McCullers Quickies

Much of it makes for worrisome reading. But credit to him because it would be far worse for him to not speak plainly about many of the challenges the team faces currently.

 

Big props to MM for his candidness and honesty!

 

That's the type of snipping I have come to know from Crew fans.

 

Are you referring to my post? I was being honest in praising his candidness in the interview.

 

While I appreciate him being upfront and honest, his "3-Year Goals" almost make me laugh.

I fully believe we will again have a jersey sponsor. I have no idea where we are going to suddenly pull 10,000 season ticket holders out of (particularly when we have just had what was arguably the best 3 year stretch in club history, and I'd guess us nowhere near that number). As for a stadium naming, I'm not sure they could sell it for a dollar at this point -- because they clearly can't sell it at what they think it's worth.

 

legalize

 

Respect for him talking about all this openly but you have to wonder why we're not the big name in our market...it's not cause the Nordecke or the loyal fans aren't doing our parts.

At some point the FO needs to MAKE the team a bigger presence. It's been harped over a thousand times so I wont prattle on but this team has very very little in the way of a media footprint.

 

Until the Blue Jackets leave the Crew will play 3rd Fiddle (close to 4th) with the Clippers.
The team was great in terms of sponsorship, attention, etc until the Jackets came in and took it all away and couple that with the economy and now we find ourselves in our current position.
If he was disappointed and embarrassed with the home opener I wonder if hes suicidal after this past weekend.

 

There is little that the Crew can do about the media. The Dispatch has made the decision to go beyond covering the Blue jackets and have just become a shill as they try to sell enough tickets to a perennially losing team. If the Dispatch and other print papers survive long enough, there may be a generational change in the editorial direction that will benefit the Crew. The Dispatch is still the paper of record for Columbus. Other media outlets will follow what they do. I think that the Dispatch people also think that the only people interested in the Crew are largely young people who will get the content from other places then the printed page. It is part of their bias that is an incorrect assumption in my opinion. It does hurt the Crew because people buy what they see.

In the meantime, I see the Crew doing everything that they can to communicate and bring excitement to the public. They are doing a very good job of using social media to communicate. By and large, younger people are still more likely to be reached in that way. Younger people are not likely to be the ones to buy season tickets. They are more likely to be week to week in their financial existence. People who are settled with into a career and family are more likely to buy season tickets. Its a money thing. When those people feel good about the economy, especially their personal economy, I think there may be some movement.

In the meantime, if I were McCullers, I would become the best friend of the sports editor at the Dispatch.

 

stadium upgrades would definitely be a step in the right direction. I think if the whole stadium (excluding the Nordecke) had actual plastic seats like the premium section does would be an improvement, a larger video scoreboard, LED sponsor signs around the field, and of course a roof would all be awesome. hell even 1 of those 4 things was done it would be a great improvement. The FO also needs to start advertising more, I never see a single sign or anything (im not from Columbus but I drive through the city enough, but possibly im just missing them?) and even some advertising out of town. Im from the dayton area and go to school in athens and both of these places are full of crew fans but no advertising or promoting is done here to get people to make the drive up. Obviously a lot of improvement needs to be done and I only hope that the club has the motivation and resources to get something going

 

I've never understood this massive (pun not intended) outcry for more marketing and promotions. I've just never seen it as the fix-all to getting more people in the stadium. If it was that easy, wouldn't the Crew (and, hell, every pro sports team) just spend a bunch of money on marketing and promotions to boost attendance?

Am I being unreasonably naive?

 

I think it's more about having a presence in cbus. OSU football wouldn't need to advertise because everyone knows all about them. The Crew need to continue to be put in front of people to remind them they are here.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNkp4QF3we8"]YouTube - Family Guy - Lois Mom Mum Mommy[/ame]

Pretty much.

 

I guess, but that assumes that people just need to be told the Crew are still here and then suddenly they'll show up. It's not "If you market they will come." It's not that simple, I don't think.

 

Not to mention, only the diehards know who half these guys are anymore.

Crew Cat

 

I think this has already been addressed elsewhere, but the ticket prices I think are problematic. Seems like three years ago I could get into the stadium for 10 dollars. Now I'm paying more than double that but there are fewer people in the stadium. Seems odd that supply and demand does not apply in Crewville.

Sell cheap tickets. Team plays balls off. People get interested, become invested. Stadium fills. Raise prices slowly over time.

 

The price of tickets has meant that I am no longer able to attend on a regular basis, but is the point to have people attend more often, or more people to attend in general? Then I watch on MDL and see an empty East stand.

On the price of tickets too, if people are going to turn up on a dreary saturday evening, knowing that they will have to pay $25+ per person (and parking on top) will put alot of people off. Let's go to the movies instead kids.

 

I don't think it's letting people know that the Crew exisit it's more of "Hey, there is a game on 4/30/11 at 7:30. Come and watch"

 

I'm still a believer that the current stadium could be upgraded (the facade in particular). How many old stadia worldwide have we seen get complete makeovers? Happens all the time!

And then there's the safe standing issue. It would be great if, keeping in the tradition of being trendsetters, the club would find a way to safely install safe standing in the Nordecke similiar to how the Bundesliga clubs have installed.

 

McCullers said paid attendance is up 40% the past few years. Personally I think the stadium is much more lively than it was now than a few years ago (Pre and early 2008). We will still have bad days like last Saturday.

Lowering ticket prices simply devalues the product. They are not over priced. The goal is to bring people in at current prices.

The point is for people to attend on a regular basis - as season ticket holders. Unfortunately lowering every day prices and constantly running deals makes it extremely difficult to sell a season ticket package. Which is another reason why they shouldn't lower prices.

I certainly agree with you on your last point, I've never thought going after families is a strong strategy. It's more than likely in their budget and availability to make a couple games a year family outings.

In my opinion that 23-33 year old with a job is the prime market right now. If they are single or simply married going to the game is more easily affordable, and can be an event with friends. Hopefully they get hooked and buy more tickets. Then when they settle down and have a family, they may not be going to every game but the propability of that person getting his family out to more games than not is higher.

 

I have seen them advetise games on the electronic billboards, Broad street and on n.Hamilton.

 

I would love to see what the statistics are for that demographic. In my experience, if you are under thirty, you are not buying season tickets. I doubt if you plan that far ahead unless you are already a big fan. If you are in a family, you probably actually do have a budget and plan to spend some money on entertainment. You are probably in a two income situation. As you have children, you look for entertainment that the whole family will enjoy. Hopefully the 23-33 crowd will grow into this.

In addition, families have kids who play soccer. It is a direct way to communicate and market.

 

Based on other McCullers interviews the Crew still has some of the lowest ticket prices in the league and has been pressured by the league the last few years to bring ticket prices up to the 'norm'. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong here, but as I recall that's been one of the big factors.

I still think the biggest issue is the immediate surrounding area. Would be nice to have bars/restaurants closer as not everyone is willing to park on Summit or 4th to have a beer and then walk to the stadium. Families aren't going to make a day of it like they could if there were more options around the stadium like the Arena District.