Stadium Discussion

[SoupInNYC]

I feel like just a bandwagon follower, but me too.

Me as well!

I also have one supporters section ticket that is most often just getting sold, so it would almost certainly be available to you too!

ETA: available to KevinJRogers, but I guess FootyLovin can have it too - he's a good dude

 

[SoupInNYC]

The lottery for housing applications for Willets Point Commons, the housing being built next to Etihad Park, just opened today.

https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/details/7378

 

[mgarbowski]

I associate Legends with shitty food and surly service, but maybe that's only my personal, non-premium, experience at YS.

I was not impressed with the premium Legends Club experience having it for a full year in 2025. Before that I had traded up to Legends maybe 5-10 times over several years. Going there every game for a year kind of exposed it for me. I mean it's good; but it's not really premium.

• They simply don't have enough tables. I found that if you arrive less than 30 minutes before scheduled kickoff there is a wait. I don't know how they handle Yankee games. The Legends seating at NYCFC games was never more than 50% filled so how can they not have sufficient tables for such sparse crowds?
• When the dining room was crowded and I went solo, which was often, I was pressured to sit at the bar. Treating solo diners as second class is IMO a major service industry no-no.
• The first time it happened there was only one open seat at the bar and by the time I walked over someone else took it. So I walked back to the host podium and they were (1) not all that apologetic, and (2) needed 3-4 minutes to get a seat for me. In that time 2 other parties were given tables. If you force me to sit at the bar be damn sure I can actually do so and don't make me wait longer for it than other customers to whom you actually provide tables.
• The bar was not set up for dining. The bartenders are there primarily to service wait staff requests for drinks for people sitting at regular tables. It was routinely a chore even to get the bartender's attention to simply hand me a place setting so I could eat the food I brought back from the buffet, and those place settings were plastic.
• The wait service for drinks at regular tables was better, but hit or miss. Once when I was with my wife the waiter came while I was getting food and my wife did not know what I wanted. In 20 minutes that waiter never came back and 3 requests to other staff did not manage to get my order filled or inspire our waiter to return.

In contrast, the Legends substitute at Citi provided a much better experience, even though it had fewer food choices and those choices were, on the whole, less high end. There were always more than enough tables. In fact, it was so open they just let you sit anywhere you liked. The drink waiters came by often, and more than once suggested I get a free beer there in the club to take back to my seat. Apparently this was not technically allowed yet openly flouted. Also the Legends club did not offer free beer or wine. I guess the higher end food offsets that, but overall I found the Citi club experience far better.

 

[RunningWise]

Just received my timeslot to hear about and then probably turn down my seats for East Sideline. I’m at the end of January for my session. Thought this was an interesting tidbit in the email. Potentially trying to find a way to decrease the cost for buying in. My biggest concern with the costs is that they are asking me to pay while I’m still paying for 2026.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Anyone else get this email? Kinda strange that they’d randomly send these out.

 

[mgarbowski]

View attachment 14305
Just received my timeslot to hear about and then probably turn down my seats for East Sideline. I’m at the end of January for my session. Thought this was an interesting tidbit in the email. Potentially trying to find a way to decrease the cost for buying in. My biggest concern with the costs is that they are asking me to pay while I’m still paying for 2026.

This is just more automobile sales tricks. It's so sleazy. Any time a salesperson asks you to consider how much you're willing to pay in a month instead of total cost, either leave, or firmly and somewhat rudely direct the focus to total out the door cost, making it clear they just lost your trust and need to work to have any chance of a sale.

And when the total payment period is longer than the season, lease or ownership period, it's scammy. At least you can live in a 30-year mortgage home until you die and pass it onto your heirs.

 

[Joe_Cos]

Participated in a Zoom for the Phase 3/East Side Club seats and thought I'd share what I learned as I didn't realize this was Day 1 of ticket release for these seats. Apologies for anything redundant/already discussed in the previous 1203 pages.....

East Side Club summary
- Contains all lower bowl sections and the first row of the upper bowl on the East Sideline
- Private entrance with access to the East Side "Club"- no view of the field, sounds mostly like a climate-controlled food court with whatever "Upscale Ballpark Fare" means. No food/bev included in the ticket price, all is purchased ala carte
- Ability to purchase Premium Parking Spots, I neglected to ask pricing

What I learned
- unlike the World Cup, with only 4 ticketing categories, there are hundreds at Eithad Park. Some individual rows even have 4 different ones: in order of price- Aisle, Near Aisle, Aisle Furthest From Centerline, Middle,. For Sections directly on the Centerline, the middle seats then flip to be the most expensive.
- Outside of the row categories- Front Row of every section is Premium Pricing, then Sections get progressively more expensive as you get closer to the Centerline.
- East Side Club pricing ranges from approximately $3500 - $7500/seat depending on all the above with at least twenty different tranches- the algorithm for this stadium must be insane
- MOST IMPORTANTLY- the only General Reservation tickets in the lower bowl will be the two sections in each corner. If you wanna sit near midfield in the lower bowl, you have to buy now. **I know this is different from previous posts, but that's what the rep told me
- Phase 4- General Reservation (i.e. lower bowl corners, upper bowl) is expected to go on sale in Summer 2026. They anticipate being 75% sold in Phase 3 like they are in Phase 2 and 1 now
**I forgot to ask what the Endline opposite SS qualifies as. SS looks really cool though, the full endline of both bowls, very steep!

What I'm considering
- Despite various amenities offered (cushioned seats, private entrance, Chef-Curated Hot Dogs), my takeaway is that the club is using said algorithm to extract every dollar they can based more on seat location than anything else. Want a good seat- you are gonna pay for it.
- At YS, I sit in Section 103, Row 4, Aisle Seats. As close to centerline as you can get in rightfield and still see the SS goal (there's a wall blocking many views from 103). We are behind the benches and get to watch the subs warm up/have a good view of Pascal managing too. Great benefit for my son as a youth soccer player.
- Love those seats at YS (for a baseball stadium that is.....). $1200/seat for 2026, great deal. At Eithad Park, we'd be West Side Club in probably the most pricey category so forget that- food/bev is not a priority for me. But similar proximity to the pitch on the East Side will be $6k-$7k. Insane multiple.
- I'd actually be happy to sit near the Centerline in the Upper Bowl first row. But making those East Side Club also just feels like fake bennies to justify higher pricing. The "East Side Club" is on a different floor of the building.
- That said, the rep I Zoomed with said not to expect Centerline Upper Bowl second row+ to be much cheaper than the front row seats even without the Club benefits, they are prioritizing higher pricing for any seats central/midfield regardless of bowl/side. Maybe that's marketing-speak to get me to buy now, but we haven't seen anything that reflects reasonable pricing here
- The only "deal" the Rep highlighted for me in the East Side Club were the fourth row seats above the ADA-accessible allocations near the corner sections. He noted that these were effectively "front row" seats because of the clearance space required for the ADA directly in front. Kind of a joke in my opinion

What I might do/what should I do?
- I'm FM in the low triple digits, would have a good spot in line for Phase 4 General Reservation seating as well
- Premium Seating Phase 1/2/3 benefits are not a priority for me. Just want a good seat to watch some soccer
- Ten years of four rows behind the benches...feels like a downgrade to go Upper Bowl Central and a few rows up
- currently, considering East Side club, fairly central but exploiting the algorithm to be in the $4k range/seat

All-in-all, big cash grab by the club here, none of the deferred payment plans or 4/6/8 year committment options matter, its gonna take 4x-10x to watch matches at Eithad Park.

I went back and looked at the posts (Around page 1,111 -1,112) when they did the survey. I guessed we all missed it from the excitement, but the post showed all the lower level bowls seats except for the corners and the end lines were club, but they also did a little "but wait" and posted the 18 box would be non premium, which I was considering.