I thought I had read that Mr. A was going to buy 4,000 tickets and spread around the local Iranian community. That doesn't appear to have happened.
There was a tent on the 10th Street entrance for an Iranian group, but I didn't see more than 50 people near it... And if it was 4k, the rest of us was only 4800, which is wrong.
Even if he did, let's be honest, I don't know if you could get 4000 of any Americans, let alone Iranian Americans, to a Quakes game on such short notice with no advertising no matter if the tix were free. Maybe a few hundred, but 4K?
Good point. I had two extra tickets at the last minute (sick family), and had a heckuva time getting someone to take them.
Good crowd Our playoff date attendance was second only to the NY/NJ metro market, right? And you know nobody was inflating our number... MLS playoffs are infamous for low attendance, because there's no lead time to promote the games. I think our crowd showed where we stand given a more level playing field, marketing-wise. The Quakes spent nothing promoting this game, but the core showed up, and we were a great crowd.
Dudes - chill out. The 4k in tickets was not an outright purchase but a pledge. In order to get the free ticket you had to fill out a form - and in order to get the form - you had to know where to go www.iranian.com. With little time to publicize the ticket giveaway - the plan wasn't as successful as first envisioned. Also, keep in mind that anyone with half a brain is going to upgrade their seats if the opportunity presents itself - and I imagine that was the case on Sunday with tons of people sliding across from the end to the better sideline seats. San Jose's playoff attendance was very solid compared to other MLS teams - and I applaud the core for making it happen. There were more Iranians than the endzone would imply - but not enough to make a big splash. WIth more time to market - that will happen down the road. Amanpour is a cool guy with vision - I'm sure AEG only cares about his financial standing - but we should know by Friday from what I'm hearing if he's going to get the team. Keep fingers crossed I think he's good stuff.
Thanks for the info, Bora Fan. Makes sense. From the Murky's account, it sounded like Amanpour was purchasing a block of 4,000 tickets to the game. I am also rooting for Mr. Amanpour to succeed. This market isn't a dud, and a guy with some passion and persistence can make it happen.
This totally reminds me of the old Seinfeld episode: Babu: Quiet!! You shut up! You make me change restaurant, but nobody comes! You say make Pakistani, Babu Bhatt have only Pakistani restaurant. But where are people? You see people? Show me people. There are no people! Jerry: You know, I think I'll just take the check. Babu: You bad man! You very very bad man! Jerry thinking: Bad man? Could've my mother been wrong?
It would be silly to buy 4k tickets.......the ".com" thing makes sense. I'm sure if 4k signed up, they would have all been given a ticket......that amount is obviously a thought-out number for whatever reason other wise he'd have said 1k, 5k or 10k even.