Agree. I was interested in going to one of the Rose Bowl games, but expected the prices to be far too high (based on how they price friendlies). Would have been nice to see Brazil play, but glad I missed out on the gouging aspect. Would be nice if someone/anyone in the press would pick up on this. I have yet to see an article on how poor attendance has been, much less explain it. I'm sure in the end they will merely say "Americans hate soccer, unless it's the World Cup".
LOL....missed your post before adding mine. From the comments, it must be on 'soccersucks.com'. Pretty much a puff piece, not sure if they ever spoke to a fan. Just marketing hype and excuses.
With more reasonable ticket prices, I would have gone to all four games in Santa Clara. But instead I picked up two cheap tickets off Stubhub and passed on the other two. I can't be alone. And fortunately I can park in my employer's parking lot twenty minutes from the stadium so I don't have to deal with price-gouging for parking either.
I can confirm that parking at Levi's in Santa Clara was $50 and at the Rose Bowl was $40. I just checked the Ticketmaster seat map for tonight's Mexico match, and there's still large pockets of unsold seats. Looks like the cheapest available ticket (before fees) is $91. If you can't sellout a meaningful Mexico match in SoCal, then something is definitely wrong.
One way to get people in the press to notice is to post to their Twitter feeds. One can look for respected journalists on Twitter, particularly soccer correspondents or other significant writers who are commenting on the tournament....and then alert them, via Twitter, to look into this. Might be a way to direct attention to this.
This one covered the price issue fairly well....didn't bat an eye at $40 parking, lol. https://sports.vice.com/en_us/artic...ticket-prices-are-leaving-some-stadiums-empty
Was thinking about going to the Argentina-Bolivia and USA-2B matches next week here in Seattle until I looked at the ticket prices....absolutely ridiculous. Upper Deck corners for $90???? Upper Deck midfield seats for $115? These should be $30-40 seats, like they are for the Sounders. I doubt attendance for either game will come close to what the Sounders normally draw. I'll be watching from the comfort of my living room....approximately three miles as the crow flies from the stadium.
At least at Levi's there is truly convenient public transportation options to avoid the parking if desired. And There may have been pockets of unsold seats for Thursday's Mexico game, but there were plenty of tickets being sold and bought above face value. And, it ended with a very large crowd. For the big games, the reality is that a strong demand has been there. 3 of 4 games at Levi's. 2 of 3 games at Rose Bowl. I don't know the solution. It would be great to put "true" soccer fans in every seat and make the game available to everyone. On the other hand, why should they sell seats at low prices only to then see resellers making huge profits that the organizers don't participate in? If anything, I'm inclined to believe that the high initial prices discourages some who just buy thinking they can turn a profit. This isn't a problem limited to soccer.
I am so hoping the Semi here in Chicago ends up being Chile-Colombia. There would be so many Mexicanos wanting to sell their tickets on the cheap!
I think there's a happy medium between low prices that play into resellers' hands and high prices that bankrupt fans. Dynamic pricing model is the closest ticket sellers have come to offering tickets at true market value. And I'm fine with pockets of empty premium seats, because at the Rose Bowl it meant being able to upgrade my seat for free
Combine these two strategies and you have a real winner! A few years ago Kansas got knocked out of the NCAA basketball tournament near my home. Kansas fans flooded the market with cheap tickets on StubHub. I got tickets to the regional final for $2. Once we were in the door, we easily upgraded to $120 face value seats just by strolling down to an empty pocket of seats and sitting there.
Pricing has been a disaster. When Brazil plays friendlies in Foxboro, they sell out to a 90% Brazilian crowd. Ive been to two games there to see Brazil. Last night the stadium was not full and it looked 50% Peru. I am assuming the Peruvian fans paid because they probably havent had a chance to see their team in years. Brazilian fans probably saw the price and figured they already saw the team last year for 1/3 as much Worst part is there has been no effort to sell cheap tickets in the run off. Some stadiums ddint even make the non-TV side available for sale!
Brazil - Haiti: 28,241 at Orlando. Costa Rica - Paraguay: 14,334 at Orlando. Panamá - Bolivia: 13,466 at Orlando. Ecuador - Perú: 11,937 at Phoenix. Haiti - Perú: 20,190 at Seattle. Jamaica - Venezuela: 25,560 at Chicago. Uruguay - Venezuela: 23,002 at Philadelphia. Chile - Bolivia: 19,392 at Foxborough.
There are still tons of tickets left for both the Argentina-Bolivia and USA-Ecuador matches here in Seattle due to the ridiculous prices. Expect actual attendances for both matches to be well below what the Sounders normally draw.
If demand isn't there, prices will come down. Hopefully the downtown location makes it feasible for many to check it out to see where prices end up.. Home team better have a good crowd for Thursday