Qwest and the ever growing attendance

I think/hope the team is telegraphing their plans for next year by opening up the lower rows of the upper deck and not the Hawks nest.

I’d love to see the Hawks Nest become the visitors section, but I know there are strong feelings held by many about this.  On games where the Hawks Nest doesn’t sell out, then make it available to walkups from our of town.

Let’s not overlook that the ticket market was flooded Thursday night.  When the team made playoff tickets available prior to the public sale, STHs gobbled them up, hoping to make a quick profit.  (I bought my speculative 8.)  Then the team undercut everyone by opening up the upper deck.

The sidewalks were flooded Thurs nite with people looking to unload tickets.   If there is a Conf Final here, I won’t make the same mistake, and I think you’ll see attendance drop.

I was in the upper 300 sections. I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the place. For the Barca game, I sat a few rows from the top of the stadium. No issues seeing players and following the ball. In fact, I’m not sure I’d like to sit in the lower bowl. I see a lot of “giant flags” down there, and nothing would tick me off more then some jerk in front of me waving a giant flag and blocking my view of the game…

Just thought I’d give another perspective of flag waving… It looks cool, just remember to be considerate of other viewers…

So, yes, I’d sit in the 300 section again.

The giant flags aren’t up during the run of play, or at least not in a way that is blocking others.  Within the GA / ECS areas, it is part of the posted notices that flags and such will be up.

As for the extras, I hate to see how this all turns out.  It was a cheap way to gauge real interest, with some people getting stuck with tickets they couldn’t break even on.  If I were the FO, I’d have a few people walking around getting a rough count of game day availability.  Between that and the TicketExchange numbers, they know where the supply is actually over the demand.  The only downside was it was a weeknight match, and those who travel across the state didn’t have the ability to make it.

PeterB Reply:
October 31st, 2009 at 1:55 pm

I dunno – can you really blame the FO for trying to sell tickets?  Why would they restrict their revenue so STH’s won’t take a loss from their speculative ticket buying?  They are trying to make money for themselves, not STH’s…  Just saying.

Instead of people just trying to make a buck off the Sounders they should just buy the tickets they will use for the match. People with extra tickets only had themselves to blame. If the FO just would have started out with a higher capacity this season, as I’ve been saying since April of ’08, then people wouldn’t have got the idea to try and turn some tickets for profit in the first place. Besides, with the tight turnaround time of the match date being determined, tix going on sale and the actual match itself, it didn’t really make sense to try in the first place. Kudos to the FO for opening those upper level seats to hopefully keep people honest in the future.

We need a supporters section in the Hawks Nest next season so that there will be no one behind it and flags can be waved all throughout the match. Flag waving in the south end will always be an issue, which is why I’m excited to leave.

Yeah, STH whining about not being able to scalp their extra tickets… Go jump in a lake you greedy sucks.

I don’t think anyone was ‘complaining’ or ‘whining’ about being stuck with tickets.  I was just using my example as way to demonstrate what the ‘actual’ demand levels are right now vs. the perceived demand.

I think Hannauer is crazy to think they’ll sell out the MLS Cup match if we make it that far.  The demand just isn’t there.

South end, and seats above GA is view obstructed, that’s why they’re the cheapest tickets in the stadium, if you don’t like the flags, go somewhere else. 

A lot of tourists in GA for the Houston game.  If people are standing up  throughout the stadium for the entire game, I would imagine GA will be one step crazier.

Joe Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:12 am

It sounds great, in theory. But I’ve been told almost every game to put my flags down. People behind me have started chants about it and I’ve been told to “F**k off,” “Go f**k myself,” and “F**king die.”

The reality is a sad one, and I’d be surprised if it changes much next season.

I sat up in the 300, not the same as the lower sections but a great view none the less.  i laugh at STH for losing $$ on tickets they bought to flip.

I hope some of you keep on laughing while you are watching the HOU game on TV.  We are taking the profits from our playoff ticket sales last week and using it to fund our trip to Houston this weekend AND pay for our next round tickets. 

I don’t know anyone that lost money last week.  It was just difficult to move the tickets.

I don’t think the difficulty to resell tickets is any indication of the actual demand for tickets.  For one, this game was scheduled with very short notice.  I think the secondary ticket market would’ve been better if people had more time to buy.  Also, many people don’t want to pay for tickets that are more expensive than they should be.  Finally, the Sounders FO announces when a game is sold-out.  I think that announcement discourages some fans from trying to find tickets to come to the game.

Unlike budbud, I think that attendance will actually rise if we have less STH trying to flip tickets.  It will leave more tickets at their retail value for people to easily find online.  Also, attendance is measured by how many people show up, and not how many tickets are sold.  If there are less STH left with unused tickets, there will be more people cheering in the stadium.

In conclusion, leave the ticket selling to the FO, they are better at it.

budbud I’m jealous of you for getting to watch the match in Houston . . . . with work that’s not in the cards for me.  That said, it sounds like you scalped your tickets for HUGE profit.  While upping the price a bit per ticket I can see, however it sounds like you took advantage of some sap that really wanted to see the game and couldn’t buy tickets otherwise.  I’m glad I wasn’t that sap!  Enjoy the match though, I’m still jealous you get to go.

Inflated ticket prices due to scalping?  Really?

People were giving tickets away outside Qwest Thursday.  And most of the tickets for re-sale on the Sounders own website were under face value.  Same for Craigslist– all the tickets were for sale at under face value.

Get a new argument.

Wow, you must have gotten really cheap flights if you sold your tickets “at or under face value”!!    Wasn’t “arguing” in the first place, just stating my feelings on selling tickets, which I thought was allowed on this site.

My point Janette was that scalping didn’t raise ticket prices.  I never said how much some tickets were going for…

We sat in the front row of section 300 and it was awesome – no one in front of us, so we had a clear view of the field (had 3 kids with us so this worked out especially well). No line for restrooms, but on the flipside, there were few vendors open up there. Had to shield my kids from a fight going on in front of us on one of the ramps leading out of the stadium afterwards (they were fighting about the World Series game that night…sheesh…), but otherwise we had a great time up there. I’d like to have this as an option next year.