Jump to content

Pacific FC Launch / 2019 off season thread

shamrock

By shamrock
in Canadian Premier League

 Share

Recommended Posts

Keegan Rookie

Keegan

Posted
Posted (edited)

At the end of the day though how can you correlate memberships to season tickets?  Personally I bought my membership to add to the numbers and get a few perks but I can see why others don't see the point and are simply waiting to be season seat holders.  

I think the fact a few teams can get 1000 people to sign up for a membership is pretty damn impressive.  To me it means people are excited and eager to get involved even if they really aren't getting much off the bat.  Think about it, how many of us would drop a $50 membership fee for something that doesn't start for a year.  Corporations/businesses/organizations that will grab season tickets for example aren't likely going to be members.  

I wonder how many TFC would have got for instance if they started this in 2006.  I'd bet not anywhere close to what their season ticket base ended up being (even before the Beckham announcement).  2006 was similar in that no casual sports fan really knew what MLS was and there were a lot of questions about the quality of the team to come... what do we think? Also keep in mind they had the whole pie in Ontario.. I'd wager they wouldn't have got more than 3000 deposits for a $50 membership at this time in 2006 and that may even be high, I don't think most people even knew we were getting a team until early 2007.  

Edited by Keegan
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 851
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Unnamed Trialist
Unnamed Trialist

I wrote a letter to News Feedback editor Stuart Adamson (stuart.adamson@bellmedia.ca) because garbage like that has to be called out, however much the club was at fault for allowing it:   De

ted
ted

WTF are you talking about?!?! That report was far from "negative". It was very optimistic with a touch of tongue-in-cheek realism on where we are at. The launch party today was fantastic BTW. Seaso

SoccMan
SoccMan

Is this board run like a totalitarian state where any views that are not always feel good  and everything is great here in Canadian soccer are banned lol! As long as no one is slandering anybody or be

Posted Images

RS Grand Master

RS

Posted
Posted

I just took a look back at the archives of this site. TFC started taking deposits (aka memberships) on May 11, 2006. By October 2006 they had 3000 deposits.

So it was a slow, steady burn, which actually bodes well for the CPL clubs who are on a similar timeline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keegan Rookie

Keegan

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, RS said:

It was $50.

Thank you, if anyone can remember what numbers were like around this time (previous to Jimmy Brennan signing) we could have a pretty good comparison.  I think it shows though that CPL is charging a bit too much at $50.. they should have come in around $35 or 40 IMO.  

Edited by Keegan
Link to comment
Share on other sites
RS Grand Master

RS

Posted
Posted
Just now, Keegan said:

Thank you, if anyone can remember what numbers were like around this time (previous to Jimmy Brennan signing) we could have a pretty good comparison.  

I'm pretty sure Brennan was signed before the team was even announced (he was at the launch party and was seen around town with Mo Johnston during that summer), but he wasn't officially a TFC player until a few months later.

I remember thinking it was a very odd move to for him take an entire year off from playing in his prime, but I suspected at the time (and still do) that he was getting paid off the books by MLSE in 2006 in order to get around the salary cap.

But all of that is an aside. IIRC TFC sold a few hundred memberships on the first day. Maybe 200-300, but it was 12 years ago so I could be remembering it wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keegan Rookie

Keegan

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

A rule of thumb on this seems to be that on average most people will take a pair. Time will tell how it pans out.

But where is this rule of thumb coming from is what I'm questioning.  I've seen it mentioned but it just seems like a convenient guess to me - that's why I'd like to see the TFC numbers.  If we're hearing they only sold a few hundred initially at $50 that bodes well for what is happening in CPL and is nowhere close to the x2 metric being mentioned.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BringBackTheBlizzard Newbie

BringBackTheBlizzard

Posted
Posted

The number RS quotes above looks about right to me. They then got a big boost with the LA Galaxy's Beckham signing, which is something that's going to be difficult to replicate in a CanPL context. Somebody involved with MLSE told me at one of the early fan group meetings what MLSE were hoping for internally as an average paid attendance in year one and it was well short of a sell-out. The Beckham signing changed everything. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keegan Rookie

Keegan

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

The number RS quotes above looks about right to me. They then got a big boost with the LA Galaxy's Beckham signing, which is something that's going to be difficult to replicate in a CanPL context. Somebody involved with MLSE told me at one of the early fan group meetings what MLSE were hoping for internally as an average paid attendance in year one and it was well short of a sell-out. The Beckham signing changed everything. 

Absolutely, IIRC they sold 2,000 seasons on the day he was announced.  It was an easy buy for people suddenly they could sell one match and make up for the price of their season.  

It would be nice to get a signing that brought even a few hundred more season seat holders in CPL.  We could always sell out and sign a guy like Sunil Chetri.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Watchmen Grand Master

Watchmen

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Shortdutchcanuck said:

Break even talked about is 5000 attendance per game.  What's being talked about here is Pacific FC getting to 500 memberships, which probably corresponds to somewhere between 1000 and 2000 season tickets but impossible to predict right now.

Still not enough IMO, would like to see the membership #s closer to 1000 sometime next winter, resulting in season ticket sales at least in 2500-3000 range.

Right, that's what I've been talking about.  It's not enough.  That was literally my whole point.  

3 hours ago, Shortdutchcanuck said:

But as momentum continues to build and grassroots marketing continues and players get signed I hope to see casual fans start to get on board.  Right now the league is still just a concept to all but die hard fans.  Just a bunch of names and logos and promotional videos and a few coaches.

I've been thinking about this, as it seems to be what a lot of people are basing things on, and I don't really know how true it is.  I mean, you'll certainly have people continue to buy season tickets up to kick off.  But I don't think the casual fans will rush to buy season tickets.  Why would they do that?  That's why they're casual fans.  They want to see what the product is on the pitch.  See if they have a good time.  See if it fits their schedule.  I don't think the league is really going to be able to sign any players that will cause casual fans to say "well now I have to get season tickets".

Link to comment
Share on other sites
baulderdash77 Proficient

baulderdash77

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Think you'll find Paul Beirne and/or David Clanachan have been using it since the initial York 9 announcement when talking about how things are going. Don't have time to hunt down an example.

Plus it’s common sense and probably conservative.  Most people buy a pair of tickets or more when they buy season seats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keegan Rookie

Keegan

Posted
Posted (edited)

I guess it depends on what we’re talking about I don’t think that members x 2 = our season tickets but I could see each member on average getting 2 of course.  And then you add all non member season seat holders, which as tfc showed us is significantly higher.  The point is that if you’re looking to low membership as a sign that somehow season seats will be x2 it’s wrong.  For example if TFC had 500 members and ended with 12,000 season seats prior to Beckham maybe they accounted for 1000 seats average but it shows that on average 5500 people didn’t get memberships and bought season seats.

tldr; memberships don’t matter, season seats do and there is little correlation between the two imo.  Membership shows people who are all in with little info to go by (die hards who just want football). For TFC this number (based on what we’ve heard here) would be ~10% season seat holders. 

Based on this I think some of our teams are in amazing spots. 

Edited by Keegan
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kent Grand Master

Kent

Posted
Posted

Ok, all this talk has got me wondering. Does a membership get you anything beyond being on a list of season seat holders? That seemed to be about it (maybe also news emailed to you, but I don’t think news will get past me since I read this site at least once a day) when York 9 was first announced. I haven’t become a member because I don’t have the time for season tickets (young children) so will have to just try to get out to as many games as my schedule allows. I would love to get merch or whatever, but at this point I am waiting before I dive in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RickC Explorer

RickC

Posted
Posted

I am a member of Forge FC and have no intention of buying seasons tickets for a number of reasons: I live too far away, may sometimes go with my wife and kids, sometimes maybe just me and a friend, may sometimes go with family in Hamilton, expect to be away some games.

From the Forge FC site, there are numerous benefits to being a member, beyond the feel good supporter value:

Q: What does the Forge FC Co-Founder membership give me?

A: Placing a $50 deposit reserves your spot in line when Co-Founder memberships become available. As a Co-Founder, you will receive:

— The single, one-time opportunity to become an Inaugural Co-Founder of Forge FC

— Access to the exclusive and personalized First Official Forge FC Scarf

— Prioritized access to preferred seat selection at Tim Hortons Field

— Co-Founders Board Membership - Forge FC will host annual meetings with Co-Founders to vote on special initiatives for the Club

— Exclusive Co-Founder fan experiences at Tim Hortons Field 
Co-Founders certificate of ownership

— Exclusive pre-match access to the field at Tim Hortons Field during Inaugural Season

— Discount on Forge FC merchandise

— Discount on food and non-alcoholic drinks at Tim Hortons Field on match day

— Priority Access to all Forge FC, Canadian Championship & Tim Hortons Field Events

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...