from KC Wizards PR: WIZARDS TO OFFER ALL SEATS FOR WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL AT ARROWHEAD ON NOVEMBER 5th FOR JUST $5! Western Conference Championship and Berth in 2004 MLS Cup Final on the Line KANSAS CITY, MO (Monday, November 1, 2004) - The Kansas City Wizards announced today that all seats, including Lower Level Sideline, Endline and Club Level, for the Western Conference Final at Arrowhead Stadium on Friday, November 5th will be just $5. The Wizards will host their rivals, the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Western Conference Final on Friday, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT. All tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster by calling 816-931-3330 or online at www.ticketmaster.com <http://www.ticketmaster.com>. "On the occasion of this classic playoff match-up, we are excited to be able to offer this one-time ticketing offer," said Wizards General Manger Curt Johnson. "The Wizards organization wants to make sure that this Conference Championship game against our biggest rival, the Los Angeles Galaxy, is accessible to and affordable for all long-time Wizards supporters, the entire youth soccer and business community as well as all Kansas City area sports fans." In addition to Ticketmaster, tickets can also be purchased at the Arrowhead Box Office, which is located at Gate D1 of the stadium and is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. through halftime of the game. All seats in the stadium will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. All sideline and club level tickets will be issued as reserved seating at the time of purchase and all endline tickets will be general admission. Wizards Season Ticket Holders and other fans that already reserved their seats throughout the playoffs will receive credit towards their account in 2005.
u mean artificially selling out the 18 dollar seats and forceing the ppl to buy the next step up isnt what its all about? way to go KC
Wow! That must've pissed off a lot of people who bought the tickets at regular price, especially considering it didn't do much, as the KC/SJ match was the worse attendance for the weekend....
All seats are $ 5, but Andy Mead's ego will still be charged normal price Cool move by them, though I'm assuming that there is a "well, we don't own the stadium, and have massive rents, etc" arguements that Metro would lay on here. Go KC. Beat DC.
I think this says more about the state of the league than anything else. You won't see the Chiefs ever do that or anyone alse in the NFL or any other major sport.
Agreed. but if this defines success for you, then be careful what you wish for. One of the nice things about soccer in this country is that it's still relatively affordable, you don't have to stress about tickets, etc. IF soccer truly takes off in this country at this level, say goodbye to the days when you can say to a friend "hey, the MEtros are playing tonight, I'm going, want to come?" I want soccer to be as successful as American football as much as anyone, but I don't want to pay $75 a ticket.
Don't get me wrong as a fan I am glad the league is very affordable, but on the other hand it is a business that sooner or later has to start making some money or the investors will not be to happy.
Supply and demand economics is not my strong suit, but i'm guessing more people will attend this match on Friday in KC. I'm not certain if more revenue would be generated versus the standard pricing format. Put I'm certain that more fans will enjoy the game, including those who catch it on tv live or perhaps somewhere in highlight form, if they see a huge stadium that is more that 15-20% full. I'm really interested in seeing what kind of attendance the Western Conference final will get. Great move by Wiz officials if you ask me.
read the whole post... great move imo. the positive is that this is bonus money as the owner owns the stadium. bring people in and rather then face 5K on a friday night which is not out of the question in MLS, they'll likely have 15K. when you work out the numbers i'm sure its close....not even including the concessions money.
Yes, while they will draw more, doesn't it cheapen the product. They are basically saying our product is not good enough to stand on its own so we will lower the price of tickets for a playoff game. This is a good promotion for a middle of the year game. This is another move by MLS to increase their attendance figures. Why not open with a Real Madrid vs. ManU game and repoert a sellout. The MLS has to move beyond this if it is going to be a success.
A $5 buck a night firesale for a Championship Game makes the product seem cheap and the ownership appear desperate. It's so much about gimmicks and so little about creating something that people will actually care about and support. Didn't Garber, just say he wanted MLS to be the biggest sports league in the country? I would say he has just a little bit further to go...
The reason they can do this is because they don't have sky high rent like some of our teams Don't think it cheapens it if it's done as nice gesture, I've seen cup UEFA matches for nothing when club let my supporter group in for free (all 5000+ of us). Tho wizards versions smells of desperation
$5 * 50K = $250,000 $20 * 11K = $222,000 I know the price are a bit off on the second one, but if you make 50K less but entertain 40K more, I'll take the latter. Why? Because they'll be back next year. This is, assuming that they'll play a good game and not Metro-ball which is an embarrassment to soccer.
You can open a game with an exhibition before hand because no one will stay. There might be a few who stay, but they'll all be wearing other jerseys. People aren't dumb. $5 tickets will fill the stadium and create an atmosphere.
ever hear of sampleing a product before u buy it? or a drug dealer offering free crap for first time users?? same mentality
Yes a but a playoff game come on. Do this for the second game of the year. If you have trouble drawing fans for the playoffs, which most of the MLS teams seem to have then you have to figure out how to solve this before the season and not during the playoffs. I am not saying that they won't draw more fans by doing this, but I just do not think this is good for the league. Ask yourself, will fans come back at regular prices? some will others won't. At this point in the game MLS should not have to lower playoff ticket prices.
Referee: Abiodun Okulaja Referee's Assistants: -Thomas Supple; Steven Taylor 4th Official: Michael Kennedy Attendance: 11,931 Time of Game: 1:51 Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-58-degrees NOT good
So they basically got the 11 thousand they would have had anyway only now they made less revenue. This is like trying to cure a cold after you already have one instead of trying to prevent it in the first place. These types of promotions need to be done during the regular season if you are going to do them at all. As a fan I love these types of promotions because I am going to the game either way so any chance to save money is welcomed, but is this really good for the league. Remember, image is very important and MLS is still working on theirs. Think of it like a store. You sometimes see a store that is packed and you say to your self, they are full they must be doing really well, when in fact the only reason they are packed is because they are having a going out of business sale. In other words you have to get the customer at full price, if you need a fire sale there have better been a fire.
And yet everyone at the stadium - and all the TV announcers raved about the crowd. It looked great on TV, it felt great in the stadium.
We had the SAME attendance for our playoff game. On a SATUDAY. In an area 30 times the potential fan support. I also highly doubt KC would have gotten more than 8K had this promo not taken place.