Promotional Idea: Balls kicked into the stand during play, stay in the stand.

With the shooting and crossing skill of most MLS players, MLS would go broke with this gimmick.

 

MLS doesn't use cheap Wal-Mart balls !! Their cost is around $100, whereas a baseball cost is more like 5-10 bucks. It would be a great idea for the fans, but a terrible idea for a league that doesn't really prosper. I'd love it if they did, but really, it wouldn't be too feasible for the league.

 

Not if every ball costs this much... http://www.mlsgear.com/regular_product_details.asp?style_flag=Y&item_no=70PMB&x=44&y=3

 

I won one of these official Match Balls from 2003 Sporting News fantasy league competition. I was surprised to find out how much these balls cost. Official MLS Match Ball Price:$109.95. I am sure there is a considerable mark-up but it still sounds like these balls are not cheap to make, definitely more than $5. Can the league afford to give out these balls? Perhaps. If the league did implement this policy, I know I would want to sit behind the goal at any Quakes game. "C'mon Mullan, send in one of your patented crosses."

 

I don't have strong opposition to this idea. But if you figure 30 games a year at (minimum) $25 (not $5) dollars per ball, and let's say 8 balls get kicked into the stands per game.

That's (who knows exactly) $200 per game. Each team plays 30 regular season games (plus numerous friendlies, cup matches, playoffs, etc.).

There are a total of 150 games played, at $200 per game (may be a bit of a high estimate for ball cost per game, but the estimate of total games played is definitely low).

That's 30 grand, give or take. A player's salary almost in some cases

Plus, you can't auction off the ball later, assuming this happens, or use them for promotional reasons.

The NFL puts those nets up behind the goals for a reason. I doubt the Arena Football League lets you keep balls that fly into the stand either, and neither does the NBA to my knowledge. Nor do I know a soccer league elsewhere that does this.

It may not be a horrible idea, but you would have to come up with a strong marketing argument to get the MLS (obviously tightwad by nature or necessity, take your pick) people to go for it.

Edit:
I still don't know what a ball costs, but if it retails for over $100 then MLS can't get them wholesale for $25. So increase the total cost in the post above to way more than the wild guess of $30,000 per year.

 

It is a shame that the balls cost so much. I mean I was at a Tampa game and these couple of rednecks who turned up were disappointed you couldn't keep the ball.

 

As a matter of fact, you DO get to keep any footballs that fly into the stands at an Arena Football League. Or at least at the San Jose and Los Angeles home game you get to keep the balls.

Price of official AFL game footballs: $79.99.

Of course, the price of admission to those sections where the "balls will be a-flying" is also considerably higher ($40-60).

 

Just do like they do at little league games: if you catch a soccer ball in the stands, you get a free hot dog at the concession stand.

A more serious suggestion, if you catch a soccer ball, you have to return the official match ball to the field but you get a voucher good for one of those $11.95 mini replica soccer balls.



A little more affordable for the league.

 

The Puma balls are definitely the coolest yet in MLS. Isn't the mantra, "It's your game?" Then it's my ball, too! That would be so cool. Maybe you could have a ball exchange program, like in minor league baseball. When u throw the ball back, a ballboy throws you back a less expensive souvenir ball.

Edit: Oops, Guamster beat me to this idea. I pledge to read all posts before replying from now on!

 

Hey, the official AFL game football I looked for costs:$99.95. But that's in Australian dollars, which by currency conversion comes to $79.79 in American dollars. Is this an amazing coincidence or what?

Sorry, couldn't resist after I saw AFL being mentioned. Carry on....

I do like the mini-ball exchange for the official ball idea BTW.

 

That rule is league-wide, with regard to the Arena Football League.

I forget the total number of balls they lose per game, but it is substantial.

Sykotyk

 

The one Arena Football game I've ever seen was the old New York Knights at MSG, sometime in the summer of 1988. My buddy and I (his family knew someone who played for the Knights), being all of 12 years old, would run behind the goals to try and catch one of the balls when a field goal was attempted. We quit, though, after we saw a pregnant lady get jacked in the face by some guy in a scramble for a ball.

 

That's where you lose me.

Think of all of the panicked GK clearances of a backpass you see a game. All of the wayward crosses. All of the free kicks and long shots that are high and/or wide. No way the number is as low as 8 a game. Maybe at some fields, like maybe RFK there aren't a huge number. But at a place like CCS, man, I wouldn't want to guess, but it's hella more than 8. 30? 40? OK, maybe not as high as 40. But alot more than 8.

Let's say 25, times $60, means $1500 per game. That's something like 100 tickets. So I think this is a bad idea.

Not to mention, I once caught a ball from DC's pregame kick out to the fans. (From Tony Sanneh!!) Then I had to spend the whole friggin' game keeping drunk people from trying to snatch it from me. And I wasn't in the cheap seats. It's not like a baseball, which you can put in your coat pocket.

 

Yeah, that was my first thought. No matter how well the geniuses in Marketing developed the great "Keep The Ball" gimmick, security would probably get it stopped for reasons similar to this.

I like Guamster's ideas a bit better.l

 

How about....

FREE BEER?

 

Bad idea IMO. The MLS handbook only requires eight balls to be supplied per match. At some point, they'd have get the ball back anyway. The referees are usually pumping up about 12 balls prior to each game to make sure they are all fairly consistent. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to ensure 25 or more balls were ready to go for each game.

Also, if fans could keep the ball, there would be wars in the seats over them. I can't even imagine the arguments over who was the closest fan under 15 that gets to keep the ball or the 14 year old knocking out a 12 year old in a rush to the ball.

NYR Metro would really appreciate the introduction of US style football violence though.

 

The NFL used to let fans keep the balls. The nets on field goals on extra points serve two purposes. One is preventative (fans getting hit with kicked balls suing for damages) and the other is cost (less balls to replace). I think the handful of balls that still make it in the stands can be kept, but I thought I read an article last fall about some fan getting arrested for trying to keep a ball, so who knows.

When the AFL Carolina Cobras were in Raleigh, tickets in the front two rows were like $100 and $75/each. I saw seven or eight games in the three seasons they played here, and I do remember a fair number of balls going in the crowd - but not as many as an MLS game. The funniest one was the guy in the fifth row that caught an errant pass and reflexively tossed the ball back to the game official. He didn't know he could keep it. The rest of the game they kept replaying on the jumbotron what happened next: his friend slapping him upside the head.

Baseballs and hockey pucks are relatively speaking cheap. In Raleigh, since they put up the safety nets behind the goals, they even drop large foam "pucks" from the rafters into the crowd during the second period whenever a puck hits the net. Fans catching the fake pucks can exchange them for real pucks. As someone who's barehanded a baseball, I wouldn't want to try the same thing with a hockey puck.

I'm pretty sure that tennis balls - if they can be found - are returned to play at PTA events.

Golfballs in PGA events are still live - no matter how many fans they hit.

Maybe the PBA should let fans keep bowling balls that make their way into the crowd.

In the end, I'd think that MLS is probably closest to the NBA. At least in ball cost - if not in the number of balls that make it into the crowd. Anyone know if you can keep NBA balls? I don't think you can.

 

Here's something no one's brought up yet....the safety issue....

At MetroStars games, the players kick replica balls into the stands before kick-off. Last year, I had a guy from one SECTION over dive right in front of me catching the ball and falling into a row of people below.

All for a $10 replica ball. Can you imagine what they would do for a REAL ball?

P.S. I did catch one of the replica balls last year from Eddie Pope.

 

A Bristol City player got sued for damages a few years ago after kicking the ball deliberately into the crowd at Reading. His team were losing and someone in the crowd said something to him so he kicked the ball at him. It missed that person and hit some other guy instead, spraining his arm as he tried to stop it hitting his wife in the face. Not only was the guy sued, he was convicted of assualt, and also got sent off.

I have a puck from a game at home (although I admit a puck form the slightly less than world famous Bracknell Bees is hardly worth a fortune). I didn't even need any indignified scramble either. It just bounced around and landed directly between my feet. I have, on the other hand, seen someone take a puck in the face after it deflected off a keeper's stick - it barely even took the edge off its speed. The poor guy just looked stunned - didn't cry out or anything. I think he lost 6 teeth.

Catching a baseball bare-handed would be no problem - you just have to learn how to catch cricket-style.


On the original point, I'm sure I read somewhere in the early days of the NASL they had to keep telling disappointed fans thay sorry, they couldn't keep balls that went into the crowd.

 

Why not if you catch an errant ball, you hang on to it while and usher comes and collects the ball and gives you a mini-ball in exchange. It's a compromise.

 

Got a good chuckle after reading this. After watching fielding of players like Jonty Rhodes, Yuvraj Singh, etc. I always get a good laugh seeing baseball outfielders wearing a glove trying to catch popup "hardballs". The hilarious thing is when they unnaturally twist their wrists to position the gloves for a catch, instead of a natural two-handed spout. Gloves for baseball infielders are understandable perhaps, but outfielders? Catching a cricket ball (cork or kookaburra) on a cold cloudy morning either in short-leg or point position without gloves - that defines what is a hardball. The baseball's version of a "hardball" is like a spongy ball in comparison.

Anyway, getting back to the topic: At the Earthquakes matches I've attended, they give out a number of promotional freebies (T-shirts, bobbleheads, etc.) Instead of a fixed give-away of a mini-ball, why not give some coupons to whoever catches a game ball? These could then be redeemed from a choice of give-aways at the end of the match.

 

Little bit harder to make an exciting diving catch with your bare hands though. I voted no. Stupid idea. pc4th for LVP.