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2010 Sounders ticket revenues per game will be over $1m. Here is the breakdown.
The 2009 Sounders with attendance at 30,897 per game paying an average ticket price of $26.65 were bringing in last year $823,405.05. The Sounders have approximately 22,500 ticket holders from 2009 that have already paid the same amount for 2010.
The Sounders are holding season ticket prices to inaugural season ticket holders for 3 years as long as they renew each year.
The original season ticket holders can expect a hefty increase in their prices for the 2012 season unless the Sounders cut them another deal to prevent a possible backlash. It could happen if they continue to increase ticket prices by 30% each year like they did from 2009 to 2010. At that rate the inaugural season ticket holders could be faced with paying twice as much for the 2012 season as they are for the 2010 season.
Now let’s get back to the numbers for 2010. So we have approximately 22,500 inaugural season ticket holders paying the same price $26.65.
22,500 x $26.65 = $599,625.00 (please indulge me and round this number at $600k)
As for the new season ticket holders, their average price is $36.65. Remember Sounders are capping season tickets at 32,000.
9,500 x $36.55 = $347.225.00
Those season ticket holders receive a season ticket discount. The game day ticket prices are 20% greater. So game day ticket price average:
$36.66 x 1.2 = $43.98.
We will error on conservative side and round it down to $43.00. The Sounders are having capacity at about 35,800 from the latest numbers given by the club.
35,800 – 32,000 = 3,800
3800 x $34.00 = $129,200.00
So here are our totals
$129,000 + $347,225.00 + $600,000.00 = $1,076,225.50
Now here is a quick breakdown of the known numbers given to MLSR by the Sounders for the 2010 season. The Sounders do not have the exact numbers on the newly added seating just the lower and upper deck numbers they gave me listed below.
You will see they are very close to the numbers MLSR has found without a breakdown.
Lower level capacity – 30,098
Upper level capacity – 3,362
Median ticket price – $30
30,098 + 3362 = 33,460
33,460 x $30.00 = $1,003,800.00
If the capacity is at 35,800 then the total is $1,074,000.00. That given the average price ($30,00) of the added seats are the same as the 33,460 seats currently counted by the Sounders.
So with fewer tickets available per game to non season ticket holders the Sounders anticipate every game in 2010 will sell out. So with the average ticket buyers selling out every game the Sounders can concentrate on selling the suites.
Qwest Field has 113 suites. I do not have the breakdown on them currently, but here are the options listed on the Sounders web site.
36-seat suite – Holds up to 44 people with standing room and includes 12 parking passes.
24-seat suite – Holds up to 30 people with standing room and includes 8 parking passes.
18-seat suite – Holds up to 24 people with standing room and includes 6 parking passes.
12-seat suite – Holds up to 16 people with standing room and includes 4 parking passes.
Sounders FC also has tables for 4 on the pitch level (availability upon request) for sale.
All of this adds up to a very large payday for Seattle Sounders FC home games. I will take a look at other numbers concerning the Sounders in future articles.
Below are the Sounders season ticket prices.
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2010 SEASON PRICING AND BENEFITS:
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Club 1 Seating Renewal: $1360/season New: $1570/season Benefits |
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All Inclusive Seating Renewal: $443/season New: $573/season Benefits |
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Club 2 Seating Renewal: $713/season New: $923/season Benefits |
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All Inclusive Seating Renewal: $443/season New: $573/season Benefits |
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Lower Level Sideline Renewal: $640/season New: $840/season Benefits |
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Corner Goal Renewal: $370/season New: $490/season Benefits |
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All Inclusive Seating Renewal: $640/season New: $840/season Benefits |
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Behind the Goal Renewal: $297/season New: $400/season Benefits |
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Lower Level Sideline Renewal: $533/season New: $731/season Benefits |
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General Admission Renewal: $297/season New: $400/season Benefits |
One final note: Sounders get 70% and MLS gets 30%
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Even if we just ignored local TV revenue and merch, that’s a pile of money and we should be able to spend SOME of it on players. I understand the purpose of a cap, but it shouldn’t bring every team down to the level of the lowliest side.
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But that is the purpose of a salary cap…
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I am a 2009/2010 STH. There is no justification for a 30% ticket price hike given the salary cap. I hope this doesn’t become a supply/demand issue where only the wealthiest fans can get season tickets. I will definitely consider this when it comes to the vote for the GM.
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Well the purpose of a salary cap is to keep things from getting out of hand. That’s a good thing. But keeping everyone absolutely equal is kinda silly.
Pete, I agree.
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If anyone from MLS is reading this, you have to double the salary cap or risk losing most of the people you gained here in Seattle as we watch our club make money hand over fist but unable to use any of it to buy better players for the CONCACAF Champions League.
You have a sophisticated and supportive soccer crowd up here. Don’t take us for granted. If the team is unable to spend some of its money we’ll drift back to leagues which don’t have salary caps.
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I really hope that raising the salary cap a bit, say 1/2 million is negotiated this season along with adding one or two more DP’s *and* lowering the DP’s hit against the salary cap. I think that’s the most fair way to allow the teams making more money to spent it yet keeping some sort of parity across the league.
So let’s say that the 70/30 Seattle/MLS split is accurate and it’s based on gross sales an not pure profit. That’s still only 4.5 million going back into the other teams. That will only be 300,000 per team.
I’d like to see more articles around how money is distributed around the league. I’m not saying the 70/30 split is wrong, but want to know more details. I think that would lead to some more intelligent conversation around salary caps and designated players.
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Simply having a lot of numbers doesn’t make them right: there’s a LOT of guessing in the numbers above.
But anyway, to follow up, how much do you think the SSFC expenses per game are?
And please do this again for FC Dallas and New England.
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Oh, and I meant to add that without knowing any of that other info, or even having accurate figures, it’s stupid to extrapolate to some need to raise the salary cap.
MLS Talk did an excellent article a while back demonstrating that even with distributions from SUM (all the friendlies) this wasn’t that much money.
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The salary cap is already scheduled to be raised to over $2 billion, about twice what it is now. I think that’s pretty reasonable.
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Source…
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Pretty sure the cap isn’t going to be raised 2 billion. But be that as it may, there is no 70/30 split. Teams keep their gate short of a royalty. Same with local merch and TV. And yes, add the friendlies and our owners made a massive pile o cash.
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$2 billion would probably do the trick.
But I agree…what’s the point of being a successfull team in a old-out stadium if you can’t invest some of those profits back into your squad depth/quality?
Ridiculous…might be time to look into a luxury tax or something to supplment the salary cap and DP slots.
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TURF! ….and they really aren’t that good. Just sayin’.
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I think that teams like Seattle, Toronto, LA, Philly, possible Houston and DCU, and hopefully Portland (but I doubt it) and Vancouver will have enough off the field success to where their owners/FO start pushing to up the salary cap/DP limits so that they can take more advantage of their financial success. That will suck for some teams, but I suppose every league needs a Wigan/Hull City to complement its Chelsea and ManU.
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