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An Email To bring Canadian Support to BMO on Aug20


Razcle

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I attended the Costa Rica Debacle last September @ BMO and I was completely disappointed with the turn-out of Canadian Fans. I know overpriced tickets and poor advertising were a large factor in this however, this August 20th, I want to see a sea of red cheering our boys to victory.

I wrote a quick little email I plan on sending to all my friends that are soccer fans or canadian sports fans in the hopes of keeping the Yellow and Green to a minimum. I hope that CSA gets it right this time but I can't trust that, here is my little part. I hope it helps.

Hey Everyone,

As I'm sure most of you know, I am a pretty big supporter of "the beautiful game" (soccer), through Toronto FC and the Canadian Men's National team.

This year the Canadian Men have assembled arguably the best Canadian team ever in our history. We just finished knocking off St. Vincent and The Grenadines, a small central American country to advance to qualifying stages. This 2008 year is the beginning of FIFA World Cup qualifying, and I am inviting you to come to BMO field WEDNESDAY AUGUST 20th 2008(@ Exhibition Grounds, Toronto) and watch our boys take on Jamaica for the chance to play in 2010 World Cup.

The World Cup, as most of you know is by far the most popular and recognized sports event in the world and our boys have not qualified since 1986, a time few of us can remember. Tickets for the only Canadian game scheduled in Toronto will start going on sale soon, and I will email you with details on how you can get them.

The main reason I write to you is because the Canadian Soccer Association is an embarrassment of a governing body for this sport and is terrible at advertising to Canadians about upcoming events. In the past, supporters of the opponents end up buying tickets in masses because the Canadian population is unaware a game is scheduled on home soil. This year I want to stand in this stadium with 20,000 of my friends and silence the "Reggae Boys" (Jamaica). I am hopeful that by getting the word out, many of you will come out in a sea of red and enjoy the incredible skill of this years squad.

Once the ticket information is available, I will send out another email especially if an special deal comes for Canadian Supporters. This is obviously an open invite to everyone that is a Canadian fan, a soccer fan or even a sports fan to come out an see the strongest assimilation of talent this country has ever put together.

I hope you all have a good summer and I will send ticket info as soon as it becomes available.

P.S. Here is a short video clip of Krista and I were a part of in Montreal last Friday during the qualifying match.

Discuss on how this can or can't be an effective tool to fill BMO with the red and white.

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quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

Razcle, where are you from ?

That is weird. I had Waterloo just under my name, and it is still in my profile but it does not show up anymore.

Anyways, the question is.....is this an effective tool to help educate the Canadian population about the upcoming qualifying games. I am also a bit shocked that Montreal didn't have a sold out crowd considering the tickets were 10-30 bucks...Well worth the money for any seat in the house.

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quote:Originally posted by Razcle

Anyways, the question is.....is this an effective tool to help educate the Canadian population about the upcoming qualifying games. I am also a bit shocked that Montreal didn't have a sold out crowd considering the tickets were 10-30 bucks...Well worth the money for any seat in the house.

Absolutely it's effective! There's nothing more important than a personal recommendation from an acquaintance. Great letter - I look forward to reading the next one! Of course, an open letter to "All Canadians" isn't as useful. Nor is a water-cooler conversation saying, "Why don't you follow this all-important Canadian soccer event?" It's important to invite, to welcome, to encourage, rather than to preach or pontificate. Your letter seems pretty good at welcoming, with only the smallest hint of, "Don't you know how important this is, dummy!!!" Less criticizing of "Canadian Soccer" (i.e. CSA) would also help, especially if your friends know nothing about the CSA and their foolishness. Save that for the chat over beers.

If you get more than one or two responses, perhaps you can volunteer to purchase tickets in a block for your friends. Even if you're going to sit in a supporters section and not with them, even if your friends don't know each other, it's still much easier for someone to make a commitment when they feel they're going as part of a group.

As for the attendance in Montreal, please remember that the result was determined 5 days before kickoff - hope of attracting the casual fan is greatly diminished when the game appears meaningless from their perspective (i.e. on the scoreboard). Spending 4 hours of a weekend evening and $20/person to basically congratulate the Canadian side on starting qualification in two months, is not dissimilar from going to the airport to greet the team...if you are only looking at the score. Once a competitive match arrives in Montreal, I'm sure people will be more willing to invest part of their weekend AND some of their money.

Let's hope that organizers learn from limited attendance in Montreal and keep ticket prices very affordable, especially in Edmonton where they'll need every advantage to draw 40,000. For the CSA, the objective is to get to the hex and make their money there; losing $50K or $100K on ticket revenue is easily made up next year if it means getting a pro-Canadian crowd to fill the stadium.

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