By Jim Strother, 10 year Sounders season ticket holder
These views do not necessarily reflect the views of Prost Amerika.
So, I wrote a letter the other day. Maybe you read it, or at least heard about it. When I wrote it, I posted it initially on my Facebook page and didn’t really expect more than friends to read it. When Prost Amerika asked if they could publish it, I wasn’t expecting the reaction it got. Not in the slightest. I certainly wasn’t expecting to receive a phone call from Bart Wiley, Chief Operating Officer of the Seattle Sounders. Pretty high up the chain, so to speak. There were also two others present, one from customer service and my own ticket representative, but they really weren’t involved in the conversation much. It was mostly between Mr. Wiley and I. Here’s how it went (you might want to get comfortable, this piece is a bit longer than my other one, and about as flattering):
First off, I had a hard time getting a word in edgewise as Mr. Wiley went through PR talking points. I had to interrupt several times to counter a few of his points. And a few, I didn’t challenge at the time, but will do so here.
The first point in my original letter was about Sigi Schmid and, I’ll admit, pretty subjective and open to interpretation. He refused say anything more than that Schmid was off the table. I can’t say I expected more than that.
The second was Ross Fletcher. Mr. Wiley’s comment came to nothing more than that the Sounders had to take a look at things and do the calculus and more smoke and mirrors. His comment did more to obscure the situation than to clear it. My interpretation of the situation before the call was that it was a money thing, and it still is now.
My point about Keith Costigan was countered with (paraphrased): “Well, Zak [Steve Zakuani] played for the Timbers, so it’s OK that we hired a guy who played for them also. His charity functions are well attended here in Seattle so I don’t know what the issue really is.” The point is, Mr. Wiley, that this new announcer has a membership in the Timbers Army. I don’t care if a guy played for them, a career is a career. The point is, he is a Timber in his heart. Also, Zakuani played here before making the move south and was, and still is, a beloved member of our community. I’ll just finish this part off with a question: would the Seahawks hire a 49ers fan to announce their games?
Next up was my complaint about dynamic pricing, or variable pricing as I was told. Mr. Wiley was actually confused as to why a season ticket holder like myself would complain about this as it doesn’t affect me directly. This is the first time I was able to contribute something to the conversation. This part isn’t about me. This part is about the person who wants to attend a game with the family and wants to make a big game, like the timbers for example. Instead of the face value of the other matches, this one will cost upwards of three times that amount, not to mention hot dogs and soda for the kids and beer for the parents. The point is that soccer is a community event and the community needs to be able to attend. Soccer is for all, not just season ticket holders.
As for the Dallas fan handling the Sounders brand, Mr. Wiley admitted that the tweet from him that started the issue was a mistake. He went on to say that they look for people who would be a good fit for the organization. First, I know every organization looks for good fits. Nothing new there. Second, they still couldn’t find a good fit who is from Seattle?
Now, we come to the mid-season friendly and my continuing problem with games that don’t contribute to trophies, yet add to fixture congestion. Mr. Wiley told me that the reason they had West Ham United come this year was because they needed a 19th game, especially after our premature finish to the Champions League. I was able to get a comment in again and ask why they didn’t just refund the money, or like they did with the LA refund match- credit the money towards next season’s tickets. The general response was that it was more difficult than it sounds. It seemed pretty easy at that point in time (May 2010), so what has really changed since?
As for the Delta tifo, this was the only thing that was really walked back. It’s not called a tifo anymore, but he wouldn’t admit that it was just a giant advertisement made by the fans either. I was told that since Delta likes art, it was a good thing. Well, I like art, can I have a giant overhead put up for me in the stadium?
Anybody have issues with the Sounders app? Yeah, me too, at least to a certain extent. This poorly designed app has confused people as to exactly where in it one can find their tickets. There’s a reason why user-experience designers make six-figures a year. There is also this thing called test-driven development. It is painfully obvious that neither was used in the process, or at least not much used. I was told by Mikaela Purvis, Director of Fan Relations (the costumer service representative who was also on the call), that they did do testing in development and even used actual fans and Alliance Council members to test it. What I wasn’t told were how many people that testing entailed and how that sample size correlated to the stress on the servers on game day. That’s all important to consider in tech development. (My ticket representative, Taylor Huerta, did offer to help me get the app set up properly to get past any issues. I have not taken him up on the offer as I do have it working to a minimal extent that is just enough to get into the game. That’s all I really need, but there are still issues that many others are having.)
As for security and bag check, I’m not a security expert. There are a lot of things I don’t know about it. But, I do recognize a large problem when I see one, the soft target that is a mass of people crowded together notwithstanding. For the numbers of people trying to get into the stadium, there need to be many more lines opened for access. I was told that, as far as security goes, the Seahawks are talking about putting in the same type of scanners that are used at the airports and those should speed up the process. Well, I’ve been to a few airports recently and those lines are beyond slow. Do we need to start arriving three hours ahead of kickoff so we’re sure we make it through security in time for the game? I was also told that the ladies could put any highly personal items into a clutch and then into those clear plastic bags. Um, yay? What about guys who also might have something personal they don’t want the world to know about? Should they get a clutch from Coach also?
At this point, Mr. Wiley asked if I had anything else that concerned me. So, I asked why the Alliance Council didn’t have the responsibility we were lead to believe they would have way back in 2009. We were promised that the Council would be able to vote on important matters, within reason, that concerned club operations. Somehow, that seemed to be restricted to scarves and hot dog prices. Mikaela told me that time and again they asked the Council what they would like to vote on, but never received any satisfactory answers. For the sake of transparency, I haven’t asked any Council members what their take is. I’ll let them write their own piece and go into more detail on this controversy.
At the end of it, I was never asked what it would take, within reason, to keep me a season ticket holder, and that disappointed me greatly. I know they can easily replace my missing money with somebody else who wants in, and that’s fine with me. It won’t be my money. I also know of one friend who is already selling off the remainder of this season’s tickets, as well as several others, both inside and outside of the ECS, who are considering not renewing either. So, it’s more than just an ECS thing. (Looking at you, random guy on Facebook calling me names for having the temerity to hold the team’s front office accountable.)
All in all, I feel it was a somewhat disappointing conversation as it mostly consisted of Mr. Wiley talking, repeating PR points that have mostly already been released to the public, and saying nothing of real substance. I am not convinced that I should renew my season tickets for next year. I am convinced that more of you shouldn’t either.
I will end this piece with the some of the same words I ended my other: soccer without fans is nothing. WE are your bread and butter. WE are the reason sponsors throw money at the team. WE are the reason players want to play in the atmosphere that we have. WE will be here long after personnel and players retire and move away. WE are the club.
