The Concession Woes will be the name of my next alt-jazz trio. (And I can confirm that "They Were Pretty Bad at the Opener" will be the name of our debut album.)
Put simply, the volume of people both there for the game and trying to get food and drinks during a very narrow window (before game and during half time) overwhelmed the concession areas which scrape by during packed GT games. There were rumors of telecom issues interrupting the checkout lines, as well, so it took people (according to various tweets and posts) 60+ minutes to get food depending on where you went. I gave up 15 minutes before kickoff and just waited till I left the stadium. The team said they're working with GT to fix this for the next game, so I expect to see at least some improvement. The big issue is the east stand along Techwood drive, where the stadium has been renovated but it's a REALLY tight fit. They need to move the athletic admin offices out of the Edge bldg., tear that thing down and use the corner to add concession space, etc. I'm not that concerned because a) it's only for 7 more games, and b) I usually eat and drink before and after the games.
Aren't the curtains moveable and didn't Arthur Blank say he would open as many seats as he needed to?
That's at the-yet-to-be completed MBA Stadium. These issues were at temporary home, Bobby Dodd on the campus of Georgia Tech.
Yes, the curtains at Mercedes Benz Stadium will be retractable in sections and we expect they'll have at least one game with an attempt to sell out. 71k might be a tall order, though, pending on how well they're doing at the time I suspect.
could ATL do like seattle and partially open the upper section? Like only open 10 rows in the upper deck rather than all rows?
That I doubt, because the screens are hung from the ceiling and not simply tarps placed over the seats. What they might be able to do is open up a whole section of the upper deck, like say one side.
They are going to have to do something to increase capacity in the new stadium. They are on the hook for around 60k free tickets for season ticket holders this year. There are probably going to be people sitting in the upper deck for most of the games in Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Does Atlanta give out 2 free game tickets to each season ticket holder? Sounds like it is from what you are saying.
Yes. It's part of the make-good for playing the first eight games at Bobby Dodd. They originally sold season tickets under the pretense that all games would be played at the Benz. People were pretty upset when that didn't work out so they gave us some free tickets, merch, and a small rebate. All in all they were pretty generous.
Yes, but it's only 2 tickets to one match at MBS. So you're looking at about 44,000 tickets total based on when the kerfuffle occurred. But I doubt they'll all be used at once and as of right now we still have a gap between season tickets sold (~33k) and the regular MLS capacity (~ 41K). Like I said, I'm expecting the first and/or last match at MBS to be opened up at least in part.
34, 373 here at the Big O tonight for #IMFC home opener.— John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) March 12, 2017
I know Twitter follower count doesn't tell the whole story, but Minnesota is in the same territory as a bunch of MLS 1.0 teams. The three other MLS team that debuted in 2015 and beyond are in the top five with at least 319k followers. Atlanta - 380k Seattle - 373k LA Galaxy - 360k Orlando - 344k NYCFC - 319k Houston - 308k Vancouver - 294k Toronto - 284k Sporting KC - 278k Montreal - 273k Portland - 263k San Jose - 182k NYRB - 181k Columbus - 136k Dallas - 126k RSL - 120k DC United - 115k Chicago -113k Philadelphia - 106k New England - 86.8k Colorado - 81.4k Minnesota - 51.3k Not only has their lack of ambitious player signings left me concerned, but so has the lack of buzz/marketing surrounding the team, save for the awesome crest/kit. I hope they realize you only get one shot to make a strong first impression, especially in a crowded market with four other pro teams. I also notice there's a steep drop-off in followers after Portland, and 8 of the 10 pre-2000 MLS teams fall into that bottom half group--the Galaxy and successfully-rebranded Sporting KC being the lone exceptions.
LAFC has more Twitter followers than Minnesota. 73.4k. I'm not sure Twitter followers mean much. The Galaxy and Sounders are really active and get into cat fights, if a team doesn't put much into they probably don't get many followers. It's a platform choice I assume.
MLS 2016 21,692 MLS 2017 21,637 (as of Saturday) Serie A 2016/17 - 21,468 Ligue 1 2016/17 - 20,396 What's more impressive is the average capacity of Serie A stadiums is 40k compared to 23k (official) for MLS.
I think the twitter followers are saying something - look how all the top ones are healthy attendance-wise, whereas the bottom ones, with the exception of RSL and Philly, struggle with attendance
Twitter followers can be anywhere. If you're following a global branding strategy you have a lot, if you're concentrating your marketing money locally you don't have as many. That why Houston has more than Portland. Just because Minnesota isn't chasing global stature like LAFC is doesn't mean that they can't be another Portland. I haven't been to Minneapolis in years, so I don't know what the buzz really is. Just because there's not much marketing going on outside of their local area does mean it isn't happening.