cheaper stadiums

The Whitecaps do that at Swangard stadium. They have set up hospitality tents at the north end of the field for the "high-end" customers. Is it worth it? It must be, as the tents render approximately 1,000 seats in the endzone useless and they no longer sell tickets for them.

 

That sounds eminently doable. I'd love to see how the Whitecaps do it, as Krammerhead described. It would seem to me to be easier in open ended end zones than in the midst of seats. It would be most practical if the venue is the regular venue, and not necessarily for one-offs. However, if you sold a ticket package with US Open Cup games thrown in, and wanted to continue giving the "suite" experience even though you weren't playing at the usual ground, and you knew the facility from previous experience, it could be a good money maker.

 

You can get a glimpse of the tents in these photos I took the other week, bottom left photo. It's actually more like picnic umbrellas and tables, though there's a food and alcohol tent behind them that you can't see:

http://newheads.tripod.com/swangardsouth/id16.html

 

The latest proposal for a baseball stadium in Oakland reduces the number of the "normal-size" (14-22 seat) luxury suites and creates a number of "4-seat" suites (possibly little more than tables in a designated area), attempting to cater to smaller companies who don't want to make the bigger splurge but still want to entertain the occasional client. Reason: the market for the big ones has gone soft, especially in the Bay Area which already houses the Quakes, two NFL teams, another MLB team, an NBA team, and an NHL team, all in different facilities.

In a town like Rochester, I doubt that's necessary... but in a place like Seattle, where there's already been stories about "suite glut" because certain teams (especially the Sonics, from what I hear) can't sell them, I'm not sure it's a good idea to attempt to rely on that income.

If you're building your own park, I think it depends on supply and demand. Charleston really should have them. Portland, probably. Seattle really needs to think through a decision like that. If an Orlando or Boise were to jump into the fray (read NOTHING into that statement, please), HELL yes.

Seattle could probably do well to think out of the box on this one, especially if they remain in Qwest. I wonder if there's a way to work in a temporary platform or two on the unused side of the stadium?

 

From what I hear, the Sounders do very little (if any at all) in the way of any "game day" presentation at Qwest. That is, if you didn't see their soccer team on the pitch you wouldn't even know the Sounders were playing there. I doubt they'd bother with the effort of building a temporary platform on the unused side of the stadium if they can't even bother with any other type of game day effort.

 

Charleston's Blackbaud stadium has four luxury suites and they have been sold out for the last couple years. Each one is didvide in to two parts and Indoor AC section and and outdoor "deck" with seats. They comes with 20 tickets and includes service from the Three Lions Pub and TV. The match is shown on CCTV (what im sure later become game tapes) and has the Battery webcast piped in on the speakers. I thought that if they ever did enlarge Blackbaud they should add a couple more at least, I think they could sell out two or three more with out any problems.

 

I think some of the suites at the Palace of Auburn Hills (Detroit Pistons) can be divided in half, so you can have one 16-seat suite or two 8-seaters. Even the seats that are adjoining the suites have a handrail down the middle, so you have to "stay on your side" if you get the half-suite.

Now it's no problem for the Pistons (NBA champs last year, finalists this year), but this might work for concerts and other shows.

Also on the "suite glut" side, new stadia for the Tigers and Lions have plenty of suites available for some games. (The Lions suite prices are just out of this world, and they probably priced themselves out of the market.) Also, I think suites are planned for the U of Michigan's stadium.

But...a "4-seat suite" sounds a lot like the "box seats" of days gone bye.

 

From the overhead photos, it looks a lot like Crew Stadium. I think stadiums like this are great for MLS.