Another thread here got me thinking. The Galaxy are, and have been, the pre-eminent franchise in MLS for quite some time. There are definitely teams who are executing certain aspects better than LA, but even those areas where LA isn’t in the top spot they’re amongst the best. So what areas should the Galaxy focus on in 2015 and beyond? To keep this somewhere in the bounds of reality. Nothing that contravenes league rules (at least as best we understand them). Roster decisions are already happening elsewhere and better served there. No blue sky mining, i.e., DTLA stadium, 6 DP spots, $20 million cap, etc … Ultimately my list comes down to one thing: Attendance, LA finished outside the top 2 in attendance for only the 2nd time in league history. Declining attendance for a team that’s executing as well as it is in as many areas as they are is unacceptable. Season Ticket Holders. I’ve outlined this elsewhere, but the Galaxy need to treat STH as both investors and their most powerful marketing arm. There’s no better return on marketing dollars than those spent on fostering a fanatical base. Marketing/Branding. Ideally Chris hires a Bruce-like figure who’s both very good and has a high degree of control to head this up, but I’d take simple competence in 2015. Concessions. So I’m going to break my “blue sky” rule here. The layout of StubHub makes it easy to cordon off the tennis stadium. I would use that dead space as an opportunity to create “pop up” pubs open to the public on game day. Circle the whole thing with food trucks, flat screen TVs showing all manner of soccer games.
They could really do something good here. I think of concessions in one of three ways: 1) Good and interesting food at reasonable prices 2) Good and interesting food at stadium prices 3) Low quality and stadium prices as a way to make the most of their monopoly Sadly, I think we are (3) and towards the bottom of stadium food experiences in MLS. It would be interesting to benchmark us against other MLS stadiums or other stadiums in LA.
Tailgating is also something I'd like to see. It probably wouldn't affect a lot of people but it would do a lot for the atmosphere.
Fan Experience. Did anyone else notice how "Dogshit" the MLS Cup fanzones were this year at the stubhub for the championship game. They were lame and about 1/3 the size of the previous years, to which the FO essentially took up that space where ACB would have a tailgated. MLS created a prestige area near the Tennis courts for high price ticket holders and special VIP's... which was lame and class separating. The real fans the day to day'ers are treated like second class citizens for the championship game in lieu of ass-kissing the one timers... and doochy VIP's who only show up because its a championship game. This is something I am sure Seattle or KC wouldn't do to its fans, and why LAG front office consistently misses the boat on these things. There answer to concessions, beer lines, parking, tailgating, higher ticket prices, and attendee class profiling. is here is a larger video screen, now shut up!! Video screens and right to look at them will now cost us across the board next season. Be prepared for the following: Parking $20 Premium Beer $15 Hot Dogs $6 Good Nachos $10 Mixed Drinks $12 Peanuts $6 Average ticket price should go up between 5-10% despite having awful season ticket sales the past 2 seasons and season ticket holder retention year to year. A guy a know I talked to in the organization intimated to me that the Galaxy have only about 4,200 season ticket holders last year. that doesn't include ACB/Riot Squad/Galaxians. which I put conservatively at about 3,000. that means there are over 20k tickets at any given time for a game, every typical game. Although that doesn't count some of LAG's little minor 2,4,6 game packs, those don't usually generate into full seasons anyway. And I forget about the thousands of discounted and comp'd tickets they give each and every game to AYSO regions and districts. Let's just say this. If the Galaxy operations, management, concessions, maintenance, security, and team didn't cost about 20 million dollars per year to run, they would have been out of business within one year of moving into the home depot/stubhub center. Let's factor this, the Clippers have an annual operating cost all in at over $300 million dollars and they still make a 40-50 million dollar profit yearly. This Galaxy office and operations team doesn't feel next level to me. They still have a cheapo and plastic feel to them like they're still stuck in 2004. I will give them credit on one thing, the merchandise expansion is pretty awesome and dam progressive too. Whoever that dude or lady is promote them to oversee the other areas of this lethargic blatantly shiftless entity we call the LA Galaxy.
A lot of good points. One roadblock for me in attending more games is the parking fee. At $15, I feel it's pretty steep as it can be half as much as a game ticket.