Whether you think it was a bad idea or not, the Blast got out of it what they wanted. The night was a success. 4,000 people came. It was the second largest Blast crowd ever. The Blast wanted to create a buzz, get a little press, have a good showing, and maybe even score a goal. All four happened. Heck, even Whitecaps fans were talking about it before their game. The Blast also invited all of their sponsors to the party deck for a little networking and happy crowd watching, which resulted in another sponsor coming on board. Mission accomplished. I don't know what little worlds some of you live in, but unless you are Rochester, home games in the A-League are money losers. So the Blast didn't get 1,500 paying fans (since we know 4,000 weren't going to come if it wasn't free). So they lost $10,000 or so. So what? It's like throwing a deck chair off the Queen Mary. Is it really gonna matter whether you lose $150,000 or $160,000? The Blast didn't throw in the towel on the first game. They did the freebie game the first game of the year in hopes that, if someone liked the game, they could come back. The season ticket holders weren't mad, because the tickets are open dated. No tickets were taken, so the season ticket holders are able to take friends to a different game. The people who came, still spent money on concessions and the Blast had their largest take on merchandise ever. I agree, the Blast would do better if they won some games, but they haven't so you have to improvise a little. http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/8/041874-1528-036.html
It will only be a success if the people who attended the freebie come back for more games later in the season and whatever buzz it generated can be sustained. Hopefully that will be the case, but we'll have to wait and see.
I'm sure they will. I'm sure the Blast got the names and addresses of most of the people who attended, so that they can actively market to those folks and ask them to pay to come back to another game, instead of just hoping that they'll come back. They did do that, right?
Funny if you question something you are accused of coming from a "little World", but whatever. Good attitude there though, everybody loses money so who cares how much you lose. Thats the spirit that has made Indiana a success! Not! I don't know how muxh money Vancouver loses playing home games, not much I'd assume, especially with our over 5000 crowds, I know Montreal isn't losing money playing home games, so you aren't quite accurate there. You know what? You keep throwing deck chairs off the Queen Mary and none are replaced eventually they will run out.