I actually fully expect this game to be free for all SSH's. Why else would it be worthy of a "huge announcement" status? If its free, then its ok. I still probably wont' go though, I'm not a fan of friendly games at all.Originally Posted by Ajax TFC
Its not part of your SSH pack. You will have to buy it seperatly if you want it. This has been confirmed by bones in this thread.
Road Trips: July 7 2007 Chicago, July 22nd 2007 Columbus, August 11 2007 NY, October 13 2007 LA, March 29 2008 Columbus, May 24th 2008 DC, May 26 2008 Montreal, June 28th 2008 NE, March 7-11-14 2009 Charleston, March 28 2009 Columbus, April 10 2010 New England, May 12 2010 Montreal, April 7 2012 Montreal, March 16 2013 Montreal , June 3 2014 Montreal, March 14 2015 Columbus
Twitter: @RPBPhil
The mere suggestion that it would be free is ridiculous.
The only scenario that I could see it being free is if it was an early SSH renewal program and even then I very much doubt it.
Touching on Tobor's point, who's on Roma other than Totti and Bradley?
And as for voodoo's attendance figures, a number of those games were included in the season ticket holders package, so it inflated the numbers.
The exceptions being Real Madrid and Liverpool of course. Don't think Roma has the same pull as those two.
Unless the tickets are cheap, I'm going to say paid attendance will be less than 10,000 at which point TFC will be giving away tickets like man to get it to 15,000 somehow.
Don't you mean - the suggestion is ridiculous in the context that its MLSE, right?
The the rest of the business world, it would make entire sense to give this game away as a freeby to "loyal fans" to keep people interested in a season where we aren't going to win many games. That would be a nice bonus to us fans.
If MLSE had any business sense at all other than earning money in the short term, this game would be free for SSH's.
^^^ I don't think the majority of SSH's would show up, even if free.
So in that way, I get selling it to the target atraction group and hopefully they would think about going to a TFC game.
Either way, its not a very attractive game for supporters. Its best for them to just leave it all alone but with all the management changes at MLSE I don't think they will.
Road Trips: July 7 2007 Chicago, July 22nd 2007 Columbus, August 11 2007 NY, October 13 2007 LA, March 29 2008 Columbus, May 24th 2008 DC, May 26 2008 Montreal, June 28th 2008 NE, March 7-11-14 2009 Charleston, March 28 2009 Columbus, April 10 2010 New England, May 12 2010 Montreal, April 7 2012 Montreal, March 16 2013 Montreal , June 3 2014 Montreal, March 14 2015 Columbus
Twitter: @RPBPhil
I will only go if the tickets are super cheap or better yet free (hopefully they give it out free if they can't sell more 10K seats).
Hahaha, same old shit. You must have some blinders on to think Lazio is the only team with Fascist/Racist fans in Italy, none the less Europe. Lazio is the easy scape goat. Do some research of the Curva Nord and you would find out that only a few of supporters are the ones who are making asses out of themselfs. To label the club fascist is retarded.
This whole thread just oozes resentment between our own supporters, I not a big fan of friendlies, why does there have to be that us (not big fans of Serie A) versus them ( fans of Serie A) mentality, wow!!
It goes to reason, as usual for touring Serie A teams, they will not be fielding the big guns, or very few. so why get sucked into that. Really Cheap, or free, might go, but it will cost me more because a few beers, parking, a bite to eat.
I'm told it has something to do with tomatoes.
Both I think. Given how much we pay I do not see this sort of loss being incurred in the face of potential profit by any company. Generally those 'freebies' for clients are for higher paying clients or they are giving away something they have extras of or they offset the cost through massive advertising, etc.
I honestly can't see any company paying a team like Roma to come in and then just eating the cost as a good will gesture to people who give them between $190 and $2k a year.
Throw in the fact that this is MLSE and yup, forget about it.
I don't know why people think they won't field a strong team. Their season will be three weeks away at that point. These games have a use for them. They'll be wanting their starters to be match fit.
I went to see Spurs in New York last year less than a month before their season started, and they played every starter who didn't have an injury. Bale, for example, played about 85 minutes. And they had just had a game against Chelsea three or four days prior. Roma will be in the same place.
What they could do for SSH is give some kind of meet and greet/autograph access to Roma's players. That would be a great inducement for anyone who is a fan of the club/Italian football.
^ If we remember back to the pre-season tour real madrid did in north america, multiple MLS teams gave away those tickets to SSH's while TFC had their SSH's pay.
Giving away those tickets is about goodwill, something MLSE doesn't seem to quite comprehend as it's always about immediately taking the most money out of the consumers pocket at the earliest time. The alternative model is you give somebody a benefit, like a free game, and that's supposed to increase their chances of spending money with you in the future. So in the long run, you actually make more money. Perhaps that's something they could run through their heads currently, since as far as I can tell, they have even more SSH's who are ready to walk away from this team and the end of the year.
^ I'm sure of that. There's going to be a bigger exodus this year then last year. If they showed some commitment to turning this club around it might slow it down. But at the present moment it seems to be status quo compared to years past. The transfer window is going to show us all the direction of this team going forward.
Just to bring Apples to Apples on this....the teams that gave their SSH's those tickets were playing in large stadiums augmented by a ton of soccer fans buying tickets. It offset the absorbtion or at least shouldered some of the hit. BMO field having 16000 SSH's and trying to make the remaining 4000 lessen the blow wasn't going to happen. Would you rather see a team like RM in BMO or much cheaper in Skydome? The two are night and day for my money. That is, if I actually wanted to go and pay $100 a ticket.
I think these tickets will be cheaper by comparison, but still a non starter for supporters overall.
2009 RM played DC - fits the example of selling around the SSH base. 2011 Philly paid for RM from what I can tell which is to your point about the game being free.
I would still point to the belief that even a 'free' game to supporters at least - is useless and wasted on us. The fansbase of this club is very jaded. If I were them, I would take the muligan on this crap but it seems new ownership and leadership have made it a priority.
Last edited by Phil; 06-25-2013 at 01:49 PM.
Road Trips: July 7 2007 Chicago, July 22nd 2007 Columbus, August 11 2007 NY, October 13 2007 LA, March 29 2008 Columbus, May 24th 2008 DC, May 26 2008 Montreal, June 28th 2008 NE, March 7-11-14 2009 Charleston, March 28 2009 Columbus, April 10 2010 New England, May 12 2010 Montreal, April 7 2012 Montreal, March 16 2013 Montreal , June 3 2014 Montreal, March 14 2015 Columbus
Twitter: @RPBPhil
Gold star for this one, upvote this guy!
Real Madrid had Ronaldo possibly at the peak of his popularity. The game had "event" status and TFC charged a premium price for it. Liverpool was at the Dome and organized by a 3rd party promoter. TFC were just the paid opponent. For those of us in the corner supporters section, there was a huge mix-up in security telling people to sit down. The game was ill-conceived on all levels, and came across as a cash grab.
This game will not do anything to build the TFC brand in this city. Fans can expect Real Madrid prices, but it could be worse, they could have scheduled it for the Dome.
I still think friendlies have a place with TFC, This year we dropped out of the CCL early and are not exactly in the playoff hunt. If it were a freebie to supporters for a lost season, and used as an opportunity to further develop the players who don't always see action, I'd be all for it. But this one seems more like the usual TFC cycle- bring in a name from Europe. hope their fans in Toronto who don't come to TFC games buy tickets. Get some media coverage on the circus (especially if a top world player is involved). make lots of money. miss playoffs again.
De Rossi?
I had to look who was on Roma.
Totti
DeRossi
Bradley are the names people will recognize.
They also have two really good up and coming players that people may have seen in the U21 Euro. Florenzi is a good left sided winger and Mattia Destro is a very good young striker.
Roma is not coming off a good year but their will still be plenty of players to watch.
I remember I had a game the night of the Real Madrid open practice, and half my team went to that instead of our game. I think we had exactly 11 men, no subs, while they went and smelled Ronaldo's sweaty balls.
So we've had a Portuguese team, a couple English teams, an Italian team, a Spanish team, an Argentine and Mexican team...
So what are we missing to fill the cities multicultural needs? Greek? What are the odds on our next friendly being one of AEK, Olympiacos or Panithinaikos?
I think Roma will sell well (lots of Roma fans around and plenty of Azzuri fans that will want to see Totti).
But this game is different than a lot of the ones you quoted for a couple of reasons.
1)TFC was a still a hot ticket for a number of those games, apathy hadn't set in yet.
2)STH's had already paid for tickets for a bunch of those games as part of the pack. I went to several of them because I had a ticket with my STH. I wouldn't have paid extra (if given the option) for a number of those games though.
Don't know if it will sell out though. Juve-Fiorentina pulled in 21k at the dome a few years ago, and Juve have a larger support base here (I think) and there were a ton of people there just to see Del Piero.
People say this every time a big club comes through on a friendly. And pretty much every time (unless it's a World Cup or Euro year) you get most of the first team players, some of the reserves and some of the prospects. Roma will probably have their entire first team here, with the exception of De Rossi who might be given a break after the Confed Cup.
I like tomatoes.
Count me in!
As a supporter of the USMNT and an AO member of I am looking forward to Michael Bradley to taking the pitch at BMO Field.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Isnt that what all friendlies are? This was a very smart move by mlse, giving the hundred odd thousand Italian-Canadians a chance to see this legendary team. BMO will be full, for a change.
If the price is right and I have the time I'm in. I'd like to see Roma play. Some good talent on that team and they would be fun to watch.
My preference is no friendlies during our mid-season. But it seems friendlies are here to stay for the short term. If MLS teams can generate revenue and exposure for the league then these games will continue.
At least we're not forced to buy the tickets or having them tied to some renewal. The decision to buy a ticket or not is completely up to the individual.
We all know that friendlies are a big part of this leauge. My problem with it is the scheduling of this side show. Just shows the complete attitude of this FO. Profits before results. 3 games in 7 days with one on the road? Sure it's not going to be a competitive game but really why even tempt fate. I swear if someone gets hurt ill flip.
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