We need to fill the 20k stadium we have regularly before a larger capacity is seriously entertained. Now, sell 15k STM's for the season (full+partial) and average 18k in attendance and maybe plans change. My personal hope is they design the stadium with expansion in mind. A 20k stadium expandable to 35k with some moderate renovations. Not sure that's feasible but would be an ideal scenario.
The problem was that their table in the hall would have been empty. Bad visual. And since the whole point of this thing has become the optics rather than actually finding the next crop.of stars, they should have found a handful of street bums, put scarves on them, given them a trip to the buffet snd then had them just sit there. Who the hell would have noticed?
Philly fans who would have correctly assumed that a handful of bums would probably have a better chance of improving their club record than the current management...
But the new stadium will likely either have higher priced seats or personal seat licenses. Either of those will winnow out some of the current STH.
By the way, FCC is on track to sell 20k season tickets this season. Anyway, looks to me like the magic number (if we want to be in the upper tier of clubs in terms of percent of capacity sold) of season tickets is in the 13-15k range, with a wait list beyond that. If we sell 12k this season (which would be fanfvckingtastic), we really aren't that far off. Especially when you consider that the Haslam's substantial marketing capacity hasn't been engaged yet. But it does amount to a substantial gap; 4-6 thousand, maybe? We can debate stadium size indefinitely. My ideal setup would be around 22k with a substantial standing room overflow capacity. The early design shown at Land Grant would appear to fit into that mold; a mezzanine level wrapping all around the stadium with great views and amenities. Sorta like what we have at Mapfre, just nicer. Of course, one thing we also have at Mapfre is the ability to install temporary seats for big games (primarily, national team games). It'll be fascinating to see what the design ends up being, and whether or not new ownership engages fans at all in the design process (nice to imagine, but I rather doubt it).
And all of us #olds went to see it. And told everyone, OMG this movie is terrible...so everyone went to see it.
They released any unconfirmed season tickets last night and the impact appears to be pretty minimal. I think the vast majority of people renewed this year. A good example from section 103 through the Nordecke only 9 new seats are available. From 123-129 there are 11 new seats. How fast are these new seats selling you may ask... well Nordecke is down to 2 seats again. Which means it sold 7 seats in the half hour I was doing my count.
Would have been better with a picture... of Captain America... saying... oh never mind. (Last night, I would have posted the animated gif, but I was having a tough time getting it to load. See below my comments on tech prowess or lack thereof.) Thanks for the crazy tracking of ticket numbers. I love that sort of stuff (like @TrueCrew said, geeking out), but I have zero energy or time to do so. Add in that based on your professional background, you are much more tech savvy than me; therefore, a better fit to do the job.
Haha I was on mobile and couldn't get the gif to load into the post right otherwise i would have. And no problem. I actually really enjoy it, its a good mental break between conference calls and meetings. Funny story, so one of my developers is a Crew fan as well and came up to me about doing a project for ticket counting since we knew what a mess MLS numbers can be. I seriously considered having him devote time to it at work but decided against it because he had actual real projects and a new product we are launching to work on....that clients are paying us for. If he had a slow week I might have done it.
Regarding the new stadium: Keep in mind that the architect said they're capable of expanding the nordecke by around 1,200 seats. he didn't say anything about other sections, but it's possible they're expandable too. How much should we be using the blue jackets as a reference here? They averaged 16.6k a game last year. they're playing well. and we have a long way to go before our marketing and public-awareness catches up to theirs. and they never have to contend with the weather. Granted, they play a lot more games than us... but they also play tons of weekday games. I don't see reason to go bigger than the current plans. The mantra these days is to "build it to sell it out every time" because that's, apparently, the best thing to do for marketing and financials. I think our budding rivalry with Cinci is pushing the conversation here. We see them constructing a 26k stadium while we build a 20k stadium, and we want to measure up. I don't know why we do this to ourselves. When Arsenal plays Chelsea, people don't debate average attendance, stadium size, and stadium expansion. their stadia are what they are, and it's about the results on the field (where Stamford Bridge is 20k smaller and sees better results than Emirites, for that matter).
In terms of the #ST sold v actual attendance stuff, I think we will see our best year ever (with the possible exception of 1996) both in terms of #ST sold and in terms of the walk-up/single game sales. In PSV good years, we were 8k-9k on ST and 16k-17k overall. If we push ST to 11k-12k, I think that 18k avg is where we will be. Unless we are just converting previous singles/walk-ups into ST with no real increase in demand. There is certainly some of that happening, but I think demand is up as well.
Agreed that 1996 is now the benchmark year to compare ourselves to. The dynamic behind how we get those numbers - compared to how they were achieved in '96 - may be very different. But if we get close to that average number from our inaugural season, that'll put us at 90% capacity; something we've never managed before. Also, I'd have to assume that the financials backing up ticket sales today would be vastly better for the club than they were in '96. Damn, I just can't ********ing wait until March 2.
FCC and Orlando have 2nd deck corner sections. That’s where their extra capacity comes from. Minnesota has a full roof but empty corners. Thus expandable. I think our new stadium will be built along those lines. At any given match at Mapfre, how many fans are milling about on the Mezzinine? I’d say lots. Then the seats look bare on TV. Does Spoting park have a mezzanine? Their seats are always full and look great on tv. If we want to be on national tv and get better players, we need to step up our on tv appearance.
Most conversions I have seen on social media is from 5 or 10 game multipacks to season tickets so I think you are right.
I just love the freaking narrative there too. Can you imagine how it will play if the season after this horrible saga, after all Precourt's bashing, we have our best season ticket sales and attendance since the team was created? It will be a definitive rebuke of everything done to the community and the team over the past 5 years. Not to mention an amazing season of soccer.
Have you seen FCC's ticket pricing? I am shocked at how low it is, they basically only did a marginal increase after joining MLS from USL. I have to imagine that will change once the new stadium opens but for the next couple seasons they are going to be sitting pretty because of it. Also I agree with you that I think the magic number is in the 13k-15k range and then a waitlist. That is how Portland approaches their STM and it has worked great for them. It creates demand and hones the fanbase.
I trust zero good or bad information that come out with Andy running the show. Once the stadium is built that is the real game changer. When I was in Columbus last week visiting friends several were lumped for the new stadium but were unlikely to go to more than a game prior to that.