North End seats were being released about ten days before a game, so that they could be purchased as "walk-ups".
From the DC game I was at and the ones I've seen on telly otherwise, it seems that the North End is almost empty. No walk-ups I guess.
North End seats were being released about ten days before a game, so that they could be purchased as "walk-ups".
From the DC game I was at and the ones I've seen on telly otherwise, it seems that the North End is almost empty. No walk-ups I guess.
what blows my mind is this waiting list figure of 10 thousand who dont have tickets at all .....if such the case......why isnt the northend....or even the stadium jammed to capacity...if there is many tickets avail.....where is the 10 000 who are dying for season seats???????
Clearly the people on the waiting list will only sit in the most expensive seats. That's why the north end in empty and that's why tfc raised their prices this year. All the current season ticket holders will flee the expensive seats, leaving the oh so desirable expensive seats available for those on the waiting list...
A couple of weeks ago, I couldn't find 3 tickets together in the north end. If there are there now, then they must have been on hold. Hasn't there been a lot of group sales in the north end?
He's gonna talk about the rise in ticket prices.
http://www.24thminute.com/2010/09/it...l-live_24.html
I stopped listening to the podcast a while back. Unfortunately Duane has gotten far too chummy with the TFC FO to ask the tough questions, so he has become something of an extention of their PR department, providing justifications and excuses for some time. No thanks.
So I am listening in and basically Ben sets up Paul to defend himself without actually asking the tough questions that break down what Paul puts out there.
I realize he's just a blogger but doesn't Ben work in the media? This is far from investigative, Paul might as well be promoting a movie, it's that level of difficulty facing this line of questioning.
Really?"Tell us why you had to raise ticket prices"
Paul's excuse...besides the usual stuff about expenses going up for the academy, etc. ... it's not him who makes the decision. It's made by a committee. He's on the committee (he says he tries to "represent the supporters"), but he's not the decision maker.
Time for another fake Tom Anselmi diary to give us details of the meeting
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
That was a weak interview that Paul dominated. And all the hard questions that he should have answered, he didn't. I don't know if there's a love-in situation between Rycroft and the FO, but this was pretty slow-pitch stuff.
At least Paul didn't try to make it seem like adding MLS Cup tickets was any sort of favour or gesture to TFC fans.
He flat out said that they were included to ensure that MLSE sold enough tickets for the Final.
As for the CCL tickets,
He makes the point that MUFC fans are obligated to purchase all tickets to home games that their club is in.
But I ask, is it so hard to hold off on making us pay for our non-league game tickets until they are actually official?
Well the point about the short sell time was intresting. I hadn't really thought of it in that context. But as we go on it should become more easier to move those tickets as people will expect them.
Intresting monkey bar in there about Nutralite possibly changing and those tickets going to cover that - Edmonton anyone?
Its times like this we see how all these leagues operate without any real communication and it leaves a lot up in the air.
The part that really gets me...that REALLY gets me is that they all claim allegiance to the altar of supply and demand.
Tell me MLSE...who created that demand? You? No...you benefited, but you didn't create it.
Anyone who was around at the beginning knows that there was NO demand for tickets until Beckham signed. But since he has NEVER played in a single TFC game and only played once here in the MLS All Star game how does demand remain high?
Because when people showed up, there was something else to show up for. It certainly wasn't the soccer, that's been shit from the start.
It was the atmosphere. It was the fans. In particularly, it was the supporters.
So what do they do? Shit on those that are HELPING them create the demand they are so gleefully drawing benefit from. How so? By making them endure the highest of the rate hikes of all the sections and now making them pay more for tickets in their respective sections than most other teams in MLS.
Tell me, where will this demand be if the team continues to be shit but now the atmosphere goes away? There is still no Beckham. TFC now has acquired the reputation of The Incompetent Leafs part deux but they decide that they are going to mess with the only good selling feature still left at BMO Field, the supporters. That's brilliant.
And nobody at ICF raised this point. Instead, they set the ball up at the T for Paul to swing for the fences without a care in the world.
I am done with ICF.
Last edited by Roogsy; 09-24-2010 at 01:59 PM.
A little softball on the questions. I appreciate that they didn't want it be a slagfest, but they could have asked the question about supporter's prices.
It would have been more interesting having KD do the interview.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 09-24-2010 at 01:59 PM.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
Disappointed...he got the basics out there, but didn't contextualize them.
Paul's admission that season ticket holders are being forced to buy CC tickets because they can't sell out the stadium otherwise is exactly the type of MLSE action that's at the heart of our anger and it wasn't pursued at all..."We can't sell out, so we're shifting the burden to you!".
I had to laugh at the notion that TFC failed to properly prepare us for price increases, given that someone was quite please to tweet about mere $1 increases on season tickets. That was a nice way of saying that they tried to burry the lead and spin their greed and when they were called on it they were forced admit their failure to "properly prepare" us.
Sadly, Paul made it clear that things like loyalty and mutual respect aren't apart of the equation in their eyes, its all about being slaves to market forces..."We like what our (now former) season ticket holds did for us, but now someone else is willing to pay a little more than they are. It was nice knowin' ya, thanks for the memories!"
I'm not buying the added costs defense. The two extra MLS games added to the schedule, the CC games and CL games are all games that are played without salary added salary costs associated with them. The auxiliary income generated from hosting games (parking, consessions, merch etc.) have to more than off-set opperating costs given that no additional salary is being paid out for the games. There's NO QUESTION that the two MLS games could have been thrown in to the season ticket packages as a 'thank-you' bonus without it costing MLSE a dime.
By the way folks...added games means LOWER costs. That's another little theory in economics called economies of scale that they are conveniently ignoring. (Funny how they use one economic theory to bolster their argument, but ignore another.)
The fact that they have more games means they are able to generate a higher percentage of margin from each game than when they have less games, making each game cheaper for them rather than more expensive. Therefore, there is far more reason to drop prices or keep prices at the same level rather than increase prices.
I heard absolutely no rational reason as to why games cost more. What are these increased costs that are so burdensome to the operations? From the start they have been ahead of business models they had planned. The sale of Edu made them a mint that helped offset significant portions of the grass investment. The same will be with the training facilities, which will be an asset on the books, not an expense.
So did everyone at TFC get a 10% raise or something? Inflation has been running at below 2%, their hikes have been double digits from the start. Their numbers don't add up. They are playing 3-card monte with us is what they are doing.
^ Ask Nigel if he will ask Paul those kinds of questions on the Footy Show.
Don't forget that MLSE is saving 2% by the HST replacing the entertainment tax.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
We're all getting saddled with the $1,000 leaving town tax.
Proud Supporter of: FC Bayern München, AIK Solna, Toronto FC, Nottingham Forest FC
Does anyone know exactly what games are included for 2011 ?
Emailed my rep and he replied my seats went up $1 per game, however the total cost is just over double what I paid in 2007.
MLS games = ?
CCL games = Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton included ?
MLS Cup = Bullshit (didn't want them if TFC not playing)