2020 & 2021 Season Ticket Thread

[moogoo]

So, I was curious about how other clubs under CFG treat their members. I took a look at Melbourne City FC's membership benefits from last year when they were pushing for the 2018/19 season.

Apparently, signing up enters you into a contest to win an all expense paid trip to watch Man City play in the UK. Details are:

• Two tickets to watch Manchester City's opening home match of the 2018/19 Premier League season at the Etihad Stadium;
• Two return economy flights from Melbourne to Manchester, courtesy of Etihad Airways;
• Four nights’ accommodation for you and a friend in Manchester;
• A GoPro camera to film your experience;
• A Nike merchandise pack with Melbourne City and Manchester City gear to get you ready for the big game.

- Not only that, but if you renew or sign up before a particular date - you get the benefit of price freeze and pay no more than what you pay the current season (this is awesome).
- They also get 10% off food and merch and founding members get 15%.
- Free access to youth and minor league games.
- exclusive member merch (something NYCFC just came out with this year with a very half assed attempt)
- Choose your own design for your membership card

Those were the differences I spotted. They also have many of the same benefits we do in addition to those listed above. The biggest for me is price freeze. That is a huge benefit to show that you value your members and member commitment to the club. Of course, A-league is a different market than MLS... but sounds like they get treated better than we do. Those benefits are for their most popular membership tier, which gives access to all their 13 home games and cost a whopping $290 ...

 

[SFphoto]

I kind of want to respond to the email I got about “restoring founding member pricing” even though I cancelled several years ago. Just for funsies to see what they say.

 

[adam]

So, I was curious about how other clubs under CFG treat their members. I took a look at Melbourne City FC's membership benefits from last year when they were pushing for the 2018/19 season.

Apparently, signing up enters you into a contest to win an all expense paid trip to watch Man City play in the UK. Details are:

• Two tickets to watch Manchester City's opening home match of the 2018/19 Premier League season at the Etihad Stadium;
• Two return economy flights from Melbourne to Manchester, courtesy of Etihad Airways;
• Four nights’ accommodation for you and a friend in Manchester;
• A GoPro camera to film your experience;
• A Nike merchandise pack with Melbourne City and Manchester City gear to get you ready for the big game.

- Not only that, but if you renew or sign up before a particular date - you get the benefit of price freeze and pay no more than what you pay the current season (this is awesome).
- They also get 10% off food and merch and founding members get 15%.
- Free access to youth and minor league games.
- exclusive member merch (something NYCFC just came out with this year with a very half assed attempt)
- Choose your own design for your membership card

Those were the differences I spotted. They also have many of the same benefits we do in addition to those listed above. The biggest for me is price freeze. That is a huge benefit to show that you value your members and member commitment to the club. Of course, A-league is a different market than MLS... but sounds like they get treated better than we do. Those benefits are for their most popular membership tier, which gives access to all their 13 home games and cost a whopping $290 ...

$290 / 13 = $22.30. Similar pricing to our lowest tier (SS).

 

[moogoo]

$290 / 13 = $22.30. Similar pricing to our lowest tier (SS).

yea - but they get an actual seat. they also have a standing only section that's priced differently.

biggest benefit is price freeze though. wish we had that. i don't think anyone would complain if that was implemented by NYCFC.

 

[adam]

yea - but they get an actual seat. they also have a standing only section that's priced differently.

biggest benefit is price freeze though. wish we had that. i don't think anyone would complain if that was implemented by NYCFC.

I agree with you on the flat rate. I’ve been holding onto my now downgraded SS seats for the founders benefits. And I’m actually on a path to break even selling most my tickets this season. But a 9%+ increase will make it near impossible next year.

And I can’t see the logic in this move. Is this the new normal? In my line of work, a 10% increase each year is a great way to get a tenant to vacate. Do they feel tickets are so underpriced in a half-empty stadium, that this is required? What will they be charging non-founding members? What will they charge the general public? I almost feel like the new regime is testing our tolerance limits. And I think they found mine.

 

[Ulrich]

I agree with you on the flat rate. I’ve been holding onto my now downgraded SS seats for the founders benefits. And I’m actually on a path to break even selling most my tickets this season. But a 9%+ increase will make it near impossible next year.

And I can’t see the logic in this move. Is this the new normal? In my line of work, a 10% increase each year is a great way to get a tenant to vacate. Do they feel tickets are so underpriced in a half-empty stadium, that this is required? What will they be charging non-founding members? What will they charge the general public? I almost feel like the new regime is testing our tolerance limits. And I think they found mine.

Many corporations give a 3% yearly merit raise if employees do a great job and meet goals, with the number going down for lesser performance. Tough to justify lifestyle indulgences when they increase annually by multiple factors of your salary’s raise.

 

[Nelson Jay]

Do a price freeze for at least every 5 years. I can live with that. -sigh-

 

[Falastur]

So, I was curious about how other clubs under CFG treat their members. I took a look at Melbourne City FC's membership benefits from last year when they were pushing for the 2018/19 season.

Apparently, signing up enters you into a contest to win an all expense paid trip to watch Man City play in the UK. Details are:

• Two tickets to watch Manchester City's opening home match of the 2018/19 Premier League season at the Etihad Stadium;
• Two return economy flights from Melbourne to Manchester, courtesy of Etihad Airways;
• Four nights’ accommodation for you and a friend in Manchester;
• A GoPro camera to film your experience;
• A Nike merchandise pack with Melbourne City and Manchester City gear to get you ready for the big game.

- Not only that, but if you renew or sign up before a particular date - you get the benefit of price freeze and pay no more than what you pay the current season (this is awesome).
- They also get 10% off food and merch and founding members get 15%.
- Free access to youth and minor league games.
- exclusive member merch (something NYCFC just came out with this year with a very half assed attempt)
- Choose your own design for your membership card

Those were the differences I spotted. They also have many of the same benefits we do in addition to those listed above. The biggest for me is price freeze. That is a huge benefit to show that you value your members and member commitment to the club. Of course, A-league is a different market than MLS... but sounds like they get treated better than we do. Those benefits are for their most popular membership tier, which gives access to all their 13 home games and cost a whopping $290 ...

It's worth saying that Melbourne City are in a precarious position where they are by far the smaller club in their city in terms of support, and the A-League has just added a third Melbourne side, who could potentially steal a large portion of what remains of their fans, many of whom are still on edge about the renaming of their club. I can see their membership packages getting VERY attractive if they think they're in a fight to keep their own fans.

Also, Melbourne City has always gone in hard on the "Manchester City experience" competitions - I find it a little embarrassing, honestly. I see stories about their competition winners coming to Manchester far more often than I see any reference to other CFG club fans doing anything similar. I'm not sure to what extent those competitions are laid out by CFG and to what extent their own board is allowed to arrange its own stuff.

 

[LionNYC]

It's worth saying that Melbourne City are in a precarious position where they are by far the smaller club in their city in terms of support, and the A-League has just added a third Melbourne side, who could potentially steal a large portion of what remains of their fans, many of whom are still on edge about the renaming of their club. I can see their membership packages getting VERY attractive if they think they're in a fight to keep their own fans.

Also, Melbourne City has always gone in hard on the "Manchester City experience" competitions - I find it a little embarrassing, honestly. I see stories about their competition winners coming to Manchester far more often than I see any reference to other CFG club fans doing anything similar. I'm not sure to what extent those competitions are laid out by CFG and to what extent their own board is allowed to arrange its own stuff.

That's quite interesting. One of the things that bugged me in the original messaging to season tickets holders was "to make New York City one of the soccer capitals of the world". Why not, "the soccer capital of the world"?

Why not? Manchester.

 

[moogoo]

It's worth saying that Melbourne City are in a precarious position where they are by far the smaller club in their city in terms of support, and the A-League has just added a third Melbourne side, who could potentially steal a large portion of what remains of their fans, many of whom are still on edge about the renaming of their club. I can see their membership packages getting VERY attractive if they think they're in a fight to keep their own fans.

Also, Melbourne City has always gone in hard on the "Manchester City experience" competitions - I find it a little embarrassing, honestly. I see stories about their competition winners coming to Manchester far more often than I see any reference to other CFG club fans doing anything similar. I'm not sure to what extent those competitions are laid out by CFG and to what extent their own board is allowed to arrange its own stuff.

Interesting. You're right that offering trips to see Man City is kind of embarrassing. But the club could offer a sweepstakes of some kind.. maybe the grand prize winner simply gets free concessions for the next season, or something.

 

[SteveV]

I’m also in 226 (front row) and my invoice went up. So they are charging more for front row seats.

What’re they charging you per ticket?

 

[Kjbert]

It would be nice to offer cross promotion with Man City and/or Etihad.

I went through my ticket rep to find tickets for Man City last summer. Put me in touch with a counterpart in Manchester. It was very nice of him to help. But it had no bearing on my ability to get a ticket.

 

[LionNYC]

It would be nice to offer cross promotion with Man City and/or Etihad.

I went through my ticket rep to find tickets for Man City last summer. Put me in touch with a counterpart in Manchester. It was very nice of him to help. But it had no bearing on my ability to get a ticket.

There was an offer for Pitchside people to get up to a 20 percent discount on business or first class seats on Etihad. I don't know if it's still active, but I'm sure they'd help.

 

[canchon]

What’re they charging you per ticket?

$731 / 17 = $43/game.

 

[Mkdaman1818]

I called my rep this morning and he confirmed that the reason my prices went up were because of row 1. He also said most sections went up in pricing regardless (which is ludicrous to me given the resale value) but he confirmed that row 1 pricing is indeed higher now.

 

[LionNYC]

I called my rep this morning and he confirmed that the reason my prices went up were because of row 1. He also said most sections went up in pricing regardless (which is ludicrous to me given the resale value) but he confirmed that row 1 pricing is indeed higher now.

Your rep will probably be fired for saying something honest about ticket pricing.

 

[adam]

I called my rep this morning and he confirmed that the reason my prices went up were because of row 1. He also said most sections went up in pricing regardless (which is ludicrous to me given the resale value) but he confirmed that row 1 pricing is indeed higher now.

I’m really ready to drop. And I’ll let them know the almost 10% price hike is a major factor.

 

[Seth]

Was away when the invoices arrived last week but mine is the same as last year. Section 224 top row (category 4) is $1088 (plus $25) for two seats for the season. I don't see any sort of detail page as I just have the summary, but it's the same amount as last year so I figure I still have the founding member price. Works out to $32 per seat.

 

[LionNYC]

Say there are 5,000 season ticket holder accounts in 2020. And they give 5 Blue Cards to everyone. That's 2 seats per card. 5,000*5*2 = 50,000 / 17 Home Games = 2,941 extra attendance per game. They're just doing this (aside from getting new fans potentially engaged) to artificially inflate attendance numbers.

 

[moogoo]

Say there are 5,000 season ticket holder accounts in 2020. And they give 5 Blue Cards to everyone. That's 2 seats per card. 5,000*5*2 = 50,000 / 17 Home Games = 2,941 extra attendance per game. They're just doing this (aside from getting new fans potentially engaged) to artificially inflate attendance numbers.

you think they'd count it without the ticket being scanned at the gate? i guess that's kind of what they do now..

still think the blue card is pretty cool and look forward to hopefully getting some new fans..