2019 Season Ticket Thread

[NickA]

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.

I really don't think any of that matters. Me personally, I don't care about any of the benefits and never utilized anything. I want a good product and good atmosphere. I also want to be able to sell my tickets for however much I want if they keep watering the value down. And let's be honest here. This is NYC, the price does not matter. Some games I can't give tickets away for free. If we were a draw, the place would be packed. The Knicks suck and you still have to pay out the ass for tickets. I know you all hate this, but we need a carousel of name players until we are playing in a sss in order to keep the interest alive. We are a good team, but nobody cares except a minute portion of people. Take a normie to a game with a sparse crowd and chances are they won't be clamoring to come back. I don't know, but this club sucks at the business end of things.

 

[Christopher Jee]

I really don't think any of that matters. Me personally, I don't care about any of the benefits and never utilized anything. I want a good product and good atmosphere. I also want to be able to sell my tickets for however much I want if they keep watering the value down. And let's be honest here. This is NYC, the price does not matter. Some games I can't give tickets away for free. If we were a draw, the place would be packed. The Knicks suck and you still have to pay out the ass for tickets. I know you all hate this, but we need a carousel of name players until we are playing in a sss in order to keep the interest alive. We are a good team, but nobody cares except a minute portion of people. Take a normie to a game with a sparse crowd and chances are they won't be clamoring to come back. I don't know, but this club sucks at the business end of things.

Oh I was talking about the potentially improved atmosphere as a benefit.

 

[Ulrich]

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.

It’s not my problem that their goal of increasing the fan base is failing because they have poorly marketed the team while having multiple PR gaffes. They made a deal with founding Members and they’ve now reneged on it’s structural foundation. Maybe instead of looking at the thumb in the dike solution, they investigate the other reasons why attendance sucks ass, and a big part of it is that we get three home games jammed down our throats in a week and then no home matches for a month or more, or that we have a large number of midweek matches that may be good for singles but don’t work well for families. Why is that, because they are subservient to the Yankees schedule - yet have they bothered to look at a split season between YS and Citi Field. Have they told their minority stake owner the deal isn’t working? They have the stats from a last minute venue switch to see that attendance is good at Citi. If anything, a better schedule using both venues would bring back more numbers than reneging on their Founding Member offer. And I bet renting Citi is less than the $1M being dropped at YS per match.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I really don't think any of that matters. Me personally, I don't care about any of the benefits and never utilized anything. I want a good product and good atmosphere. I also want to be able to sell my tickets for however much I want if they keep watering the value down. And let's be honest here. This is NYC, the price does not matter. Some games I can't give tickets away for free. If we were a draw, the place would be packed. The Knicks suck and you still have to pay out the ass for tickets. I know you all hate this, but we need a carousel of name players until we are playing in a sss in order to keep the interest alive. We are a good team, but nobody cares except a minute portion of people. Take a normie to a game with a sparse crowd and chances are they won't be clamoring to come back. I don't know, but this club sucks at the business end of things.

Exactly right -- the thing that attracted me to NYCFC games in the first place was the really fun atmosphere during that first year. The atmosphere is still there, but it's nowhere near as good as it used to be. The club needs to do something to attract more fans. I'm glad they're trying something. They're going to have to try more things, as well, because even though you see ads, t-shirts, and hats everywhere around the tri-state, that engagement is not leading to ticket sales.

 

[Christopher Jee]

It’s not my problem that their goal of increasing the fan base is failing because they have poorly marketed the team while having multiple PR gaffes. They made a deal with founding Members and they’ve now reneged on it’s structural foundation. Maybe instead of looking at the thumb in the dike solution, they investigate the other reasons why attendance sucks ass, and a big part of it is that we get three home games jammed down our throats in a week and then no home matches for a month or more, or that we have a large number of midweek matches that may be good for singles but don’t work well for families. Why is that, because they are subservient to the Yankees schedule - yet have they bothered to look at a split season between YS and Citi Field. Have they told their minority stake owner the deal isn’t working? They have the stats from a last minute venue switch to see that attendance is good at Citi. If anything, a better schedule using both venues would bring back more numbers than reneging on their Founding Member offer. And I bet renting Citi is less than the $1M being dropped at YS per match.

In my head this is when every Democratic candidate says "well Ulrich I believe that we can chew gum and walk at the same time".

These are great suggestions. But I don't mind them trying other things to improve attendance. Ideally they'd be looking at both. And I think looking forward for opportunities with mutual benefits (better deal for lapsed FMs, better atmosphere for FMs and other attendees) is more constructive than holding on to these perceived infractions.

 

[413Blue]

The problem is, many people determined that even the founding member price was a bad deal, hence the steady decline in attendance. They need a complete reversal and make a considerable cut to all prices if they want to reverse this slide.

 

[Ulrich]

In my head this is when every Democratic candidate says "well Ulrich I believe that we can chew gum and walk at the same time".

These are great suggestions. But I don't mind them trying other things to improve attendance. Ideally they'd be looking at both. And I think looking forward for opportunities with mutual benefits (better deal for lapsed FMs, better atmosphere for FMs and other attendees) is more constructive than holding on to these perceived infractions.

I can chew gum and walk at the same time, because I’m buying tix and watching what I feel is a sub-par experience in a baseball stadium.

Now if NYCFC wants to walk and chew gum at the same time, they can ditch their self-imposed white paper on going the cheap/no-name player route (KB conformed this). They can sign players that even casual fans will want to see on a regular basis - nobody comes to see Medina, and nobody outside of the Romanian ex-pats have any idea who Mitrita is, and as good as Maxi is, he definitely is not filling seats. So the club made the decision not to go that route, and they have slow-walked a SSS process that could have been greased with intense lobbying and aggressive purchasing of land/parking garages/building but they didn’t go that route as evidenced by the lack of lobbying filings and the year 2019.

That’s two parts of the equation that the club has made a conscious decision not to do or do quickly, so spare me the condescending remarks of what this reminds you of.

 

[NickA]

The frustration shouldn't be about the pricing it should be about why this is happening. There's a reason. If we were a draw the prices would go up, we aren't, so they are now going down. Without the atmosphere what are you really gaining by going to the game, besides an empty wallet. We already struggle with that since YS is so large. They should just lower the crap out of everyone's prices and hope it translates into more people.

 

[adam]

The frustration shouldn't be about the pricing it should be about why this is happening. There's a reason. If we were a draw the prices would go up, we aren't, so they are now going down. Without the atmosphere what are you really gaining by going to the game, besides an empty wallet. We already struggle with that since YS is so large. They should just lower the crap out of everyone's prices and hope it translates into more people.

If tickets were $5 like Cincy used to do, could we fill all of YS?

 

[Ulrich]

If tickets were $5 like Cincy used to do, could we fill all of YS?

The justification is still suspect being in a baseball stadium watching not-star players, since beer and food is more than at a bar and way more than at home.

Attendance starts with the product people want to watch and even if the not-star players are talented, in NYC with a half dozen other sports options, people want to see names the recognize and can later tell others about the experience. I’ll always remember watching Rooney play and feeling lucky to do so, and for all their various issues the same applies with Lampard and Pirlo, but will I ever remember the master-class of Jesus Medina? Even if Mitrita lights up a team, unless it’s clinching a cup, I doubt I’ll remember it. Bring in stars that can play and even YS will be filled.

 

[NickA]

The justification is still suspect being in a baseball stadium watching not-star players, since beer and food is more than at a bar and way more than at home.

Attendance starts with the product people want to watch and even if the not-star players are talented, in NYC with a half dozen other sports options, people want to see names the recognize and can later tell others about the experience. I’ll always remember watching Rooney play and feeling lucky to do so, and for all their various issues the same applies with Lampard and Pirlo, but will I ever remember the master-class of Jesus Medina? Even if Mitrita lights up a team, unless it’s clinching a cup, I doubt I’ll remember it. Bring in stars that can play and even YS will be filled.

100%

I consider myself a pretty big fan of the sport and I watch multiple leagues. The only player I've ever heard of on this team is Maxi since he played in Italy. Most people in the city don't even know what MLS is or that there's a soccer team here. If Zlatan was on this team, they'd know.

 

[Jon]

100%

Most people in the city don't even know what MLS is or that there's a soccer team here. If Zlatan was on this team, they'd know.

I completely agree. It's more surprising to find someone that actually knows about the team and where they play, and we've been in the league almost 5 years. If we had a Zlatan level player, there'd be greater brand awareness. CFG just doesn't want to spend the money. Period.

 

[moogoo]

I think they'd be ok with spending the money, but do we really want to bring a star at the end of their career just to sell tickets? of course, it'd be difficult to convince a super star in their prime to come to MLS to play in a baseball stadium.

I think what the club needs to do, right now, is lower food prices in the stadium, lower ticket prices across the board (season ticket holders included), and spend more money on marketing in the city. I saw an NYCFC ad in times square the other week, but the ad wasn't very informative. First, it uses FOOTBALL instead of soccer (the average new yorker wouldn't know its used in the soccer sense), it doesn't say where they play, it doesn't say where to get more information. Simply just said, "NY's Football Team"

Poor marketing, overpriced food, somewhat overpriced tickets for the average new yorker not interested in soccer. They need to fill seats. To be fair - if YS wasn't so big, it wouldn't be so bad cause we still get around 20K attendance. But it would be amazing if we could consistently fill the 30K capacity YS has for soccer matches. Front office just doesn't have a clue and it's surprising that the ownership isn't more concerned about this.

 

[Ulrich]

I think they'd be ok with spending the money, but do we really want to bring a star at the end of their career just to sell tickets? of course, it'd be difficult to convince a super star in their prime to come to MLS to play in a baseball stadium.

I think what the club needs to do, right now, is lower food prices in the stadium, lower ticket prices across the board (season ticket holders included), and spend more money on marketing in the city. I saw an NYCFC ad in times square the other week, but the ad wasn't very informative. First, it uses FOOTBALL instead of soccer (the average new yorker wouldn't know its used in the soccer sense), it doesn't say where they play, it doesn't say where to get more information. Simply just said, "NY's Football Team"

Poor marketing, overpriced food, somewhat overpriced tickets for the average new yorker not interested in soccer. They need to fill seats. To be fair - if YS wasn't so big, it wouldn't be so bad cause we still get around 20K attendance. But it would be amazing if we could consistently fill the 30K capacity YS has for soccer matches. Front office just doesn't have a clue and it's surprising that the ownership isn't more concerned about this.

I think they are genuinely concerned, but they’re trying to duct tape the issue rather than taking a big bite of the shit sandwich and doing what’s needed to immediately turn around past mistakes & organizational failed philosophies.

 

[Seth]

I have no inside info whatsoever but I have a funny feeling they were all sitting around the office chatting about how to sell more tickets and someone said "hey, how 'bout we let people get their founding member status back" and everyone said "hey, great idea." Not sure how many of the sales staff were even there five years ago to remember what might or might not have been said to ticket buyers at that time. I mean honestly, I have pretty much no idea what my company may have said to our clients five years ago, or what kind of promises may have been made. Perhaps that's what happened with the club as well.

None of this is in any way trying to provide an excuse for the front office, I'm just thinking that it's maybe a case more of throwing sales ideas at the wall rather than being any sort of calculated evil to cheat people out of benefits they may or may not have.

 

[Ulrich]

I have no inside info whatsoever but I have a funny feeling they were all sitting around the office chatting about how to sell more tickets and someone said "hey, how 'bout we let people get their founding member status back" and everyone said "hey, great idea." Not sure how many of the sales staff were even there five years ago to remember what might or might not have been said to ticket buyers at that time. I mean honestly, I have pretty much no idea what my company may have said to our clients five years ago, or what kind of promises may have been made. Perhaps that's what happened with the club as well.

None of this is in any way trying to provide an excuse for the front office, I'm just thinking that it's maybe a case more of throwing sales ideas at the wall rather than being any sort of calculated evil to cheat people out of benefits they may or may not have.

No, it came from the top. The exact words used were “way up.” And that was said to me by an insider.

 

[Christopher Jee]

I can chew gum and walk at the same time, because I’m buying tix and watching what I feel is a sub-par experience in a baseball stadium.

Now if NYCFC wants to walk and chew gum at the same time, they can ditch their self-imposed white paper on going the cheap/no-name player route (KB conformed this). They can sign players that even casual fans will want to see on a regular basis - nobody comes to see Medina, and nobody outside of the Romanian ex-pats have any idea who Mitrita is, and as good as Maxi is, he definitely is not filling seats. So the club made the decision not to go that route, and they have slow-walked a SSS process that could have been greased with intense lobbying and aggressive purchasing of land/parking garages/building but they didn’t go that route as evidenced by the lack of lobbying filings and the year 2019.

That’s two parts of the equation that the club has made a conscious decision not to do or do quickly, so spare me the condescending remarks of what this reminds you of.

Lol, I wasn't trying to imply that you can't chew gum and walk at the same time. Just that I would love to see the club looking at the kind of deeper issues that you mention as well as being scrappy and trying to do quick things to try and improve attendance. Apologies for not making that clearer.

 

[FredMertz]

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?

No, I meant that we're hyper-aware of shit like this and we're a very small minority of fans. The very large majority of fans won't be pissed off at this because they'll never have the slightest idea that it's happening.

 

[FredMertz]

To sum up my feelings on this, they need to do whatever they can do to get butts in seats. I have no inside knowledge of this, but it's not hard for me to imaging this club under existential threat if they can't get attendance up and start work on a new stadium.

I think many here take it as a given that a new stadium will meaningfully boost attendance, but if I'm pouring money into this club with no clear pathway to being profitable and perpetually declining attendance, I'm not sure I fund a new stadium without some signs of life.

 

[Ulrich]

To sum up my feelings on this, they need to do whatever they can do to get butts in seats. I have no inside knowledge of this, but it's not hard for me to imaging this club under existential threat if they can't get attendance up and start work on a new stadium.

I think many here take it as a given that a new stadium will meaningfully boost attendance, but if I'm pouring money into this club with no clear pathway to being profitable and perpetually declining attendance, I'm not sure I fund a new stadium without some signs of life.

If they’re under existential threat, then they do what any other club does in a similar situation and they sell the club to owners with a different vision. Along with everything else that’s been discussed, there’s the white elephant of the club’s ownership group and marquee sponsor - it’s very easy to despise them if you keep up on world events/politics. A reboot of the club under different ownership could/would improve attendance, as both a new car smell and if the owners are more proactive about signing the opposite of not-star players.

MLS will not contract in NYC, so there will be a second team here, and if NYCFC falters, there’s a team ready to launch out in Queens that could slide in if another group didn’t outright buy the FC club medallion. So I’m not worried about existential threats, I want the current club to be fair to all of their tix holders, and if they can’t right the ship then maybe they aren’t right for the job.