Why? Because for the first time that I can recollect, soccer fans (in the Chicago area) will have to RELY ON SCALPERS TO GET INTO A MATCH. It's sold out 2 days before, and in this stadium, there is no "opening up the upper deck". Think about that for a minute.
Hey, 90 benches, I don't care if it's 90 seats. The Fire have created a situation where there will be a raucous atmosphere and a demand for tickets. That's the kind of thing that local and national media need for soccer to get more coverage.
Mr. Duggan's just a bit confused because he's used to going to games where the home team stinks and the fans aren't allowed to talk or cheer. But they are allowed to go anywhere they want, as long as they stay on their side of the stadium.
Not only are the fans in NE allowed to talk, but anyone who's ever witnessed a youth soccer game is allowed to bring a friend to the game who's never been to a game before and offer loads of "expert" commentary... Sigh..
All Burn/fire rivalry aside...congrats Barnburners! If you really did sell out the stadium, that truly is a milestone. I've said this many times, people go to sporting events for the atmosphere which the Barnburners provide. They've been the driving factor behind much of the Fire's attendance success.
Re: Re: Saturday will be a great day in MLS history Actually, I think you are right about that. My bad. BUT, this is the first time that it has happened since the stadium was expanded to 15000, if I am not mistaken. Either way, a good day for MLS is at hand.
Re: Re: Re: Saturday will be a great day in MLS history I think they said the actual number of seats are about 14,500 but they will sell some standing room to push total over 15,000. They had 15,919 at the last match but peter wilt, GM of the Fire,said they wouldn't sell as many standing room tickets for this game because of crowding and parking concerns.
If you guys think that, it is a great day for MLS to play at a sold out "15000" seat stadium , on "Fake" grass ,then I am speech less at this point.
I think this is great. I've already posted this thought once, but I'll say it again--I have great respect for Chicago fans. Good for you guys. And, Yes, you deserve a better stadium! Here's hoping for a return to Soldier soon, and some sort of breakthrough on your own SSS in the near future!
It's not so much that the Fire created it, it's more like they were forced into it. Anytime you stick a team that draws an average of 16k+ into a 14k stadium, it should be pretty obvious that demand will outstrip supply. Any team in the league could do it by just limiting their ticket sales to some number less than their average attendance. Nothing mystical or magical about it. Probably not very clever from an economic point of view, but very doable. And as for it being a great day - it would be a much better day if the team could get the income from the sales of another 1-2k tickets.
I'm confused. What makes Saturday any greater than any of the other times an MLS team has sold out a game?
It would still not make it my favorite over Fire _ Galaxy matchup in game 3 of the Conference Final (semi-final) in 98 which over 30,000 people attended.
The whole idea is you need to create a demand for tickets. If people are afraid they won't get in, it entices people to buy season tickets and advanced sales. The problem for MLS with playing in these huge stadiums is that people know they can just walk up at gametime and get a ticket. As a result, there is no scarcity of tickets out there. This then causes fewer season ticket and advanced sales. Thats why it would be ideal to have these teams all play in small stadiums.
Too bad they didn't do it for half the season... and, especially the first match for which I bought 20 tickets to organize a trip, and then got scheduled with work. I got rid of 4... ate the rest of the bill. Damn.
From www.chicagosports.com "Briefly: Saturday's sellout is the Fire's second straight at Cardinal Stadium and could eclipse the record 15,919 the team drew Aug. 14 against Kansas City."
And THAT is exactly what is worrying me. Most likely, it won't eclipse anything, because the Fire office has said that it isn't selling as many SRO tickets this time around... So now, people have the wrong idea, and, if the 15,919 attendance is not reached, then it looks like a bad thing. Man, people don't think things through!
And you do that by (in this case) putting a product on the field that people want to see. You don't do it by artificially limiting ticket sales. That is cutting off your nose to spite your face. By your recipe, what the folks in SJ should do is say that they are going to limit sales to 8k per match. That would instantly drive up demand to God only knows what absurdly high level. The problem is, you can't tap into that (imaginary) demand when you've capped sales. As I mentioned re Naperville. The extra $20k-$40k that the Fire could receive in extra tickets sales does them absolutely no good. It's almost like throwing away money. All this does is shifts the time of sales, not the quantity. Additionally, it decreases revenue since season tickets and group sales are discounted, whereas gate sales are full price. And this is a bad thing? If what you are trying to do is entice the "casual" customer to become a regular customer, you do that by making it as easy as possible for them to buy what you are selling (and see paragraph one), not by making it difficult.