I was reading the post where someone questioned why the Metro don't play in Shea or Yankee stadiums. That post quickly developed into a discussion about immigrants, and cars. It got me to thinking that how difficult it must be for any fans to get to Giant Stadium from the boros of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Being from New Jersey, I may be wrong about this, but the way I understand it, getting to the Metros game involves first getting to the Port Authority, and then taking a bus to the games. (is that correct?) So here is my plan as to how to get more fans in the seats. First, I suggest that the Metro make the tickets to the games available at more outlets. The Cosmos for example sold tickets at banks and supermarkets. The Cosmos ran "specials" at these locations, such as buy 3 get 1 free. Perhaps the Metro can run a promotion with the retailers where if a person buys 3 tickets they get a $10.00 gift certificate for their groceries at that retailer. This is an incentive to the fans to buy the tickets, and the retailer to sell them. Secondly, for an additional charge the fans can buy a seat on a charted bus that will stop in front of several locations on the way to the stadium, and after the game. I would suggest that the Metro operate on a smaller profit margin for these packages, but they will hopefully make up the losses by selling more tickets. After 8 seasons of averaging about 25k, perhaps a new way of looking at things is in order.
both ideas make sense, i like the bus idea so this way we stiff NJSEA out of their $10 and have that $10(or more) go to the bus company instead or we can place that same $10, in small advertisments around the country, and make millions
Metro has been peddling tickets at Shop-Rite at a nice discount for a couple years now. To their credit, there has always been a decent discount scheme available somewhere for the last few years...but who wants discounted crappy soccer? The discounts won't work until people hear that there's a decent team that goes with the discount...especially if you're pitching those discounts to knowledgeable "immigrants".
There's the $100,000 question! How do you get the new and first generation immigrant to come out to Giants Stadium? This is a question still unanswered by the MLS as a whole. The original idea for the Miami Fusion was to play at the Orange Bowl, but their "owner' felt that it would not be safe for fans to go into the Overton (urban) nabe. So he moved the team away from the immigrants in Dade County, to Ft. lauderdale (Broward County), where "Sheriff Buford T. Pusser"-types makes racial profiling a sport- compared to NJ's I-95. It is also that suburbanites buy season ticket packages, urbanites go when they please. Local Greek, Mexicans, Colombians, et al, feel that they can catch just as good action in the Cosmopolitan and other leagues, then catch their home country squads on satellite. I feel that if the league had developed a better partnership with their local soccer leaders (you know, those guys who run these park leagues and teams), they would have had better support. Now, it's too late. Oh, yeah, the newer MFO should've never rid themselves of the tried and true sales staff, who played in these leagues. It takes time and trust to make someone support you. The Metros lost both.
The bus idea is not new. They even had it indirectly to metrostars games on wednesday night games up until 2 yrs ago. You used to be able to get a command bus in Brooklyn to take you to the Racetrack in New Jersey. They even had more then one command bus that made pickups all over Brooklyn to go to the track. The track is a short walk from Giants stadium where the Metrostars play. I used to take the bus to Metrostars games once in a while. Then after the game would end around 10:30 I would go to the track. Then after the last race I would get on the bus and go back to Brooklyn. The Bus was subsidized by the track I think it was 4 dollars round trip for the passenger. Very few people soccer people if any besides myself knew you can get to a soccer game using that bus. Then the track stoppped subsidizing the bus for some reason. So no more bus service to the games and the track. You could get buses from Brooklyn to baseball games I have no idea if they still provide that service.
Well, I e-mailed Nick Sakiewicz about a week and a half back about putting together a college program similar to what the Nets offered over the past few season. Present your student I.D. at the ticket window, and receive a healthy discount on tickets: it would attract college soccer players in the area (William Patterson, Kean, Drew, Rutgers, Montclair, New Jersey City, Manhattanville, CCNY, etc.), Hispanic fans who are might be enticed by such a deal, and the casual fan looking for something to do on the weekend. Take out full page ads in the local college newspapers (cheap) and advertise the deal and include a TV schedule. It gets the word out, and will surely bring in fans, fans who someday soon, will graduate and have disposable incomes. Nick liked the idea, and forwarded it to Guppy, but I never heard back from the Gupster. Atta boy Metro!
Shoprite Shoprite does not sell tickets per se, what they sell are vouchers for tickets. So once you stand in line a Shoprite waiting for customer service you then have to go to GS and stand on another line to get the ticket to get in. So you never really know where you'll be sitting.
Cosmos? Thats the past. Go check out the Mexican national team. They pack stadiums wherever they go (at least in Phoenix and LA), even when they're doing bad.
I just want to point out that there are areas where Shop Rite or Pathmark will not put one of their supermarkets for any of several reasons. I will also point out that Shop Rite did very little to advertise the fact that tickets were avalible at their stores. For that matter, the Metro did very little to let the fans know that tickets could be bought there.
Does anyone know who is responsable for advertising, who's money is it ?...the Metros or MLS .Who ever it is, they should try to advertise the games much more. Another important thing is for the club to look professional, act professional, run the club professionaly, get 110% commitment from players, and managers of the club, try to play good attractive style of soccer, and then perhaps people that used to go to NASL will return. You can't play a boring style and put people to sleep, must take chances ,play attacking soccer especialy at home, entertain the fans and they will come.
Some of the "fans" should act professionally, too. I'm talking about the mommy-daddy-kiddie brigades. They're at a soccer game, not the family picnic or the company outing. It's not cute, okay? Check your idiot lifestyle at the gate and pay attention to the game, period. Go ahead. Savage me. And tell me again how MLS can't survive without playing up to those bores. I love listening to the same old broken record.
I know exactly how you feel and what you mean, but it is a totaly different isue, not even sure i want to start on it,