JT: Plenty of good seats available
PostPosted:9 years 4 months ago
Rams vs. Seattle: Plenty of good seats available
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 32919.html
It’s the opening of another NFL season. And not only is a division rival coming to town, it’s the two-time defending NFC champs. As a topper, the Rams have played said team, the Seattle Seahawks, very tough at the Edward Jones Dome under coach Jeff Fisher.
The Rams have won two of three at home vs. the Seahawks, including last year’s Festival of Trick Plays by coach John Fassel’s special teams unit. Even in the loss, the Rams were on the Seattle 1-yard line and throwing for the win in the end zone on the game’s final play.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a hot ticket. Obviously, these are not normal circumstances. As the preseason showed, attendance could be down sharply this season, what with the threat of relocation to Los Angeles.
The fact that the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2003, and is fresh off a winless preseason, isn’t conducive to a stampede at the ticket office, either.
While realizing that the circumstances are, well, the circumstances, Rams executive vice president Kevin Demoff says the organization is doing what it can to sell tickets.
“We’re making a push,” Demoff said. “We have more marketing out and around the Seattle game than we’ve ever had before for a season opener. Season tickets are down, so we have to make up some of the sales with single-game tickets.”
How far down are ticket sales? Demoff said team policy is not to reveal such numbers. But the “tickets distributed” numbers for home preseason games against Indianapolis and Kansas City tell you all you need to know.
The numbers for those games were 37,460 for Indy and 37,616 for KC. Some of those 37,000 were giveaways, but preseason games normally generate next to nothing in terms of single-game sales.
The moral to the story? The Rams’ season-ticket base is at minimum below 37,000. And unless the Rams have a monumental week in terms of single-ticket stales, we’re talking about an opening-day “crowd” of maybe about 40,000 in the 66,000-seat dome. Which easily would be a low for the Rams in St. Louis for a home opener, and probably a low for pro football in St. Louis going back to the days of the football Cardinals.
“Preseason is usually an indicator of what your season ticket base is, because not that many people buy single-game preseason tickets,” Demoff said. “Your season tickets are not greater — they could never be greater — than what’s distributed.”
Since you can’t buy a season ticket without buying the preseason games, the only thing that will get home attendance above that 37,000 threshold is robust purchase of single-game tickets, multiple-game “flex” packs, or group sales.
“For many years, we’ve been focused on single games and group tickets, and marketing efforts around the regular season,” Demoff said. “So we’re hopeful that those efforts in the market place and people’s excitement around the start of the season will lead to strong demand as we go through this week and in the weeks forward.”
Starting with Seattle and fellow NFC West opponents Arizona and San Francisco, the Rams have some attractive home opponents this year. Most notably Pittsburgh and Chicago. So the Rams are hoping for good single-game sales for those contests.
(Don’t be surprised, though, if there’s a ton of Steelers and Bears fans in the dome for those games.)
It could very well be that the relocation threat keeps attendance down to the point where only the hard-core fans show up. But as is the case in most seasons, the Rams feel a fast start — something that has eluded the team under Fisher — will lead to more ticket sales.
“The biggest single marketing tool we can have is to start strong or to play well,” Demoff said. “There is no substitute for that in any environment, but especially in a year like this.”
Failing that, the Rams hope that those who do show up on Sundays are noisy.
“We had games over the past few years where attendance has been significantly down and we still had a home-field edge,” Demoff said. “So to me, it’s not necessarily about the numbers who show up. It’s about the passion of those that do show up.”
The Rams have not released a schedule of promotional dates as has been the case in the past but Demoff said there will be some giveaways this year. In fact, Sunday’s noon opener against Seattle will be “Aaron Donald rally towel” day, Donald being the Rams’ star defensive tackle.
Demoff also said there will be two home games in which the Rams wear “throwback” uniforms, but for reasons he wouldn’t reveal, Demoff wouldn’t disclose which games.
Demoff also addressed the sign policy at the dome, indicating that it has not been altered to counter sentiment against owner Stan among fans.
“The sign policy at the Edward Jones Dome is the same as it always has been,” he said. “Anything that is football related and in good taste will be allowed through unless it’s a size where it blocks other viewers’ perspective. But anything that is not in good taste and not football-related can be turned away at the door.”
He did say a “Keep the Rams in St. Louis” sign of reasonable proportions would be acceptable.
“The sign policy really came into focus last year as we went through some of the civic unrest (in Ferguson) and became a focal point,” Demoff said.
The only thing that has changed, Demoff said, is that an attempt has been made to make signs outside the dome outlining the sign policy more visible.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 32919.html
It’s the opening of another NFL season. And not only is a division rival coming to town, it’s the two-time defending NFC champs. As a topper, the Rams have played said team, the Seattle Seahawks, very tough at the Edward Jones Dome under coach Jeff Fisher.
The Rams have won two of three at home vs. the Seahawks, including last year’s Festival of Trick Plays by coach John Fassel’s special teams unit. Even in the loss, the Rams were on the Seattle 1-yard line and throwing for the win in the end zone on the game’s final play.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a hot ticket. Obviously, these are not normal circumstances. As the preseason showed, attendance could be down sharply this season, what with the threat of relocation to Los Angeles.
The fact that the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2003, and is fresh off a winless preseason, isn’t conducive to a stampede at the ticket office, either.
While realizing that the circumstances are, well, the circumstances, Rams executive vice president Kevin Demoff says the organization is doing what it can to sell tickets.
“We’re making a push,” Demoff said. “We have more marketing out and around the Seattle game than we’ve ever had before for a season opener. Season tickets are down, so we have to make up some of the sales with single-game tickets.”
How far down are ticket sales? Demoff said team policy is not to reveal such numbers. But the “tickets distributed” numbers for home preseason games against Indianapolis and Kansas City tell you all you need to know.
The numbers for those games were 37,460 for Indy and 37,616 for KC. Some of those 37,000 were giveaways, but preseason games normally generate next to nothing in terms of single-game sales.
The moral to the story? The Rams’ season-ticket base is at minimum below 37,000. And unless the Rams have a monumental week in terms of single-ticket stales, we’re talking about an opening-day “crowd” of maybe about 40,000 in the 66,000-seat dome. Which easily would be a low for the Rams in St. Louis for a home opener, and probably a low for pro football in St. Louis going back to the days of the football Cardinals.
“Preseason is usually an indicator of what your season ticket base is, because not that many people buy single-game preseason tickets,” Demoff said. “Your season tickets are not greater — they could never be greater — than what’s distributed.”
Since you can’t buy a season ticket without buying the preseason games, the only thing that will get home attendance above that 37,000 threshold is robust purchase of single-game tickets, multiple-game “flex” packs, or group sales.
“For many years, we’ve been focused on single games and group tickets, and marketing efforts around the regular season,” Demoff said. “So we’re hopeful that those efforts in the market place and people’s excitement around the start of the season will lead to strong demand as we go through this week and in the weeks forward.”
Starting with Seattle and fellow NFC West opponents Arizona and San Francisco, the Rams have some attractive home opponents this year. Most notably Pittsburgh and Chicago. So the Rams are hoping for good single-game sales for those contests.
(Don’t be surprised, though, if there’s a ton of Steelers and Bears fans in the dome for those games.)
It could very well be that the relocation threat keeps attendance down to the point where only the hard-core fans show up. But as is the case in most seasons, the Rams feel a fast start — something that has eluded the team under Fisher — will lead to more ticket sales.
“The biggest single marketing tool we can have is to start strong or to play well,” Demoff said. “There is no substitute for that in any environment, but especially in a year like this.”
Failing that, the Rams hope that those who do show up on Sundays are noisy.
“We had games over the past few years where attendance has been significantly down and we still had a home-field edge,” Demoff said. “So to me, it’s not necessarily about the numbers who show up. It’s about the passion of those that do show up.”
The Rams have not released a schedule of promotional dates as has been the case in the past but Demoff said there will be some giveaways this year. In fact, Sunday’s noon opener against Seattle will be “Aaron Donald rally towel” day, Donald being the Rams’ star defensive tackle.
Demoff also said there will be two home games in which the Rams wear “throwback” uniforms, but for reasons he wouldn’t reveal, Demoff wouldn’t disclose which games.
Demoff also addressed the sign policy at the dome, indicating that it has not been altered to counter sentiment against owner Stan among fans.
“The sign policy at the Edward Jones Dome is the same as it always has been,” he said. “Anything that is football related and in good taste will be allowed through unless it’s a size where it blocks other viewers’ perspective. But anything that is not in good taste and not football-related can be turned away at the door.”
He did say a “Keep the Rams in St. Louis” sign of reasonable proportions would be acceptable.
“The sign policy really came into focus last year as we went through some of the civic unrest (in Ferguson) and became a focal point,” Demoff said.
The only thing that has changed, Demoff said, is that an attempt has been made to make signs outside the dome outlining the sign policy more visible.