I thought it was odd since they're limiting SRO sales, but at the same time I'm thinking it might be the biggest PAID attendance of the year. Also, I'm guessing the 15,919 included the freebies, but if not then today's announced as well as paid attendance could be greater than 15,919.
Let me further amplify my previous with a simple example. I am not a baseball fan. (I've been to two or three games in the past 5 years.) I'm what might be considered a "casual" fan (very casual). Occasionally, in the summer, I get an urge to go up to the ole ball park and take in a game. Nice lazy afternoon in the sun, drinking a couple beers, taking in the atmosphere at the field, and watching a bunch of overpaid guys stand around for three hours. If I know that there is a chance that I will not be able to get into the park, I don't even bother. If on the other hand I know that I will be able to get in, then I just might venture up into the city and watch the team loose. Yes, it's only one sale, but I'm pretty sure (I know for a fact) that there are lots of others like me. Over the course of a season that can turn into a considerable amount of income.
I don't see the logic of increasing demand. What this has done was not allowing one my friends to attend a game, and he's missed very few games since the Fire started playing. We always buy our tickets at the door. And, why not, they are getting full price for them. I can see the logic of building a 25K stadium to make the crowd better. However, making the tickets scarce to increase demand is not something I'm too crazy about. What good does it do when you are holding back more revenue?
The pronouncement that they may exceed the 15919 was not made by anyone in the Fire organization. It was made by an idiot that writes crap for the trib (and very obviously has his head up his rear end).
Remedial reading 101 will be available on another thread very shortly. Be sure to sign up early. There will no doubt be a large demand from dimished capability BS posters.
Riiiiiiiiiiiight. Has worked so well in other cities where the team has done well. Sellouts are easy to get when you win, right? Tell me what's artificial, exactly about what the Fire have done? Do you think they could have more seats than they have? When you only sell the lower bowl at CMGI/Gillette, and call that a sellout, that's artificial. Selling all the seats you have and then some isn't artificial. When the Crew moved from Ohio Stadium, where they had tons of seats, to Crew Stadium, which has 22,500, was that "artificial"? Doubtful. There's a hell of a lot more behind San Jose's problems than just "tickets are still available". If the demand is actually (imaginary), you won't be needing to tap into it anyway, now will you? You mean if they don't get it? The lost revenue? Well, that's the price you pay. But (a) you can't count on that money being there every game, (b) the Fire had no choice but to play in Naperville and (c) the capital improvements the Fire had to make to the stadium alone are making this year a bath for them to begin with. But it was that or play in Milwaukee or not at all. I don't think season tickets are discounted (at least not much), groups are. I have 20 vouchers for $23 seats, guess what it cost? If you said $460, you're right. And if you asked a team if they'll take solid money up front for season ticket sales (the Fire have set a record for season ticket revenue this year) or the chance of full-price walkup, they'll take the guaranteed revenue nearly every time (unless you're in a situation where you traditionally walk up a bunch, which is not the case here). No, what you try to do is entice people to pre-buy tickets. You cannot rely on the walkup customer. If the Fire was able to reach the situation they're in tonight all the time, that's a very good thing. Get tickets early or get shut out. Reap the benefits of a sold-out stadium as far as atmosphere, the experience the people will have at the game, and the ability to puff out your chest and say, "Yeah, we sold out. We're a hot ticket. You should see what you're missing." Here's the progression, actually: You try to get someone to buy a ticket to a game. You try to get the one-timer to get a mini-plan. Then you try to get the mini-planner to get half-season tickets. then you try to get the half-season person to buy full season tickets. Then you keep them happy and get them to renew every year, if not get more season tickets. Oh, if only you were... I have a spare if you want it. And, oh, by the way, scalping is very illegal in Naperville, so caveat emptor.
Damn straight Ken. Now we have someone who understands economics in here. Based on Feurex logic, the government would have farmers grow unlimited amount of crops. When you limit supply, you get premium price. Simple economics you'll find in any economics 101 course.
Uhh, Kenn. I won't go so far as to recommend RR 101, but the secondary premise was this: And if you care to go back a bit further, you'll notice that I argued exactly the same point about the Naperville situation as you have just outlined. A 2003 section 8 season ticket package is discounted 20%. My current season ticket package was discounted 20%. Vouchers are not season tickets. And there are no $23 seats. They are $25. That is a cash flow vs income trade-off decision the team makes. Agreed. Did I say otherwise? Not if they could have sold another 2k tickets. And that and a dollar might buy you a cup of coffee. Puffed chests and press clippings don't pay bills. The difference in atmosphere between a 22k crowd and a 24k crowd at, eg, crew stadium is probably negligible, but the extra $40k in the till is not.
Feuer, I apologize. I wasn't trying to flame you and I'm sorry if it came off that way. Okay, season tickets are discounted. My bad. My tickets say $23 on them, then I'm getting a discount, too (and teams do count vouchers as Season Ticket Equivalents, if you don't, that's okay, too). And the cash-flow vs. income tradeoff is a decision nearly every team makes, and they'll nearly all make that trade every day. Money in the bank is money in the bank. Money that you might get from walkup, even if it's potentially more money, is still in the bush, it's not in the hand. There are many more ancillary benefits to a sellout than just a puffed chest and a cup of coffee, and I was remiss in not listing them. If you're a ticket sales person, you live for sellouts. Sellouts create buzz. Sellouts turn you into a "hot ticket". Sellouts gain respect. Sellouts turn walkup buyers into pre-buyers. Sellouts look better on TV (admittedly, the difference is not that great, but the term "sellout crowd" has its own cachet). People have more fun at a sellout game. Let me give you this analogy: If you have a restaurant, and you have people standing in line once a week and waiting for an hour outside your restaurant, that's a good thing. But you don't knock out a wall and expand the seating until people are standing in line and waiting an hour probably three or four nights a week. Do you leave money on the table on some of those nights? Maybe. Some people will go elsewhere. But do you put the capital into knocking out a wall for that one night a week? Probably not. The fact that you have to wait to get a table makes your restaurant "hot", which does have a carryover effect. It's partially intangible, but can have an effect on the bottom line. As for the Fire, yes, they'd love to have an extra 2,000 seats to sell, but they don't. The original idea was to have a capacity of 18,000, but in deference to the residents (and if you have season tickets, you're close enough to the situation to remember everything that went on) they knocked 3,000 off that. Would come in handy tonight, and would likely mean an extra $40k, maybe, assuming you could get $20 for all the extra seats. Perhaps they now have the ammunition they need to say, "Hey, what if we have 18,000 seats in there next year?" and see what the residents say. Considering even rudimentary bleachers can run $100 a seat (I haven't priced them in a while, maybe they're more reasonable now) when all is said and done, you'd have to sell all those extra seats five times a year. Can they do that? Maybe. I think with more time to sell and the fact that people are more used to the Naperville thing now, they'll start off stronger than they started off this year. It's going to be a fun night tonight, but you can't count on that phantom $40k night in and night out. If the last couple games and the next couple of games have an effect on people as far as making a trip to a Fire game more attractive for next year, that's a good thing, maybe there will be more nights like this, and going to 18,000 would make a lot of sense. As to the original premise, a 15,000+ "sellout" in Naperville isn't the greatest accomplishment of all time, but there are several teams in this league that struggle to sell 15,000+ tickets on a Saturday night. It's better than a sharp stick in the eye. And considering what a "disaster" (not my word) the whole Naperville experiment has been, it's even nicer than that. Again, sorry to have come off so strong.
All bickering aside, whenever you hear "MLS" and "sellout" then its definitely a good day. Congrats to the Fire, with great fans who know how to properly support a quality team. I hope tonights game is a good one so the crowd gets their money's worth. Fire 3 - Revs 2. Razov scores game winner after intense action from both sides, raises his shirt and prompts the crowd in a Josh Wolff worship frenzy. Everyone goes home happy. Except the Revs, who's season is moot but unless they can put together some good results in their last few games to avoid relegation. The arrival of the Rampage and Rhinos will provide some... sorry I started daydreaming a little there and got sidetracked.
Well I guess that writer had his head so far up his ass that he could see a little bit of daylight out of his own mouth. Attendance was 15,86?, about 50-60 less than the last match. Considering the fact that the previous game had a bunch of freebies, I'd say they most certainly sold more tickets for tonight's match. PS I'm certainly not refuting the fact that the Trib is an utter waste of paper and ink.
That's funny.... The Trib does pretty much suck, however, when a guy writes, "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 then it doesn't eclipse it but comes within 33 people of eclipsing it, I don't think that qualifies as "head so far up his ass that he could see a little bit of daylight out of his own mouth."
Call it a sellout if you like. If you're a Fire fan (God help you) and you were there, I'm sure you enjoyed it - except for the losing to the cellar-dwellers part, of course. But that horrific field, the midgets-eye-view camera perspective, and the absolute inability of the crowd to form a word other than Fire! made that game utterly unwatchable. Ugh.
Re: That's funny.... Someone previously stated that the writer's suggestion that the Fire might eclipse the record was bunk and the writer had his head up his rear for suggesting the possibility. I was just saying that if the writer truly did have his head up there, it must have been far enough that he could see some reality, hence it was far enough that "he could see a little bit of daylight out of his own mouth."
i say they start lettin in overflow crowds in the standing room only sections. I think that would add a nice touch to the atmosphere...and before you rib me on how the terraces were in england, we're not british.there are no hoolies or retarded police that are going to send a crowd into overall panic. and about the whole supply-demand thing, when a game is marketed correctly, and people know about it, tickets go fast. There's no problem with having a big-demand and no tickets. It's just a form of motivation for people to get tickets to the next game. later. p.s. - section8 was nice tonite, wish we had bleachers. do you guys rush down to the advertisement boards or not? if no, then the more "athletic" supporters should try hoppin that rail in a mad dash to the boards as a form of congragulation...or to just get nutz.