by happytorq » 31 Mar 2011, 18:41
ferrarilover wrote:Chris, you've been to some MLS games (I think that's what your twidder says), what are the ticket prices like for those matches?
Matt.
Prices actually are pretty reasonable - I'm going to Boston on Saturday for the Revolution/Timbers match (look out for my match report! </blatant plug>-), and if I was paying for a ticket (I'm not, have press pass, woo) the most expensive is $42. Not sure on current exchange rates, but that's probably about £30. Cheapest tickets are $20, which I guess is about £12-£13. So..cheaper than Torquay. This is just at one place though, and although somebody below said that revenues are shared,that isn't right. TV Revenue from the national deal is shared, but each time will make local deals to serve their own market. (example, NY Red Bulls have just signed a multi-year deal with MSG, a local station that also covers Giants/Jets, Knicks basketball and Yankees/Mets baseball.) Plus this particular team play in the Gillette Stadium, which is an 80,000 capacity american football stadium - hardly design to watch real football in.
Competition is maintained (and yes, I know I'm drifting off-topic here) through use of a salary cap; each team has a certain amount of money to spend on players, which is given to them by the league. The exceptions to this are 'designated players', high earners for whom the league will only cover part of the salary (I think its $325,000 a year atm) - the rest must be paid by the club itself. What this means in practice is that the clubs with richer owners - New York and LA - can afford more Designated Players than most other teams can.
Ticket prices get higher for US national team games, depending on the venue/opposition. I was at the USA/Argentina game on saturday and the most expensive price for those tickets was $175. (again, I got away with not paying cos I got a press pass. And met Leo Messi, woo). It was still a sellout, though. 79,000 people. Blimey.
[quote="ferrarilover"]Chris, you've been to some MLS games (I think that's what your twidder says), what are the ticket prices like for those matches?
Matt.[/quote]
Prices actually are pretty reasonable - I'm going to Boston on Saturday for the Revolution/Timbers match (look out for my match report! </blatant plug>-), and if I was paying for a ticket (I'm not, have press pass, woo) the most expensive is $42. Not sure on current exchange rates, but that's probably about £30. Cheapest tickets are $20, which I guess is about £12-£13. So..cheaper than Torquay. This is just at one place though, and although somebody below said that revenues are shared,that isn't right. TV Revenue from the national deal is shared, but each time will make local deals to serve their own market. (example, NY Red Bulls have just signed a multi-year deal with MSG, a local station that also covers Giants/Jets, Knicks basketball and Yankees/Mets baseball.) Plus this particular team play in the Gillette Stadium, which is an 80,000 capacity american football stadium - hardly design to watch real football in.
Competition is maintained (and yes, I know I'm drifting off-topic here) through use of a salary cap; each team has a certain amount of money to spend on players, which is given to them by the league. The exceptions to this are 'designated players', high earners for whom the league will only cover part of the salary (I think its $325,000 a year atm) - the rest must be paid by the club itself. What this means in practice is that the clubs with richer owners - New York and LA - can afford more Designated Players than most other teams can.
Ticket prices get higher for US national team games, depending on the venue/opposition. I was at the USA/Argentina game on saturday and the most expensive price for those tickets was $175. (again, I got away with not paying cos I got a press pass. And met Leo Messi, woo). It was still a sellout, though. 79,000 people. Blimey.
