http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2005/06/20/story4.html?from_rss=1 Around less than 1,500.
If it was that much, I have to say that I'm pretty impressed, actually. Considering all the bad press and ugliness. Makes me think that with a supportive media and atmosphere, they could've pulled it off. Good job, guys
Two events could have brought in the tickets we needed but were never brought to fruition 1) We, the soccer advocates, had just put the final touches on a letter to the youth soccer community of roughly 10,000 registered youth soccer players. That letter never went out. 2) A proposed game between FC Dallas and Monterrey Tigres was in the works for late June,early July. It was delayed by Tigres advancement in the tournament. Hardbergers election and announcement brought both of these events to a halt San Antonio was slowly moving in the right direction. Evidence of this was the nearly 1500 tickets sold and most of the box suites were already sold.
Considering how anti-soccer everyone(who matters to MLS) is in San Antonio it's surprising to hear that all box suites + 1500 or so season seats were sold. On the other hand, I'm afraid until the city of SA cares for anythin other than the NFL and Basketball there will never be an MLS club there. BTW, it seems like the majority in the communities would rather see those funds go into other things and I don't necessarily disagree with that. IMO, SA is now at the very bottom of the expansion list if even on at all. sad but true.
This town has worked hard to get MLB and NFL teams for years and have been close, and have been burned.
G-d! That's the kind of thing that makes you just .....sigh....Considering the bad press and political attacks that this whole thing got, its best news to hear so far. BTW, how does this compare to RSL? Never say never or "They are out!". In MLS, the first important key part is: Investor with deep pockets committed to the long term investment. Second part: Control of revenue streams and stadium schedule. SSS is always good, but at minimum that. Third: A minimal market base of consumers, i.e., season tickets, etc. After that, all starts falling into place. Political support. Youth development. Practice fields. Sponsors. Etc. Etc. In short, MLS will consider it when an investor shows up.
Last month, RSL announced their 5000th season ticket sale. Now since it was into the season, that would mean partial season tickets and these things started selling around August, which would've given about 9 months to sell. But MLS never gave a 5,000 ticket ultamatum to RSL.
jhope....u had a little inside information...why was it so hard to get an I/O in place within six weeks? Especially after the inital offer.
I think that's an easy one. No I/O ever felt he had an actual deal from the city. They pulled it back almost as soon as they passed it.
There were a few investors interested in purchasing a franchise. One is the guy from NY who has made a bid for Kansas City. Some of the others I still don't want to name do to some talks may still be ongoing. However, the agreement with the city was only a memorandum of understanding. It was not a legal binding contract. So when the deal turned political and became part of the Mayoral race many people became weary of our chances of finding an investor to stand up. Many people interested in season tickets were waiting to see how the Mayoral race would be decided before buying tickets. Once the race was known, MLS was dead in SA for the near future.
(jhope) thanks for answering that question...also, Youth soccer was supportive of MLS when the mayor increased the total to 20M, but then I believe (i might be wrong) that one of the other problems was that after the brooks city base trainging fields and youth package were split, youth soccer didnt back up mls any more because they wanted their own share (as well as alamobowl) and everybody else. Then again, I did read it in the E-N. I would have to imagine that any current talks about MLS would come with SSS in them, right?