Most of us agree that revolution soccer is no longer the overiding concern when discussing attendence at gillete stadium; heck, the team is playing better soccer now than they ever have. So then it must be the stadium and the town of foxboro. How can you change the atmostphere surrounding the stadium to excite more and most importantly, new fans, to come and watch revolution soccer. The fan base is not the problem. Soccer is now probably the largest youth sport in the state, and we have plenty of mls fans. The problem is that a mojority of those people (who may claim to support the revs) are not showing up. The problem is not the price of admission. With a group of 20 you can see a game for about the same price as a movie ticket and about $30 less than a red sox, bruins, celtics, or pats game. The ffod inside is comparably priced as is the parking. Obviously foxboro can never compare to boston, but at some level the town needs to take part in the fan draw just the same as the event does. So what can be done? Would a restaurant on the gillette property, which would have TGIFridays type fare and a bar, help attract people and intice them to make a full night out of coming to a game? Would it help if outside the stadium, the facility set up a bourbon street type atmostphere outside by the parking lot, with game anouncement, food, and beverage vendors, similar to the way the red sox have on yawkey way? In what ways can we help to create a foxboro night life, where people will want come for the bars/clubs/movies/restaurants as well as the game? Would this help and would this be appropriate? Is it the advertisement that is lacking? Does the globe need to experement with a daily soccer page, or even a daily column about world and mls soccer? I know in the past that they have tried once a week up dates, but maybe they might have greater success with something that people can depend on being there. Perhaps advertisement needs to shift from a focus on kids (frankly I think that the newest ads are terribly annoying) to a focus on older age groups. How can they target different groups? How can the revs become more active than they currently are with youth soccer programs, and more specifically the MAPLE clubs, to generate some pride within the soccer community for their home team? Do we need to try and establish a rivalry akin to the yankees v. the red sox? While their is certainly no easy solution, the revs are for now staying put in foxboro, so something needs to be done. And yet, while attendence numbers this year are down, there are many reasons why they are not comparable to last last years, and they still are amongst the best in the league. There is broad support for both soccer and the mls in massachusetts, we just need to think of better ways to harness it. For those of you like myself, who believe that the future of youth soccer in massachusetts, and the future of soccer in the US is necessarily tied to the success of the revs and of the mls, we need to support the revs ourselves, but also to think of innovative ways to get other people to support them as well. I know its kinda long. Let me know what you think...
Unless both sides of Gillette Stadium are open, there will never be any atmosphere in a place that is just too big for MLS crowds right now. At least three sides need to be open. If it means opening only so many rows, so be it. Parking - $5. Parking your car costing more than your ticket is ridiculous. Ticket prices have gone up, raising parking at the same time was foolish. Security - tell them their job is to solve problems, not to create them. Unless they see a problem, they should only be seen and not heard. Tailgating - parking lots open three hours before games. One full hour for tailgating after night games, one and half hours after afternoon games. Don't tell people they have to pack up and go until then. Adopt a slogan of "Friendly Foxboro" and make it the policy!
I totally agree, especially the security guards point. Revs Mngmnt should really consider the thoughts that will be collected in this thread.
I think the price of admission is a big problem--at least for me it is. A category III (General Admission) ticket is $16 at the window. Non-matinee prices for a movie are roughly $8-$9. I don't know about you but I don't know 20 people who are interested enough in soccer to all go to the same game. I routinely go to Celtics games and purchase the $10 ticket. Almost all of the RedSox games I will go to (including all Yankee games) this year will be with $10 tickets. Thus, RedSox and Celtics are cheaper than Revs games. Yes Bruins are roughly $23 at their cheapest--which is the same as Category II tickets. There is no comparison with the Pats. The parking is not comparably priced when you look at how Revs parking is $15--the same price as the ticket. This is extremely high given that there is no public transportation to their games. Yes, it will cost you the same or more for RedSox, Celts, Bruins to park but there are more than ample public transportation opportunities for them (I take the T--others I know drive to the T.) Even two people can take the train to Foxboro for Pats roundtrip for $16--the same as parking for the Revs. Basically, the Revs are equal to or worse than the RedSox, Bruins or Celtics. The only thing I will concede in general is that Gillette stadium food is comparable in price as to Fenway and FleetCenter food. It still, however, is price to high. I think the Revs (and MLS) should compare themselves to the PawSox and price accordingly. (PawSox tickets are $5--$8, parking is either free or really cheap and the food is 1/3--1/2 cheaper than Gillette food. I use this comparison for the following reason. I recognize that AAA baseball is not the highest level of baseball in this country like MLS soccer is the highest level of soccer in this nation but I think the level of baseball played in Pawtucket is closer to the level played by those who are the best in the world (i.e. the RedSox, Yanks, etc--the best baseball is played in the U.S.) than the level of soccer played in MLS is relative to the best soccer in the world (i.e. Serie A, Spanish, EPL leagues). I mean, Nomar, Mo Vaughn, Fossum, etc played in Pawtucket and the fans down there got to see someone like Nomar become one of the best baseball players in the world but no one on the Revs or in MLS for that matter (maybe Howard or Donovan in the future) has graduated to Serie A, Spain, etc and become one of the very best soccer players in the world.
My only suggestion is to close the endzone opposite the fort and open up the other side of the staduim. I really dont have a problem with the ticket price $16 for my ticket is that much of problem. Yeah so you can buy a Celts ticket for $10 but you are stuck in the last 2 rows of the end seats( oh yeah they dropped from 1000 $10 seats this past season to about 400 this coming yr or get a $700 a seat in teh front 4 rows). The parking situation is easy you either buy the parking pass offered or split the cost with other people. Like my group is 4 people an we each will take turns paying.
You can't make it any better, it's out in the middle of nowhere on Route 1. Works for passball as that is a TV sport and the 60,000 are there as background extras, but not for football. The only solution is a SSS in Boston.
There is a pretty large potential fan base in Boston. Sections of the city have big Latino and Cape Verdean populations. Also, there are a ton of college students, a lot of whom are international students. A lot of these people are soccer fans, but geography is a problem. Boston is far away from Foxboro. A lot of people in Boston, especially the college students, don't have cars. Foxborro isn't particularly accessible by public transportation. I know there's a commuter rail line, but it isn't publicized at all. There must be buses, but again, these are not publicized. People don't know how they can get to Foxboro.
So how do we get those people who have yet to experience a live game at gillette to come to games. Lowering the prices may help a bit (most necessarily for parking), however, the increased ticket sales will not doubt fall short of compensating for lost revenue. The Revolution are no longer a separate entity within the kraft organization are being run like a business, which needs to meetconsiderations for both the fans and for the bottom line. Even with great success, the revs are still losing money, and they are selling amongst the best in the league. I like the idea of moving fans all around the stadium, however, that assumes that the attendance will be great enough to fill enough rows. Just as half of a stadium may look bad now, it may look worse to have a thin film of fans five rows deep surrounding the stadium. And while hospitality always needs to be reevaluated and enhanced, the mls ranks highest, by a large margin, over any other sport in family atmostphere and hospitality. The entire campaign has been designed around kids and fun (for better or worse) and not around beer and adults, and so if anything, mls would be a positive alternative in that respect to other activities. But even if these three factors were addressed and righted to the best of the stadiums ability and fan satisfaction (and they should assuming feasibility), I don't believe that they would insight substantial increases in attendance. My pessimism may mean that professional soccer, no matter what is done, can not at this momment in time do dramatically better in attendance than the revs are currently able to attract. It may mean that soccer is not yet popular enough, or that the team is too young for most new englanders to feel a bond with them as they do the other professional sports teams. But there have to be other ways in which to create that bond and bring the thousands of people to the field that have yet to have a chance to see a game and be turned away by some of the problems suggested here. That's what i want to know. How do you get the Wilson's to want to come down for an evening with the revs, more than just once a season with the town soccer league, and not simply because it appeals to and is geared towards their children. Heck, the mls has done so much advertisement and so many promotions for kids (who are already their largest fan base), that it is no wonder that many adults think of mls soccer as childish or less than professional. Should the ticket price be reduced, probably not. Should the parking price be reduced, yeah probably. Should the stadium seating be more evenly spread around the stadium, maybe. These, however, are not the major solutions that the revs need to solve their attendance problems. In fact, many of the people who raise these objections are fans who for some reason or another, continue to go to games anyway! (I am one of them)
I simply do not get this argument about Gillette Stadium's location. It's near two major highways, roughly equidistant from the three largest cities in New England and in the middle of what is the fastest growing region of Massachusetts. Soccer fans can't drive? I thought, from reading other threads, that one of the biggest problems is that the start times conflict with youth soccer. Don't all those youth soccer players have parents with minivans?
Although a move to a boston venue would help greatly, I still believe gillette can be fixed. I have gone to one game this season and do not plan to go to another one at this time because there is a better atmosphere in my house than at the stadium. The entire (except for the fort) endzone's should be closed and just open up all the sidelines. That will be around 25k seats while the current configuration has 24k. If the Revs want to make money, they have to spend it. Opening up the stadium a bit more to provide some more atmosphere is the only solution. As far as prices go, I have no problem with the ticket prices, which I believe are fair, or the food. Parking is a little ridiulous but it is almost $30 at Brunins games, so its not so bad. Also, the Revs should maybe play some of their exhibition games on the campus of a Boston College to convince some of them to come to foxboro. Anyway, if the Krafts decide to keep this terrible system going, the Revs wont last too long like this in Foxboro.
I must agree with this. When I traveled to the Boston area in 2001 for a WCQ, I had to get from the airport to Foxboro. The ONLY way to get there was on a charter bus to Mansfield (which about 5 miles from the stadium), they dropped me off at some strip mall, and from there the only way to get to the stadium was by cab. The total cost of this, one-way, was like $35. No rail or other forms of public transportation. That was the only way I could get there. To make things worse, on the return trip, the charter bus didn't even show up and I was stranded for the night. Now for a US game, I could swallow that cost, but I don't think I'd have much incentive to go to Revs game and put myself through that.
The truth about Bruins Tickets People keep throwing out all sorts of costs involved for the bruins. I've been a Bruins (5 years) and Revs (7 years) season ticket holder. Last year, my season tix for the b's was $19 per game. The same seats sells individually for $23.00 per game. My first season, they were $15 per game. Parking for a Bruins game will run you $20 max, and that's to park in the Fleetcenter garage (which is just as bad at getting out of postgame as any game at Foxboro). I pay nothing to park on Cambridge Street right next to Lechmere on the Green Line after 5pm and on sundays ($3.00 to park in the T lot for day games) and a buck each way on the T to go to the game. So, that ranges from $2.00 to $5.00 at most for parking and transportation. Just for comparisons' sake: Non season ticket pricing per game: 2 cheapest bruins tickets ($46.00), T ($2.00) and parking ($3.00 max): $51.00 2 cheapest Revs tickets ($32.00) and parking ($15.00): $47.00 Season ticket pricing per game: Bruins tix ($38.00), T ($2.00) and parking ($3.00) = $43.00 Revs tix ($28.00) and parking ($15.00) = $43.00 Rumor has it that the B's might offer even cheaper seats this year and they do offer a few giveaways during the year. Plus discounts to the proshop, where you can actually buy team gear... The numbers don't lie. - Jon
Ok, forget the bruins comparison. I'm sorry that I brought it up. While the cheapest revs tickets get you closer to the action than the cheapest of the other tickets (you could be in the first row behind the goal, which can be pretty nice, or at the worst thirty rows up), and the season ticket holder gets plenty of special bonuses with all of the international matches (which you don't get close to with any other professional teams) there are points to argue over tastes and value that won't be solved here. And while we may agree that parking prices should be lowered, we are still not tackling any of the bigger issues, of which parking is not one. Transportation on the whole is a key issue, but no t service in their right minds is gonna dedicate a line to the revs games when they are pulling in the crowds that they get and so many people are still willing to drive. Maybe advertising existing public trans. will work (isn't their a stop right at foxboro?), but it still may be too expensive and combersome for most travelers. The tail gating idea seems also to be a no brainer; allowing fans to show up and stay more than an hour on either end of the contest. Is it your sense that the marketing campaign is targeting the right audience, or are the games still geared too much towards children, causing the leagues image to suffer. Should Vinny Jones be hired as a consultant to help promote warrior heroes that can be looked up to as being tough like american football players?
Two things. Number one, soccer moms drive SUV's not minivans. Number two, didn't Lechmere go out of business?
One suggestion I'd make: Create opportunities that would allow for better marketing to the college students in the Boston-metro area. Come up with a "College Six-Pack" (pun intended) where the Revolution will offer discounted match tickets to six regular season matches - students qualifying for them by showing their University or College i.d. A flex-plan would be in effect for these tickets, in that, should a student not be able to make the game he/shehas bought a ticket for, they could then redeem the unused ticket for any other Revolution match offered as part of the special offer. Also provided would be bus transportation to and from the city from a centralized point like Kenmore Square, with perhaps one other pick-up or drop-off point. The Magpie
In terms of youth players and their parents, as I posted on another thread, it's just the Revs luck - finally get to play a bunch of games at home earlier in the season and Mother Nature decides to ruin it. There have been so many make-up games on Saturdays in terms of State Cup, MAPLE, and town. Also June weekend are always booked for the youth players, especially the more dedicated ones who you would think would be the people to want to gome to games - for the game itself. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw an increase after June when all those youth players and parents get a break(might be skewed a little since we have all those triple headers and gold cup) One thing to note as well: Mass State Olypmic Development Program(ODP) trains on Saturdays late afternoon/early evening - thus making it hard for those most dedicated players/parents to make it to the games(even 7:30 starts). Maybe the Revs could work with Mass Youth to have all of the ODP program go to the games after training on Sat. Aagin, these are the dedictaed players who know all about MLS, know the players, follow them and try to emulate some of them. These are kids who probably would be at the games if there wasn't this conflict. In addition, with the Region 1 Director's League and now Super-Y League teams in the area that play during the weekends through spring/summer with some travel that could keep them from games. Again, I don't have any clue to what percentage these numbers are off based on these events - they are just observations of what is going on in the youth scene.
The answer is in one word: Marketing. Just the fact that Revs fans are trying to come up with solutions is proof that the front office hasn't a clue. The response to last year's mediocre attendance: raise prices! If you pay a lot to park at Fenway or the Fleet, there's a reason: it's the free market. It's a competitive situation (more or less) and the availability of parking determines the pricing. At Gillette, the pricing is determined by what the management wants to charge, not by any competitive market. Why do the Revs charge more for parking this year than last? Why did the team reduce the discount for parking passes from $5 savings to $3? BECAUSE THEY COULD. Same thing with ticket prices. And the result is people are staying home - it's not worth it anymore. They're choking the life out of this fanbase because they don't have a clue about how to market to it. It's not transportation, although that could help. It's not the empty side, although increasing attendance would fix that. It's not atmosphere, but the atmosphere is good except for the most passionate who crave yelling, screaming, chanting, etc (personally I can enjoy the game for it's own sake, regardless of whether people around me are making noise). It's not the security, even if that is annoying, it's not that big a deal usually. People came to the old stadium because it was cheap and easy - they seemed to have lost sight of that fact. It was an alternative to bringing the family to the Sox, Celts, Bruins or Pats and dropping a bundle while dealing with large, often unruly crowds. Now they expect people to come to the Revs and drop a bundle - well, people can't or won't. Offer cheaper tickets, charge something reasonable for parking and make some sort of effort in the communities to get people interested. The added volume would improve the bottom line.
The location argument has to do with what's around the venue, in addition to the public transport option. In the city, you have streetlife (pubs, restaurants, shops). On route 1, you have nothing. So it's in for the match, and get out as quick as possible. A downtown SSS would provide a more urbane, aesthetically superior experience.
A Downtown SSS in not even remotely a possibilty. If Bob Kraft can't get one done for the Pats, and he Red Sox can't get one either, there is absolutely no way the Revs will get one. Dream all you want, it won't happen. The thread is "How do you make Gillette more attractive?", think along those lines, because it' s the only place the Revs will be playing barring St. Phil buying the Revs and getting a stadium built. Even then it sure as hell won't be downtown. The politics in this state, especially in Boston wouldn't allow it. As has been stated, marketing the team better would help. I'd like to see parking prices lowered and both sides of the stadium opened. I'd like to see beer prices lowered too, for purely selfish reasons. I'm the sucker who always says I won't buy one next time because $6.75 is too much for one beer, but then next time rolls around and I'm sipping my Bass saying the same thing.
To me, a good start would be opening both sides of the stadium, closing the end seats and the corners, and only selling seats between the endlines.
I don't think a SSS downtown is that unreasonable. The size will be 1/3 of what the Pats needed, and 1/2 what the Sox wanted, so that has a much smaller ripple effect on parking and traffic (the main issues). Also cost, the right site (on the T) won't require the new owner to go hat in hand to the legislature for major infrastructure improvements.