in just 1 day, the whitecaps had over 4 000 season ticket deposits-- $50 each-- for their mls season of 2011-- these are new people-- the regular season ticket holders will have their chance to go to the front of the line sometime soon and place an order for themselves and others -- so the possibilty of over 10 000 season ticket deposits by may, 2009 for their first season in mls in 2011 is a distinct possibility-- and with 2 years to go, they could be pushing towards 20 000 if they want (the caps have said they will cap it off at 16 000 because the seating will only be 20 000, but i would not be surprised if the stadium is made bigger for soccer, say 25 000, which is a distinct possibility IMO
they should open up the areas behind the goals and utilize the entire lower bowl...that would bring it up to what, maybe 24-25,000ish? and then cap them at 20,000 screw it, they should open up the upper bowl too, cap it at 35,000 and we'll be rolling in money on a serious note, what happens if waterfront stdium goes through? iirc, capacity i supposed to be 18000. only 2000 walkups/game? methinks a new design will be required...
I might have got this wrong but I have heard that season ticket holders can get two tickets for each of there 2009 USL tickets. So I have two season tickets now, so I can get four for MLS. I have been told that whitecaps season ticket base has seen a massive spike since Tuesday. Someone posted on the southsiders board that they have added 2k season tickets this year. Link to the 4,000 number
This is great news. I put my 50 down yesterday....... I think the season tickets will sell out by the end of the drive. These season tickets are way more affordable than Canucks, and football is a better sport than...uh..football. ..... now to get some tifo set up ....
I got my call from the Caps, all season ticket holders can get up to 8 additional tickets. All your tickets at the same priority as your season tickets. So before those who put down $50 yesterday. Those who put a deposit down on Club Seats will get a call within a few weeks. Bad news is even though that deposit was for FOUR seats in the waterfrontfront stadium, it sounds like that deposit will only be good for TWO at BC Place. I think this is really bad considering these people put money down four years ago. Also they don't have an official numbers, but they think they might have doubled their USL season tickets this season from the last. Crazy... thats should be close to last years sold old level. So I have four normal seats now, and I guess maybe two Club Seats.
I am sure this debate will rage on for the next three years. I want them to keep seats limited. It is important to lock down season ticket holders. If season tickets are a scarce item, then people will value them. I'd like to get at least 6 when the MLS starts here in Vancouver. I split a season ticket package with friends in Seattle for the Sounders this year. I would not have done so had Qwest Field been open to 68K seats. Any game I can't attend, will be easily sold off near face value (I did not buy them hoping for a windfall.) However, if Seattle opened the whole stadium, then I would never have bought season tickets. I would have only attended a game if I happened to be in town. Bottom line, a scarce item has value. Season ticket holders are very valuable because they pay upfront and a waiting list is valuable because they generate revenue too. Teams need a rock-solid season ticket base to ensure steady, long-term revenue. Spikes in demand may be good short term, but advertisers and sponsors prefer predictable returns on eyeballs.
But do you support opening the entire lower bowl? 20,000 seems like too little, especially if season ticket deposits, and eventually sales, keep on going like crazy.
I think you will almost have to. Here in Seattle the FO was saying 24.5k is the seating configuration. Then as soon as singles went on sale they announced 27.7k as the config, and now we know we can go as high as 32.4k. I have to believe that if you sell 16k by this time next year the FO will do everything to open more while retaining the lower bowl intimacy.
BC Place now has a lower bowl capacity of 30,000, and if they are to extend the ends all the way to the field then that would increase the capacity even more. That is to much. And i thought that the configuration now would be at about 24,000.
I wouldn't be surprised if they reach that by the end of the month, possibly even by the end of the week. My guess is they are at about 12-13k right now (5k deposits, 2.5k existing ticket holder, 2.5k new ticket holders, 2.5k season ticket holders taking option for more tickets ; if you are a season ticket holder, you can buy up to 8 extra tickets)
Wonder if they'd consider holding the Voyageurs Cup game against evil Toronto of MLS at BC Place to give people a taste...
Based on the small amount of info so far: approx. 5K deposits YES I would think the Whitecaps could sell more tickets than 20K per game.
lenarduzzi has stated on the news and in the paper that the reconfigured bc place will seat 20 000 for soccer, so they will cap season ticket sales at 16 500-- but i wouldn't be surprised to see that change once the 16 500 is reached, which may happen by summer 09-- with 2 years to opening date!!!
9:15 am PST Monday March 23, Deposits still available. With only 250 spot less I expect them to run out sometime today.
My guess will be that the capacity will continue to creep upward as season ticket sales increase. They'll want to keep about 4,000 tickets for walk-ups, and the rest for season ticket holders. So in theory, if they sold 26,000 season tickets by 2011, they could make the entire lower bowl (30,000) open to the Whitecaps. I reckon we will see numbers close to Seattle. So if we sell 22,000 season tickets, and have 4,000 walk-ups, that would be 26,000 per match. Funny... the Canucks (with a capacity of 18,630) would have lower attendances than both the Whitecaps and the Lions. And yet somehow the media will still find a way to fawn over them...
the canucks also play 41 home games per year as well, not that im defending them, but they do sell more tickets in a single year than the lions or caps
Here is the official confirmation of the 5k deposits sold, as well a game plan of where things go from here.