Home game this weekend and it is the FSC game of the week. The two teams are tied on points, though Philly has games in hand. The internationals will be with their teams, which for ATL means Lloyd & Mitts. Philly will be w/o some folks. What say you, ATL fans? Will you be at the game? Will the Beat be able to keep at least a share of the points?
I'll be there! Of all the WPS teams, I think Atlanta and Philly will certainly be impacted the least by the absence of our WNT and international players. On paper, Philly is definitely the stronger team, but Atlanta has been playing well at home. The Beat will miss Mitt's experience on the back line, but I think it really comes down to whose absence leaves a bigger hole? ARod's or Lloyd's? In the first half of the opening game of the season, Carli Lloyd was not on the field for Atlanta. Galanis started India Trotter as holding midfielder. Since then, we have seen Flanagan and Wright both playing some holding-mid from time to time.
Definitely there. Philly's my other favorite team, so I had this marked on my calendar as soon as the schedules were out. As far as bigger losses go, Philly has used Rapinoe and Lindsey in a pretty limited capacity so far and I think their midfield is still top-notch without them. Last week's game already showed that they have firepower a-plenty besides A-rod (and that's still without Boquete), so I think they're going to do fine without the NT players. Also, Henderson was great for them last year in the net and they kept her around with the idea that she would slot in perfectly while Barney was gone. I look for Philly to kick it up a notch over the next month or two. Lloyd and Mitts, well, I'm still not their biggest fans as I think Chalupny is the star in our lineup and the USWNT's loss is our gain. I'm more confused about what our actual structure is. Is Lloyd an attacking mid or holding mid? Is Trotter a holding mid? I thought she was more attack-minded, but I hadn't seen her play much prior to this season. Match Tracker's lineup for the Beat last weekend had Dowling as a lone striker and a few other odd changes, but it's Match Tracker, so "grain of salt" and all that. I hope we find a working, if not winning, strategy soon since most seem to think the WWC is going to be the time for our team "cohesiveness" to turn to our advantage. I'm just shaking my head still that we didn't at least get Press in the draft as I don't think we'd be playing "Striker by Committee" as we seem to be now. This will also mark the return of Kia and Leigh Ann Robinson so hopefully they'll get a warm welcome back from the fans.
Lloyd's most definitely been an attacking midfielder at the home games thus far. Will be interesting to see if Chalu slides back into that role or she stays on the wing. Trotter played all of a half as a defensive midfielder before switching back to a winger for all of her other appearances. Defensive mids at this point seem to be either Flanagan (a hatchetwoman) or Wright (disappointing so far). Will be really interested to see how the defense functions without Mitts.
We missed Carli Lloyd waaaay more than Philly missed their 4 (now 3) USNT members. Cross after cross went across the middle with nobody there to finish. The Beat played 11 on 10 for almost 3/4 of the game, yet it looked more like Philly was playing with a woman advantage. If only Tasha Kai played for the Beat!! On the bright side, the stadium was a ton of fun for this game with plenty of noise being made. True probably half (or more) of those were free admission, but hopefully some of them liked the experience enough to come back again soon.
I thought Chalu (duh) and Trotter were the best on the field for ATL. Dowling was solid enough but let me wanting to have seen more from her. A couple of other players (who I can't identify b/c I don't actually know their names) had moments. Very nice crowd there so give yourselves a well deserved hand
Yeah, what was the deal with the free admission? I walked up to the ticket window and some guy just gave me a free ticket. I got a free ticket to the season opener from the UNC game too, so that's two games I've seen for free. I feel like I'm not pulling my weight. Nice that it filled up the side that faces the camera, though. People always think there's nobody at our games since the GA bleachers are usually empty. The concession lines were absolutely mad at halftime so I hope the team made some money back there. Also, I saw on the PBP that people were asking why everyone was screaming. The kids were definitely fired up, but I wonder if they misunderstood the announcer saying "free shirt" as "Bie-ber?" Very sad for Kia, though. I felt terrible for her, whether the call was right or not. Hope the Philly forum isn't being too rough on her. One last thing, I went to the Silverbacks (Women) game on Saturday and Rebecca Nolin is playing for them. Also saw her at the Beat game last night, but I was late getting there so I didn't get a chance to chat. Nice to see she's still in the area.
Their first game of the season broadcast (on Easter day) on Fox Soccer was very poorly attended which looked very bad on TV I am sure. I think the WPS just wanted to make sure that didn't happen again, thus the free tickets evvvvverywhere. I normally use 2 general admission tickets, but they offered me as many seats as I wanted in the reserved section (wound up taking 6). I like the $5 deal they had going for the next game...hopefully people take them up on that - the games are way more fun with a mostly full house.
I heard that announcement about the $5 tix too, but they always close the box office before the game ends and I'm not missing the game to get tickets. I noticed Eileraas was there too, so you know Fitz had to be beaming with those seats being packed. Let's hope that gets some momentum going.
does anyone know how many paid? make sense to fill in the seats, make money off of food and items sold. it's revenues vs empty seats, and some of those become paying customers. $5 tickets x 3000 plus food sales. toronto in the mls takes in an avg of 11$ per person on food and beer. i'll be in atlanta towards the end of the season for MJ, WNY and Philly when things start to heat up for play off spots. Go Press!
I was at the match and was very happy to see that many people at the stadium, regardless of free tickets. Those people still had the choice to go or not go because free tickets means less vested interest in attending. What I am really bummed about is the fact that most of those folks might not come back now because of the lost. First half display was great. The ladies moved the ball well, provided support and created chances. Obviously with Philly playing a 4-4-1 it allowed time and space for Whitehill and Dowling to provide the service which they did a great job. Our central midfielders were errant in their passing which is suprising from Chalupny. IMHO, Trotter is not a central midfielder unless you have someone around her to support her with quick easy passes. Halftime adjustments were fantastic from Philly and we were not able to make our own adjustments. We continued to play the exact same way which put us under pressure. By Philly going to three in the back and pushing another player into the forward role our center backs no longer had time and space. So the weight of building the attack fell onto our central midfielders, who as mentioned were errant in their passing so we had no flow in the attack. I firmly beleive The Beat were out coached in this match and gave away 3 points. This was a preview of how we will stack up against other teams during the World Cup exodus and we did not take advantage of it. Could be a long a season if it continues.
It was great to see the large crowd and I hope the folks who got the Freebies and discounted tickets will return for future games. My problem is that it's a sort of slap in the face to the hardcore Fans who bought Season Tickets ,Flexi-pass tickets at full price.It's giving me reason to not buy tickets next season until game days etc to take advantage of the heavily cut price/free tickets.
BECAUSE THEY CAN"T GET ANYBODY TO PAY THESE RIDICULOUS PRICES NOT TO MENTION LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. Don't get me wrong, the stadium is beautiful, clean, intimate. And it's also way the crap out in nowhere and you only get press coverage from the local MDJ paper. Are people still wondering why nobody's coming to these games? I am ROFLMAO at free admission. Literally. That's the best stuff I've heard in a while.... oh the desperation!! haha
When it comes down to it, we know that if the attendance/revenue doesn't start increasing soon, then WPS season 4 likely won't happen. Thinking in those terms, I am more than happy to do my share by paying for season tickets. For the big revenue sports (NFL/MLB/NBA), yes I want to get by with paying as little as possible since I know that revenue is just lining the pockets of millionaires, but the WPS is just trying to stay afloat and keep their losses down in order to keep going...so it's worth it to me. On a related note - there is much talk lately about the Atlanta Thrashers moving...and I must say I would be much sadder to see the Beat go than the Thrashers.
There have been posters on these WPS boards advocating for *very* low or free admission and certain that would be the way to increase fan support and team profiles. I'm not so sure since I think it conditions the casual fan to expect free/vastly reduced prices while annoying the hardcore/season tix holders. I guess we'll get to see if the strategy pays off for ATL.
The Atlanta Dream (WNBA franchise) was at the game and had an area set up to sign autographs at halftime. It is nice to see the two teams working together.
It was great to see the Atlanta Dream Team (WNBA franchise)at the game and I Thank them for their support of the Beat.It's good to see Members of Women's Professional Sports Teams Supporting one another and increasing the Visability of Women's Sport and hope that the Beat will return the Favor.
Speak to the ticket office about them giving away free tickets... maybee they can give you a voucher or 2 to bring some friends with you. Or they can invite season ticket holders to a private event with the players... They may provide you with perks that casual ticket buyers won't get... maybe a player signing with a player from another team... does not hurt to ask, and they may go above and beyond to keep you happy
Nine, don't you work for the team? When the "it's the end" threads are constantly popping up about attendance, maybe it is time for desperate measures. Whatever it takes to get bottoms in seats, I support. I'm with GaDawg about paying, but I understand the season ticket holders' frustrations and I think Pasoccerdad had some good suggestions on getting non-monetary compensation. I was going to buy season tickets, but I like to move around from game-to-game so I figured I'd just buy per game. I just lucked out with the free tickets. Honestly, though, I was serious about not pulling my weight by paying (I think it's an inherent Catholic Guilt thing), but I took the WUSA for granted and only went to one game. Next thing I knew, the league was gone. Also, I actually like driving to Kennesaw more than I liked going to Ga. Tech and Tech is closer for me, but I see where it is inconvenient for non-rabid fans. It seems the Silverbacks' location is more ideal as far as that goes. The press coverage is key, though, since it's clear any major advertising is well outside the team's budget. The problem for the league as a whole is exposure, but it seems like the Beat work their butts off to do a lot of grass roots-type promotion. That kind of campaign can only hit so many people at a time. Maybe they need to get Clark Howard to come out there and do a cheap ticket promotion like he does for the larger teams.
No, I do not work there any longer. I don't set the ticket prices and you can't make any money giving them away either, hence my resignation.
Depends on the goal set forth, getting 2000 people in free and cashing in the conssesions could be worth more than the ticket itself... for instance a four person family spending 35 for food and and another 20 in merchandise can add to revenue and leave a great taste in the fan to come back with a paid ticket Teams throw T-Shirts in the crowd because they know for each one thrown, they sell 5 more to ones that did not catch one. Fitz owns the stadium and the food and the merch... it all to get them in the door and feeling good
pasoccerdad, you're right about that if Fitz controls the food/parking/merch revenue. Ownership is one of the reasons I think the Beat are better off than some teams b/c they also should get a significant cut out of the other events held at the stadium. All depends on how the contract w/ KSU was written. But if you're a ticket rep working on commission based on $ amount of sales then the free tickets dramatically cut into your own income (I think nine might have been a ticket rep).