MLS - April 12 - Philadelphia (CF)

[KevinJRogers]

One of the truly great things about MLS for me is that it extends the football year through the summer.

This is my (very selfish) reason for wanting things to remain as they are. We get live action year-round.

By the way, it's also one of the reasons I thought NBC missed an opportunity when they shut down NBC Sports Network. They could have grabbed MLS and become NBC Soccer Network and broadcast games all year long.

But that's another story for another thread.

 

[FootyLovin]

I could drop my tickets and get good seats for four matches, food, jerseys, and MLS season pass for the rest of the season and still probably have $500 left over.

This.

Stage 1 - I bought my STH because I was super excited about the new soccer team in town.
Stage 2 - I stayed as things got better and more exciting year after year.
Stage 3 - I stayed because it's already been so many years and the stadium is so close.
Stage 4 - I stayed for a year or 2 or 3 because the new stadium was cool and I like my specific seats.
Stage 5 - I left because I could get just as good seats for 5-10 matches per year for much less money on the secondary market.

 

[mgarbowski]

This.

Stage 1 - I bought my STH because I was super excited about the new soccer team in town.
Stage 2 - I stayed as things got better and more exciting year after year.
Stage 3 - I stayed because it's already been so many years and the stadium is so close.
Stage 4 - I stayed for a year or 2 or 3 because the new stadium was cool and I like my specific seats.
Stage 5 - I left because I could get just as good seats for 5-10 matches per year for much less money on the secondary market.

If the ticket renewal price that was temporarily showing in my account yesterday is accurate, or even close, I'm very much thinking of dropping altogether. To add to your Stages and factors, plus Seth's points:

• I'm no longer Founding, so I have no potential name etched in stone or on a brick to keep me around. Easier to drop again than when I first did in 2020.
• Likely to leave area in 3-5 years so no long term considerations for the new stadium.
• After both my daughters left for college and beyond, I have no regular game companions. Wife will come maybe 2x each year, mostly as a favor to me. Older girl lives in DC area, and with internships the younger is home very briefly.
• I enjoy going to games solo, but after a few years of it, the appeal is diminishing. I'd be happy with just 4-8 games that I pick. It's becoming something of a bother to arrange things around the team schedule.
• Leagues cup eliminated so many summer games. As a side effect, the compressed Spring schedule seems to involve more conflicts with life so I miss games and need to juggle the ticket returns and exchanges. This is even harder with Legends as I cannot trade up into better more expensive seats. Pitchside has been completely unavailable for single games for a few years now except secondary market. So for every game I miss I need to find an extra person to come with to another game. I'm 99% certain I will have unused credits at season end.
• I've been to games in a lot of different seat levels: 200s, 100s, Batters' Eye (remember that?), Delta, Champions, Legends. I've held season tickets in almost all of those. None currently seem to offer sufficient value to justify the STH premium, and there should not be a STH premium.

Biggest downside would be I probably won't go to the first game in the new stadium. I would miss that. But I'm not sure it's enough.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I didn't attend on Saturday, in large part because of weather.

But I am not nearly as worried as some about a potential change to the international calendar. If that happens, we will be experiencing it in our new stadium, which is fairly well contained from the elements and could have some climate control. Even without any heating, it will be a totally different situation than sitting in a wide open baseball stadium that's only meant to be used in warm weather.

 

[Joe_Cos]

If the ticket renewal price that was temporarily showing in my account yesterday is accurate, or even close, I'm very much thinking of dropping altogether. To add to your Stages and factors, plus Seth's points:

• I'm no longer Founding, so I have no potential name etched in stone or on a brick to keep me around. Easier to drop again than when I first did in 2020.
• Likely to leave area in 3-5 years so no long term considerations for the new stadium.
• After both my daughters left for college and beyond, I have no regular game companions. Wife will come maybe 2x each year, mostly as a favor to me. Older girl lives in DC area, and with internships the younger is home very briefly.
• I enjoy going to games solo, but after a few years of it, the appeal is diminishing. I'd be happy with just 4-8 games that I pick. It's becoming something of a bother to arrange things around the team schedule.
• Leagues cup eliminated so many summer games. As a side effect, the compressed Spring schedule seems to involve more conflicts with life so I miss games and need to juggle the ticket returns and exchanges. This is even harder with Legends as I cannot trade up into better more expensive seats. Pitchside has been completely unavailable for single games for a few years now except secondary market. So for every game I miss I need to find an extra person to come with to another game. I'm 99% certain I will have unused credits at season end.
• I've been to games in a lot of different seat levels: 200s, 100s, Batters' Eye (remember that?), Delta, Champions, Legends. I've held season tickets in almost all of those. None currently seem to offer sufficient value to justify the STH premium, and there should not be a STH premium.

Biggest downside would be I probably won't go to the first game in the new stadium. I would miss that. But I'm not sure it's enough.

I wouldn’t be surprise if the team had founding member bricks/name etched it stone, then a secondary wall for “founding stadium members” or something like which would people could buy for a substantial fee. I just have a feeling the team will do a money grab plus if there are only a few thousand founding members they might want to fill out the wall.

 

[LionNYC]

I wouldn’t be surprise if the team had founding member bricks/name etched it stone, then a secondary wall for “founding stadium members” or something like which would people could buy for a substantial fee. I just have a feeling the team will do a money grab plus if there are only a few thousand founding members they might want to fill out the wall.

Don't be surprised. They're doing that. One wall with founding members. Another wall with new stadium members.

 

[mgarbowski]

I wouldn’t be surprise if the team had founding member bricks/name etched it stone, then a secondary wall for “founding stadium members” or something like which would people could buy for a substantial fee. I just have a feeling the team will do a money grab plus if there are only a few thousand founding members they might want to fill out the wall.

Don't be surprised. They're doing that. One wall with founding members. Another wall with new stadium members.

This isn't surprising at all. I also have long figured they would sell bricks to Founders which they can keep at home. Makes sense to have a Stadium Season One group as well.
Really, the "name in the stadium" thing is not that big a draw. Had I not dropped tickets for a couple of years in the middle, the real impediment to dropping now would be inertia. Like, why keep tickets for 11 seasons only to drop one year before the stadium finally hits. See it through, right? But it's more the feeling of being a member in Stadium Year One than the name on a wall. But I also like feeling that my loyalty isn't being abused.
Final payment for 2025 was made overnight and my invoice is currently $0. 2026 should show up soon.