Heaps, Bilello Meet With Un-renewed Season Ticket Holders

When I received an invite to sit down with Jay heaps and Brian Bilello as a un-renewed season ticket holder, I was skeptical.  One of the great privileges I've been afforded is the ability to speak with either as a media representative, but the idea of this blog has always been to be writing from the point of view of a supporter.  I would rather make use of events like this to really hear what they have to say to the fans and supporters.  Going into the event I thought it was going one of two ways... a cheesy sales pitch about how much they love us and things will be better... or a an opportunity to vent, ask questions and really have a dialogue with two of the most important people in this organization... it was the latter.  I suppose many of my readers expect me to rip them a new one but I'm not...

2 Out 1 In... And An Appeal To Former STH

The Revolution today have announced that midfielder Ryan Kinne and Forward Zack Schilawski have been waived.  Kinne made one first team appearance during his career with the Revs. Schilawski made 50 appearances  but only scored 6 goals, 3 of which came in the form of a hat trick against Toronto FC in his Gillette Stadium debut.

On Friday the Revolution picked up Lee Nguyen after he had been waived by Vancouver.  Nguyen, a 25 year old midfielder, made his way to Vancouver via a weighted lottery in December.  Nguyen had been playing in Vietnam for Hoang Anh Gia and Becamex Binh Duong FC.  Prior to his time in Vietnam Nguyen spent time at PSV Eindhoven and Randers FC. Nguyen has made appearances for both the USMNT  and US youth level.
 

Don't Renew 'til You See The Whites Of Their Eyes....

Sigh... it's that time of year again.  The phone calls every week, the emails, the pretentious invoices that come in the mail.  Season ticket renewal crunch is here.

Why is it worth it? No one has been able to answer that question, no one can give me a good reason to renew my season tickets.

It used to be that Special Event ticket, excuse me tickets in years past, you knew you were going to get a friendly or two, some sort of international competition, US Open Cup, and/or playoffs. Well this is the second year of no playoffs so I won't be using it for that. We are in no position to qualify for any international competition. We regularly blow off the US Open Cup which would be helpful for getting into international competition, and the FO decided to fuck over its STH's on our friendly this year forcing people to fork out more money to see the match.  The ManU game would have had a solid showing of Revs supporters if they didn't screw that one up, but hey at least the few of us fools that did spend money on it got free parking... So why should I renew my tickets, because my unused special event ticket will be credited to next years?  I don't fucking think so.

Marko Perovic... You fucking morons.

Last year the hook was statements about signing one and quite possibly two Designated Players in the offseason.  That didn't happen, yes we finally did sign one halfway through the season, but he is hardly what we expected as a DP and is only a DP by a technicality... his transfer or loan fee or bribe to his agents... whatever it is... it's still fishy to us.  I won't call it an empty promise, but it was a half-assed promise to get people to renew.  We all knew we had a ton of cap space as well, and the Revs acted within their Standard Operating Procedure of signing aging/injury prone Europeans that otherwise were looking at retirement and didn't make it a whole season.  Yep they sure didn't do enough with that cap space...  Why should I renew?

Apparently we are at most 14 months away from breaking ground on a stadium. If you believe that I also have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.  Krafty Jon said in an interview last December that they hoped to be breaking ground in 12-24 months.  Well with the amount of time the permitting and approval process would take before a shovel would even hit the ground, the likelihood of this happening is zilch.  Now of course every ticket renewal crunch we start to hear rumors of stadium news and this year is no different, they've already started. The fact is there is no deal yet, and there is no hard evidence that there will be soon (Please Revs, make me eat crow on this).  Foxboro is killing this team, it sucks to go there, the stadium is too big and it perpetuates the feeling of being second class citizens... You aren't fooling me with empty promises to make me renew.

Fortgate... way to make me feel like a valued customer... You fucking morons (again).

You want me to renew? Fire Burns and let Nicol go.  It is obvious that they can not rebuild this squad or even field a competitive team.  It's no secret around here that we despise Mr. Burns, I don't know why they thought he had any qualifications to do this job but he doesn't, he's not good at it, just because he played the game doesn't mean he is going to be any good in an FO.  Nicol won't be fired, his contract is up at the end of the season, but I do not want to see it renewed.  I think Nicol is a great coach, and have always enjoyed speaking with him, I wish him the best of luck elsewhere but his time has run it's course here.  The team needs fresh blood and new ideas.  Many people want to see Bilello gone, I haven't touched on this that much.  If I can say one thing, personally I like that guy, professionally it's another story.  If he is one thing it's easy to read and see through, Fortgate proved that more than anything.  Listen, getting rid of him will do nothing unless there is a total philosophical and cultural change in the organization starting at Krafty Bob and working it's way all the way down.  A new COO will just be more of the same if there isn't that shift, Krafty Bob and Jon need to decide that they want this team to meet and  hopefully exceed the standard set by Portland, Seattle, Toronto, Kansas City, otherwise nothing changes.  You want me to renew... this would be a start.

We need to see a lot of new faces next year, both in the FO and on the team.  Shalrie will likely leave and if he does it's a shame but understandable.  There are not many players here that I want to see next year, the squad needs to be blown up other than a handful of them. If we see the same players that at most are riding the bench for other MLS teams as starting players next year then I have no interest in renewing.  If we plan on rebuilding with draft picks I have no interest in renewing.  If we rebuild with way past their expiration date European players I have no interest in renewing. 

I am not alone.  This is why many will not renew, it is also a path to get those people to reconsider but only if this organization is smart enough to see that.  It is likely that I will not renew, that doesn't mean I will stop supporting the team, or even stop going to games.  It is incredibly easy to get a free extra ticket on the plaza before a game and I will most likely do that.  The best way to send a message to this team is not renewing your tickets, they need to be hurt in their wallet, just as they have hurt us in ours.  Please give us a reason, we really do want to give you our money but this abusive relationship needs to end or we're out.

Talk to us the week before the season starts and we'll see if you've even remotely done a good enough job...

More On Why Revs Season Ticket Holders Need To Shell Out For ManU

So this afternoon I spoke with New England Revolution COO, Brian Bilello.  While I am still not swayed in my opinion from yesterday I am willing to give the Revs an opportunity to give their story to us from their point of view.

The back story on this is that when MLS decided that two more games would be added to the schedule, the team decided not to add more tickets and increase the ticket price but rather to take away 2 special event tickets leaving the package with one remaining ticket.  The team wanted to focus the package on MLS knowing that in years prior there were some special tickets that went over really well and others that well... didn't.

We raised the issue of value for money with the prices of season tickets of the other teams involved with this years friendlies (DC United, Seattle Sounders, Sporting KC, Chicago Fire), Bilello had this to say

"It's unfair to say that they are giving those games to their season ticket holders, if you look at the pricing on those tickets they are paying up front"

Bilello went on to tell us that the Revs have not priced their ticket packages to reflect including a high level friendly whereas these other teams have.  The team does not want to not be able to deliver that high level friendly and then have STH's complain about the price of the season.  Since they set prices and packages in September they have no way of knowing what friendlies may or may not happen.  Bilello stated that if they had known that Manchester United would be coming way back in September they may have priced the package up and possibly even sold more season tickets as a result.  Bilello thinks people would rather have the option of paying more than having the ticket built into the price.

Bilello asked us to price out the other teams involved season ticket packages compared to ours with the ManU game added in, so we have.  We present what we have gathered for season ticket prices for the cheapest level:

• Seattle $436
• DC $342
• Chicago $200
• Sporting KC $324*
• New England $234 + $40 = $274

Bilello made the argument that we are doing better than DC (well we are, they are horrible) and that on the field Revs season ticket holders are getting a much better value for their money.

Here is my gripe, to myself there is more than on the field performance that goes in to my value for season tickets.  Let's break it down team by team...

Seattle

Ok Sounders fans are more than annoying, I hope we all realize that.  That being said the gameday product in Seattle is second to none in MLS and there really isn't any denying that (Yes I have been to a Sounders game at Qwest Field).  Seattle has also in it's short history signed 4 Designated Players, nevermind if they have worked out or not they have done something that to this point the Revs have not been able to do.

DC

DC last year was worse than us and that was hard to do.  DC has however won MLS cups and signed 3 Designated Players in it's history.  RFK is a dump obviously and United don't control the revenue there...  they are slumming it... In addition to hosting Manchester vs. Barcelona, DC will be playing Everton and Ajax this summer.

Chicago

They have their own stadium, have signed DP's.  On top of that they are playing Man U at Soldier Field and will have to pay for use of that facility in addition to paying Manchester's fee (All teams are paying the same).

Sporting KC

Sporting KC will be opening their brand new stadium that may even rival Red Bull Arena this summer. They have launched a massive rebranding and marketing campaign and also have had 2 DPs in their history.

New England

No stadium, no DP, no MLS cup wins.    I absolutely expect our season tickets to be cheaper than most, we have very little to show in the new generation of MLS.  We are not a team that can price the tickets high. The Revs have had a decent year increasing the base but we don't have much to help them other than their determination to sell more tickets.


On the field performance is only a part of the fan and STH experience,  for the most part I think the other teams are doing better and therefore a higher season ticket price may be justified and not purely based on on the field performance and building in the price of a high level international friendly.

Don't get me wrong, the price of Revs season tickets is quite good, however when you include a "special event" ticket,  a leak gets out(whether it was the Revs or not we don't know and won't assume) that Manchester United will be playing us and there is a track record of these special tickets being used for international friendlies, people are going to rightfully assume that they are already in.

This is a huge marketing opportunity for the Revolution, a great opportunity to showcase the team and the fans and hopefully convince people to come back.  Instead of rewarding your most die hard fans, the ones who have put faith in the team that they are going to go out there, win, sign great players, build a stadium and eventually return to the glory days and finally win that MLS cup, the team has said that's great but you still have to pay for what should be a perk and a thank you to all of those STHs.  We were very excited for this game but this fiasco has seriously soured many people's outlook on it.  You will get free parking however... whoop-dee-do....

Oh and that special event ticket that we still have? It will be used for US Open Cup or Playoffs should we make either, if we don't the cost of that ticket will be refunded... A bit of advice, instead of calling it a "Special Event" ticket next year call it a playoff/open cup ticket up front...


*Sporting KC's STH package is based on the per game price for a ticket, we were not able to come up with the total price in their website

Hey Season Ticket Holders, Give Us More Money To See Your Team Play!

Where's My Money Man?

We reported previously that the Revolution would be taking on Manchester United.  Today The Revs made the official announcement that the game would be taking place on Wednesday, July 13th and that season ticket holders would get an exclusive 3 week window in which they could purchase tickets...


We have a special event ticket in our package...


So you are telling us that we need to shell out more money to see a team that we have paid to have the privlage of season tickets for...

Seattle will be playing Manchester United and season ticket holders have that game included in their package.

Chicago will be playing Manchester United and season ticket holders have that game included in their package.

Manchester United will be playing Barcelona (yes that Barcelona) in DC and DC United season ticket holders have that game included in their package.

Sporting KC will be playing Newcastle United and season ticket holders have that game included in their package.

But hey Revs season ticket holders thanks for all your support!! You can buy a ticket for the game exclusively for three weeks and maybe you'll get a discount! Tickets start at $50!!!!!

Oh and that $50 ticket... well since they are expecting 50,000 for this game we're guessing that those will be for upper level tickets... So we expect them to be more for you know the fort... where the supporters and many season ticket holders are... in the lower level...  Oh ya and parking  is probably going to cost you another $40.  Please tell me the value of season tickets again?  I have always been able to get a cheap/free ticket if I needed an extra day of game for less than face value, and well we never sell out.  One of the perks of the special event is so that when the team does do something "great" for the "fans" that the STH's are rewarded by having their ticket already.

Imagine how many more season ticket packages the Revs would have been able to sell in the next week or so if this game was included...

This severely lacks class and is an insult to all Revolution season ticket holders.  Way to go Revs, just when we were starting to think you were finally getting it...