2016-17 MASL Attendance Thread

I continue to be stunned that the Wave's cheapest "get in" is $16.50, and a decent (not great) sideline seat is $31.50. However, at those prices, an advertising budget of $20 a game and a player payroll cost of $64 per game, they can still be profitable with an attendance under 2,500.

 

Since revised to 1,089.

 

I wish it was that simple cardshop, the problem is the arena they play in, it is outside of the teams and leagues ability to avoid it.

The POS tickets you can buy may be able to avoid a fee but there are a magnitude of reasons an arena will allow ticketmaster to charge this.

It boils down to this analogy........yes you can file your taxes using a 1040ez for free. But a lot of people find it easier, safer and have greater piece of mind paying HR Block or some accountant to do it for them. The $100-200 bucks means it is done right, you have the piece of mind a professional is doing it and you don't have to face the IRS alone in case of an audit.

Ticket master provides arenas with excellent forecasting computer models to predict fan numbers that allow you to staff effectively and also have that legalese on the back of tickets that boils down to "we are not to blame for anything". If someone sues an arena or team that used a ticket master ticket for anything that falls under that footprint, ticket master goes to bat for the arena. They provide lawyers who are specialists and can cite numerous precedence setting cases that cover the arenas. while Skipper can better articulate better than I, they have a deep legal pool of experts who can head of almost any local guy/girl local lawyer.

IIRC the last case they settled was a girl that was killed by getting hit by a puck in 2004 in Columbus Ohio. Even then, the team and the arena settled due to the event of the little girl dying and public sympathy. In that case it was seen as the "right thing to do". That's why the NHL has those big nets around the back boards now and ticket masters involvement meant the insurance company covered the bills.

(I don't want the above to sound callous, that's just the way the legal system and the lawyers played it out. Obviously a 14 year old child killed is a horrible event and tragic.)

 

Heat attendance keeps dipping and yet the team keeps playing better and better. Last night's game was absolutely riveting. Tight, thrilling game with a serious of lead changes. This is why I love indoor soccer. I just wish there were more fans in the stands to enjoy the current quality of play. I respect that Delmont is out there engaging the fans and high fiving the players after goals. I was glad to see Kerstetter finally get some playing time. He showed last night why he is a 3X Heat defender of the year...plus...he chipped in with a very important goal. Old school Heat players provided four of the goals last night. Heck, when is the last time the Heat scored ten times in one game? I'm super excited about this Heat team...I hope Delmont is invested in the long term...because...I sense...it will be a very long time until the fans come back (if they ever come back).

 

And, yet, some folks won't let go of the notion that team performance and ticket sales are closely correlated.

It's the number of people actively trying to get people who have not come to games, to come to games, not the number of players high-fiving fans or scoring goal, that drives attendance.

And as for Ticketmaster, another point is that many arenas have exclusive deals that preclude a tenant from selling tickets an way but through them. In any case, as shelts mentioned, there are a ton of reasons it's problematic to try and create a "simple, free" system (nothing is free), else people would just do it.

 

Well, there was definitely not over 2k in the building at CR last night. I estimated about 1100. It was in the middle of a massive snowstorm that is still dumping. Driving was treacherous in most parts of the city.

 

As I said in another thread, I haven't been back to a game in Harrisburg since the Heat returned in 2012 and that sitting in that arena with the sparse crowd would be difficult given what had happened there in the past. However, I was in Baltimore this weekend and I attended a Blast game for the first time. I was surprised that the arena was rather comfy and attractive, given its age. The quality of play was enjoyable and I felt, at least for a few hours, like I was 20 something again.

 

Good chance it was way less than in Independence.

 

I swear the only heat in the building is the soccer team. I wonder if there another arena they could play in someplace in harrisburg by chance ? Maybe that would help the team. Carl is not going to give up he will figure it out.

 

How many arenas do you figure a city like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is going to have?

 

Well there is the Giant Center in nearby Hershey ,it looks like its 26 minutes. Could keep the Harrisburg name or change it to Hershey Heat but its still a better arena than what they are in, and maybe they could piggy back off the Hershey Bears fans.... Just a thought

 

In 1987, only 334 fans showed out for a NJ Devils game that was played in the middle of a snowstorm. The team had sold over 11,000 tickets to the event.

https://www.nhl.com/news/historic-storm-produced-history-for-devils-in-87/c-651845

 

They could keep the name even if they move to Hershey. Look at the Ambush, the arena they use is in St.Charles MO which is about 30 minutes from downtown St.Louis.

 

The arenas in downtown Saint Louis would be obscenely expensive for an indoor soccer team to rent. Not even an option . The Family Arena is a great space for indoor soccer and relatively close to St. Louis . The fans who complain about 'having to drive' are usually 20ish year old hipsters who are not really sports fans anyway. They would just go to socialize and drink beer with other hipsters. The Comets play in an arena right outside of KC, similar to the Ambush - they have done well there.

 

The way the NY Islanders attendance is going, they might be able to break that no matter the weather.

 

What arena do the Islanders play in now? It used to be the Coliseum. At one time they were going to renovate the Coliseum and a guy named Wang was going to put an NPSL team in it.
That was about the same time the CISL was going to expand to Europe.
I could be wrong on the exact facts, but that was so long ago.

 

The Islanders moved to Brooklyn and play at the Barclay's Center.

The Nassau Coliseum is currently being renovated, I do believe.

New York proper has not had an indoor team since the Cosmos went under (after the Arrows did first), I think.

 

........and it was the WISL that was going to expand to Europe. I know this because I sat in Nottingham and Sheffield and London and heard the pitch first hand.