sstackho Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 This was in the Edmonton Journal last week. Letters Mailbag Last-minute tickets costly for soccer fans Frank and Ann Laucher The Edmonton Journal 190 words 9 September 2004 Edmonton Journal Final A19 English Copyright © 2004 Edmonton Journal On Saturday, Sept. 4, I attended the Canada-Honduras World Cup qualifying game at Commonwealth Stadium with my family to show support to our national team. I was fortunate to obtain one of the free Edmonton Journal family packs. We were under the impression that $8 general admission tickets would also be available on the evening of the game. However, a friend of ours who decided to attend at the last moment with her eight-year-old son and his friend were charged a total of $75, with no discounts for children! Rather than disappoint the children she paid the admittance fee. In light of last week being declared Soccer Week In Edmonton by the mayor, I think it is a disappointing reflection on the event and all parties involved and I am at a loss as to the fairness of charging such high admission fees for an event that was not a sell-out, that needed fans in attendance to show vocal support, but was being televised anyway! Frank and Ann Laucher, Edmonton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 Yes, this comes from very poor marketing and information dispersion by the Alberta Soccer Association (as well as the local press). Although the CSA was ultimately "responsible" for organizing the event (and dealing with Ticketmaster for the non-$8.00 general admission tickets), the local match organizing committee under John Gill and the Alberta Soccer Association that was his staff that was responsible for the advertising, marketing, and organizing at the local level. They all failed miserably. What is most disappointing is that they all, like the Aviators, failed to heed the early to late advice of many people on the local soccer scene who told them numerous times what they had to do to prevent the obvious problems. That is in addition to the lessons in history, both failures and successes, that were not learned form the last 10 years at Commonwealth. It is this kind of myopia from the bottom to the top that has hurt soccer so often in Canada. I was able to cobble most of the information together about the various tickets, and put it together on the this site, strobe_z's site and with some of the local organizations (including the ones who were selling the $8.00 tickets), yet everyone was getting it wrong because the local organizers ignored calls for clarification. I, along with others apparently, had made many suggestions to the local organizers how it could be cleared up, but they were ignored. Despite the lousy weather and poor buzz, I was pleased to see many families with kids at the gates just prior to opening. They should have been rewarded for their initiative. The look of disgust on the faces of the dad's at the wickets was palpable, as they looked at their wallets, then their kids and did the mental arithmetic. I had three general admission tickets from the Journal give-away left as the neighbours I had gotten them for had ended up getting them themselves. I wished I had more. I ended up giving the three tickets to a Calgary Voyageur/Mustang poster who had shown up with three kids, as well as another adult. One of the things I did during the EFC matches at Foote and Coronation was to see how many people were planning in going to the Honduras match. Even amongst this diehard group of soccerfans, there was apprehension about going because of the way they had been treated at past MNT events at Commonwealth. Some said they would not go, even with encouragement. Sometimes it seems that we are just banging our heads against a brick wall..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarrek Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 Wow, the CSA and the ASA blew it big time ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Champ Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jarrek Wow, the CSA and the ASA blew it big time ... Yup!!! Just like the last WCQ I saw there. (T & T) Not selling GA on gameday was a total insult. I now wish I had saved $20 and just bought a GA seat, like may in our section did. I'm extra bitter, because I tried to bring an extra 100 people but I never had a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 I used to write LTTE until someone told me that only the unwise do such things. I haven't warttien much after seeing the point that was made. Any argument that the writers made go lost in that last bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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