Wow. That is a jump. That is going to dip into my margin of “profit” when reselling our tickets. I continue to be interested to see how these price increases affect the FB Nordecke Ticket group. This year, it seems to be strong. But if season ticket members continue to front higher and higher totals… again, I am interested. Also, I am reminded of some survey thing the Crew FO put out sometime this season. I think we discussed it on here? I remember a question on household income was in the survey. For a second, I thought about fudging our number down. They know how much they can squeeze us! Haha.
In many cases, larger stadia. Sponsorships and TV are important too. And there are some teams that are company owned (PSV. Leverkusen, Wolfsburg).
My "Upper Sideline" seats are up 14%. Still lower than the initial 2021 season pricing, but a significant increase over 2022/23 prices. Here is a spreadsheet from Reddit with historical pricing.
All that talk about "The Crew only sells out because Haslams lowered the price" well, it seems those days might be done. Some sections are back to 2021/2022 pricing. A cursory glance seems like the ends of the upper level might still be at/below 2022 pricing...but that's just a small portion of the seats.
Agree. In the time that we have dated, my girlfriend has gone from never having been to a Crew game ... to being hooked and having a Cucho bobblehead on her desk at work. I think of the Noredecke as two parts: lower section is the Americanized and friendly version of "Ultras" ... the rest is more chill.
Prices *were* lowered in some areas, IIRC. I think this was in the 2022/2023 off-season. But yeah, more importantly, the stadium sells out because it's downtown with stuff to do before/after the game, there's a roof, there's individual seats with cupholders, the team wins, the parking situation is a hell of a lot better WITH an egress plan, etc etc. I did a rough estimate and the parking garages aren't that much further from LDC than 17th Ave is from HCS. Lowering of some tickets might be a factor, but it's far from the only factor.
Exactly...and that's a good thing. People who want to let out their rage and passion have a place and those who want to occasionally cheer, sit with their food and maybe keep things more family-friendly have their place. It also feels a lot less crammed than the OG Nordecke.
The Season Ticket renewal terms include the following: "Each MLS season, the Team may play home matches (including but not limited to an MLS regular season match) at a stadium located outside of Columbus, Ohio, including but not limited to a stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio." Not great, Bob.
I've posted before, the "pain threshold" for STM renewals is a 5% increase. Below that, there's usually little attrition. Beginning at 5% price increases, non-renewals become more common. Beyond 10%, there's a dramatic steepening of the curve. It seems the Crew FO has decided to strike while the iron is hot. Crew tickets have been undervalued imo after little to no increase this season, so we were due to see an increase. Rather than a string of 5% hikes over several years, the Crew are raising prices all at once to clear out the wait list and lock in those who can afford higher prices. I would anticipate going forward that we will see a strategy similar to the CBJ, where the increases average 2-3% per year to avoid the pain threshold as much as possible. Bez's "lose 8,000 to gain 15,000" plan wasn't an idea so much as a weather balloon for how quickly they could do this. It absolutely sucks for the longtime fans and those with limited capacity to spending, but it's inevitable when you have a compelling product and a desire to keep pace in the arms race currently happening in MLS. It's also ultimately still a great value for the average sports fan. Blue Jackets tickets are more expensive for a dreadful product. A single season ticket for Ohio State football is about the same cost as two Nordecke STMs for a third of the games (of which there's really only one game worth seeing). $36 per game to watch some of the best soccer played in North America is a pretty good deal, and there's virtually no risk of loss with a healthy market of single-game buyers waiting for postings on Facebook and Ticketmaster. And at least the Crew waited until now, when the team is at its zenith in popularity and quality, to do this. Compare it to Austin who priced everything artificially low for their first season, had a horrible year, and then did increases like we're seeing now to alienate their base before it could take root. Timing is everything.
I will happily sell my two Inter Miami tickets in Browns Stadium for as much as the Messi slappies are willing to pay.
Option A: This game is included and it's up to each person to decide whether or not to sell the ticket, eat the cost or pay to travel to, assumedly, Cleveland. Obviously, some people won't mind the travel, but many more will find it to be an unnecessary hassle. Option B: This game is an opt-in thing. In this case, season tickets increase in price for one less game. Option C: ??? Which is better? It sucks they can't make a deal to use Ohio Stadium. Yeah, it's too narrow for regular season games and it's turf but, as we know, such can be either overlooked or modified for one game. But we know that Ohio Stadium will never happen for many reasons. It'd be better for many reasons, but not the bottom line.
One step closer to moving the team. Join me reaching out to ticket reps with pitchforks and torches. And does it really say matches?? Like more than one home game not in LDC??
I’d bet one is the Messi match. (And if he only plays one or two more years, then no more Messi matches to worry about.). And I’d bet one is either a summer friendly or a Leagues Cup match against a Mexican club. IMO I doubt they’d schedule more than one MLS match two hours away.
A) Cover their own asses just because. B) US Open Cup, Leagues Cup or other matches. How many stadia have we played home games in? Ohio Stadium, Jesse Owens Stadium, ones in Dayton and Akron, HCS, LDC and potentially Cleveland Browns Stadium. Might this be the most in the league? Without going too deep, it seems the next highest is a bunch of teams at the 3-4 mark.
The renewal emails have a "Member Since __year__" in them. I'll be the first to admit it means absolutely nothing other than a nice thing to look at, but I had partial plans in 1998 and 1999, had a credential in 2000, then had a full season in 2001, then went back to a credential from 2002-2011 before getting a full season in 2012. (Oddly enough, I was told that the Nordecke was sold out, but bought a full season from the Crew Union tailgate just a few moments later.) And then I was thinking that "2025 might be my last year before I'd be eligible for the Legacy Club, had that survived" for whoever remembers that. Given the long lines at the Meet the Team event, it would have been a nice benefit for early admission. Some anonymous person slipped me a Legacy Club ticket to a team equipment sale once upon a time. I definitely appreciated it. Option 1: Legacy Club members have access into the event at 5:30. Everyone else has access when the players start signing at 6. Option 2: Legacy Club members have access at 5:30 when the players start signing. Everyone else has access at 6.
While presumably this is primarily for the Messi game, a Leagues Cup game in Cleveland wouldn't be the worst thing ever. Nah, you can't play a real game at Ohio Stadium. Interestingly, I wonder if one of the benefits of playing a real game in Cleveland would be to study if there's a market for an actual MLS expansion team in Cleveland. If the ultimate goal is to make as much money as possible, then a whole brand new full-sized expansion team could potentially yield the most money in the long term. On the exact opposite hand, maybe playing a Crew game in Cleveland would be a way to cement Cleveland as Crew territory.