the parking pricing, showing that lot is $200+ a season - creating an immediate and understandable flash fire of confusion is beyond maddening. there was a great way to handle this, but for a team without a VP of Marketing and one where that is handled by Dan Hunt, it's kind of to be expected. 3) price increases - yes, they're across the board and large, but it also seems a vast majority of STH's have been sitting on a price for several years. In some cases there are people paying the same price they were back in 2006. I've talked to three such STH's and they each kinda laughed and said they wondered how much longer it was going to last. 4) It totally stinks leading into this very important weekend, one where there may actually be a real life sell-out, all anyone will be discussing is their ticket prices.
This one has me confused. We still can't sell out the place but for 1 or 2 games a year, so our solution is to raise prices and take away free parking. That somehow will increase attendance? I kind of remember something about supply and demand curves that would say if you have too much supply you lower your price point to increase demand. The nonsense about rolling out 4 parts of a 32 piece puzzle as being some type of professional plan is also laughable. But the geniuses in the marketing and sales departments must have gotten degrees from on-line U if they think this concept will put more people in seats. I only kept the 2 season tickets I had in section 106 for the last 5 years because the ticket reps were flexible to adjust to my work travel schedule otherwise I would have gone back to only going to 2-4 games a year like I did in prior years. I don't mind a reasonable price hike but 50% is not worth it in term of the value of what I get. It used to be that the in seat food selection in 106 was decent and a nice perk. But over the last two years I almost never used it because the selection is now so limited. The buffet has also gotten worse and worse each year, where in the past the kids would beg me to take them each game for $15-$25 a pop, now they cheer when we go somewhere else before the game. It would be different if you had people on a STH wait list so that you don't need to worry about keeping the ones you have because someone else is willing to step up and fill the seat.....but we are no where near that scenario and I doubt we will be anytime soon. So much for the front office having any loyalty of the folks who came to the stadium when 10-12k was the norm. Oh well I guess I can spend my $2k (plus all the extra $$ on food and FCD gear) somewhere else. I have already decided to walk away from my seats at the end of this season.
We are only seeing 4 pieces of the 30 piece puzzle and there are 32 pieces in this 30-piece puzzle for 11 pieces, I mean 47 pieces and why are the pices flying through my brain and how do we even know there are really pieces and are they nice smooth jigsaw puzzle pieces or are they those jaggy crappy tangram pieces that can make a million differnt things and some of them are bad and your frienmd eddie always made them into penises and why is theis Kats guy a penis and how many pieces is he hiding from us why are there not more pieces is this a crappy dollar store puzzle why i don't understand and in the end I don't even know that I care or at least i didn't until this guys started telling me I was thinking holy crap and now i ma thinking holy crap so what really happened to those last two pieces and did y'all ever read spiderman with that one bad huy jigsaw he was pretty lame I suppose and I really need a new jigsaw the black and decker one i bought incollege really isn't very good and always tears outthe plywood on my projects but i wonder if just getting some better blades would help and people need to calm down but HOLY CRAP i only see fout pieces, but maybe six if the missing two count and why why why why I'm just npt sure that any of this really matters and isn't it kind of silly that they named the parking lots after toyota models and why is the rav4 one so far away and why didn't the fj cruiser get one i guess it holds too many puzzle pieces or is it not enough man this is really messed up and have you ever noticed that toyota doesn't really make good sports cars i mean not that i want a sports car i drive a station wagon for god's sake but my subaru is only afew puzzle pieces short of the entire puzzle and jet fuel can't melt steel beams but does it have to i mean really all you need is for the steel to be weakened enough for the weight above the crash site to begin a cascading crushing thing and that's really dark i don't even really want to talk about that any more so castillo is really good now i guess his finishing is at least up to average mls levels and being so fast thta's pretty cool but maybe he counts as an extra puzzle piece and don't hyou hate it when you're doing a puzzle and you end up with some pieces stuck to your arm and when you take them off the imprint is still there for a while and it looks kinda silly and then you wonder, man what if that piece had fallen on the floor then the dog would eat it and then you couldn't finish the puzzle and one time i had a toyota truck and it was red like fc dallas and i took my dog for a ride and i think it was my profile pic for a while and maybe that was some other site and that truck was pretty good but used a lot of gas and i traded it in and the hail damage didn't hurt the trade in price as much as i would have thought and that was in plano where i love now which isn't cowtown at all but i kinda still really like fort worth and if there were jobs there i don't know my house is pretty nice and my in laws can watch the baby and the baby is two now and she's really cute and probably cuter than other kids and i'm going to make her like soccer and i wonder how much tickets will be when i have to buy her one, and which puzzle piece will she like best and if she wants one of the missing pieces is that going to be a problem i mean holy shit whay do we even need puzzle pieces at all and my shoulder is starting to hurt because i'm leaning back in the recliner and typig at a weird angle and i don't really type that well so i look at the keys especially when i want to go fast and i'm kind of lunging with my shoulder in a weird way but it's not that bad really and my wife probably thinks i'm typing something that makes way more sens ethan this and this episiode of catfish is pretty good i think and i am not watcing as closeas i do sometimes but i think they're running a little low on ideas... but wait they always have puzz;es to put together and maybe Kats is Katsfish and this whole thing is not real and is all a computer joke and 817.
FWIW Kris mentioned in 3rd degree interview that the 106 pricing would go up say 30% and include free parking for renewals. No word on dining credits and I think you are tad harsh on buffet quality. Its totally average and is/was a pretty good perk. No problem paying increase if we landed say Chicarito but more of the same under achievement on the field? Tough ask for me. Hopefully FCD makes a deep run in playoffs this year.
OK I've figured it out. FCD was jealous that the Rapids FO had gotten much worse than them so they're taking drastic measures.
Eh, after reading the interview and Pete's article, this isn't the complete FO f uck up it seemed on paper. As a side note, IMO, the USWNT announcement isn't big enough to distract people from this but I know I'm in the minority on that one. Yay, we get to watch a bunch of girls beat up on other girls from CONCACAF nations to go to the Olympics!
While it's true they should have no trouble qualifying, it is important to remember that the Olympics are a Senior tournament for USWNT, and it's the second most important event in a four year cycle for women's soccer, club or country.
I've stated this elsewhere, but I'm not so torn by the fact that I'll paying $18 a game next season. I mean, $6 a game was stupid low, and $18 a game is more or less the standard going rate for those seats around the league. However, all that said, in their usual fashion, HSG did something that was completely defensible and acceptable and did a really hamhanded job of it. And the worst part is that this is a culmination of screwups on their part. The first one was probably even offering that price in the first place. I mean, it's so far below market value that it's not even funny. The next one was to extend that price for renewers for a few years. The next one after that was to not tell those season ticket holders IN REALLY LARGE PRINT multiple times that it would be going away at a given date (which is now). The next one after that was not to ratchet up the price over a couple of years at some point (which I guess would've been the last two years). And when you add all of that together, add the parking situation, and add it to the fact that FCD has the lowest payroll in the league, well, it's no wonder that they ended up looking like schmucks. It's absolutely insane that I was paying $6 a game for multiple years. But somebody over on World Cup Way should've said a while back, "Hey, people are gonna freak the hell out if you triple their season ticket prices all at once, no matter how little they're paying."
Instead of putting up with this, can we just set up a TV screen outside somewhere seating ourselves facing the full sun in the heat and have someone lightly spray us with beer out of a mister spray bottle?
Totally agree...not sure why this was USWNT news was the impetus to release 3 of the 32 pieces and seemingly 3 of the worst ones (I hope). Does anyone like the USWNT/enjoy womens' Olympic soccer enough to say that 'Wow, now this huge price increase seems like a bargain!' Maybe I am the exception like you but I treat women's soccer like the average US sports fan treats soccer in general...I'll tune in for the World Cup, but otherwise think it's pretty boring.
We used to buy gold parking passes and then HSG stuck bouncy houses in our parking section without offering a refund for our parking fee. That slap in the face was enough for me to see the light. We had 6 season tickets in 107 from 2005-2009. I've only been back once. I can't invest my money with a company that gives less than two blyats about me.