Will McDonough on the Business Side of Boston Team

This guy has never written a word about soccer in his Sunday columns, and predictably the first thing he writes is this. What does he want, a pat on the back for ignoring the team? Is this supposed to be vindication for being an a$$hole? *************** him and his progeny. By the way, once I was listening to Mike Barnicle's talk show on 96.1 FM (I believe that's the station) and he had the twin dicks, McDonough and Shaughnessy (so that they can spend the whole game talking endlessly about the boring Red Sox, you see). It was the week before Gillette Stadium opened, and someone asked Shaoughnessy whether he had been to the stadium yet. He barked (there is no other description of what he sounded like) "I don't go to Revolution games" to which nitwit McDonough responds "You're not the only one!" and all three laugh like idiots on the air for about a minute. What a bunch of tools. So, what can you expect from such a guy?

BTW, I consider myself a diehard Rev fan and for various reasons I could not attend the game. I suspect there are many of us in the same boat. So take your 6,000 estimate and shove it.

 

This is what I fear most about these low playoff attendances. Is that tools like this feel they are justified for ignoring soccer when they see these pathetic numbers. It gives MLS a very bad image. It makes it seem like nobody cares. That is why the playoffs need to be revamped just for image sake. So that jerkoffs like this can't gloat in the Sunday paper.

 

How will revamping the playoff format change the fact that the teams don't have control of stadia and can't get priority for playoff dates?

The issue isn't the format, it's the venues. Teams can't market because they don't know which night they will be playing. That will be the case whether it's first-to-five, two-legged, or single-elimination.

Also, they don't focus group sales for playoffs because of the same uncertainty.

While I don't like bad press for MLS and I wish the attendance situation were better, what did he say that was untrue? They drew low numbers, and that looks bad.

He may not go as in depth as some of us would like, but, on the surface, he's right.

 

I guess the question would be, then, if the Revs did pull an appropriate playoff number (let's say 25,000) would it then garner the same coverage of another Boston sports team? My guess is the answer would be no. Damned if MLS does, damned if it doesn't.

 

But you're only guessing.

McDonough, blowhard that he may be, is basing his comments on quantifiable data.

 

The silver lining is this column is that the KIDS will become the hardcore fans in the next 10 years or so.

 

Is that typo supposed to be "shrinking" or "shrieking"?

 

Let's hope so. Because other than that there is no silver lining in the playoff attendence. Not in Foxboro or (leaving aside one good crowd in LA) anywhere else.

In the last few weeks of the regular season it seemed as if attendence picked up dramatically around the league, with unusually good crowds in KC, Dallas, San Jose, and elsewhere. It seemed almost plausible to believe that the league had turned a corner of sorts in attendence. So much for plausibility.

The most common explanation I've seen for the fall-off in attendence is failure to market properly. Can that really be so? Even in New England? The Revs played fine soccer over the last few weeks of the season to make the playoffs and, if I recall correctly, drew large, supportive crowds who should know that the team is in the playoffs. Those fans aside, New England has a reputation around the league for knowledgeable, motivated fans. I'm not surprised that others in New England don't know much about the playoffs, but where are those fans? It can't be marketing for them? Is it the weather? If not, what?

 

Related to marketing... how much do tickets cost? Are the tickets for the playoffs higher than regular season tickets? The used to be when I lived in Chicago. If they're higher for all the games, then it seems that we may have another culprit I haven't seen anyone mention yet.

 

I can't speak to practices elsewhere (or in DC either since United hasn't made the playoffs in years), but when United did make the playoffs, a season ticket included a couple of premium games, one or two of which would generally be used for the playoffs. Once those tickets had bee exhausted, tickets for the remaining playoff games went for the same price or at such a small increased price as not to make any difference. (Unlike in Oakland, for example, where I hear the As quadrupled the price of some tickets for the playoffs and, at least in partial consequence, only drew 32K for a decisive game). Anyways, I doubt that ticket prices make much difference.

 

Playoff Attendance

Assuming that the reason that the playoff attendance stinks is beacuse there was not enough time to market the games:

Would it help if the US Open Cup Final were held on the weekend following the end of the MLS season, and the playoffs started the following weekend?

That way more casual fans would have two weeks to be convinced to buy playoff tickets, and more attention would be focused on the US Open Cup final

 

This is the response I sent to him on the comment he made. I hope that he responds positively. I let him have it.

Dear Sir,
>>>>>>>>>>
I feel that your comment about the revolution fanbase being only a harcore bunch of 7,000k is a bit inaccurate. The Revolution are suffering a case this year of to little too late. Earlier in the season the Revolution were drawing respectable crowds in the hi teens and mid twenties. What did the Revs do? They lost most of the time and in ugly fashion. Similar to the last 6 years of their history. What happened I feel is that they tuned out the fanbase. The fans were tired of watching a losing team.
Toward the end of the season we had a coaching shake up and they got their S--- together. FINALLY! They made it into the playoffs and had an excellent run into the playoffs. Now you know and I know that they have broken the hearts of the soccer faithful in this city over the years. If you recall the only other playoff game that they played 3 years ago had a crowd of 35,000 in attendance. With no big day off of school kids packing the place. As with any sports when you have a team that loses year in a year out you have a fan base that becomes sick and tired and disinterested.
What you are having right now is the first time in 7 years that NewEngland has had a truly decent team and eventhis year they did not start playing good soccer until the very end of the season.
Now I agree that is sucks that we have not had better crowds than 7k. But I am sure you will see that Game three this Sunday will be a crowd of well over 15k. If New England gets into the final you can bet there will be 40k or more in attendance.
If this happens I wish you would be just as fair to commend as your are to slam the Revolution by calling on the local media, yourself included to give the Revolution a fair shake, and place this demand in your column just as you have wrote this statement which can only be partly true. I know you have seen the team draw crowds in the the 30-40s over the years. I wish you would ackmowldge that before making a statement like this.

Yours truly
soccer fan
Steve D Mihaljevic

 

My wife and I have some friends who moved to Marblehead Mass about 3 years ago. They tell us that they never see anything about the Revs, and that they wouldn't know the team existed if we hadn't told them about it.

 

This is true. As far as I can tell there is absolutely zero (0) promotion by the Revolution in the general marketplace. Unless you are already a soccer fan, have kids playing soccer, or are the type who reads every page of the sports section, there is no reason to know of the Revs' existence.

 

Mcdonough and Deford are old geezers on their way out who will soon be eating corn chowder in their nursing homes.

 

Therefore it's a sign of the league's and a team's health that the PLAYOFF's draw "crowds" roughly half of the regular season averages? Ad hominum attacks might be comforting, but they don't make real problems go away.

 

God bless the beleagered (sp?) Revs fans for their loyalty! They have one of the most enthusiastically supported clubs in the 7 year existence of MLS despite the futility of the franchise. Not only that, but these faithful supporters are surrounded by one of the most irritating species on the American sports landscape: the Boston Sports Fan. Imagine trying to stick up for soccer, which as far as Boston sports people are concerned is the worst thing that anything in sports can be: new. Revs fans are cursed to live amongst a bunch of Cliff Clavens and Carla Tortellis without the humor or charm. People who actually believe in that rediclulous "Curse of the Babe" drivel, who miss the humidity, poor views, and rats of the old Gah-den, and who virulently oppose replacing the hopelessly outdated Fenway Park for no other reason than it is old. Perhaps the uncomfortable seats are part of the "mystique" of the place, just like the rats in the garden. Our hearts are with you, Revs fans! And remember that no matter what the backward media idiots may say, your numbers are large and growing. Wait until Man United come next summer! Then you will see the power of soccer in New England.

 

Lower crowds for playoffs is frustrating to me, since I think MLS should be getting bigger crowds for playoffs.

As a Rev fan, here are some reasons I think the turnouts have been low so far. (Just as an aside, the fun quality of the stadium has been much better lately, even with the lower numbers.)

1. Very last minute entrance into the playoffs. For some reason, the playoffs were kind of an afterthought since I'm guessing it seemed sooo unlikely that they'd get in. They didn't offer to sell tickets until basically the day after qualification, which was 2 or 3 days before the game.

1a. Not much time to sell tickets
1b. Too many people trying to buy tickets at same time meant it was TOUGH to actually buy them. I had to call back a couple of times. If I were less interested I might have lost interest.

2. Bad schedules. I think it's normal that weekend games get better attendance, since a lot of the fans are still in school.

3. Shifting schedules. The last Rev's game got rescheduled within days of the game. That cannot help get more people there. It just screws things up.

4. Finally, and this applies to the regular season as well -- practically zero marketing. People won't come if they don't know the game is there or that the team even exists.

5. News coverage. I've heard many people say the coverage here is good, and it is in that each day we get a couple of articles in the papers. However, without getting up to Redsox or Patriot levels it could get better.

Just a small example: the paper (I forget which one) usually has this little thing on the corner of the front page saying "sports today" and it lists the "Redsox v. Yankees 7:30pm, the Celtics ..., BC football ...". Rarely does this include the Revolution game. Can't we just get that little bit of name recognition every week?

 

I have what I believe they call category 1 (best seats) season tickets and they cost $22 each per regular season game, $25 face value

There were deals available to season ticket holders for playoff tickets based on different ways you might renew your season tickets. In any event, the same seats cost me $30 for the playoffs, but they have a face value of $35 (a 40% mark up on face value) if you do not take one of the renewal deals or purchase them at the ticket window on game day.

 

i know that the fire were selling playoff tickets before the season was over... but how many other teams were doing this?

what about during the first round, was anyone selling tickets to the next round?

in part, i imagine it's much harder to because teams are either playing wednesday or saturday... whereas it seems that next year it will be one of two saturdays

now granted a team might have to go to sunday or something, but it should make presales much easier to do... and they would already be announcing where and when for any problems

 

I can't believe that no one mentioned that the weather for, at least the two Chicago games was awful. With no ticket pressure, since the Revs play in a massive stadium, compounded by the lack of marketing time/effort, weather is the most important factor in turnout or lack there of. Hopefully all you Rev fans can prove all the detractors wrong with a crowd of 40K plus at the MLS Cup to cheer the Revs on! That would speak volumes.