2020 & 2021 Season Ticket Thread
- Thread starter 413Blue
- Start date
I think the club is scrambling right now, trying to figure out how to respond to the backlash they should have seen coming and if they didn't, they aren't very good business people. Perhaps they knew it was coming but just didn't care. But the fact that there isn't a quick response prepared makes me think they didn't see it coming.
I think we'll see a response from the club as a whole either friday or early next week and ticket reps will be vague at best in their responses and I don't blame them. They should just process the requested cancellations and give detailed outlines on how balances will be refunded.
I think we'll see a response from the club as a whole either friday or early next week and ticket reps will be vague at best in their responses and I don't blame them. They should just process the requested cancellations and give detailed outlines on how balances will be refunded.
“ Hi Ravi,
I understand where you're coming from and want to help get you what you need. As I'm sure you can imagine, inbound calls are coming in left and right but I want to make sure to carve out some time for us to go over everything.
In the meantime, here is the opt out form for 2022. Please fill this out right away, your account number XXXXXX.
Please let me know when you're available today and I'll try my best to call then.
Thank you,
(REMOVED)”
6 season tickets.
~$3k/year for the tix.
They are charging ~$2K for these 7 games.
I've missed maybe 5-10 games at YS in 7 years.
Thinking about throwing in the towel. TBH, it's not a lot of money for me, it's just not fun to have someone try to take advantage of you.
~$3k/year for the tix.
They are charging ~$2K for these 7 games.
I've missed maybe 5-10 games at YS in 7 years.
Thinking about throwing in the towel. TBH, it's not a lot of money for me, it's just not fun to have someone try to take advantage of you.
This is what I got...
I appreciate the feedback and the loyalty. I understand the concern and want to make sure you are confident we are looking to always do right by you – You know that’s what I always do. That’s why we were able to push Leadership to offer you bonus credit for rolling over to get approved for money-value gift cards.
Just to explain who the cost of tickets came to be:
When comes to ticket price, remember we all use variable pricing – throughout all sports teams. Because some matches are way more desirable than the others. Nevertheless, we need to make sure that what we charge for the membership is exactly the sum of all games you paid for – not more or less. Because, regardless of where we play, if I have members attending all matches, they need to end up with Zero balance on the account. I cannot have someone attending all matches and having money left over nor charging more money to those who are attending the matches after they paid for a full season.
Because we had to go to RedBulls arena, we understood that it would be an inconvenience and not what we had expected/planned for – that goes for fans and for us in the office too. So, to help and all the folks and incentivize the fans to make the trip, we put the price there lower. Since those matches were less desirable and less valuable.
At the end of the day, you won’t be penalized at the end of the season with extra charges and will continue to receive additional incentives and I will do everything in my power to make your experience well worth.
This past couple of year have been very challenging and out of ordinary. I have worked very hard to make sure we can make it less painful for our fans and hopefully we are now entering the “back to normal” stages and soon this will all be behind us.
I truly can’t wait to see you back your seats at Yankee Stadium and say, “Welcome Home”.
Let me know if you have any further concerns and what time you want to hope on a call.
Best,
I appreciate the feedback and the loyalty. I understand the concern and want to make sure you are confident we are looking to always do right by you – You know that’s what I always do. That’s why we were able to push Leadership to offer you bonus credit for rolling over to get approved for money-value gift cards.
Just to explain who the cost of tickets came to be:
When comes to ticket price, remember we all use variable pricing – throughout all sports teams. Because some matches are way more desirable than the others. Nevertheless, we need to make sure that what we charge for the membership is exactly the sum of all games you paid for – not more or less. Because, regardless of where we play, if I have members attending all matches, they need to end up with Zero balance on the account. I cannot have someone attending all matches and having money left over nor charging more money to those who are attending the matches after they paid for a full season.
Because we had to go to RedBulls arena, we understood that it would be an inconvenience and not what we had expected/planned for – that goes for fans and for us in the office too. So, to help and all the folks and incentivize the fans to make the trip, we put the price there lower. Since those matches were less desirable and less valuable.
At the end of the day, you won’t be penalized at the end of the season with extra charges and will continue to receive additional incentives and I will do everything in my power to make your experience well worth.
This past couple of year have been very challenging and out of ordinary. I have worked very hard to make sure we can make it less painful for our fans and hopefully we are now entering the “back to normal” stages and soon this will all be behind us.
I truly can’t wait to see you back your seats at Yankee Stadium and say, “Welcome Home”.
Let me know if you have any further concerns and what time you want to hope on a call.
Best,
Weren't the RBA games announced AFTER the sign-ups for 2021 tickets?
You don't jack up the cost of your normal product because you force your fans to experience a shittier product.
i think that this CANNOT be what is happening. because this is not the first time they have messed up and get backlash. and its not like its new FO or leadership that would not of known the reaction of their decisions. though I will say if they are leaving their reps on their own to handle the backlash that adds to the shameful acts of the FO, that they cant even tell them what to say to STH.
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I remember in one of the interviews with Sims (I think the Crooks one) he mentioned that “he would win an award in the NBA for the level of season ticket renewals at NYCFC” because they were so high. Arrogance at its best, looks like the FO thinks that it can do anything and season ticket holders will just suck it up. Unbelievable.
I just spoke with my ticket rep on the phone.
He explained the ticket pricing that Dnigly posted above. My response was I wasn't upset that these prices are higher in price than RBA, but that they are significantly higher and we had no warning of it coming. If the club truly understood the inconvenience of going to RBA and wanted to appease supporters, they should have let those game be normal price as if they were at YS and eat the cost resulting from fans not attending. He agreed but then just proceeded to spew the usual customer service mumbo jumbo. A lot of it was explaining (and making excuses) for the variable pricing and significantly higher prices and a lot of "i understand where you're coming from". I get it, he's not the one in charge, so there's no point getting angry with him.
Anyway, here's the important stuff for those in the same or similar situation as me (lookin at you
LionNYC):
REFUNDS (or lack thereof):
Whether or not your 2021 account balance will be refunded depends solely on whether you opted out of 2022. If you opted out of 2022 during the opt out window, the remaining balance on your account after 2021 will be refunded to you after the end of the 2021 season.
IF you decided to move forward and renew for 2022 (like me), the remaining balance after the 2021 season will automatically roll into 2022. This amount will be added to whatever amount you've already paid toward 2022, which for me is 50% of the full season cost. Neither amount (remaining balance after 2021 nor 2022 payment) is refundable. The only way to use this money is toward game voucher packages or another season ticket membership.
Given this information, the most practical thing is for me to keep my seats for 2022 so that all the money is used up but opt out for 2023, when that window arises.
ROLLOVER BENEFITS:
The rollover benefits offered to members in 2020 when rolling over funds to 2021 will be made available in the great hall inside GATE 6 at YS. They will be sending out an email about this soonish.
OPT-OUT LEAGUES UP:
The opt-out for the leagues cup match link is working now and all it is, is the simple 1 question survey. Nothing else needs to be done.
TICKET TRADE-INS:
With these remaining home games, ticket trade-ins will once again be made available. Although he was not sure how the functionality will work, he stated it will be made available within the app and through ticketmaster. Once tickets are traded in, the value of those tickets will be added to your 2021 account balance and can be used for additional seats and upgrades. There will be an email about this once with directions once they figure it all out.
BONUS TOKENS:
I didn't recall anything about bonus tokens, but I think this was part of the rollover benefits from 2020 into 2021. My rep said the tokens are essentially dollars but can only be used for tickets and seat upgrades. There doesn't seem to be any way for us to track the token balance in the app or account on ticketmaster. We just have to email the rep and ask. This token balance will not be used in 2021 until your 2021 account funds are used up first. The tokens WILL rollover into 2022 and can be used for additional tickets and/or seat upgrades.
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I think that's all the important stuff. As I said, for my specific situation, the most practical thing is to stay on for 2022 to use up the money and then cancel moving forward. Your situation may vary, but with the information I've outlined above, you can hopefully make a more educated decision on how to handle your season tickets.
He explained the ticket pricing that Dnigly posted above. My response was I wasn't upset that these prices are higher in price than RBA, but that they are significantly higher and we had no warning of it coming. If the club truly understood the inconvenience of going to RBA and wanted to appease supporters, they should have let those game be normal price as if they were at YS and eat the cost resulting from fans not attending. He agreed but then just proceeded to spew the usual customer service mumbo jumbo. A lot of it was explaining (and making excuses) for the variable pricing and significantly higher prices and a lot of "i understand where you're coming from". I get it, he's not the one in charge, so there's no point getting angry with him.
Anyway, here's the important stuff for those in the same or similar situation as me (lookin at you
LionNYC):REFUNDS (or lack thereof):
Whether or not your 2021 account balance will be refunded depends solely on whether you opted out of 2022. If you opted out of 2022 during the opt out window, the remaining balance on your account after 2021 will be refunded to you after the end of the 2021 season.
IF you decided to move forward and renew for 2022 (like me), the remaining balance after the 2021 season will automatically roll into 2022. This amount will be added to whatever amount you've already paid toward 2022, which for me is 50% of the full season cost. Neither amount (remaining balance after 2021 nor 2022 payment) is refundable. The only way to use this money is toward game voucher packages or another season ticket membership.
Given this information, the most practical thing is for me to keep my seats for 2022 so that all the money is used up but opt out for 2023, when that window arises.
ROLLOVER BENEFITS:
The rollover benefits offered to members in 2020 when rolling over funds to 2021 will be made available in the great hall inside GATE 6 at YS. They will be sending out an email about this soonish.
OPT-OUT LEAGUES UP:
The opt-out for the leagues cup match link is working now and all it is, is the simple 1 question survey. Nothing else needs to be done.
TICKET TRADE-INS:
With these remaining home games, ticket trade-ins will once again be made available. Although he was not sure how the functionality will work, he stated it will be made available within the app and through ticketmaster. Once tickets are traded in, the value of those tickets will be added to your 2021 account balance and can be used for additional seats and upgrades. There will be an email about this once with directions once they figure it all out.
BONUS TOKENS:
I didn't recall anything about bonus tokens, but I think this was part of the rollover benefits from 2020 into 2021. My rep said the tokens are essentially dollars but can only be used for tickets and seat upgrades. There doesn't seem to be any way for us to track the token balance in the app or account on ticketmaster. We just have to email the rep and ask. This token balance will not be used in 2021 until your 2021 account funds are used up first. The tokens WILL rollover into 2022 and can be used for additional tickets and/or seat upgrades.
--------------------------------------------------------
I think that's all the important stuff. As I said, for my specific situation, the most practical thing is to stay on for 2022 to use up the money and then cancel moving forward. Your situation may vary, but with the information I've outlined above, you can hopefully make a more educated decision on how to handle your season tickets.
I want to preface my comments below by saying I was VERY impressed by my rep. I was not expecting a phone call and he called me out of the blue this afternoon. On top of that, he gave me all the time it took for me to present my case and be heard. He was as transparent as he could be and made no excuses. I am going to present the information he shared below without any comment. I think my thoughts are well known. I am still cancelling after 2022. I do not feel better or worse about things, but I was appreciative of an actual phone call:
- Because Yankee Stadium had significant restrictions, making it more difficult to attend, plus the added cost of testing, the team significantly reduced the per match cost of those tickets. Said another way, they viewed the early season, restricted matches as Tier 4 (or below?) from a pricing standpoint
- For similar reasons, the matches at RedBull Arena have also been priced as a lower tier. Since they were a hassle, and thus less in demand, they priced those matches as lower tier so that folks who did attend were rewarded for making the effort
- Any unused TICKET balance can be rolled into 2022
- I was told that I have $765 worth of Bonus Tokens from 2020. I can use them for seats, upgrades or experiences this year or roll them into 2022. It was explained to me that I can not use these tokens to offset my carrying cost of tickets in 2022
- They expect both the 10/23 and 10/27 matches to be moved back to Yankee Stadium. They will charge us against our remaining balance once the Yankees are officially eliminated
- I was told that this tiering system was only put into place 2-3 weeks ago because that's when they knew there would be no more restrictions at Yankee Stadium. So their numbers people apparently have only come up with these prices for us within the 2-3 weeks. Somehow, they knew how much to charge us in April-June, but only just figured out how much to charge us for July and moving forward...
- He said that most of the conversations he had today focused on the pricing not making any sense. So we're being heard
- Because Yankee Stadium had significant restrictions, making it more difficult to attend, plus the added cost of testing, the team significantly reduced the per match cost of those tickets. Said another way, they viewed the early season, restricted matches as Tier 4 (or below?) from a pricing standpoint
- For similar reasons, the matches at RedBull Arena have also been priced as a lower tier. Since they were a hassle, and thus less in demand, they priced those matches as lower tier so that folks who did attend were rewarded for making the effort
- Any unused TICKET balance can be rolled into 2022
- I was told that I have $765 worth of Bonus Tokens from 2020. I can use them for seats, upgrades or experiences this year or roll them into 2022. It was explained to me that I can not use these tokens to offset my carrying cost of tickets in 2022
- They expect both the 10/23 and 10/27 matches to be moved back to Yankee Stadium. They will charge us against our remaining balance once the Yankees are officially eliminated
- I was told that this tiering system was only put into place 2-3 weeks ago because that's when they knew there would be no more restrictions at Yankee Stadium. So their numbers people apparently have only come up with these prices for us within the 2-3 weeks. Somehow, they knew how much to charge us in April-June, but only just figured out how much to charge us for July and moving forward...
- He said that most of the conversations he had today focused on the pricing not making any sense. So we're being heard
What bothered me about the explanation that those who made it to RBA or covid restricted YS were being "rewarded" with lower ticket prices is that it subsequently PUNISHED the vast majority of STHs who did not make it to those games. If they were trying to do this in the best interest of supporters, then they should be catering to the vast majority. They should have priced the tickets normally for STHs and took the loss for those who didn't show up.
What you've said is consistent with what I was told. They may have come up with the specific tiering system 2-3 weeks ago, but they have been charging significantly lower amounts for RBA games for a few months now. They could have easily made all STHs aware of this so that this significant price jump for the remaining YS home games wasn't such a surprise and a slap in the face.
I told my rep it wasn't about the money. The season ticket costs X amount and the games have to add up to X amount. It's about HOW this information was presented to us. If we knew what to expect months ago when the schedule was released and how our ticket bank would be used, I don't think anybody would be upset right now. At least, not upset enough to want to cancel. Instead, they made it seem like a "gotcha" and are losing loyal STHs as a result.
FWIW, I cancelled my STH in 2020 after the window closed. As a result, I was also not eligible for a refund. Instead, I was provided a credit for what I had already paid towards 2020, usable only for ticket packages (no single game purchases). The way those work in 2021, I could choose between a flexible set of 10 or 20 vouchers. A voucher = 1 ticket in a particular seating level. So 10 vouchers, if you use 2 per game, = 5 games. I went with 10 vouchers given all the uncertainty about in person attendance a few months back and the known factor of several RBA games. I have been told that having bought the 10 pack I can buy additional vouchers this year in any increment, though at a slightly higher per voucher price. I also just realized I'm not sure if I can do that with my credit or if I would have to add cash . But I should use up the credit by next year regardless, assuming they don't change the system.
I spell all this out because, if there are games at RBA next year and you do not cancel now, I presume you (and others in the same position) might end up with credits left over after 2022 to be used in 2023 even if you cancel in the window before any 2023 payments are taken. So maybe consider canceling now to start having and using credits in 2022. Without knowing all the specifics of your situation, including how much you paid to date, or if there will in fact be RBA games next year, I don't want to suggest a particular course, but I do think it worth considering your decision in light of the full details of how the leftover credits work (at least for me) and the or more rollovers because of more RBA games next year. Honestly, they could change it all given their record, but that's how it works for now. With all that, use your own judgment.
That's actually a decent explanation that should have been communicated with the email everyone got. I'm not suggesting it should change anyone's decision, or not, but it is better than I anticipated.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I made it clear to my rep that I would be cancelling and he made a note in my account that no more payments will be taken. So, at this point, I just have to make sure the balance I have is used up one way or another before the end of 2022.
My rep did tell me about the voucher things, but I figured if I was going that route and with the money I have in my account now and what I've already paid, the most practical thing is to just stay on for 2022. If there are RBA games next year, I'll just trade them in and upgrade my seat later to legends for some food pampering.
It is a fine explanation but it’s still horseshit. Tell us in March that your plan is to charge less for the RBA games.
An argument...
1. If the price of an NYCFC season ticket is flat from 2019 to 2022, it is mathematically impossible for these 2nd half of 2021 Yankee Stadium games to be so high. Because if these higher prices were continued into 2022 (it's the same product, a full capacity Yankee Stadium), then the price of the season ticket would have to increase.
1a. That is, unless we're playing as many home games at RBA again in 2022 and so on.
1. If the price of an NYCFC season ticket is flat from 2019 to 2022, it is mathematically impossible for these 2nd half of 2021 Yankee Stadium games to be so high. Because if these higher prices were continued into 2022 (it's the same product, a full capacity Yankee Stadium), then the price of the season ticket would have to increase.
1a. That is, unless we're playing as many home games at RBA again in 2022 and so on.
1 - If these ticket prices are indicative of going-forward rates, season tickets next year will be significantly more expensive; or
2 - If next season's prices are in-line with this season's, it could just mean that using RBA going forward is the new norm; or
3 - NYCFC have our money already and are laughing their way to the bank... (likeliest)
We already have the answer. They’re telling us they discounted the early season games and RBA at the expense of the games we knew we would attend.
This is their way of passing on money they were losing to the supporters rather than taking the hit themselves. They can spin the low pricing of RBA games as "reward" all they want but they knew exactly what they were doing. It would be ok if they told us that's what they were doing. But they didn't and that's why we're all upset.
