Stadium Discussion

Are these emails meant to sell corporate tickets?

They are one or two-sentence emails that appear to be trying to sell luxury suites but are so imprecise that I'm not even comprehending what being sold. I've been a partial plan holder and a single-game ticket holder, but have never even inquired about any sort of premium section. Ridiculous and borderline insulting that I'm getting those emails.
 
My law firm marketing director received this promo box unsolicited in the fall.


My firm has never owned athletic tickets. It doesn't really fit our marketing strategy or client relationships. If NYCFC bought a list of local companies who have Yankee, Knick, etc tickets we would not be on that list. So I can only guess that NYCFC sent this to
  • every NYC law firm with at least 50 attorneys, or
  • randomly selected NY law firms, or
  • my firm because of my connection, but without mentioning me in the cover letter.
I also find it odd that you open the box and the voice of the team is Marcus Samuelsson and he starts by listing his restaurants. I understand they are selling hospitality but the sport angle is very secondary.
 
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My law firm marketing director received this promo box unsolicited in the fall.


My firm has never owned athletic tickets. It doesn't really fit our marketing strategy or client relationships. If NYCFC bought a list of local companies who have Yankee, Knick, etc tickets we would not be on that list. So I can only guess that NYCFC sent this to
  • every NYC law firm with at least 50 attorneys, or
  • randomly selected NY law firms, or
  • my firm because of my connection, but without mentioning me in the cover letter.
I also find it odd that you open the box and the voice of the team is Marcus Samuelsson and he starts by listing his restaurants. I understand they are selling hospitality but the sport angle is barely present.

That’s certainly some interesting marketing. Thanks for sharing. I agree, the Marcus Samuelsson recording was a strange choice. It might’ve made more sense if he were known as a passionate NYCFC supporter, but he’s a well-documented, die-hard Arsenal fan.

At that NYCFC/Red Rooster Mastercard dinner back in 2017, which I know a few others here also attended, they did a panel with Samuelsson, TMAC, Claudio, and Sean Johnson. While it was clear that Samuelsson is a big global soccer fan, his comments were broad and not really NYCFC-specific. At one point, I think he even brought up Thierry Henry, which makes sense given his Arsenal ties, but bit out of touch at an NYCFC event.

Even in the recording, he mentions liking soccer and NYC but never actually says anything about supporting NYCFC.

Maybe I’m being overly nitpicky, but it feels like another example of how the team on the field isn't being made the central focus, probably because they can’t right now, given how the roster’s been built. It would be great if we were in a position to send out clips of someone saying, “Come join me in supporting this incredible club that’s winning games and features a few players you might know and are excited to see.”

Instead, we get: “Hi, I’m a famous guy. I like soccer, New York, and the paycheck I’m getting to advise on food at the new stadium!”

And yes, I know big players are probably coming with the new club, but for how long? Are they going to stay committed to it this time or do it for a few years to sell tickets and then go back to the 18-year-old prospect farm team special they've been doing for the last 3 years?
 
My law firm marketing director received this promo box unsolicited in the fall.


My firm has never owned athletic tickets. It doesn't really fit our marketing strategy or client relationships. If NYCFC bought a list of local companies who have Yankee, Knick, etc tickets we would not be on that list. So I can only guess that NYCFC sent this to
  • every NYC law firm with at least 50 attorneys, or
  • randomly selected NY law firms, or
  • my firm because of my connection, but without mentioning me in the cover letter.
I also find it odd that you open the box and the voice of the team is Marcus Samuelsson and he starts by listing his restaurants. I understand they are selling hospitality but the sport angle is very secondary.

That's why season ticket prices went up. Had to afford those fancy promo boxes somehow since they couldn't send them to actual season ticket members anymore.
 
My law firm marketing director received this promo box unsolicited in the fall.


My firm has never owned athletic tickets. It doesn't really fit our marketing strategy or client relationships. If NYCFC bought a list of local companies who have Yankee, Knick, etc tickets we would not be on that list. So I can only guess that NYCFC sent this to
  • every NYC law firm with at least 50 attorneys, or
  • randomly selected NY law firms, or
  • my firm because of my connection, but without mentioning me in the cover letter.
I also find it odd that you open the box and the voice of the team is Marcus Samuelsson and he starts by listing his restaurants. I understand they are selling hospitality but the sport angle is very secondary.
Yeah, no real idea how my company would have gotten on their radar. Are the emailing everyone registered in NYC/downstate?

And as a former season ticket holder for all but 1.5 non-consecutive seasons, I can't remember the last time I was directly pitched on tickets.
 
I agree, the Marcus Samuelsson recording was a strange choice. It might’ve made more sense if he were known as a passionate NYCFC supporter, but he’s a well-documented, die-hard Arsenal fan.

At that NYCFC/Red Rooster Mastercard dinner back in 2017, which I know a few others here also attended, they did a panel with Samuelsson, TMAC, Claudio, and Sean Johnson. While it was clear that Samuelsson is a big global soccer fan, his comments were broad and not really NYCFC-specific. At one point, I think he even brought up Thierry Henry, which makes sense given his Arsenal ties, but bit out of touch at an NYCFC event.
My head canon is NYCFC believes it needs a skinny male middle aged celebrity endorser who loves soccer but has no real passion for the team and only shows up when he gets paid. They originally signed Mariano Rivera, but he bugged out and Samuelsson stepped in.

I was at that dinner. The food was good enough, but a pretty underwhelming experience overall. A shame that Villa's last hurrah with the Spanish NT kept him away.
 
That’s certainly some interesting marketing. Thanks for sharing. I agree, the Marcus Samuelsson recording was a strange choice. It might’ve made more sense if he were known as a passionate NYCFC supporter, but he’s a well-documented, die-hard Arsenal fan.

At that NYCFC/Red Rooster Mastercard dinner back in 2017, which I know a few others here also attended, they did a panel with Samuelsson, TMAC, Claudio, and Sean Johnson. While it was clear that Samuelsson is a big global soccer fan, his comments were broad and not really NYCFC-specific. At one point, I think he even brought up Thierry Henry, which makes sense given his Arsenal ties, but bit out of touch at an NYCFC event.

Even in the recording, he mentions liking soccer and NYC but never actually says anything about supporting NYCFC.

Maybe I’m being overly nitpicky, but it feels like another example of how the team on the field isn't being made the central focus, probably because they can’t right now, given how the roster’s been built. It would be great if we were in a position to send out clips of someone saying, “Come join me in supporting this incredible club that’s winning games and features a few players you might know and are excited to see.”

Instead, we get: “Hi, I’m a famous guy. I like soccer, New York, and the paycheck I’m getting to advise on food at the new stadium!”

And yes, I know big players are probably coming with the new club, but for how long? Are they going to stay committed to it this time or do it for a few years to sell tickets and then go back to the 18-year-old prospect farm team special they've been doing for the last 3 years?

marcus was a NYCFC partner (maybe he still is?) for the food and nutrition wasn't he? he's been to many nycfc events and has claimed to be an NYCFC fan (though who knows how true that actually is).
 
My head canon is NYCFC believes it needs a skinny male middle aged celebrity endorser who loves soccer but has no real passion for the team and only shows up when he gets paid. They originally signed Mariano Rivera, but he bugged out and Samuelsson stepped in.

I was at that dinner. The food was good enough, but a pretty underwhelming experience overall. A shame that Villa's last hurrah with the Spanish NT kept him away.
Didn't this team pay LL Cool J to attend games back in 18-19. I though he was at multiple games. Wouldn't that have been a better choice.
 
The big pricing/renewal conversation happened a few weeks ago while I was on a trip, but:

I don't have tickets this year.
I had one supporters ticket last year, lured back by the stadium announcement and expectations around Messi ticket prices (which didn't really pan out, but that's a separate conversation). I managed to go to one game.
I did not have tickets the year before that - I believe this was the 2023 season, but part of the reason I'm going backwards is to avoid having to figure that out, especially since the team can't even decide if this is the tenth or eleventh season. 😂
I had tickets every year before that, mostly in supporters with at least one year in 234. I never figured out my exact place in the founding members line (INTERN, please leak the list on your last day), but I have an email from July 28 2024 thanking me for my first installment towards the tickets. That was for one ticket; I added the second in July 2015 as our child was being born and carried both through my first cancellation.

I'm kind of dumb, I want to support the club, and I have disposable income. Seeing the team win a championship in person - and for $10/ticket no less - was a once in a lifetime type of experience. Being in the bleachers building a culture and singing about how terrible we were (edit for clarity: in 2015) was tremendously fun. Season tickets just aren't a good use of money if you're not going to most or all of the games. Even if you are you could probably do it cheaper on the resale market, but convenience and consistency have their own benefits.

I don't think people should use season tickets as investments/money making schemes, but if you can't even get close to breaking even on games you can't attend, why even bother? And that's at current prices, let alone the sort of numbers people were throwing around in this thread. I hope to attend a match in the new stadium at some point, but I don't see any need to subsidize a corporation that has a lot more money than I do.
 
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