I don't think founding members are all that outraged. Other season ticket holders not getting the founding discount are the aggrieved party here.
2019 Season Ticket Thread
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
I keep saying their pricing strategy has been way off. Resales prove it out. I’m fine with dropping everyone to FM prices if that’s the market value. But then drop the FMs a little extra. That was one of the bullet points sold to us when we signed up years ago; a lower price point than anyone else who signed up later.
I don't think it's going to piss of a lot of people because I don't think a lot of people will even be aware of it, our outrage nothwithstanding.
The answer is Yes, the club is absolutely desperate.
It’s why the offer is ambiguous, and they’re pissing off the loyal Founding Members while also kicking sand in the faces of anybody else that’s a current STH - why should somebody that walked away from the club be given better pricing than a current club member..... unless they can’t see the anger described above -or- they plan to reduce pricing to everybody like the Revs. Either way, they’re failing with the marketing.
Well tbh this whole idea that FMs are somehow more inherently special and deserve a price cut is SLIGHTLY weird to me. Give us priority for stuff, absolutely. Sounds totally fair. But it gets messy when pricing comes into it - as evidenced by the freakouts above. I'm no more of a fan than the guys who sit with me who only got season tickets two or three years ago (or the guys who lapsed and came back, for that matter). The current pricing strategy seems like it was designed to reward loyalty, but seems to have just created entitlement issues instead.
I guess you’re ok with the guy at the office who was hired at the same time as you for the same position title, but quit after only one year, getting rehired at the same salary you’re at, even though you’ve had a few yearly raises while he spent three+ years backpacking overseas?
I'm not sure where you're getting this entitlement perspective from or why you're going off topic to continuously bring it up.
However, if I'm promised something (like a permanent discount) when I buy it, I'm sure going to be pissed off that I am not receiving what I paid for.
So really, what is your point and why are you so enamoured with your conclusion? The club sold founding members a lifetime discount. The founding members are not just feeling entitled to something because they feel special, they feel entitled to something they have been repeatedly promised and bought.
This is WILD and I'm sure someone with a better understanding of psychology than me would be able to write a whole damn paper on it. (I have little sympathy for the guys who bought the tickets fwiw)
Founding members are still getting their discount though? Nothing has changed there so I've no reason to be mad. But apparently some people are now pissed that other people may get the same discount? That's where the entitlement comes in.
Your last post, which I quoted and replied to, said that founding members shouldn't get a discount. You are right imo....if it had never been offered and sold as a perk before. People have now committed thousands of dollars to this club, at least part of their decision to do so was a result of the promised discounts. They can't ethically take that away at this point, regardless of how "entitled" the founding members appear to you.
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This is from an email sent by the club on July 17, 2014. It specifically mentions Founding Members get preferred season ticket pricing for future seasons. And they include an asterisk stating that you lose those benefits if you lapse.
So they basically lied to us then, unless they offer FMs a lower price point next season than the returning FMs, which we’re assuming could (and should) become the new STH price.
So they basically lied to us then, unless they offer FMs a lower price point next season than the returning FMs, which we’re assuming could (and should) become the new STH price.
"Lie" is a really unfair phrase for what they're doing here. To say they lie intimates they knew way back in 2014 that 5 years later they would do this promotion.
I think the reaction here is a bit much. We should be glad they're trying to regain their fans -- the attendance this season has been shocking -- they need to do something big to get more people in the stands.
Is reneged a better word? One of the major benefits of being a FM was the lower price point so I had a better chance of breaking even on the re-sale to hold my place in line for the new stadium. Now they’ve taken that away. Who’s to say they don’t also take my place in line away with a different promotion to sell premium seats? Or offer anyone engraving on the new stadium for a fee? It’s a slippery slope and they just took their first step towards the ledge.
They wrote this promotion in such a way, using very distinct verbiage, that would preclude reneging on it 5 years later.
They may not have known back then that they'd be lying now, but in their offices when they made this decision, they sure had the opportunity to reflect on the fact that they had laid out very strict parameters on how one receives FM pricing, then and at any point in the future, and that changing it now would constitute a past lie.
I think reneged captures it better. They made a promise I'm sure they fully expected to keep back when. Circumstances changed and they decided to modify the terms that helps some people while making loyalty less rewarding for others.
The likelihood of them offering something like this when the new stadium actually happens has to be close to 100%. Anyone who thought buying season tickets every year is the only way to guarantee a brick in the stadium is crazy.
Also - why do people care so much about the bricks? I've never seen them done well at any stadium/park, and even if they were, would they really be worth thousands of dollars and several years worth of investment?
I think we need to understand that this team's entire goal is to increase the fanbase. They need to keep their season-ticket holders happy, but they also need to grow the fanbase. And we as the diehards need to understand that there might be times when we feel taken advantage of, because it's frankly impossible to grow the fanbase without some growing pains. They're averaging their lowest attendance in team history this season. Something needs to change. If there is a small amount of pain in exchange for growing the fanbase, that's good for everyone.
It's never fun seeing how the sausage is made, but give them a chance to grow the fanbase. They need to.
Yeah, adding fans should add to the experience which means we'll be getting more value for what we are paying to be STHs. Thinking about costs and discounts is only one side of the analysis.
The majority of the founding members on here dropped their season tickets to purchase tickets game by game for a cheaper price. Most are still going, so not sure how this really gets more people in the stadium.
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That's a fair point. But on here doesn't necessarily represent out there. Also not certain that all FMs who dropped are going to as many games now.
I was moreso building on a general point about thinking of these initiatives from a perspective that includes the potential improvement on benefits, as well as (relative to other members') costs, of being a member or even just a fan.
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