2019 Cavalry FC season thread

[Jimmy Stang]

Nobody is suggesting that $20 for everyone is the best way forward. But the $100 and $89 price points have been flatly rejected by thousands. To suggest that Spruce Meadows is effectively reserving them for a new class of supporter that may or may not emerge in the coming years is... odd. Alienate people before they come supporters so you don't have to alienate them later with a price hike?

If people were actually willing to pay $100 a game, right now, then we wouldn't be talking about pricing. Not in 5 years, but now. Empty seats right now are doing nothing for revenue. Someone paying $50 is better than an empty seat that someone didn't pay $100 for. That $50 ticket will also pay for parking, food, beer, merch, etc. and that empty seat is... empty. If demand is higher than supply, then increase prices.

A successful pricing strategy should result in near-capacity of supporters paying what the market will pay. Rows of empty seats or being fully sold out at $20 for the entire year are both failures.

Anyway - derby day! A win today will really put Cavalry in the drivers seat.

[FlamesFanStrandedInEDM]

When it appeared all the seats $30 or less were sold out, the ticket broker at Cavalry FC was pushing hard for me to get pricier seasons tickets, I made it very clear that I was not prepared to pay more for minor league soccer than my NHL Flames tickets. Since I think they are desperate to get fans in the seats, he was able to move some things around and accommodate my budget.

I think they could still bring down the prices on those $60-$100 seats without upsetting (or needing to refund) too many STHers. (As VERY few currently hold tickets in those sections). I don’t think the supporters in Section 200 will care if the $100 Section 104 seats get dropped in price.

Based on the fact that they have been selling out their $20-32.50 seats consistently, they could probably keep those tickets priced at that point...

Bring down the $100 seats to $65, the $60 seats to $45...and I’m convinced that would attract at least another 200-300 fans immediately. I have a co-worker who is a big soccer fan, but refuses to pay more for Cavs FC than the tickets he got for Barcelona on his vacation.


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[shermanator]

Originally Posted by jg13

For those of you that have been to a match this season do they check your tickets? I'd love to come support but the cheapest tickets right now for a pair come to $127.30

With that being said there are a bunch of single tickets that come out to $35.00 each. If possible i'd just purchase 2 singles and we'd sit in section 104 together where it appears over half the section is empty.

Would there be any problem doing this? I appreciate the help

I have not seen them checking tickets. But do I recommend that you piss off the few people who are actually paying top dollar for the seats in the middle of the grandstand? I do not.

[jg13]

Originally Posted by shermanator

I have not seen them checking tickets. But do I recommend that you piss off the few people who are actually paying top dollar for the seats in the middle of the grandstand? I do not.

There are 10 rows in a row in 104, 105, 106 that have not sold a single seat so and the two sections on the side (cheap tickets) have basically sold out so I have to imagine most people plan on doing this.

But thank you for the feedback!

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Nobody is suggesting that $20 for everyone is the best way forward. But the $100 and $89 price points have been flatly rejected by thousands. To suggest that Spruce Meadows is effectively reserving them for a new class of supporter that may or may not emerge in the coming years is... odd. Alienate people before they come supporters so you don't have to alienate them later with a price hike?

If people were actually willing to pay $100 a game, right now, then we wouldn't be talking about pricing. Not in 5 years, but now. Empty seats right now are doing nothing for revenue. Someone paying $50 is better than an empty seat that someone didn't pay $100 for. That $50 ticket will also pay for parking, food, beer, merch, etc. and that empty seat is... empty. If demand is higher than supply, then increase prices.

A successful pricing strategy should result in near-capacity of supporters paying what the market will pay. Rows of empty seats or being fully sold out at $20 for the entire year are both failures.

Anyway - derby day! A win today will really put Cavalry in the drivers seat.

If CanPL takes off, centre field tickets are going to be north of $50. I think it’s a reality that a pro league in Canada isn’t going to last long term with the average ticket price under $50 and any level of quality presentation. Full stadiums that don’t pay the bills can lead to a folded club. There’s also no guarantee that people who buy the cheapest seat options are buying enough at the game to justify the discounted ticket. Of course, you don’t want empty either, so it’s a balance. There’s two strategies to get there:

1. You start off low, and keep upping prices. This can alienate your base that aren’t willing to see 10-20% increases in tickets each year and bail when their price point is maxed out. This is what happened to the Storm/Mustangs (coupled with an ill-guided move to McMahon) The hope here is that enough $20 weekend fans like it and sees value in paying double or triple later. I suspect a few of the teams are trying this method out.

2. You set your price and hope your product will justify it to enough people that you grow on word of mouth and success. The issue here is that the sport and team aren’t established yet and people don’t think they should be paying North American pro prices for a glorified div 2. Fair enough, but it’ll never be more if fans in Calgary refuse to support it like one.

Method 2 seems to be the cavalry attitude, and I didn’t love it at first either, but as a STH, at least it looks like they won’t be getting more expensive any time soon either, and they tossed in a couple jerseys.

I really think the Cavs are committed to 2-3k of cheap accessible tickets, but the rest of us have to put our money where our mouths are if we want to see this team grow into something bigger. As much as we all scoff at officers club, with the roughly 200 people there at $200 a shot, they’re effectively the gate revenue of 1000-2000 fans. Tough to argue with that sort of revenue stream ability for a year 1 club.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Edmonton is a tall squad, our striker(s) need to be far more willing to be physical and attack balls than they’ve shown so far this season

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by jg13

There are 10 rows in a row in 104, 105, 106 that have not sold a single seat so and the two sections on the side (cheap tickets) have basically sold out so I have to imagine most people plan on doing this.

But thank you for the feedback!

The point I'm trying to make is that while they currently don't check tickets, if people like you try to buy cheap tickets and sneak into the expensive seats, they will start checking tickets. For someone who's trying to organize a section where we don't all have to be in our assigned seats for the whole game, this would ruin a lot of the atmosphere that we generate.

[Howie_16]

Originally Posted by jg13

For those of you that have been to a match this season do they check your tickets? I'd love to come support but the cheapest tickets right now for a pair come to $127.30

With that being said there are a bunch of single tickets that come out to $35.00 each. If possible i'd just purchase 2 singles and we'd sit in section 104 together where it appears over half the section is empty.

Would there be any problem doing this? I appreciate the help

When Jimmy Stang and I went to the game against York9, there was definitely no one checking to make sure you were in your assigned section. There was even a little uncertainty amongstof which row was which. However, I did not attend the Valour game, so they may have paid more attention to this then.

[RM14]

No one will be pissed off because no one knows what people's tickets say. Just people showing up is a positive.

[FlamesFanStrandedInEDM]

Originally Posted by RM14

No one will be pissed off because no one knows what people's tickets say. Just people showing up is a positive.

The trick is, have your eyes fixed onto your phone/ticket as you’re walking up the stairs...glance up occasionally looking for “your” Row...then eventually stand in front of a seat, look at your phone/ticket again...and sit.



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[FlamesFanStrandedInEDM]

How long before game time does the ticket office open? I still need to pick up my STH package...


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[Howie_16]

Originally Posted by FlamesFanStrandedInEDM

The trick is, have your eyes fixed onto your phone/ticket as you’re walking up the stairs...glance up occasionally looking for “your” Row...then eventually stand in front of a seat, look at your phone/ticket again...and sit.

Should one also wear a top hat and monocle if sneaking into the $100 seats?

[Kipper is King]

Is there a particular section FC Edmonton supporters will be seated in?

[cam_wmh]

Fellas, posting in here too as I can't make it to this game.

I have 2 Cavalry Tickets | Section 107 Row 7 Face Value is $50/each. Make me an offer, I'll probably accept

[zarrell]

Doesn't this game start at 2? OneSoccer says it will start at 4 mdt. Can I not watch this live?

[FlamesFanStrandedInEDM]

Originally Posted by zarrell

Doesn't this game start at 2? OneSoccer says it will start at 4 mdt. Can I not watch this live?

Starts at 4pm


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[Resolute 14]

The problem, Browna and Thunderball, is that the pricing structure they have now is going to wipe out two groups that are absolutely mandatory for the long term survival of this team and this league: casual fans, and families. They've severely limited how much the fan base can grow with this pricing structure. Maybe they are fine with 2500 fans a game and don't care that the atmosphere will be mediocre 75% of the time. If they are, then good for them, I guess.

[Johnny199r]

The OneSoccer camera is covered in water drops. I can't see the game at all.

Why is this so hard?

[zarrell]

Yeah this is terrible. Guess I'll find something else to watch.

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The problem, Browna and Thunderball, is that the pricing structure they have now is going to wipe out two groups that are absolutely mandatory for the long term survival of this team and this league: casual fans, and families. They've severely limited how much the fan base can grow with this pricing structure. Maybe they are fine with 2500 fans a game and don't care that the atmosphere will be mediocre 75% of the time. If they are, then good for them, I guess.

Cost is the number one reason I didn’t take my son to the game today.