"We missed you in the beginning of the season"

[Rimil]

I tried to keep my displeasure at lampardgate (lampghazi?) to a minimum, but it still came out in the please explain section; Otherwise I tried to keep my responses to we need a SSS or else i am losing interest. Every little bit helps I figure.

 

[LionNYC]

I attended both games. I thought I got it in error. Since there's an option to say you attended both, WTF?

 

[Rimil]

I attended both games. I thought I got it in error. Since there's an option to say you attended both, WTF?

They no is smart like us forum folks.

 

[Ulrich]

A real brain trust in the FO. Lack of attendance is due to shitty weather. But really, WTF do they care if they have the STH's money? Do they expect 100% STH attendance every game?

 

[Keith Putnam]

A real brain trust in the FO. Lack of attendance is due to shitty weather. But really, WTF do they care if they have the STH's money? Do they expect 100% STH attendance every game?

I was amused that they thought I could look ahead to every weekend between 4/1 and October and know whether I would be at the home game or not.

 

[QuigrNYCFC]

Seems knee jerk. Someone probably got in trouble for the 18K attendance.

 

[Falastur]

Seems knee jerk. Someone probably got in trouble for the 18K attendance.

That would be my assumption, yes. Weather or no weather, someone senior - either inside the club or a Yankees exec with a business interest in the footballing attendances at their stadium - most likely blew a fuse at the low turnout and went "right, this never happens again. Fix it now", and this is the first step.

 

[ZYanksRule]

That would be my assumption, yes. Weather or no weather, someone senior - either inside the club or a Yankees exec with a business interest in the footballing attendances at their stadium - most likely blew a fuse at the low turnout and went "right, this never happens again. Fix it now", and this is the first step.

Which makes sense. But frankly, aside from it being a home opener, the club just got really unlucky. This weekend it's in the 50's and 60's around here. That day was freezing with rain and snow. No one's going to an outdoor sporting event here in that weather.

There's really not much they can do to get people in the stadium -- a stadium which, BTW, is ridiculously cold when it's not a warm day -- in weather like that.

 

[Ulrich]

Which makes sense. But frankly, aside from it being a home opener, the club just got really unlucky. This weekend it's in the 50's and 60's around here. That day was freezing with rain and snow. No one's going to an outdoor sporting event here in that weather.

There's really not much they can do to get people in the stadium -- a stadium which, BTW, is ridiculously cold when it's not a warm day -- in weather like that.

I'll give them credit for selling hot chocolate via walking vendor, but that barely helped with the conditions. If they want more people to show in rainy conditions, they should pass out single-use ponchos at the turnstile. Take the financial hit for the ponchos as the trade off for more butts in the seats. Even then, it wouldn't have helped with the cold.

 

[Seth]

I'll give them credit for selling hot chocolate via walking vendor, but that barely helped with the conditions.

No, I'm giving them zero credit for that as they charge something like $10 for watered down crap. Seriously. If they want actual credit, expanded good will, and a full stadium what they need to do is offer $1 hot chocolate that's actually decent and promote the hell out of it. "Temps below 45°? No prob, come to the stadium and get $1 hot chocolate while watching New York's team." I want to hear that repeatedly on every radio station that has a sportscast of some sort starting on Wednesdays when there's a cold weather forecast. Put it in the newspapers too, and let the mayor mention it a time or two. And screw it, why not get a sponsor for the hot chocolate and just give it away?

The one thing that most irks me about the club is that nobody knows it exists. We've discussed subway ads before and those are fine, but offering decent hot chocolate at a break-even price can surely get some people in the door. And do the same with iced tea in the summer whenever it's over 90°.

I mean, I fully realize this is just one dumb idea but it sure beats having abysmal cold weather attendance numbers. And I'm not really expecting anything to actually change, but there's so many easy things they could do to improve the atmosphere and the fan experience if the club has the will to do so.

 

[ZYanksRule]

No, I'm giving them zero credit for that as they charge something like $10 for watered down crap. Seriously. If they want actual credit, expanded good will, and a full stadium what they need to do is offer $1 hot chocolate that's actually decent and promote the hell out of it. "Temps below 45°? No prob, come to the stadium and get $1 hot chocolate while watching New York's team." I want to hear that repeatedly on every radio station that has a sportscast of some sort starting on Wednesdays when there's a cold weather forecast. Put it in the newspapers too, and let the mayor mention it a time or two. And screw it, why not get a sponsor for the hot chocolate and just give it away?

The one thing that most irks me about the club is that nobody knows it exists. We've discussed subway ads before and those are fine, but offering decent hot chocolate at a break-even price can surely get some people in the door. And do the same with iced tea in the summer whenever it's over 90°.

I mean, I fully realize this is just one dumb idea but it sure beats having abysmal cold weather attendance numbers. And I'm not really expecting anything to actually change, but there's so many easy things they could do to improve the atmosphere and the fan experience if the club has the will to do so.

I feel like they were the talk of the town their inaugural season, and I've seen nothing from them in the way of advertising since then. They've just completely disappeared on the airwaves.

But I'm going to disagree with your last point. I think they do care. I've seen more questionaires, surveys, and phone calls (even for a guy like me who's not a STH) from NYCFC than any other team in NYC that I follow combined. They've made Yankee Stadium into about as good a fan experience as they can; much of the shortcomings are things beyond their control.

They don't control parking or concession prices. Ticket prices are very reasonable when compared to other sports teams in the city, the atmosphere at the games is as good as any you'd find at a hockey game and way better than almost any regular-season Yankees game. Of course it could always be better, but it's not as bad as you're making it out to be. And I'm pretty confident in saying most of the issues are things they can't do anything about.

 

[mgarbowski]

The one thing that most irks me about the club is that nobody knows it exists.

If I had actually met Patricof when I won the Suite award, I had intended to ask him something about this. I think this club has very poor market penetration in terms of awareness. That's my perception and the evidence for it is indirect, but still:

• Atlanta has at least 50% more season tickets sold than we do in a metro area less than half our size,
• Minnesota somewhere north of 15k season tickets sold which is awfully close to our 18-19k, and the entire state of Minnesota is less than half the size of just the NY metro area. The Twin Cities metro area is 1/3 our size.

It's harder in NYC. If you've ever lived or visited another city when one of its teams was having a good year you notice how it takes over the entire city in a way that NY teams never do. The media acts like an unpaid marketing arm of each team. There are no split allegiances with 2 or more teams in every sport. Here half of the city that passionately cares about any sport is usually annoyed by the success of one of the teams. The sports market here is both fully saturated and divided. And through sheer size the population of people who don't really care about sports but might be susceptible to getting caught up in a wave of civic euphoria resists that impulse more than in other cities.
NYCFC has to do something extra to break through. I don't think winning MLS cup will do it, although it will help. I don't think any one thing will do it. I don't know what will. Maybe they are hitting their targets, and maybe they are content. But I see no evidence of year-to-year growth in STHs, attendance, ratings, media coverage, or just general interest and awareness among the population at large. The random subway ads, beanie give-aways, and occasional Star Wars or Pride night (neither of which ever amounts to much) need to be part of a more sustained and varied effort. Dollar hot chocolate one week. Something else the next week. And the week after that, including when the team is off or playing on the road. Make some of them kind of gimmicky and others focused on the game, others on community support, etc. Just get it so people are hearing about NYCFC week after week after week.

 

[Seth]

get it so people are hearing about NYCFC week after week after week

Exactly this, and pretty much what I meant. In a sense it's sort of brand awareness we're lacking, but it's not just us but more of an MLS problem. Every once in a while a caller will mention the team on WFAN and the almost universal response from the host is that nobody's interested. Which is more or less true, especially in a city like ours where there are nine other professional sports teams in the "big four" sports. In an atmosphere like that you need to constantly get the team mentioned both in ads and in the news. We need to hear about tomorrow's girls team tryouts on the radio, maybe get a TV station news crew or three up there and have a 20 second human interest spot or two tomorrow night. That sort of thing. Get some of the players to do appearances on the morning TV shows. Get WFAN to do more than merely mention the scores. We need to get the team in the public eye. A subway ad is great, but what you need is to have the team be an actual thing that people are aware of, so that when they do happen to see a subway ad they'll easily be able to start to think of buying a ticket and bringing they're friends or family. Brand awareness is such a cliche but it's what we need, and what MLS needs.

What we need is a media rep who can get us on the media.

In a way we're in the same spot as hockey, except they're the after and we're the before. If you stop an average person on the street and say "hockey" they'll know about the Rangers and possibly also the Devils and Islanders maybe. But they're guaranteed to be aware of the NHL, and know that the Rangers play in the Garden. If you then say "soccer" to them they'll maybe say something like, "oh, yes, the kids all love to play soccer, especially on Long Island." Even if they've heard of MLS they may not even know there's a team here in the city and even fewer will know they play at Yankee Stadium. I've had people give me a "wow" when I've told them that, which honestly is a little weird.

Brand awareness: MLS's biggest problem.

 

[Jon]

Exactly this, and pretty much what I meant. In a sense it's sort of brand awareness we're lacking, but it's not just us but more of an MLS problem. Every once in a while a caller will mention the team on WFAN and the almost universal response from the host is that nobody's interested. Which is more or less true, especially in a city like ours where there are nine other professional sports teams in the "big four" sports. In an atmosphere like that you need to constantly get the team mentioned both in ads and in the news. We need to hear about tomorrow's girls team tryouts on the radio, maybe get a TV station news crew or three up there and have a 20 second human interest spot or two tomorrow night. That sort of thing. Get some of the players to do appearances on the morning TV shows. Get WFAN to do more than merely mention the scores. We need to get the team in the public eye. A subway ad is great, but what you need is to have the team be an actual thing that people are aware of, so that when they do happen to see a subway ad they'll easily be able to start to think of buying a ticket and bringing they're friends or family. Brand awareness is such a cliche but it's what we need, and what MLS needs.

What we need is a media rep who can get us on the media.

In a way we're in the same spot as hockey, except they're the after and we're the before. If you stop an average person on the street and say "hockey" they'll know about the Rangers and possibly also the Devils and Islanders maybe. But they're guaranteed to be aware of the NHL, and know that the Rangers play in the Garden. If you then say "soccer" to them they'll maybe say something like, "oh, yes, the kids all love to play soccer, especially on Long Island." Even if they've heard of MLS they may not even know there's a team here in the city and even fewer will know they play at Yankee Stadium. I've had people give me a "wow" when I've told them that, which honestly is a little weird.

Brand awareness: MLS's biggest problem.

You all hit the nail on the head. NYCFC needs more brand awareness. There should be a pre and post game show on YES for every game. They should do an hour weekly show during the week. Christ, at one point they had a weekly show on Israeli basketball! They can't find time in their programming to promote something that boosts their bottom line? Print and TV news also needs to start following this team. Get a beat reporter that knows something about soccer to write articles for one of the local papers.

As for advertising, do you ever see commercials on TV for upcoming games? Get some ads up on local stations like ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox. Promote our players and get them out there. Make the average sports fan aware of Vila.

The product on the field is the best in 3 years but it hasn't resulted in more butts in seats and more season ticket holders.

 

[JGarrettLieb]

You all hit the nail on the head. NYCFC needs more brand awareness. There should be a pre and post game show on YES for every game. They should do an hour weekly show during the week. Christ, at one point they had a weekly show on Israeli basketball! They can't find time in their programming to promote something that boosts their bottom line? Print and TV news also needs to start following this team. Get a beat reporter that knows something about soccer to write articles for one of the local papers.

As for advertising, do you ever see commercials on TV for upcoming games? Get some ads up on local stations like ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox. Promote our players and get them out there. Make the average sports fan aware of Vila.

The product on the field is the best in 3 years but it hasn't resulted in more butts in seats and more season ticket holders.

I wonder how well the idea of paid coverage would work in this scenario. I can see why you wouldn't want to do it in the long term, but for the moment would it necessarily be a terrible idea?

How much would it cost, and would it be cost effective.

Though I get the feeling that money spent in that way would be less effective than simply allocating those funds to group M and going hard on the internet advertising for awhile. Soccer skews younger anyway, and the younger you are the more likely it is that an internet advertisement will generate a response. This should be able to work for a fair number of millennials, and its not like generation Z is less susceptible to the effect either. Don't try and get a random 30/40 y/o guy to come and watch NYCFC, he probably wont want to, but little Timmy might bug his dad to take him to a game.

 

[Seth]

I wonder how well the idea of paid coverage would work in this scenario. I can see why you wouldn't want to do it in the long term, but for the moment would it necessarily be a terrible idea?

How much would it cost, and would it be cost effective.

Though I get the feeling that money spent in that way would be less effective than simply allocating those funds to group M and going hard on the internet advertising for awhile. Soccer skews younger anyway, and the younger you are the more likely it is that an internet advertisement will generate a response. This should be able to work for a fair number of millennials, and its not like generation Z is less susceptible to the effect either. Don't try and get a random 30/40 y/o guy to come and watch NYCFC, he probably wont want to, but little Timmy might bug his dad to take him to a game.

Your points about age groups are valid, and ones we can't answer here. But I guarantee you the front office knows exactly how old each and every season ticket holder is and how that differs across sections and prices.

As to spending the money, radio and newspapers are cheap, YES is owned by the Yankees so it shouldn't cost anything to air there (although there'd be some cost to make the spots), and the local news is free.

So yes, considerations but not obstacles.

 

[JGarrettLieb]

Your points about age groups are valid, and ones we can't answer here. But I guarantee you the front office knows exactly how old each and every season ticket holder is and how that differs across sections and prices.

As to spending the money, radio and newspapers are cheap, YES is owned by the Yankees so it shouldn't cost anything to air there (although there'd be some cost to make the spots), and the local news is free.

So yes, considerations but not obstacles.

Absolute cost is not really the consideration anyone should care about. The real metric is return on dollar invested for a given level of investment. And defining what that return is is quite important as well.

Let's say, for a moment, that you want to really raise awareness, only awareness, in the city dwelling population of NYC.

One option would be to simply flood the system with NYCFC metro cards. http://web.mta.info/nyct/RatestoAdvertiseonMetroCard.html
Based on the MTA's site you'd probably spend about $1.25mm and that would give you about 5mm metro cards with front and back NYCFC designed 4 color metro cards.

Would doing that raise awareness, yeah probably, but would it be as effective as digital advertising in terms of converting spent dollars to butts in seats? I have no idea, but it could be worth a shot.

I do know that whoever I get a novel metrocard I tend to look at it for a few seconds, but I might be an oddity in that regard.

 

[Ulrich]

Your points about age groups are valid, and ones we can't answer here. But I guarantee you the front office knows exactly how old each and every season ticket holder is and how that differs across sections and prices.

As to spending the money, radio and newspapers are cheap, YES is owned by the Yankees so it shouldn't cost anything to air there (although there'd be some cost to make the spots), and the local news is free.

So yes, considerations but not obstacles.

LionNYC probably skews the data at the high end. They keep running the numbers and can't figure out why they have a single STH in his early 20's in the Diamond section of seats when all of the other data shows the avg age is 47.

 

[Seth]

And hey, just by the way, watching the Mets game on channel 11 today and saw four Cosmos commercials. Quite a concept, eh?

Posted in the semi-recent Cosmos thread:
http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?th...move-to-coney-island.5109/page-15#post-191958

 

[Jon]

And hey, just by the way, watching the Mets game on channel 11 today and saw four Cosmos commercials. Quite a concept, eh?

Posted in the semi-recent Cosmos thread:
http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?th...move-to-coney-island.5109/page-15#post-191958

That's what I'm saying! Why don't we advertise on TV? Online advertising on Twitter is all well and good but for those of us who are not millennials, and have young kids, TV is where it's at still.