I looked at the Ticketmaster map and we are on pace for 16k again. We are ahead of where we were last year where the upper deck was filled with students who got free tickets. A word of caution though. Last year they reserved a ton of tickets for potential last minute season ticket holders. They then released them on friday. These tickets were ones close to the field not the ones in the back. Hopefully with the higher season ticket numbers it wont be too much of an issue. I also wonder if last year those that pledged and did not follow through thought we would be terrible and decided to wait til this year or next year for the new stadium.
When has availability as it's appeared on Ticketmaster ever been a reliable gauge of anything? Looking at Ticketmaster is a fool's errand, IMHO. The same OSU student program is in place for this game: https://activities.osu.edu/programs/dtix/events?eventId=4378. I forget when it switched to a discounted ($10 tickets, I think) program, later in the season last year. I don't think there's any way of knowing the financial back-end of what's happening here. The tickets are free to students, but the program "is brought to you by your Student Activity Fee." I don't think the Crew is necessarily giving away these tickets, even if they are free to students. Bez made a point last week to talk about all of this outreach to students at Ohio State and other area colleges, which certainly makes sense. I'm personally doubtful that students will ever become a reliable season-long fan block, but the FO knows more about this than I do. In any event, I know they see students people they want to hook early, knowing that a lot of them will graduate and stick around Columbus.
I know I was part of a Large group of students that attended games, and 15 of us purchased season tickets upon graduation. Targeting college students may not be the best strategy, but personally it hooked me.
I was actually surprised an attendance thread was started this year, given we been fooled once before. If osu is paying anything it's probably 10-20 dollars per ticket. So 5-10k. The student activity fee is the second smallest fee, behind the cota fee.
I was a freshman in 2014 and they had a big #NewCrew thing on campus where they chalk painted the sidewalks with the #NewCrew teaser. If you took pictures you could go to the #NewCrew event. I was one of those people and now I'm here, a season ticket holder.
This makes no sense. I was told the previous owner did everything he could to sabotage the team and its 'business metrics'.
Well Jim, I was actually told they used "chalk paint" because the owner has no money at all and he borrowed money from his dad for the chalk.
Not initially. I've always given Precourt credit for spending $$ to an extent that rarely happened under previous ownership. I mean, outspending HSG is setting the bar pretty low, but still. Precourt made stadium upgrades (and I'm not talking about the scoreboard). We got food trucks, better beer options. As I recall, he upgraded the locker rooms. I think he sunk some money into Obetz upgrades, as well. He also spent more on players than HSG ever did (or, rather, allowed Berhalter to spend the money). But I think it's undeniable that he reached a point, at some point in 2016, when that investment ended. You saw it in staffing (how hard it was to get into the stadium because of how few gates were open), stadium maintenance. Well before the plot to move to Austin came out publicly, Precourt had stopped actively trying to make things work in Columbus. Now, reasonable minds may differ, but I'm certainly of the opinion that, starting in 2017, PSV moved beyond benign neglect into a phase where Precourt actively tried to undermine "business metrics" in Columbus, presumably because they supported his argument for relocating the franchise.
He spent less than a million on stadium upgrades. I think, other than the scoreboard, it was like 100k. That first year felt like a ton of investment, but it was actually small. The pay raises to Kei Kamara and Finlay were both off the books in a year. The other scouting investments would have transferred to Austin. The investment even paid off in 2016, until the team stunk then Precourt seemed to give up. Columbus showed with more investment, that fans would come out and break sellout records. Then, after one bad season and a backslide in attendance, he cut spending and gave up. Then he damaged the brand. That's what bothered me the most: when things got just a little tough, he cut and ran to Texas. He just wanted a little excuse to enact the plan. And don't forget, the rebranding was already in motion.
I always thought he went into this with a budget. Said, "I'm spending up to X-amount and not a penny more. If it doesn't work, then I'm gone". I think he grossly underestimated the amount he would need to spend to overcome Hunt's neglect of the team compared to other organizations. Or not, hence the Austin clause.
My general belief is that every owner we've had made an genuine, initial effort to improve the team and its relationship with the community, and, after hitting some sort of road block or just losing patience with it all, say, "screw it", and give up. The Hunts gave up by selling, Precourt by trying to move it. Precourt had A LOT less patience as well...
Precourt signed Santos, for what was reported to be about a $2M fee. I may be wrong, but I think he was our biggest transfer in, until the Zelarayan deal.
Precourt and Garber were on the phone one week after the team was sold with the Austin mayor. I don't believe he gave Columbus a chance. If his best was on display, Austin is ********ed until he sells.
Bullshit. Precourt never actually tried, he slapped a band-aid on a few things because he knew he couldn't tank from day 1 without being found out. After all, the Austin Clause was in the contract to buy. If he would have been actually trying, ever, he wouldn't have stuck the business leaders he invited to lunch with the tab and would have shown up to at least one Columbus Partnership meeting when he was granted membership. Don't look fondly on the past, he was a complete jackass that put in no effort because it was never his intention to stay.
Who are you arguing with? Is anyone in here going to bat for Fat Tony? All any of us (me, certainly) is arguing is that he spent some cash on the club, including supporting the largest transfer to date. Maybe his master plan was to move from Day One. Maybe he gave it a half-assed shot, but then gave up when the city didn't genuflect to him. Maybe he was just too much of a dipshit to realize how bad he was at so much of the job of ownership. The differences of opinion here are largely in the margins. I don't doubt for a second that he was always intrigued by Austin. I just don't see in his actions any real evidence - that can't also be explained by hubris and incompetence - that he was actively tanking the club from the get-go. At some point in 2016, sure. He also got very, very lucky in a few areas: He hired Berhalter, who certainly over-performed for us and who made all of the player acquisition decisions, and all Tony had to do was agree to pay for them; a stadium naming deal basically fell into his lap. Funny, though, when you see how he performed in courting Austin, he made some of the same dumbass mistakes he did here; most evident in securing a stadium site. He just acted as though the yokels in Texas would grant him what he wanted, or else. Not so much, eh? And now he's stuck out in a distant site in a light industrial zone. The ironic thing being, if he'd been truly competent, he'd probably have succeeded in stealing the Crew. He had months to make progress in Austin before the news of the relocation leaked out. Months, during which he accomplished squat. Then, when it was out in the open, he failed at getting site one, then his backup option, which granted folks in Ohio months to organize and fight back. Any way you slice, it, though, Precourt was an asshole and a brutally incompetent owner. On that we can all agree.
Anyone that thinks he tried, at all, ever. He didn’t try in the beginning and then decided he couldn’t make it work, he had the Austin move baked in from day 1 with the blessing of the league. And it’s not an argument, it’s a discussion. [emoji106]
When Austin comes to Columbus to play,do you think a ceremonial lynching or stoning of Precourt, instead of entry into the circle of honor would be appropriate?
While you are articulate and reasonable, to get between a hang-jim versus stanger bickering is a fool’s errand.
That ************************ had better make Crew away the one he, 'simply can't make gosh darn,' for his entire remaining miserable existence.