I was wondering what folks have heard for the Opening Game attendance. It seems Season Tickets have been going well and group sales have been terrific. Given the interest with potentially Adu's first game I would think DCU will be at least in the 20s and has a fair chance to sell out the lower bowl. Any thoughts?
I was talking with SZack and co. tonight -- they definitely expect a sell-out, and they will not be opening the upper deck. GM
That sounds about right.. I heard a figure a few years ago stating that the actual number is right at around 26,000 for a complete lower bowl sellout.. I was hoping United would take advantage of the only drawing card MLS is likely to receive in the near future but they are capping out at 26k.. If marketed correctly, and MLS would make damn sure this would happen, I believe we could have set a new attendance record on opening day, but apparently United isn't interested in doing that for some odd reason..
Chris, the way it was explained tonight is that they want to fully capitalize on the current buzz surrounding Freddy and the team. They want to generate that same buzz not only for the opener but subsequent matches also. Season tickets are holding steady and the single season tickets that go onsale tomorrow should be a good indicator. Then strong walkup sales are expected. Like I mentioned in the Summit thread, if you know of anyone that wants to go to the opener, you might want to recommend they buy their tickets early.
Well I'd expect the lower bowl to sell out..what 34 days till the match. They may sell into the upperbowl, as long as Freddy doesn't get hurt during training or some signs point to him not playing at all. If Freddy gets hurt on March 30th or 31st. Then the MLS is screwed, big time
Actually, I think it's good marketing by the team not to open the upper bowl. If/when the game sells out, it'll generate a bunch of hype around the area. Notice how once tickets become scarce, the demand seems to rise as people want to be in on what's going on...if that happens, you're looking at a repeat 3 weeks later against Chicago, then 2 weeks later against Columbus, etc... That's just my opinion, anyway...
Tickets previously held for future season ticket sales are released today. I called and learned only five tickets left in section 231. Handful in 230. I bought a block of 20 in 228 to bring a bunch of colleagues and friends. Hope it doesn't rain....
That's the theory in a nutshell. Scarcity drives demand and advance sales, which drives scarcity, all in a golden spiral to profitability. Even the scalpers win. Of course, it's never been tested in practice, so who really knows. If a huge walk-up crowd shows up on the 3rd, it will torturously tempting to open the upper bowl and sell some more tickets. If so, I wonder it United will restrain itself. perc perc
I for one, like the idea of a "sellout" of the lower bowl. Part of this tactic though, is to limit TV coverage of the empty upper deck...it will look, feel, and sound awesome with the lower tier packed and rockin'. One thing to remember about opening the upper deck - from a business standpoint, they have to add ushers, food service, someone has to 'clean' the crappers (not that it actually happens at RFK, but they at least have to put paper on the rolls), etc. and that all costs money. However, I assume someone has done the stubby pencil work, since if it was likely they would sell another 5-10,000 seats then by all means, open it up! Either way, it's going to be a packed opener. I can't wait.
Just thinking back to the usual big game blunders at RFK. Leave it up to the parking and walk up ticket sales people to screw up so fans are waiting on line till the second half to get in. Need I mention the impact of the intelligent and sensitive security force on first time fans???
I hope you guys do sell out, and i mean sell out the 50k+ stadium, and hope Adu will play at least 30 min
One quick note on the "sellout" lower bowl vs whole stadium: I read on another thread that the new Fire SSS will have a 25K capacity - I can't speak to the accuracy of that number, but if it's true it would indicate that for MLS, that number is considered acceptable for a "sellout."
Well, we can all speak accurately about the number of seats in Columbus, and it's a good bit less than 25k.
Can anybody give me some guidance as to when the tickets for the april 3rd game go on sale and if they are, where I can go to get them. I've searched around a little and haven't been able to get an answer. I figure you guys would be the most knowledgable on the subject.
Attendance...we should fill the bottom bowl. They'll probably turn walkup fans away from a mostly empty stadium. Television viewership? Does that count? We might get a couple people watching on the TV.
I posted in another thread - more relevant here even if nobody agrees with me And regardless of how many people flock to see Adu, the expansive upper bowl at RFK Stadium will not be opened. "We need to build up some scarcity," said Stephen Zack, United senior vice president. "That's been our problem. There's no sense of urgency. Our stadium is so big that people assume they can buy tickets whenever, and then some don't ever make a move. We'll sell out the season opener, and hopefully that will help convince people that they'll now need to buy sooner than before." I know a lot of people think this is a good thing but I think it's a dangerous game. PARTICULARLY with an inexperienced team with no offensive punch. THey should not turn away a single fan with money in hand. Creating scarcity for one game will not translate into higher attendance the rest of the year. If anything I think it will piss people off who know there are tens of thousand of empty seats and they couldn't get in. What is lost - revenue. What is gained - some people buy tickets sooner. So what? This league can't afford this type of cuteness.
DC United is not being cute - their being pragmatic and watching the bottom line. There's likely more to be gained by making the opener a sellout and making people want to come out for more early season games than there is by selling out the first game and having a huge drop in attendance following it. The huge drop could happen if your casual sports fan makes the opener their one game of the season. So what preferable, a rosy scenario of: Game one - sellout 26k Game two - ~23k Game three - ~20k versus Game one - 50k (IF Adu can draw like this, would prob be morelike 35k in my opinion) Game two - 18k Game three - 15k A lotl depends on how much it costs to open and staff the upper bowl.
I did the same thing, danged similarly named thread - and no heavy handed mod to regain order - I just hope they don't leave all those empty seats visible on TV when they send people home (I phrased it better in the other thread too, go figure )
I agree that the cost of opening the upper area is a factor no doubt. But I do not think your scenarios are the way either of those would play out. I don't like getting too specific but I'd guess a- sellout 26K game 2, 20K, game 3 19K vs b - 35K with upper bowl, game 2 19K, game 3 18k. To me the key is never turn away customers with money in hand. You have no way of knowing if those customers will a) go to one game to replace missing that game, b) not come again at all out of anger of knowing there are empty seats or if other people who weren't already going to buy tickets, decide to do so only because there was a sellout one time, which I find to be the least likely scenario. I understand that on the other hand you don't know if enough people will show up on April 3 to make it worthwhile to open the top. I have a question about that though - Does DCU get any of the concession money? And do they have to pay for the additional concessions operations. If they have to pay and don't get any of the benefit that does make it a little dicier. I think the real situation is that they are saying they won't open it - waiting to see how fast it sells out. More than a few days and they may take that as sufficient interest to open the upper bowl. If it doens't sell out till day of game then the argument for keeping it closed is bolstered. I'm all over the place, I know.
I'm thinking ABC will want artistic license to have shots such as from behind the gk on goal kicks from ground level showing the ball rise up and getting a good view of the empty seats. It would be tough to avoid all shots.
And the 12 people who do not follow MLS and leave ABC on for long enough to see the empty seats will remain convinced that soccer will not make it in the US.
Notwithstanding all the hype, do you think Adu will start? Don't they normally announce only the starters. Thus, a crowd not normally present for DC matches may be a little disappointed and befuddled if he isn't acknowledged.
Well, let's do the math using your scenarios. Scenario 1: 26k + 23k + 20k = 69k Scenario 2: 35k + 18k + 15k = 68k (and I'm using your more conservative/realistic number for the opener) Not much difference. So, using your scenarios (and I understand this is all guess work and speculation), the question is: Will the average attendance after game 3 be affected one way or another by whether the upper bowl is opened or not for the home opener?