Talk about bizarro worldOriginally Posted by Pookie
. Fans clamoring for poorer seating
Talk about bizarro world
not looking for preferential treatment over the STH's. In fact the system they used last year was ideal as the STH could choose what they wanted and then they could sell what was left over to the rest of us. The only reason for the change was this way they can gaurantee that some people buy tickets that otherwise would nopt. That is the Shady part.
JVan...
Correct. Last year STH renewed, and (at least) got their old seats. They could then relocate.
After this was done, the FO knew exactly what seats were left, and invited the Gold Listers to graduate. Potential graduates were invited down to the stadium in a sort of "Location Event" and could make an informed decision knowing exactly what was on offer.
Not so this year.
This year, Gold Listers were offered only Dark Greys or Reds, and the chance to participate in a relocation event. So, without knowing what will actually be available, potential graduates are gambling that there'll be seats available at the price they can afford to pay.
Is there any other product that is sold similarly?
Is there any other group of customers for any other product that accepts this sort of treatment?
O, Maple Leaf around the world, You speak as you rise high above,
Of courage, peace and quiet strength, Of the Canada that I love.
Remind us all, our union bound by ties we cannot sever,
Bright flag revered on every ground, The Maple Leaf forever
^^
So if season holders do the renewal and afterwards there are say 1000 seats still available in light grey to those gold listers who bought darks or reds and then after they take up say 500 of them can you not apply for a season ticket at that stage ? Do they only allow people on a list to buy and only at the one time each year ? I can see this being an issue in the past but seeing the gaps all over the stadium i am surprised they would do this
123 elite I was told by dark greys or reds at that time or you will not get a chance to get seasons. He went on to state that I will never in the future get a chance to buy anything but what he offered me at that time so I may as well buy these. He also went so far to say that my existing partial pack would be up for the relocation event and as such no don"t count on getting anything but dark greys or reds in partial packs if anything at all. I agree that existing STH's should get first crack at any seats but this process is a blatent money grab with false promises. The only thing that surprises me is that more people are not upset with MLSE for doing things this way.
The order seems to be:
1) Season holders renew
2) Gold listers graduate - but I have no idea where the pool of seats came from.
3) Season holders relocate
4) Graduated Gold listers relocate.
Steps 2 and 3 should be reversed.
As for being able to buy tickets, they are offered first to current holders, then the gold list (people who bought partial packs the year before), and then the Red listers.
I have no idea what happened to people who joined the waiting list last year.
After I was screwed out of tickets last year, I complained when I got the call about Partial Packs. I was told that there were only Dark Grey and Red seats left. With no relocation event, there was no possibility of getting cheaper seats, so I settled for two sets of three partial packs. Bizarrely, they gave me seats 12, 13 and 14 for one partial pack, and 18, 19 and 20 for the other...same section, same row, in a light grey supporters section. It was always different people in the "other seats", so I can only assume that they were scalpers seats.
Last edited by Huyton; 10-24-2011 at 11:32 AM. Reason: misspelled "seems"
O, Maple Leaf around the world, You speak as you rise high above,
Of courage, peace and quiet strength, Of the Canada that I love.
Remind us all, our union bound by ties we cannot sever,
Bright flag revered on every ground, The Maple Leaf forever
sounds like commercial suicide to me. I get the idea that they need to keep a variety of tickets all over the stadium available for matchday but to a point. If they have a list of potential season ticket buyers who have been on a list for years and they dictate how and when and what you can buy or else.... well all i can say is make sure you start winning because otherwise the place will look like Columbus stadium in the years to come. I really think that they will have about 12k max renewing and many will downgrade if they can so that means that there will be in the range of 8-10k tickets available for every game next year. Why not bundle them as seasons for anyone that wants them.
partial pack holders have been an afterthought and milked dry forthe last 4 years. they have the support mentality of a season seat holder but none of the benefits.
i can tell you at least 9 partial seats not "renewing" next year around me. if the front office wants to yank the seats out from under people and move them to higher price points they're in for the long haul.
wonder how much it would cost to tear down the new seats they've just built to go back to marketing "100% sold out" again
Wow, so that's how they're thinking to force themselves up to 18,000 season tickets sold w/o a price drop??!!
At the Town Hall, Tom A. said that they're in the business of selling hope. It looks like they're actually in the business of selling fear.
haha yeah, selling hope to cufflinks and the accountants, fear to the paying public.
p.s. anyone see in the daily mail today the Geordies are offering their season seats 50% off for existing holders? trying to fill the building on a regular basis....hint hint
Last edited by cmonyoureds; 10-24-2011 at 12:14 PM.
This flow gives MLSE greater control to maximize their income on seat sales. It allows them to sell more inventory prior to letting anyone move.
If they have high uptake on sales of the the more expensive seats at step 2, they can open up the inventory to cheaper seats at relocation time.
If they have a low uptake on the new seats in step two, they can limit the amount of cheaper seats available in the relocation.
If they allow STH's to relocate before the gold listers purchase, they have an issue with the inventory to release to the STH's. If they open it wide up, they'd run the risk that a bunch of STH's in the more expensive seats would downgrade. If they have low uptake from gold listers on new sales, They'd lose money this way.
This way they know what the sales of new seats will be like first. High uptake from the gold list, they can open the inventory to cheaper seats on reloaction. Low uptake, they can do the opposite.
^ bah. Logic isn't fun to debate
do we need a new thread?
I too am in the same gold list ransom scenario. Years ago I had the insulting offer of the marlies ransom pack. This year I bought the half season package, which after I said I wasn't interested in anything not in 110/111, they magically became available. After buying all the CCL games as well, you'd think they'd make some effort to provide some customer service to the gold waiting list. But all I have received is the hard sell on dark grey/red seats. At 1,000 a seat, and unemployed, I can't take that gamble.
Fact is there have been half rows of seats even in supporter sections empty for some games this year. Let alone the top corners of the 200s, or the light blues in the north end. I don't understand why ML$E would not be willing to sell those to someone on the gold list, rather than go through this whole charade of the dark grey/red experience.
I'll likely just buy the half season again, fill in the rest with tickets from the ticketexchange, or below cost online/scalpers for the least desireable games, and remain frustrated when I see patches of empty seats.
Call it whatever you like. They are forcing people to buy a seat with the " HOPE " that they may end up in the section they want. If not oh well they got your money and you got the shaft and will have to continue to renew for years to come for the chance to get what you want. This is about money and their attempt to fill more seats rather than taking care of the fan. That is it.
I'm upset about it. This was part of the reason why I dropped my three medium grays.
My brothers seats are also in section 223...in fact, they're 4 rows below where mine are currently. He really likes it there. He's right on the half way line, the sun isn't in his eyes, the wind is not bad, and if it starts to rain, he can stand underneath the overhang above the press box. He's not the least bit interested in singing and chanting and standing for the entire game. He's also out of the stadium quickly at the end of a game. The west stand empties out very quickly compared to the east side.
So not everyone is headed for the cheaper seats.
O, Maple Leaf around the world, You speak as you rise high above,
Of courage, peace and quiet strength, Of the Canada that I love.
Remind us all, our union bound by ties we cannot sever,
Bright flag revered on every ground, The Maple Leaf forever
My advice to anyone being sold those lies by MLSE sales people is to just say no and hold out.
The chances next season returns to 2007 levels of ticket scarcity are very low. No matter what bs the ticket reps are trying to feed you.
You might as well wait it out until it turns to your favour.
I'm willing to bet in the upcomming months you will eventually get a shot at medium greys at the very least if you just stay firm. And even if you don't you can always use the ticket exchanges (or even craigslist, kijiji, etc). to obtain reasonably priced seats to most games.
Last edited by menefreghista; 10-24-2011 at 01:08 PM.
I agree completely with what you are saying.
But you have to realize that all of your interactions with TFC/MLSE are not with a benevolant owner looking out for your best interests - they are with a greedy corporation that is looking to make as much money off you and me as they can. When you look at such things as renewals and ticket pricing from this perspective it paints things in a whole new light.
imagine they had that business plan at your local toyota dealer.
I want a Yaris please.
Ah sir you have to buy this Rav 4 then you can get to downgrade to the yaris if there are any left.
But there is one left.... its right there. Nobody is using it
No sir... we are going to rent that out.
does it get rented out a lot?
No it usually just sits there unused.
can i buy it then? I've been waiting 4 years for one
No. Have you seen the prius ?
etc
Competition does wonderful things. If Toyota pulled that on me, I'd head of over the nearest Honda dealer. Or maybe Mazda, or Kia, or Ford, ect, ect.
If MLSE do that to me, I have no other local professional soccer team at that level to watch.
Certainly not, but the way it is setup still benefits them.
They don't know if your brother is going to move or not. If they keep the order the way is now, they can only open the avenue up if they have another taker for his seat already locked in. Othewise they run the risk of losing income. It's shady process, and not one I particularly like - but it does make sense when you think about it from their side.
Also, it's not just a choice between singing and chanting or not. Sometimes its a choice of moving one section over, or a few rows up.
I absolutely agree. It's tough enough to graduate gold listers to purchase dark greys and reds. The costs (I incurred them for 2 years) are far too much, in my opinion, for what you receive - in comparison to ticket prices in the rest of the stadium.
Having said that, I assume that we are all fully functioning adults and can understand what is being offered:
1. The rights to tickets in the dark grey or red seats
2. The rights to a relocation event where you can change your seat location - price may increase. stay the same, or decrease depending on availability.
3. Whatever other rights a regular STH has throughout the season
Are those three things worth it? TFC seems to think so. Some gold listers do to, others do not. If you feel like you are getting screwed, don't buy the tickets. There are other options - partial packs, single tickets, discount offers, RPB ticket trader, etc...
If none of those options work for you, then maybe TFC tix aren't in your future.As for the salespeople pushing hard, that's what they do. They have 10 minutes or less to convince you to buy, so they are going to pull out all the stops. If they blatently lie, call them on it.
It sucks how they are doing it, but I understand why. I think the old way wasn't working - people weren't buying up seats if it wasn't in their ideal price point - they think they've found a way to bring those people in.
Now I've said a lot, but haven't helped you make your decision one way or another - that's another sales technique
That's one thing that a lot of people forget when complaining about the ticket prices of TFC. There is no other Tier 1 soccer teams around, so they price it against the next closest thing in town,another sporting match. Conveniently they also own most of the other teams so there is no price war.
What would be nice is if you fall in the group of people a) disenfranchised with this club and the level of play and b) fed up with the price of tickets, that you explore some of the local options (CSL, Reserves, etc...). The price of those tickets are probably more indicative of the level of play and you get what you pay for.
But if I hear my rep right I will not get any partial tickets or even a sniff at where I have been with my previous partials or ransom packs. If this turns out to be a lie how can I trust anything that my rep says in the future. Does anybody have contact info for someone relevant in MLSE to complain to. Intimidation, lies and the entire process are a justafiable reason to complain. After sticking with this team for so long through failed promisses and poor footy I want to give them more than my money. I figure I have earned the right to bitch at somebody other then my rep who has just finished a 45 minute bull s**t session on why I am making a huge mistake buy not buying these tickets. This is just the newest ransom package deal they have come up with.
there are other summer sports options...
Jays Flex Packs and Argo season tix are close in price to TFC seasons...
Funny thing is the TFC Academy at Lamport = $15 per game.
My SSH price for 115 = $17 or $18 per game...
so it's not all that much cheaper...
Don't get suckered into a lie that partial packs won't be available. They were selling flex packs this year! I highly doubt things have changed in the past few weeks to increase demand that much.
In fact, based on attendance last Saturday, I think demand will remain at its current stagnant state. Or it will continue to decrease. Only the real hardcore portion of the fanbase has been turned on by the slight upsurge from the 2nd half. The 'casuals' are still waiting to be impressed and shown this is a real turnaround.
Last edited by menefreghista; 10-24-2011 at 01:52 PM.
I didn't even take the call from my Rep after reading this thread.
Wasted 4 pairs last year cause I couldn't move them, prices are too high to begin with, crazy deals for seats I actually would want as the season goes on....there's just no point for me.
I suppose if the team becomes a top club and demand gets high I'll have missed out, but whatever, not worth it now.
I'll lose my Gold List spot (not that it really is a big deal) and just use the ticket trader here for the season. I'd rather stop being a fan than putting up with MLSE's bullshit...so I'll just deal with my fellow RPB for tix and if it doesn't work out well for me I'll just find something else to do....like buy a case of beer for the price of ONE at BMO and drink it while I watch TFC on a free stream of GolTV under a roof.
I generally agree though many folks renewed last year without a coach, without knowing about the roster and only with talk of JK as the consultant.
I don't think that 'casuals' are waiting around for results.
In fact, if you believe MLS attendance numbers (and that is a thread in itself), TFC just posted a very good season at the gates. 20,267 average down from 20,453 which was the highest average recorded in our 5 seasons.
Still a few thousand short of capacity and we all know that the secondary ticket market, even free ticket market, is all but gone.
That said, I don't think that are applying for operating loans anytime soon.
I got my spot on the gold list in the 2008 when I bought a Canada/International Pack for $120.00, it was ticket each to the two Canadian Championship game and two international friendlies. In each of the first two off-seasons after graduating to the Gold List I did not buy anything i.e. partial packs and expensive tickets. Even without buying anything I never lost my spot on the Gold List and this year was in the third group when Gold Listers could come down to BMO to purchase season tickets. I was able to pick up a pair of light greys in 105.
I think in terms of renewals while I do not know for a fact MLSE can play with the number they put out their in term of the number of people who renewed. They could announce a percentage, but it could be for accounts and not actual tickets. What this does is say, someone has four tickets in their account and decided to only keep two they still are chalked up in the column as a renewal.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
^ This is what doesn't make sense. I was on the gold list buying the marlies ransom pack two years ago and didn't buy anything last year or this year but get nothing. No e-mails no communications. Sideshow is the only word to describe what's going on there.
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