Interesting Dynamic In Ticket Sales

[kylelovescrayons]

There a few teams, such as Houston and FC Dallas, that aren't scheduling afternoon matches unless you point a gun at them because of the heat that hurts both attendance and quality of the game. I imagine Orlando, LA, and others in the southern half have similar feelings.

Maybe they should have considered the weather starting our last home game at night in the snow instead of during the day, with a big ol warm sun instead.

 

[adam]

Hou

There a few teams, such as Houston and FC Dallas, that aren't scheduling afternoon matches unless you point a gun at them because of the heat that hurts both attendance and quality of the game. I imagine Orlando, LA, and others in the southern half have similar feelings.

Houston & Dallas are central teams, put them in the 4/5pm slot if they are not nationally scheduled that week. But give the NY, PHI, NE, DC, CLB, CHI, etc a chance to play in the 12/1pm & 2/3pm slots on Saturdays, let us make a nice day of it with the family.

 

[LostAnvil]

They might have the late weekend games if other sports in the area are being played - wouldn't want a Mets game and a NYCFC game starting/letting out at the same time

 

[Gotham Gator]

Here is a list of our home games, with day/time and ticket information.

Sun, Mar 15, 5pm, New England - 43,507
Sat, Mar 28, 7pm, Kansas City - 27,545
--
Thr, Apr 16, 7pm, Philadelphia - good availability
Sun, Apr 19, 7pm, Portland - good availability
Sun, May 3, 7pm, Seattle - good availability
Fri, May 15, 7pm, Chicago - good availability
Sat, May 30, 7pm, Houston - good availability
Sat, Jun 13, 7pm, Montreal - good availability
Sun, Jun 28, 5pm, Red Bulls - Not Many Left
Sun, Jul 12, 5pm, Toronto - Not Many Left
Sun, Jul 26, 2:30pm, Orlando - Not Many Left
Sat, Aug 1, 2pm, Montreal - Not Many Left
Thr, Aug 13, 7pm, DC United - Not Many Left
Sat, Aug 29, 4pm, Columbus Crew - Not Many Left
Wed, Sep 16, 7pm, Toronto - Not Many Left
Sat, Sep 19, 7pm, San Jose - Not Many Left
Sun, Oct 25, 5pm, New England - Not Many Left

Of our 17 home games, 7 have times that are dictated by TV - 4 on Sunday at 5pm (ESPN2), 2 on Sunday at 7pm (FS1), and 1 on Friday at 7pm (Uni). Of the remaining 10 games, 4 are on Saturday nights at 7pm, 3 are on a weeknight (Wed/Thr) at 7pm, and 3 are on a weekend afternoon.

There are certainly limits on days and times due to the need to convert the stadium to/from baseball. Still, I wonder why so many of our Saturday games are in the evening instead of an earlier time that would work better for families.

 

[adam]

They might have the late weekend games if other sports in the area are being played - wouldn't want a Mets game and a NYCFC game starting/letting out at the same time

Citi and YS are so far apart, that shouldn't matter. And if you scheduled to avoid conflicts with other major sports in US, you'd never play a match that wasn't at 9am or midnight. And golf might even knock you out of the 9am spot on weekends.

Also, just to drive @einwindir nuts, I'm giving you some hat advice here. You can have the orange logo hand stitched by someone with some decent sewing skills. Just find a friend/local tailor who you can give the hat and photo to and let them do it. I was shocked to see how little stitching costs. My hat was less then $20 all in.

 

[Goodfella]

Even if you can't sell your tickets to games you can't make it to, email them to someone to get scanned at the gate so you at least get your Cityzen points

 

[forfalskning]

Personally, I like the Sunday 7PM times. Gives me my whole day with the family and let's me finish my evening at the game with my son. I get him back and into bed by 10 to 10:30 PM to keep the wife happy about him going to school the next day.

During the week, the 7 PM time is great as I have time to get home, eat, beer up, fake my kid's homework and get to the game. We still get my son back to bed at a somewhat decent hour. I rarely get to bed before midnight anyway and don't have to get up until 6 to be to work by 7, so the times work.

I have no problem having my son or daughter go to a game on a weeknight as long as homework and GPAs are maintained.

 

[FredMertz]

Even if you can't sell your tickets to games you can't make it to, email them to someone to get scanned at the gate so you at least get your Cityzen points

I thought you only get points if you use the cards.

 

[Lasker]

An addendum to my post above - while idly checking to see how tickets were selling yesterday, I noticed that more tickets for the game vs the Red Bulls had been released. Was able to pick up a couple of seats int he front row of 232B through account manager, only $22 each including fees. Can't beat that! So obsessively re-checking ticketmaster may not be a total waste of time after all.

 

[mgarbowski]

I thought you only get points if you use the cards.

You get half credit if you use the "Print Tickets" feature and that gets used.

 

[Fabio]

Is it possible a new sell out for this game ?

 

[BxLio91]

I doubt it.

 

[413Blue]

Regarding the scheduling, the league has indisputable proof over 19+ seasons that evening matches are far more successful, which is why afternoon matches will continue to be rare. The attendance is better, tv ratings are better, and with little or no sun and lower temperatures, the match on the field is better.
While it's not everyone's preference, it has proven to be the preference of the majority of supporter's, especially the league's new target demo, young adults. The league no longer primarily caters to the family crowd like they once did.
I certainly do wish they would schedule ALL March and April home matches in the early afternoon, but overall I much prefer the 7pm start, despite having a 3-4 hour commute home.

 

[FredMertz]

Regarding the scheduling, the league has indisputable proof over 19+ seasons that evening matches are far more successful, which is why afternoon matches will continue to be rare. The attendance is better, tv ratings are better, and with little or no sun and lower temperatures, the match on the field is better.
While it's not everyone's preference, it has proven to be the preference of the majority of supporter's, especially the league's new target demo, young adults.

Please cite any evidence supporting these claims.

 

[413Blue]

I've followed the attendance and tv ratings threads over on BigSoccer for many years, the proof is in there. If you would like to look back at 19 years of archived TV and attendance numbers, be my guest, but for now i'm just gonna stick with what I said. Do you believe MLS just randomly decided to put the majority of it's matches in the evening, or do you think they have done comprehensive studies over the last 19 years to determine that evening matches, in general, are much better?

 

[mgarbowski]

I've followed the attendance and tv ratings threads over on BigSoccer for many years, the proof is in there. If you would like to look back at 19 years of archived TV and attendance numbers, be my guest, but for now i'm just gonna stick with what I said. Do you believe MLS just randomly decided to put the majority of it's matches in the evening, or do you think they have done comprehensive studies over the last 19 years to determine that evening matches, in general, are much better?

I believe ESPN, Univision and FOx said we'll pay you $x for day games and $3x or $5x for night games. Ratings for sports are higher at night, and you don't need studies for that. But this has nothing to do with the fans in the stands. We're an afterthought.