As long time readers will know, ticketing has been the bugbear of AFTN for nearly two years now.
Whether it was the gouging of loyal fans, the ridiculousness of where the different price points were allocated inside the stadium, away fan ticket allocation procedures by the Caps travel partner, exorbitant fees or the apparent general shambles in the Whitecaps ticketing department, we were there to cover it all.
This season has seen huge improvements, but now the Whitecaps face an important decision in the next stage of their growth as they look at season ticket and general ticket pricing for the 2013 season.
Some MLS sides have already revealed their pricing plans for next season, and the Whitecaps won’t be far behind. If they’re looking for any guidance then they should be looking no further than following in the footsteps of their Cascadian rivals Portland and Canadian rivals Montreal.
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Portland Timbers announced yesterday that there will be no pricing increases for any of the Club’s season ticket plans for the 2013 MLS season. It is the second consecutive year that the team has not raised prices for the vast majority of season tickets. They didn’t raise prices on more than 80% of season tickets prior to their second MLS season in 2012.
Now it would be easy to dismiss this by mentioning that one way to appease disgruntled fans after another losing season is to avoid a price hike for the action they’re watching. In Portland though, this is simply not the case.
Saturday’s game against Vancouver was another sell-out at Piggy Park. In 2011, their 17 home games brought in 320,051 fans and a home average of 18,827. This season that average has increased to 20,438, which is the current capacity. All 13 home games this season have sold out at the increased capacity.
The demand is there and the Timbers could very easily have gone for an inflationary price hike, at the very least, as the Whitecaps did for this season. Many Clubs, Whitecaps included, would have gouged their loyal fanbase and played up to the demand.
Instead they will be keeping their season ticket gameday prices at a range of $18 to $77.50 (taking the limited $4.95 value terrace out of it). The Timbers Army section is $20.
Nearly 60% of Timbers season tickets are available for $22 or less per game while almost 40% of seats are priced $20 or less, putting the Timbers average season ticket price in the lower half of MLS season ticket prices.
Little surprise that they have a season ticket base of 14,750, a renewal rate of 97% and 7,500 on their season ticket waiting list.
Speaking of the decision, Timbers President and Twitter fiend Merritt Paulson said:
<i>"Despite our affordable ticket prices and significant demand, the club will not be raising season ticket prices for the second straight year. This season has been frustrating for all of us and our decision to once again keep prices steady is in the best interest of our long-term relationship with our fans."</i>
Hot on the heels of Portland came Montreal this morning, with the Impact announcing a new pricing structure for next season.
Season ticket prices will be <b>reduced</b>, by an average of 15%, while current season ticket holders will be given a 10% rebate from 2012 prices upon renewal. The season ticket package will also include an additional game from this season’s deal.
Montreal President Joey Saputo, is seldom a man of no words, and he piped in with the Club’s reasoning behind the pricing reduction:
<i>"We listened to the calls of our supporters and we have adjusted our prices. I am proud to confirm that there will be a price reduction and we will be rewarding the loyalty of our current season ticket holders. Even though we are currently having success on the field and in the stands, we will never take our ticket holders for granted."</i>
The Impact have had no problem in packing fans into the Olympic Stadium, but did struggle in the early days at their new home at Stade Saputo. They seem to have turned the corner now, with their ten games there averaging 16,412, with increases in three of the last four games as the team battle for a playoff spot.
Season ticket prices will now cost $295 to $1070, and with the price reductions, they can be pretty confident that this average attendance will rise for their second year in MLS, and so will their season ticket base of 8,000.
Great stuff by both the Timbers and Impact. Very fan friendly and business savvy in the current economic climate. Your move Whitecaps.
Any pricing increase by the Whitecaps has the potential to be a disaster for the Club, both financially and from a PR standpoint.
For 2012, Caps season tickets ranged from $329 to an insane $1759 for Loge seats, all before taxes and fees. Single game tickets are $20 up to the insane $140 mark.
Despite this year’s nominal increase and the team performing far, far better than last season and playoff contenders, the Caps average attendance has fallen by nearly a thousand from 20,406 in 2011 to the current average of 19,409 with four games remaining.
It’s around 1500 shy of the artificial soccer specific capacity of 21,000 and the Caps latest push to get bums on seat for the remaining four games this season is an indication that sales aren’t what they were hoping for in these crunch games.
It's a great deal. Click <a href="https://oss.ticketmaster.com/html/group_corp_start.htmI?l=EN&team=whitecaps&owner=215234&group=49&err=&event=&customerID=" target="_blank">HERE</a>, enter the promo code 'soccer', and you can save between $12 and $29 on tickets for the last four home games. Great for newbies, not for those already with tickets. If it means getting a full house in every game, roaring the Caps on to 12 points and a good playoff spot, then we can let this one ride.
The Whitecaps do need to ask why they need to offer such a deal at this stage of what have been, on the whole, a fairly successful season.
Season ticket sales for 2012 were somewhat shrouded in mystery, but we’re led to believe they were around the 13,500 - 14,000 mark, a significant fall from last season’s total of near 16,000.
It is understandable considering the season we had, but you don’t want to see those figures dip any further.
With plentiful cheap tickets available for every match, via re-sales, scalpers, promotions and even freebies, there isn’t much of an incentive for the casual fan to shell out their hard earned cash in one go. Even some of the hardcore fans have been re-thinking a season commitment and buying on a game-by-game basis. Price increases will kill this further.
What the Whitecaps need to do is threefold.
I’m not expecting any stadium-wide price reduction, but we may see some tweaks.
A complete freeze is what we would like to see announced and at the very worst, a very small increase in line with inflation.
The ‘Aqua’ price point needs to go completely.
It’s not popular with regulars and the Caps are having to use those tickets for their promotions and groupons, resulting in people in the supporters’ area that aren’t ideally suited.
There also finally seems to be the realisation of the point that we, and the Southsiders, made from day one – these are over-priced tickets with some of the shittiest views in the stadium.
Aqua has to go. Make it all Teal. Call it Turquoise or whatever the hell you want, but drop the Aqua section to Teal pricing and DO NOT increase Teal as a result.
The Caps also need to reward their loyal season ticket holders. They need to make season ticket holders feel valued and it worthwhile in shelling out your money ahead of the season.
We’ve written before about how we see very little back from the Club compared to their MLS peers (see our <a href="http://aftncanada.blogspot.ca/2011/08/what-do-i-get.html" target="_blank"><b>"What Do I Get?"</b></a> article and all the fan loyalty deals that Timbers STH can get <a href="http://www.portlandtimbers.com/tickets" target="blank"><b>HERE</b></a>). Season ticket holders need a carrot (but please, no more scarves), either with their package or over the course of the season in various discounts and promotions.
You may secure a good seat for the whole season by becoming a season ticket holder, but if you take full advantage of the deals and re-sales on offer you can certainly save money over the course of the season by not going down the season ticket route.
With big, bad Barber now long gone. His attempt at turning the Club into the Whitecap$ has hopefully also long gone and we’ll see a proper pricing structure when the Caps do finally get around to announcing their 2013 package.
As we said, our rivals are setting the pace, your move Whitecaps.
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