Seattle leading ticket sales?

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Tank55
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by Tank55 »

XFL is/was in a weird situation thanks to their history where hyping it too much could have been counterproductive. Regardless, we're now entering into the most important stretch.

We had XFL 1.0 and Luck's own words to set reasonable expectations, which is a 20K average. To average that, you need your home openers to be higher. Maybe they'll still get there, but if I had to bet a dollar today, I would take the under. Which sucks, but also doesn't mean it's a disaster or the league is going to fail. We can call a spade a spade -- it certainly feels like ticket sales are sluggish.
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MikeMitchell
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by MikeMitchell »

Just some facts. Ignore if you choose to. Most people gloss over details. I have learned that over time.

There is no two years of selling tickets. Team locations weren’t in place until December of 2018. Tickets didn’t go on sale until several months after that. Teams have only been selling tickets for a short period of time. Schedules needed to be ironed out for each venue before any tickets could be sold. It’s not a failing on the league’s part. That’s the reality of setting up shop properly.

Second, in the original XFL. Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco had modest at best ticket sales before the season started. SF ended up averaging 33k per game. NY 28k.

It’s a success if the league averages 20k league wise. If you are expecting better. That’s on you and not a realistic expectation.

Judge the numbers when the season arrives.
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by Tank55 »

Totally agree that we have to let everything play out.

I wasn't in the weeds on the original XFL like you were, but looking back, it sure doesn't seem like the Demons had modest ticket sales before the season started. I can't date this press release exactly, but it seems like it came out prior to training camp:
Preacher said it is XFL and team policy to not release exact sales numbers, but did acknowledge the Demons have more than doubled the league’s goal for each team, which is 7,500 season tickets.
http://www.all-xfl.com/sanfranciscodemo ... se07.shtml
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4th&long
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by 4th&long »

MikeMitchell wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:59 pm Just some facts. Ignore if you choose to. Most people gloss over details. I have learned that over time.

There is no two years of selling tickets. Team locations weren’t in place until December of 2018. Tickets didn’t go on sale until several months after that. Teams have only been selling tickets for a short period of time. Schedules needed to be ironed out for each venue before any tickets could be sold. It’s not a failing on the league’s part. That’s the reality of setting up shop properly.

Second, in the original XFL. Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco had modest at best ticket sales before the season started. SF ended up averaging 33k per game. NY 28k.

It’s a success if the league averages 20k league wise. If you are expecting better. That’s on you and not a realistic expectation.

Judge the numbers when the season arrives.
Mike M

I didn't related promotion to tix sales. In fact I'm focused more on TV audience. I'm saying the XFL has not promoted well period, ie awareness and buzz. They had to 2 years to raise awareness they had all fall to promote - ie advertise and have their TV partners promote the league and the games they have on TV.

Now having said that - I still think they are targeting 1mm viewer avg - and will achieve that. I'm glad to see Fox doing some ads on bug sports games - esp the NFC playoffs, but ABC/ESPN should have during WC and CFB championship.
Let alone the entire fall. Big miss IMO.

But it is what it is and it will still be a success.
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by Metallifreak10 »

There were a lot of walk ups in the original XFL. Birmingham had about 10,000 walk ups for their home opener in 2001. The Rage had several thousand people turned away during their home opener because they sold out (they closed the upper bowl). Even in week 10, as the league was basically down and out, the Enforcers had over 7,500 walk ups.

I expect this will be the case even in 2020. When I go to my local independent league baseball team’s games (Schaumburg Boomers), I always buy at the gate, and I’d say at least a third of the crowd does the same. I’d never do that with a Cubs game, Bears game, Blackhawks game(they always sellout), or a Bulls game. But those are the major leagues.

I won’t be surprised if walk ups help push teams from 15,000 to 20,000, 11,000 to 17,000, 22,000 to 26,000, etc.
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by SamTheRam28 »

4th&long wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 4:25 pm
MikeMitchell wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:59 pm Just some facts. Ignore if you choose to. Most people gloss over details. I have learned that over time.

There is no two years of selling tickets. Team locations weren’t in place until December of 2018. Tickets didn’t go on sale until several months after that. Teams have only been selling tickets for a short period of time. Schedules needed to be ironed out for each venue before any tickets could be sold. It’s not a failing on the league’s part. That’s the reality of setting up shop properly.

Second, in the original XFL. Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco had modest at best ticket sales before the season started. SF ended up averaging 33k per game. NY 28k.

It’s a success if the league averages 20k league wise. If you are expecting better. That’s on you and not a realistic expectation.

Judge the numbers when the season arrives.
Mike M

I didn't related promotion to tix sales. In fact I'm focused more on TV audience. I'm saying the XFL has not promoted well period, ie awareness and buzz. They had to 2 years to raise awareness they had all fall to promote - ie advertise and have their TV partners promote the league and the games they have on TV.

Now having said that - I still think they are targeting 1mm viewer avg - and will achieve that. I'm glad to see Fox doing some ads on bug sports games - esp the NFC playoffs, but ABC/ESPN should have during WC and CFB championship.
Let alone the entire fall. Big miss IMO.

But it is what it is and it will still be a success.
I don't think it was necessary to promote that far before kickoff. What is the point of airing an XFL commercial 3 months before kickoff during a noon NFL game? Plus, the league doesn't have unlimited money. Commercials on big networks are expensive. They can only afford to run so many ads, so they chose to run them during NFL playoff games, which nearly every member of their target audience would in theory be watching.
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

MikeMitchell wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:59 pm Second, in the original XFL. Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco had modest at best ticket sales before the season started. SF ended up averaging 33k per game. NY 28k.
That is a fair point. The XFL had a lot of haves and have-nots: cities like San Francisco and Vegas were able to maintain or even build upon their ticket sales during the season, while Chicago, LA and Birmingham fell apart. Plus, as others have noted, there will be walk-ups.
MikeMitchell wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:59 pmIt’s a success if the league averages 20k league wise. If you are expecting better. That’s on you and not a realistic expectation.
I disagree. At 20k, the league will lose lots of money. Now, I know the XFL isn't paying quite as much as the UFL was in 2010, but the UFL was losing $6-7 million a game even in Omaha and Sacramento where they were getting 20-24k a game.

25k is, IMO, the minimum they'll need to even come close to breaking even. Yes, it's a tall order, but they chose their markets knowing that. Now, factoring in places like LA and DC where that won't be possible, the overall average might come short of that, but most of the teams need to draw substantially better than 20k to make this enterprise worth it.
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by MikeMitchell »

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 4:45 pm
MikeMitchell wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:59 pm Second, in the original XFL. Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco had modest at best ticket sales before the season started. SF ended up averaging 33k per game. NY 28k.
That is a fair point. The XFL had a lot of haves and have-nots: cities like San Francisco and Vegas were able to maintain or even build upon their ticket sales during the season, while Chicago, LA and Birmingham fell apart. Plus, as others have noted, there will be walk-ups.
MikeMitchell wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:59 pmIt’s a success if the league averages 20k league wise. If you are expecting better. That’s on you and not a realistic expectation.
I disagree. At 20k, the league will lose lots of money. Now, I know the XFL isn't paying quite as much as the UFL was in 2010, but the UFL was losing $6-7 million a game even in Omaha and Sacramento where they were getting 20-24k a game.

25k is, IMO, the minimum they'll need to even come close to breaking even. Yes, it's a tall order, but they chose their markets knowing that. Now, factoring in places like LA and DC where that won't be possible, the overall average might come short of that, but most of the teams need to draw substantially better than 20k to make this enterprise worth it.
The UFL did not have good attendance. In 2009. Their per game average was 9 thousand.

The UFL’s overall league attendance was 11k per game from 09-2012

I was at several of their games. Las Vegas games barely had 1,000 people in attendance. The New York Sentinels drew less than 1,000 people for a game,
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by 4th&long »

SamTheRam28 wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 4:32 pm
4th&long wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 4:25 pm
MikeMitchell wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:59 pm Just some facts. Ignore if you choose to. Most people gloss over details. I have learned that over time.

There is no two years of selling tickets. Team locations weren’t in place until December of 2018. Tickets didn’t go on sale until several months after that. Teams have only been selling tickets for a short period of time. Schedules needed to be ironed out for each venue before any tickets could be sold. It’s not a failing on the league’s part. That’s the reality of setting up shop properly.

Second, in the original XFL. Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco had modest at best ticket sales before the season started. SF ended up averaging 33k per game. NY 28k.

It’s a success if the league averages 20k league wise. If you are expecting better. That’s on you and not a realistic expectation.

Judge the numbers when the season arrives.
Mike M

I didn't related promotion to tix sales. In fact I'm focused more on TV audience. I'm saying the XFL has not promoted well period, ie awareness and buzz. They had to 2 years to raise awareness they had all fall to promote - ie advertise and have their TV partners promote the league and the games they have on TV.

Now having said that - I still think they are targeting 1mm viewer avg - and will achieve that. I'm glad to see Fox doing some ads on bug sports games - esp the NFC playoffs, but ABC/ESPN should have during WC and CFB championship.
Let alone the entire fall. Big miss IMO.

But it is what it is and it will still be a success.
I don't think it was necessary to promote that far before kickoff. What is the point of airing an XFL commercial 3 months before kickoff during a noon NFL game? Plus, the league doesn't have unlimited money. Commercials on big networks are expensive. They can only afford to run so many ads, so they chose to run them during NFL playoff games, which nearly every member of their target audience would in theory be watching.
Movies do it all the time. Not saying an ad blitz but they certainly could have dropped ads during CFB bowls and post Thanksgiving - its call build up. You wait too late and you miss alot of people. They neglected to do it. IMO that's a lost opportunity. I'm still optimistic based on the whole overall pkg.

Now, as fas as the Dragons getting 20k to show in mid Feb? I think its great. However XFL will be judged on TV audience.
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Re: Seattle leading ticket sales?

Post by GDAWG »

I am glad that Chicago is not a part of this XFL because it would not sell well.
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