Storm vs. Ignition (R)

Discussion in 'Pro Indoor Soccer' started by skipper60601, Dec 27, 2008.

  1. skipper60601

    skipper60601 Member

    Aug 12, 2005
    Club:
    Hibernian FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Storm defeated the Ignition 8-6 at the Sears Centre this afternoon. The Storm had a 6-2 lead in the third, but the Ignition tied it up. The Storm won it on a fourth quarter goal by Awadalla Morad. Andy Rosenband scored twice for the Storm. The attendance was very poor but the weather was too. Heavy rain and melting snow (it was 55 degrees) are threatening the area with major flooding.

    I don't think the Ignition have much of a team but they really get the most out of the players they have.
     
  2. Phil Cheesesteak

    Phil Cheesesteak New Member

    Oct 27, 2008
    announced 2,439. so you're saying that wasn't legit?
     
  3. genpabloescobar

    Feb 17, 2002
    I listened to the traffic on the way to the game. Flooding had no affect on I-90. I will not allow weather to be used as an excuse today and no self-respecting Storm fan should.

    That said, big props to the knowledgable fan who during one musical lull screamed, "DETROIT, YOU'RE NOTHING WITHOUT BEASLEY!"
     
  4. skipper60601

    skipper60601 Member

    Aug 12, 2005
    Club:
    Hibernian FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It was nowhere near 2,439 unless they were counting the number of arms and legs.
     
  5. skipper60601

    skipper60601 Member

    Aug 12, 2005
    Club:
    Hibernian FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I believe that was Capt. Chaos who yelled that out! He could have added Hewerton and Ricardinho, not to mention Jonathan Greenfield.
     
  6. kenosis

    kenosis Member

    Mar 31, 2007
    Crook County, IL
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    That would be fine except there's lots of people that don't take I-90 much to get there. There's also those who hit potholes on the way to the game and/or had basements that flooded.
     
  7. genpabloescobar

    Feb 17, 2002
    Stop. Stop Stop Stop.

    No, you can't do this. Every single time it's not 40 degrees and sunny, you can't blame the weather.

    I didn't take I-90. I took backroads, many of them one-lane, thirty minutes each way to the game. I didn't have a problem.

    You wanna blame flooded basements? Fine. You wanna blame people travelling for the holidays? Fine. But spare me the road condition argument. You think potholes kept 1,000 people from buying tickets at the door today. I'll give you 4 people, tops.
     
  8. Phil Cheesesteak

    Phil Cheesesteak New Member

    Oct 27, 2008
    remember, if it wasn't for the bears, the weather, the location of the arena, the league they're in, the coach, the price of beer, the ball, the players, the economy and the name 'xtreme,' the storm would be the best-supported team ever.
     
  9. kenosis

    kenosis Member

    Mar 31, 2007
    Crook County, IL
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    When you say "you", I'm assuming you don't mean "me". I haven't blamed the weather before, and if so it's not my stock accusation -- if you can find somewhere where I did, I'll gladly retract my words and apologize.

    I blame putting a niche sport in a crazy location almost as close to the Rockford city center as to the Chicago city center and charging $16 for the cheapest seats. And $10 for parking. And God help someone if they're hungry.

    30 minutes is a drive but it took Southwest Side living me 90 minutes each way (and typically it takes about 70 minutes). That means anyone that wants to see an expensive niche sport that doesn't live in the Northwest Suburbs has to be really, really motivated to see a game, at least how I see it.
     
  10. genpabloescobar

    Feb 17, 2002
    It's a collective you.

    And these are reasonable reasons that you described.

    Potholes and rain aren't.
     
  11. Phil Cheesesteak

    Phil Cheesesteak New Member

    Oct 27, 2008
    wow. they're making it hard for people. that's not good.

    wow again. you're dedicated. it's amazing they're getting as many people as they are.
     
  12. skipper60601

    skipper60601 Member

    Aug 12, 2005
    Club:
    Hibernian FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Really, the problem for the Storm this season is all the competition for fans from the Chicago/Rockford team in the NISL! :rolleyes:
     
  13. kenosis

    kenosis Member

    Mar 31, 2007
    Crook County, IL
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    By rain do you mean "flash flood warning"? Because, according to the NWS, that's what I drove through to get there.

    I brought up potholes because a friend of mine was hoping to go to the game -- and got a flat tire.
     
  14. kenosis

    kenosis Member

    Mar 31, 2007
    Crook County, IL
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I think this is a very meaningful point. Milwaukee and Rockford are both within an hour of Hoffman Estates (Milwaukee is an hour and a half). (And last year, the Northern Illinois team even more fully compounded this.) I never really thought of the area that, more or less, comprises the fringe area between the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Rockford CMSAs to be a hotbed of indoor soccer. But even the Megalopolis doesn't have that sort of indoor soccer density.

    Doubtless there could be some advertising synergy or economies of scale putting teams so close and saving in transportation. (If I saw advertising for any of them, that is.) It also means they're probably cannibalizing what market there is in Northern Illinois.
     
  15. Phil Cheesesteak

    Phil Cheesesteak New Member

    Oct 27, 2008
    i doubt either team has a hell of a lot of fans who are on the fence or are being siphoned off by one or the other.

    it appears the storm is getting the same number of people they got when there was no team in rockford. and at least ten of the people who were at the first game in hoffman estates went to the second game in rockford, so it's actually helping the rampage. :)

    seriously - it's not an effect. really.
     
  16. GoStorm

    GoStorm Member

    Oct 24, 2008
    I agree with Phil, I do not think that the Ramapage or Storm are hurting each other and like he said - there were Storm fans that made it a double header, had the Rampage game been today the Rampage would have had less fans that did not do the double header
    Although I would think that if you heard that your home town team won 43-0 and tickets were 2 for 1 on $8, I would go to the next game to check it out even though they play the Blast at home next right? Um not sure but thinking it just might have a different outcome and be a little bit closer in score or possibly even reversed - hahahaha
     
  17. Indoor Alter Ego

    Indoor Alter Ego New Member

    Nov 4, 2008
    Baltimore
    Hey I know the answer divide by zero then you have an infinite number of fans.

    3 divide by zero = infinite.
     
  18. Phil Cheesesteak

    Phil Cheesesteak New Member

    Oct 27, 2008
    if my home town team won 43-0, i'm not sure i would bother.

    if i wanted to see a score like that, i could watch my 9-year-old play winning eleven.
     
  19. kenosis

    kenosis Member

    Mar 31, 2007
    Crook County, IL
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    With attendance numbers as low as they are, and with the variance that's been seen year to year even with the Storm (when attendance is around 2,000 and it jumps to 2,200, that's a pretty major change) I'm not sure if one can causally say what methods work or don't. I have my suspicions based on absolutely nothing - maybe a few dozen or, at maximum, 200. I'd think on average maybe 4 or 5 families a night living in, say, Hampshire got a better deal going to the Rampage game than the Storm game or a few families in Gurnee went to Milwaukee instead of a Storm game.

    So putting it that way I think you're right - cannibalization makes it sound like there's a market to cannibalize :)


    Not to be an ass, but that's not completely true. The easiest way to demonstrate it is just to say, well, to check it infinity * 0 doesn't equal 3.
     
  20. Phil Cheesesteak

    Phil Cheesesteak New Member

    Oct 27, 2008
    point being: the presence of a team in rockford is likely having negligible effect on the team in hoffman estates and vice versa. we're talking about two teams with small fanbases, and two teams that have to sell a whole lot more tickets to be considered viable in the long term.
     
  21. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I love soccer. Outdoor and indoor. I've played most of my life, I go to every soccer game in the Chicago area and beyond that I can get my hands on. I don't miss a Fire game, go to as many UIC games as possible, watch high school games. I'm at the Odeum on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons to watch the Chicago National and Metro leagues play. Heck, I've even seen most of University of Notre Dame's womens's games this year. But I've only been to two Storm games since they went to the Sears Center. I've seen Lazo and Armstrong play with the Charleston Battery in Charleston more than indoor in the last few years. When they played at UIC I went to just about every Storm game during their tenure there. It was easy and cheap. Ticket at UIC was $8 and I found parking a few blocks away in the street for nothing. That was value to me. So now I have to drive to Hoffman Estates from the city, pay double that in ticket at $16 and pay parking at $10(went up from $5?) for IMO, a product that is less than it was when they played at UIC. IMO, it's too much to pay for indoor pro soccer in the state that it is now. I think the split up of the league was bs.
    Next Sunday the Storm play NJ at 1:00 at the Sears Center, on then other hand, I will be on my way to the Odeum to watch the opening week of the Chicago Metro League where for only $5 and free parking you can watch multiple games by teams that are not that far below in talent from the Storm. Many of Storm's players come from these local teams. Oh, I'll probably come to a game or two this year but when, I don't know. When they were at UIC I looked forward to the next game. I like both Victor and Mike (owners) and the players that I know on the team and I wish this team success. Just don't look forward to it like I did when they played at UIC. I don't know. Just being honest.

    Are there are soccer fans like me that somehow this league just doesn't motivate to spend $36 plus and drive through snow to go see on a consistent basis?
     
  22. FireFanKeith

    FireFanKeith Member

    Mar 6, 2000
    chicago,il usa
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    How much do you pay for parking at Toyota Park? How much do you pay for a ticket to a Fire match? Bridgeview is not downtown so you have to drive there as well. You can knit pick all you want about the Storm but you have no problem dishing out the cash for the Fire which is fine.. it is your money but don't cry about how far the Sears Center is and how much the tickets and parking is when you have no problem doing it for the Fire. I live in Schaumburg 15-20 minutes away from the Sears Center so it is easy for me but I attended every game at UIC and I did it happily because I support my team and indoor soccer. If the team moved back to UIC, I would have no problem doing it again. Hell I'm just happy we have a team to support.
     
  23. ratdog

    ratdog Member+

    Mar 22, 2004
    In the doghouse
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Funny, but except for the whole Rockford thing (which has no effect on the Storm) those are pretty much the same reasons my Eurosnob and Mexisnob friends give for not going to MLS games even though they'll trip all over themselves to make much longer drives and shell out the bucks to see meaningless Euro- or Mexi-friendlies when those teams come over and play their stars for what, like maybe 20 minutes before subbing in their third strings and youth academies. Go figure.

    That said, you do have a point that indoor soccer is a niche sport and the economics of it will always be shaky even if its pro leagues hadn't spent the last 30 years being run largely (but not entirely) by egomaniacal retards who couldn't grow up and get along well enough to organize a bake sale let alone a stable, united pro league that could maybe build a small but long-term fan base. Rented stadiums, fly-by-night teams that come and go in a dizzying rapidity, no TV presence, smaller markets or too much competition in big markets, no gambling interest and having to cover an entire continent (really, indoor would probably be better off splintering into a few regional leagues and then have only a national play-offs or something) pretty much effectively consign the sport to the level of lacrosse or jai alai.

    And, yes, I was pissed off about missing the Storm game due to bailing out my basement on Saturday because I was even thinking of doing the doubleheader and heading to Rockford after the Storm game. Instead, I spent the day buying a second sump pump, running hose out to the curb and then trying to dry out. Thank Poku for the consolation of having a few nice cold Duvels left over from Chrimbo.

    Oh well, at least I'm not an arena football fan...
     
  24. GoStorm

    GoStorm Member

    Oct 24, 2008
    Gentlemen
    I will be headed to Milwaukee tomorrow to hope that the Storm get a little revenge on last weeks loss
    then I will come home and start drinking and celebrate 2008 into 2009
    and pray that next year is a far sight better than this year
    Hope for mankind to stop all this fighting and that people will not be scared that they will lose their homes and not be able to feed their families - let's hope we can all help the needy this year and help those that are out there starving
    I bid you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR & see you in 2009
    To all in all the threads - live this simple rule of life and you will be a much happier person - life will feel a little better & you may enjoy it more:


    I like life
    Life likes me
    Life and I fairly fully agree
    Life is fine
    Life is good
    'Specially mine, which is just as it should be
    I like pouring the wine and why not?
    Life's a pleasure that I deny not

    I like life
    Here and now
    Life and I made a mutual vow
    'Till I die
    Life and I
    We'll both try to be better somehow
    And if life were a woman
    She would be my wife
    I like life
    Life likes me
    Ghost of Christmas Present
    Good, good
    I make life a perpetual spree
    Ghost of Christmas Present
    Eating food
    Drinking wine
    Thinking who'd like the privelege to dine me
    I like drinking the drink I'm drinking
    And I like thinking the thoughts I'm thinking
    I like songs
    I like dance
    I hear music and I'm in a trance
    Tra-la-la
    Oom-pah-pah
    Chances are we shall get up and prance
    Where there's music and laughter
    Happiness is rife
    Why?
    Because I like life!
    Where there's music and laughter
    Happiness is rife
    Why?
    Because I like life!
    Drinking life
    That's the thing
    Makes a man want to suddenly sing
    Sing and dance
    And perchance
    Seeing life from a different stance
    When you learn how to live it
    Life is free of strife
    That is why I like life!
    That's the secret of living
    Any man can fly!
    Why?
    Because I like life!
     

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