DC United’s Marketing Effort to get Butts in the Seats for the US Open Cup Final
It all started when Adrian Hanauer noted that he was “skeptical” of the USSF process and of DC United’s US Open Cup Final bid. He additionally noted that the Sounders would have sold out Qwest if Seattle was awarded the US Open Cup Final.
And with that, the Guantlet was laid.
This prompted a pointed reply from DC United head man Kevin Payne. With the “he said / she said” aside, the onus was now on DC to fill the seats of RFK for the September 2nd Final… Or at least draw more than the 8,200 8,212 they did for the 2008 US Open Cup Final and hopefully more than the 16,272 that they’re averaging in 2009.
They are trying. Here are some of the gimmicks & campaigns that the marketing folks at DC United have come up with to create interest and attempt to get butts in the seats… at least for this sole USOC Final because they only had 8,834 for their CONCACAF Champion’s League match.
- Launch of the website We Win Trophies to promote the 12 trophies that they have won in their 14-year history.
- As a tie-in, they rolled out a 17-bar tour of the aforementioned trophies.
- They also created a whole bunch of avatars and desktops.
More importantly, we now get to DC United’s ticket pricing. On July 16th, they noted that tickets would be $25 for the US Open Cup Final.
But oh wait, all of a sudden, that changed…
- They “slashed” ticket prices to $12. The “Same prices as 1996“.
- They developed the first “2 Pack” for their International Friendly with Real Madrid that included a ticket to the US Open Cup Final.
- They created another ”Buy 1, Get 1” which included the US Open Cup and their match with the LA Galaxy.
- The newest 2-for-1 deal is bundling the US Men’s National Team vs. Costa Rica with the Sounders for $45.
- And, now, they’re discounting the tickets even more (with the code SOUNDERS if you’re interested)…
- Oh, and if you’re a student, you can get a “premium level sideline” ticket for $10.
In addition…
- DC got some baseball player to do a commercial spot. The spot has more baseball footage than soccer.
- As an extra bonus, the US Open Cup Final will have $2 Domestic 16oz beers and $2 Hot Dogs.
How’s the ticketing going DC?
So, DC United, why do you need all these gimmicks to draw interest in your squad for this one match? You “win trophies”, isn’t that enough?
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