Is KC still a pro sports town? (Kansas City: cost of living, wealthy)

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I get all that. (expensive and what not).

My point was and still is that Arrowhead looks noticeably worse and less full than just about every other NFL stadium. Sure Oakland doesn't sell out and a few others don't, but a for a first place team in a brand new stadium, I find it odd that the place looks 2/3 full on TV. The economy is bad in San Diego and Denver and Dallas and Minneapolis and all those teams have worse records than the Chiefs.

So if KC can't fill their stadium in the inaugural year of a renovated arrowhead stadium for a first place team that is 6-0 and home...

I'm afraid things may only get worse for pro sports in KC regardless of your opinions on why people don't go. There is some other city that would probably take the chiefs in a heartbeat and fill their stadium too. It just looks like on the surface that KC can't support the NFL right now.

Aren't a lot of those seats corporate owned and so the seats are sold but the people aren't showing up?

If they were only selling 2/3 of the tix then there would be a blackout.

I think it's a shame that if the corporate sponsors are buying those seats but not attending that they should offer them to the local boys and girls club or rewards for perfect attendance etc.

For the record, the chiefs stadium is pretty decent IMO...and the Royals stadium is one of the best I've ever been in. If I could swallow my disgust at the state of MLB and sports in general I'd be attending a lot more Royals games especially for Friday night fireworks. However, I hate supporting the status quo which is that the Royals are a farm team for the Yankees etc.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Aren't a lot of those seats corporate owned and so the seats are sold but the people aren't showing up?

If they were only selling 2/3 of the tix then there would be a blackout.

I think it's a shame that if the corporate sponsors are buying those seats but not attending that they should offer them to the local boys and girls club or rewards for perfect attendance etc.

For the record, the chiefs stadium is pretty decent IMO...and the Royals stadium is one of the best I've ever been in. If I could swallow my disgust at the state of MLB and sports in general I'd be attending a lot more Royals games especially for Friday night fireworks. However, I hate supporting the status quo which is that the Royals are a farm team for the Yankees etc.

Premium seats don't count toward the sellout or blackout rule. They are not selling well at all and the Chiefs have admitted that they may have overpriced them. Those seats also require a 5 year commitment. Ouch. I can now see why they are not selling.

Chiefs' Mark Donovan On 'All Those Yellow Seats' At Arrowhead Stadium - Arrowhead Pride

What's up with all the yellow seats?

The yellow seats in this case are along the club level at Arrowhead Stadium. The problem is that they're routinely empty, especially around the corners and end zones, as I'm sure you've seen at the stadium or on TV.

"We've seen the yellow seats," Donovan acknowledged on 810 WHB Tuesday morning.

For all those who have sent in an email asking the question, here's your answer: "We think we mis-priced those," he said. "What we're doing this year is we're going to roll out a new pricing plan for the end zones and corner of the club level and those prices will go down."

Well, I like that he didn't dance around it and just said they were too expensive. As Petro suggested, it's simply supply and demand. The Chiefs will lower the prices, hoping to increase the demand and bump their average attendance above 89.4 capacity.

Donovan says 2/3rds of the stadium will see season ticket prices remain flat or go down next year. That's promising with the Chiefs headed in the right direction on the field. On the other side, as one Chiefs fan wrote on Twitter, "Isn't that just a fancy way of saying 1/3rd is going up?"

Oh, he also says every (club-level) season ticket-holder will be contacted personally in the next 48 hours to go through their season ticket options. Let us know in the comments if you're contacted.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by RjRobb2

As long as David Glass is owner, they will never compete. They also need to stop signing any decent player they get to 1 year deals only to allow them to go to a larger market.

I see you also hate the Royals ownership.

I don't blame Glass. Hell, if it were not for Glass, the Royals probably would have left town.

The Royals have had decent payroll with Glass recently. There are many teams that do more with a lot less money. It's not a revenue thing as much as it is just the Royals can't catch any breaks.

They should have at least some competitive years. They have one of the longest playoff droughts in all of pro sports.

But I don't blame glass and I don't hate the royals. I still enjoy being a fan. I'm not sure it would really make a huge difference if they went to the playoffs every year as far as our perspectives from fans. We just go to the games to enjoy our times out in ballparks across the country and with the family and friends. We just enjoy life and enjoy following the Royals. If they get better than that's a great bonus and the bandwagon fans can come out of the woodwork and drive prices up and make people complain about that too.

The Royals are still a Major League Baseball team that I find entertaining to watch that can beat any other MLB team on any night. They are typically in every game. They just lose a few more than they win in the long run.

It would be nice to see the team get some respect back though. But there are a lot of Royals fans out there all across the country. We see them in ballparks and I'm always surprised by how many fans they still have out there.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Premium seats don't count toward the sellout or blackout rule. They are not selling well at all and the Chiefs have admitted that they may have overpriced them. Those seats also require a 5 year commitment. Ouch. I can now see why they are not selling.

Chiefs' Mark Donovan On 'All Those Yellow Seats' At Arrowhead Stadium - Arrowhead Pride

Ah. Thanks for clearing that up, good information.

Club level season tix are $1950-2750.
Upper level ranges from 250-780.
Field level ranges from 760-1180.

That's a CRAZY mark-up, no wonder they can't sell them.
Somebody cost the Chiefs A LOT of money with that boneheaded move.
That's free money they are literally giving away each game...probably cost them a few million. Doesn't anyone do market research?

KCChiefs.com | Season Tickets

[kcmo]

Chiefs still waiting for ticket sales to come around - KansasCity.com (http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/04/2561623/after-winning-season-chiefs-still.html - broken link)

If the Chiefs don't sell out their playoff game, (regardless of the prices of the tickets), KC is going to look REAL bad this weekend when the entire nation sees all the empty seats.

I used to think KC was an NFL town. After living in the Northeast and seeing how rabid the fans are out here, how difficult and expensive it is to even try to go to any NFL stadium out here? It's not even close.

Philly, NY, Baltimore, DC, Pittsburgh. Those are NFL cities.

Come on KC, don't embarrass yourself this weekend. If there are any empty seats, it will be noticed and it will be talked about.

Is KC's corporate community really that small? Or are they too busy buying season tickets to nascar and tbones?

You can't set foot in any regular season game in Balt or DC for less that $200 regardless of who they play or the their record. Denver still sold out every game this year despite their terrible record and I'm sure they will continue to do so for a very long time. I thought KC was like those places when it came to the Chiefs, but maybe not. All it takes is a few bad seasons and it's all over?

KC is starting to look like Jacksonville or something. A city that is just too small to really support the NFL, at least when it comes to corporate season tickets.

[aragx6]

^To be fair, us regular folk have done all we can for this weekend!

All non-club level seats for the home playoff game have sold out.

[RjRobb2]

The club level is the only level that has really had consistent problems selling out which means those seats are over priced.

KC isnt starting to look like Jacksonville. You are being dramatic kcmo. You are talking about a team that has been down right horrible the last few seasons and raped their fans with ticket prices and now there is a backlash. If the team performs consistently well again, the place will be packed with a waitlist for tickets.

[RichMonk]

I am happy RjRobb2 is very right on this one kcmo

kcmo, you are also comparing KC to much bigger and richer metro areas. We just don't have the same number of wealthy people willing to buy club-level seats when the Chiefs are still questionable.


metro area population
2.068 million people (Kansas City metro area) (country rank: 29th) (2009)
2.355 million people (Pittsburgh metro area) (country rank: 22nd) (2009)
2.691 million people (Baltimore metro area) (country rank: 20th) (2009)
5.476 million people (Washington (DC) metro area) (country rank: 8th) (2009)
5.968 million people (Philadelphia metro area) (country rank: 5th) (2009)

[aragx6]

^Population alone doesn't necessarily have any correlation to the number of wealthy citizens, though.

If anything, Kansas City has a more difficult time because they have fewer Fortune 1000 companies than many comparable metros.

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by RichMonk

I am happy RjRobb2 is very right on this one kcmo

kcmo, you are also comparing KC to much bigger and richer metro areas. We just don't have the same number of wealthy people willing to buy club-level seats when the Chiefs are still questionable.


metro area population
2.068 million people (Kansas City metro area) (country rank: 29th) (2009)
2.355 million people (Pittsburgh metro area) (country rank: 22nd) (2009)
2.691 million people (Baltimore metro area) (country rank: 20th) (2009)
5.476 million people (Washington (DC) metro area) (country rank: 8th) (2009)
5.968 million people (Philadelphia metro area) (country rank: 5th) (2009)

And not only is KC smaller than those metros, other than Washington, it has a larger stadium.