News: 2020 Season and Virus Talk

Discussion in 'Houston Dynamo' started by nbrooks503, Jun 30, 2019.

  1. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well maybe we can ask John Walker tomorrow on Glenn's show??

    1152398095906463744 is not a valid tweet id
     
  2. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ^^^^^^^

    Wow! This presentation by the Dynamo's new "Chief Revenue Officer" outlines what she did working for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and is EXACTLY what she is now implementing here.

    This is a must view for all Dynamo fans. I have had several long discussions with Ms. Widder about what is being done going forward. All of the elements described in this video are what the Dynamo are doing.
     
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  3. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So this whole scheme they are replicating from the NBA deal has a clear stated purpose. Disassociate the soccer from the revenue. Destroy the accountability to fans for the quality of the team. Reverse the power relationship where fans have power over the team so the team can suck but the team still makes money because you create barriers to leaving.

    If you guys thought Canetti was not fan oriented -- you have not seen anything yet. Everything they are doing is anti-fan and meant to establish control over you. It is straight out of Google/Facebook/Amazon playbook.
     
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  4. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Oh -- the big difference is the motivation. When she and I talked she gave much different reasons for these changes than what she explains above -- which is to reverse the power in the relationship so the team holds you hostage rather than the other way around.
     
  5. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It’s a bit easier to pull off with Lebron on the roster instead of Tommy McNamara.

    I like your term “create barriers to leaving”; I expect the team to start offering time shares at the stadium
     
  6. nbrooks503

    nbrooks503 Previously Held @Dynamo Hostage From 2008-2019

    Jun 1, 2008
    Disgruntled Former STH - Fairweather Bandwaggoner
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And never fear if this disappears - I downloaded a copy
     
  7. nbrooks503

    nbrooks503 Previously Held @Dynamo Hostage From 2008-2019

    Jun 1, 2008
    Disgruntled Former STH - Fairweather Bandwaggoner
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Also note that she says they do not publish pricing. They don't want folks sitting in section whatever to know that the person sitting next to them is paying less for their seat.

    I'm thinking that the nice folks who came over with the team from San Jose have all been fired and replace by barracuda.
     
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  8. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good analogy. And your absolutely right. But even if you have the LeBron James of soccer, the soccer market is so much different. Right now I could buy a share of Barcelona and get to vote on who the President is and cheer for the alien soccer genius. Now that is membership. The Seattle Sounders let you vote every four years on who the GM is. Now that is membership.

    I can join Union Berlin and watch all their games on the internet. A real community club now playing in the Bundesliga.

    I can be a Liverpool fan (gag) and watch all their games live on TV and the internet and be part of a large passionate club.

    None of these options exist for fans of the NBA.

    One more point. How many of us Love Google? Love Facebook? Or do we feel trapped with them? Thats an honest question. I know I just feel trapped. And I resent it. Can a pro-sports team really succeed by trapping its customers? Can you survive in the competitive entertainment/sports market with fans that resent you? Maybe you can in the NBA .... then again the experiment is early.
     
  9. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Cleveland Cavaliers avg attendance (rank):
    2016 20562 (#2)
    2017 20562 (#2)
    2018 20562 (#2)
    2019 19349 (#8)

    Not a big drop off. But looking at the NBA #s there is no strong correlation between winning and attendance. Chicago bulls were #1 2016-2018 and made the playoffs only once out of 4 in the last position in their conference. They have been bad.
     
  10. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    One of the reasons the drop off wasn’t bad was because of Widder’s membership strategy!!! All the people had to renew or stay in for the 18-19 season before they knew Lebron was leaving.
     
  11. nbrooks503

    nbrooks503 Previously Held @Dynamo Hostage From 2008-2019

    Jun 1, 2008
    Disgruntled Former STH - Fairweather Bandwaggoner
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Don't the 2019 stats make the point that we made to her? That significant investment in the actual product on the field is necessary to increase attendance.

    The increase in attendance during her tenure was directly related to the fact that LeBron joined the club. The decrease is directly related to his leaving and the poor performance of the team.

    Maybe all executive sales folks have the same kind of opinion, but I never really got that impression from the people I knew previously in the FO. The Cavs sales video shows me that the current executive team has no soccer soul. To steal a line from Rep. Omar - "It's all about the Benjamins baby", and don't let our clients hold us hostage.
     
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  12. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I completely agree. No soccer soul. Also no awareness of the global soccer market in which MLS competes. Also, no awareness of the difference between the stage of development of MLS soccer versus NBA basketball.
     
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  13. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I had time to kill this morning in a line, so I decided to watch the whole video (30 minutes). Every Dynamo season ticket holder should watch this to understand what the FO's thinking is on their business. Some takeaways:

    1) The mere fact that Widder used the term "Barrier to Exit" and "hostages" multiple times when referring to their members should be alarming in the sense that they view the customer relationship as one-way - what can the team get out of the customers.
    2) I don't disagree that season ticket holders should get some discounts and perks that normal ticket buyers don't get, completely get that. But it seems their sales point is that if you aren't part of their membership program or don't renew your membership, we'll make the experience so unpleasant that you will want to stay. Like an avoided adverse outcome sales pitch.
    3) One of the foundational assumptions of these "membership" programs is that the actual sporting event and the external events (team party, meet and great, play on the pitch) are valued by the members and that the team actually executes on them. The Dynamo organization has almost never showed operating excellence and the team is middling. This isn't the NBA, demand needs to be created for MLS.
    4) This model is really more about selling a membership to something more than selling tickets to soccer matches.
    5) The incremental yield model on revenue seems to be based on carving up the seating areas into multiple levels and tiers based on location and "loyalty", price opaqueness to the customer, "barriers to exit", and the ability to auto-charge people's credit cards. And once you are in, they can sell whatever else is available at whatever price they can to non-members to move the tickets.
    6) I never heard anything that implied the selling of the product on the field actually matters - its all synthetically creating an initial structure that sucks folks in and makes it hard to leave.

    Last thought: this seems like something that the Astros or Rockets could maybe pull off as distasteful as it is. What are the chances that the Dynamo can make this successful?
     
  14. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Agreed, and Union Berlin is an awesome story. Do you think Austin FC will be successful? They look to have a lot of initial demand but based on the pricing survey I took, gonna be expensive.
     
  15. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think all businesses try to find ways to retain clients and customers but you'd hope they would do so by creating a positive incentive to stay vs. creating a negative consequence to leave.
     
  16. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There are elements of things that would be attractive to some - discounts for being a season ticket holder, exclusive events, etc. - in the program, I don't disagree. But those are merely a distraction or tool to obfuscate the goal of the "membership" program which appears to be using various sales techniques and "barriers to exit" to get the club into an annuity contract with the members where if you don't opt-out they can just keep hitting your credit card.
     
  17. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I really could see it going either way.
    For success:
    - Austin chock full of pretentious young poseurs with lots of disposable income walking around in soccer jerseys.
    - Local media is giving AFC full major sport treatment with good coverage. I guess this is function of no other major league pro team.
    - Team is marketing towards adults and beer, not "family."
    - Bold is getting some folks to drive out to COTA. A couple thousand.
    - TV soccer gets good ratings here.

    Against success:
    - I don't understand how new stadium location will work for access to it.
    - Previous teams have struggled. Aztex, what have you. Of course their stadium situations sucked.
    - Austin has lots of options for things to do. Big time participation community -- moreso than watching stuff.
     
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  18. nbrooks503

    nbrooks503 Previously Held @Dynamo Hostage From 2008-2019

    Jun 1, 2008
    Disgruntled Former STH - Fairweather Bandwaggoner
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #143 nbrooks503, Jul 27, 2019
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2019
    Interestingly, perhaps expectedly, the video is no longer available.

    Could it be that this group is monitored

    That begs the question why are they afraid of the marketing plan being publicized.
     
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  19. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I tipped them off to its existence in hopes of getting a pack of free popcorn vouchers valid for a concession stand that is no longer in existence
     
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  20. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Should be fun to see how many “hostage holders” the Dynamo end up running off with their August 1st opt-out/treat customers like crap deadline coming up with 7 losses in their last 9 games
     
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  21. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  22. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I suspect you will never actually know if it works, except for that it saves money spent on manual analysis.

    By the way, I’m all for a business using predictive analytics, but doing so with a team that has dropped in attendance for 5 straight years and has alienated many of the “smarts” in the fanbase may not yield the predicted results.

    http://frntofficesport.com/houston-dynamo-stellaralgo/
     
  23. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    "[Predictive analytics] is creating a healthy dialogue with fans on a personal level to foster and grow relationships.”

    Huh? What am I missing? It is the exact opposite of that. Using stats is a way to avoid dialogue and make the individual meaningless. As I was told when I voiced that the changes they want to force on me don't work for me -- "Yeah, but there are not enough people like you to matter."
     
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  24. nbrooks503

    nbrooks503 Previously Held @Dynamo Hostage From 2008-2019

    Jun 1, 2008
    Disgruntled Former STH - Fairweather Bandwaggoner
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I love this bit:

    "The Dynamo have also improved their ability to identify at-risk package buyers throughout the season, which has helped allocate their existing resources more effectively in order to nurture those fence-sitters who might need some extra attention. The team anticipates a noticeable improvement in retention this season as a result of better understanding their fan base."

    I haven't received one scintilla (I'm not actually sure how much a scintilla is, but I like the word) of nurturing, perhaps they've already decided I'm a lost cause.

    But including folks I know here, I am aware of about 20 season ticket holders who will be either decreasing or not renewing their committment for 2020.
     
  25. AcetheTigah

    AcetheTigah Member+

    Apr 6, 2005
    Woodlands, TX
    They are looking for ‘newer and more gullible’ potential season ticket holders. The type of people that would be more capable of being taken in by a outlandish cult ideology.

    Good luck with that
     
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