FC Dallas Should Try An "Everyone Gets In Free" Night

title ix

 

this imo would be impossible to execute. you'd have to evict people who are alreday in...
but an idea does come to mind. in some places they let fans in for free after a certain point. maybe you could let folks in after halftime (50th min? 60th?). give them a taste that way. i don't know how many times you'd want to do it, if only for a couple f games, or maybe an entire season. but maybe you'd hook some people into coming 'full-time,' at least for certain games.

 

Yeah, I wasn't actually suggesting a team let people watch 15 minutes for free and then make them pay. I was explaining how free samples being given away would aptly compare to a free sample of a soccer game.

 

As for the discussion about the economics of tickets: the concept you are trying to hit on but missing is elasticity of demand. If there is inelastic demand, then you would be right in assuming lowering ticket prices would lead to lower revenue. If, on the other hand, demand is elastic, lowering ticket prices will increase the quantity demanded by enough to offset the lower prices. So the question really is: is the demand for ticket prices in Dallas inelastic or elastic?

In my opinion (not based on research) there are probably segments of the customer base that fall under both categories. There are the fans that attend now, and would likely do so at even higher prices, but there are also soccer fans where a few bucks can go a long way. Luckily for a soccer stadium, the different seating areas already provide a way to differentiate between these groups. If I were working for FCD, I would be lowering that bottom ticket level to 15 dollars instead of 20. Also, I would most definitely be running promotions on local campuses and offering student discounts. Students have extremely elastic demand so a few dollars off will certainly help. Also, as the promotions are run on campus and you must have a student id to qualify, and the tickets are for the cheaper sections anyways, you are not "devaluing" the game or ripping off full paying customers.

I haven't been to a game in a few years because it is expensive (I would bring my date too). I remember at the end of last season I heard about them offering "all you can eat" tickets and such at the end of the season. Thats a promotion that would work. I would have gone to the games too, but I couldn't make the dates or they were sold out by the time I went to purchase a ticket.

I have thought FCD should have been marketing to college students for years (I am a senior at UTD). UTD is a Division 3 school in sports, so there really isn't that much competition. I have many many friends I discuss European football with all the time, so there is no lack of soccer fans on campus. I am surprised all the time with how many people will join in on a discussion about the Premier or Champions League.

What I am trying to say is there is a huge untapped market for their product. Oh well, their loss I guess...

 

FCD.

What a joke of a team and franchise.

They play at PIZZA HUT PARK for gods sake! The name just sounds like it's a Disney Park for kids to blow their horns.

What a freakin' joke.

My analogy of this club is this: Remember the ugly girl you slept with years ago that was a mistake? Well FCD is exactly that for MLS.

*face palms*

 

I have no frame of reference for your analogy.

 

Dallas shouldn't even have a team. The attendance was pathetic tonight and that PK was probably called for sympathy.

On a serious note, I think that refs should be fined after the fact if the league reviews a call like that and shows that the dude took a dive...
I think they should ban the player for 1 game, even though they got the goal, he and the team could be punished. Doing this could cause less diving in the box...

 

You have to have a quality product before an "everyone gets in free" will draw anyone into coming back and if this game is any indication, MLS doesn't have that quality product. Neither team showed up to play and the reffing was horrid the entire game.

 

I don't even think having a quality product can help this franchise

 

Exactly my thoughts.

To be honest, the investment of where to put the stadium (whether owned by the city/FCD) is one of the worst I have ever seen. Sure MLB has teams that don't pack it in but thats MLB (which is typical).

The "if you build it, they will come" mantra does not always work.

 

CC: Andy Swift
CC: Greg Elliott
CC: Michael Hitchcock
CC: Former Dallas Ticket Sales Directors Light Opera Society

 

Well whoever does marketing for FC Dallas should be fired. Their mistake was marketing the game to kids and soccer moms...
The new model that is Philly and Seattle works. The atmosphere is set on opening game and traditions are made.
With Seattle's 'march to the match', I wouldn't have thought that they were an expansion last season.

I hate the stadiums with 'stages'. NYRB has it right. Make a soccer stadium and USE it for that only. Get international teams in to play friendlies...

 

Like Tigres?


Or Clube Atletico Paranaense?

 

You mean like Wembley


Or Old Trafford

 

To sum it up, Dallas is a joke.

IMO, it is not about marketing. It has more to do with distance to the stadium, amount of time for one to get there and finally economics. Does it make sense?

Probably not. Such tools.

 

Honestly I think ESPN should continue to embarrass the hell out of FCD and their FO. Keep trashing them until they do something about their attendance or ESPN refuses to show them on tv altogether(which im assuming is going to happen next year)

 

So why are other clubs that are located in cities that are larger in sheer land size, succeeding at the gate?

In Combined Statistical Area:
Dallas-Ft. Worth-Arlington: 24,059 km (9,286 sq mi)
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown: 26,061 km (10,062 sq mi)
Chicago-Joliet-Naperville: 28,116.9 km (10,856 sq mi)
Los Angeles: Need I actually post this LOL!

Point is, people in other MLS cities also have to drive to get to matches. And in some cases, it maybe a further commute then you may have in DFW.

In there near 40 years of baseball, the Texas Rangers have never tasted playoff success. Before 1996, they hadn't even made the playoffs. Would you call that a quality product? Yet, people STILL pay overpriced tickets to see their product....

Serious thought: Has anyone ever considered that maybe the DFW sports market as a whole, is just too over saturated for the MLS to be noticed or even survive? Not a shot at the DFW are as I want them to succeed, since they were one of the original clubs and it is a major area. But there comes a time that the league must come to grips with reality and cut bait.

 

My point was that in order for a "everyone gets in free" event to successfully bring new people to the stadium for future games, then the product has to be worth them coming back for. The point of "everyone gets in free" events is to show people that otherwise wouldn't come to a game that they can enjoy the game and that next time they'll pay for it. I was making no claims about the lack of quality on the field being responsible for FCD's attendance woes or that an improvement of quality would result in more people coming. FCD's problems has more to do with their ownership than the product they put on the field.

 

Is there any way a stadium can become addicting? Like put nicotine or cocaine in the food to get people to come back?

 

I'm willing to test this theory.

 

Careful. It looks like you're using actual facts about location in a Dallas or Colorado attendance thread. That's the type of thing that can get you banned by the BigSoccer group think mentality. You will be assimilated and you will blame the location for the problems in Dallas and Colorado, facts be dammed!

 

I demand that someone carries me to all MLS matches so I don't have to drive.