At this point I think it is. The more butts you put in the seats and expose to Miami FC, the more will become paying customers in the future. Anything that will help boost attendance at games is a good idea.
WRONG. And I fully expect Kenn Tomasch to pop on here shortly and give you a thorough education on the problems with that approach. I swear, sometimes it seems like he has some kind of search program set up to alert him just for comments like these so he can come in and educate people. But, in a nutshell: you give away lots of tickets, and no-one ever buys any tickets because they know they can always get free ones. Kinda like how no-one buys the newspaper anymore because they can get their news on the internet for free. While Kenn can be an utter prick sometimes, his having been in the trenches in Indiana (working for the Blast), he speaks from lots of experience. So, yeah, depending on the details of this ticket giveaway, I'm right there with AdamSoucie. This could actually be a bad thing for Miami FC.
And despite VioletCrown's obnoxious "WRONG" ( ) I will agree with VC. Miami FC tickets need to be valued, and going free decreases their value. They may not affect the price point immediately, but they give the illusion that the tickets are easy-to-get "whatevers", and that eventually does bring down the value of the team. Keep it high quality. A few tickets might not be a big deal, but too much apparent ticket-giving going on says "something's wrong here" and sets the floor for Miami FC's value very low in people's minds. People won't buy things they perceive to be too expensive... they also won't have anything to do with things they perceive to be too cheap. People have both a price ceiling, and a price floor, and putting something below the price floor for too long spells disaster.
I can definitely see the reasoning to give away free tickets, b/c I would pay to go to another game (provided I had fun) simply because I got free tickets again. But I'm big on brand loyalty and such. You give me something and I'll give your company a chance. VC, the newspaper analogy is the perfect example of this problem.
Well obviously you don't just walk down the street and hand out hundreds of tickets to random people for free. You have to target certain areas, businesses, and people, and perhaps do it through promotions with the team's sponsors. "Subscribe to Seccion Amarilla and get 4 free Miami FC tickets!" You know that kind of thing. Every pro sports team does things like this. And once you get people in the stadium once, if you are showing them a quality product, they'll pay to come back.
Hey guys, glad to see that Miami FC is still alive. I think it's due in no small part to the effort of the fans/ultras and the soccer a thon a few months ago. I'm wondering if anyone can give me more information about the event. Like how did you plan it, etc. I've viewed some threads and pics but don't know exactly who was running the show or if any funds were raised for the team. I ask because I think it is a great idea for raising funds or awareness to a group/organization/cause. Specifically, my church is building its first building and I think this would fit us well as we used to use our property for Upward Soccer games in recent years and it really brought us together and in touch with the community. I'd appreciate any assistance you can provide. Thanks, Matt Caban aka adoptedsooner
Well, the Soccer-a-Thon went well and definitely played a part in Miami FC staying in the area. They asked for 5,00 tickets and/or a show of fan support. We could not give them the tickets, but we could show the fan support. Fans that care so much that we would give up our time and bodies for 24 hours. We threw it together in a very short period of time. If we had more time there would be a lot of things done differently. We did not raise much money. We did help sell a few season ticket packages, but that's it. Miami FC helped procure a lighted field for us and we supplied the players. We reached out to youth teams that work closely with Miami FC. The youth played for the first 6-7 hours with us old guys joining in once in a while. The Ultras really took over in the midnight hours into the early afternoon. Thankfully around noon the next day Miami FC staff and more volunteer players showed up to relieve us. We even had a World Cup winner play with us, Zinho. And even Diego Serna played some in the evening. When we do this again (we hope to make it an annual event) we would like to get some sponsors. Also I would recommend getting commitments from players for specific time slots. The hours in the middle of the night are the most difficult. At times we were playing only 3 on 3. It wasn't pretty in those late hours, but we kept it rolling. In your situation I would reach out to FC Dallas and try and get them involved. Even if it's just their youth teams. Also contact all media in your area. We had the newspapers out there doing stories on us and even Univision did a story on us. SO bug everybody enough and they will show up. If you want more info contact me at pbrown@miamisoccerfan.com.
Cool to hear we could be doing the soccer-a-thon again(hopefully under less dire circumstances). It was a lot of fun, I'd like to be there the whole time at the next one. Maybe we could have a Ultras vs. Southern Legion game as part of the action
Thanks for the info. It has been very helpful. I'm going to run the idea past the appropriate people and if it sticks cool, if not then oh well.