That's attendance plus the number of households (Boston area) watching at home. So now the question is... How do we get them to come back next year?
Make it a more fan friendly experience. 1) Better training of stadium personnel. This has been a problem for seven years. The list of acceptable and disallowed items has been effectively communicated at the parking entrances and on the web site. Now, it has to be communicated and understood by the personnel providing security screening at the entrances and to those folks inside the facility. Unfortunately, the Rev's could have used an in stadium ombudsman this year. And, at the gate as well. 2) Establish a general admission, standing option section, The Fort. Make patrons aware of the nature of this section when buying a ticket for The Fort. 3) Knowledgable ticket personnel. The Rev's really screwed things up by taking the "soccer folks" out of the equation. The emails from Danizinho and Dave Pike to the likes of Garber, Gulati, Kraft and Irwin during the recent MAPLE scheduling fiasco really illustrated this point. Danizinho is not a REV's employee but understood the situation. Pike, being a former REV employee, had the internal insight, connnections and pulse of the soccer community. Ticketmaster just doesn't understand the needs of the local soccer community like an active participant such as Dave Pike et. al. The only "true soccer fan" left is Craig Tornberg. 4) Knowledgable general manager. Same as above. Todd Smith is a "soccer person." Having played and managed at the highest American levels, he understood the American consumer. Since Chicago is having a "Fire sale" on their personnel, let's nab Peter Wilt. He seems like a truer soccer fan than the Metro's Nick S. Compare the differences between how those franchises have been run. Chicago has been run professionally, the Metro's are a joke. A good GM is key. 5) Work with the local soccer community. When are MAPLE games played? When are rec. soccer games played? Who from the REV's is involved with MYSA?When are LASA games played? When are MUSL games played? When are NEOTHSL games played? What is going on in the Brazilian, Portuguese, Irish & Italian communities? Who is going to be the liasion to these separate groups? How will the REV's market a soccer team to these widely diverse groups? The Rev's have started to "gel" on the field. It's a shame that the behind the scenes support has been eroded.
Excellent comments, although I'm sorry to say (for Rev fans) that Peter Wilt isn't going anywhere. He's already making plans for the Fire in 2003. The Magpie
I'd be interested to see how many of the 61k come back, because a decent amount had to be first timers. From personal experience, I kind of followed the Revs on tv the first few years. Once I went to the games a few times, and saw it for what it should be (a good time at a reasonable price and something the kids were enthused about) I came back more the next year and began to follow the team more closely. Based on that, I'd like to see them have a few "deal" games. The best time to do it would probably be on a week night, when you are expecting a small crowd anyway. I'd try something like a discount for kids, because the kids (who probably play) would be more likely to want to come back than a lot of the parents. I'm sure that the (Pats) front office people would fret over one adult bringing many kids, but those are kids who would be home not watching the Revs on tv otherwise. Let's face it, there are only a few reasons most kids start following pro sports: the rest of their family does, most of their friends do, or they have a good experience at the park. Unfortunately, whether you worship the Revs management or whine about them incessantly (this pretty much covers all of the posters here, right?) you have to admit that they seem more interested in extracting every dollar possible from existing customers than growing their base, so I doubt if I'll see this type of thing come about.
given the economic climate, probalby a wise move... bunker, increase your margins, consolidate, downsize, solidify your business... anyone rememeber the .bomb companies that were focused on growing a customer base at the expense of a revenue growth strategy?
I'm not arguing whether it's sound or not. I just think it interferes with capitalizing on some of last year's unique opportunities.