Cards ticket plan aims to keep Cowboys fans out *Merge*

[WoodysGirl]

July 16, 2008 - 9:22PM

Mike Tulumello, Tribune

The Cardinals are trying to "protect the nest."

This means they'd like University of Phoenix Stadium to continue to sell out, and to do so with as few opposing fans as possible.


In the past two seasons, there was little concern about this since the team sold out every home game.

But with ticket sales a bit slower as the third season approaches, the Cardinals are requiring fans who want to buy tickets to the Dallas game on Oct. 12 to also buy tickets for the Aug. 7 exhibition opener vs. New Orleans.

Cardinals fans have "created a decisive home-field advantage" the past two years, and the team wants to keep it that way by discouraging single-game ticket sales to Cowboys fans, team spokesman Mark Dalton said.

"Our goal is to have as many Cardinal fans in the stadium as possible," Dalton said.

In terms of overall ticket sales, "We're a little slower than we were at this point" last year, Dalton said, citing the slowing economy.

Dalton estimated about 58,000 season tickets have been sold.

Ideally, the Cardinals would like to sell about 60,000 season tickets and hold back 3,000 or so to sell for individual games.

"If we don't get to that threshold, then there will be a few more individual single-game tickets available," Dalton said.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/120980

 

[Hoofbite]

Sounds like they will have an empty stadium.

 

[Dcowboy84]

What kind of crap is that? I'm here saving up money to buy tickets to the Dallas game and they want me to spend more money of some stupid AZ vs NO preseason game just to be able to buy Dallas tickets?

There should be some kind of legal precedent against this kind of garbage.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Good luck

 

[CrazyCowboy]

lol.....they are always worried about us......our fans are great out there!

 

[SkinsSuck09]

I can hear the crickets now........:laugh2:

 

[theebs]

What kind of crap is that? I'm here saving up money to buy tickets to the Dallas game and they want me to spend more money of some stupid AZ vs NO preseason game just to be able to buy Dallas tickets?

There should be some kind of legal precedent against this kind of garbage.

Every team does this. Its not something the cardinals came up with.

The cowboys made people buy preseason tickets coupled with certain regular season games in the past and I am sure they will in the future.

THe owners get all the dough from the preseason ticket sales, so they are going to make sure they sell as many tickets as they can.

 

[Velvet Jones]

Not sure how smart the iea is in the long run. Luckily, it is a short run type of plan so pretty smart. It has already detered one Cowboy fan up above. Lol.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

This is an idiotic approach. Even Cardinals fans won't like having to buy tickets to a preseason game of no interest just to go to the Dallas game. I agree with you guys, either there'll be just as many Dallas fans as usual or there'll be no fans there at all.

It's a free country. As much as I hated having those Steelers fans at Texas Stadium a few years ago and all those Green Bay fans last year, if someone pays for the tickets, they should be able to cheer for whomever they choose and wear whatever team colors they choose. That is what's great about this country. With the Internet, the day of the "home" team is becoming extinct. You can buy tickets to any game anywhere in an instant. And if a football club wants to make profits, they'll just have to live with that.

Anyway, the Cowboys games are the liveliest Arizona has ever seen. They should be thanking Dallas for the exposure.

 

[theebs]

boyzmamcita, If I recall correctly the bills were making people buy season tickets to get cowboys tickets last year.

The scalpers bought them all up and sold the sheets on ebay.

That is pretty extreme, but it worked for them. They only care about the sale from the box office, not whos in the seat. So by using the leverage they have of Dallas coming and the fan who will pay extra to see Dallas just once that year, they basically sell 2 or more games out. The bills made a killing on that last year. People bought a ton of season tickets.

 

[Velvet Jones]

But it is a smart idea. You know that will be the big game of the year. You know that you will sell those tickets even with the upped cost. It is less about locking out cowboy fans and more about selling a premium item at a premium cost. They aren't worried about locking out Dolphin fans, they just know that they won't sell anything extra so why try. Dallas is their money maker which is why they didn't want to leave our division in the first place.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

But it is a smart idea. You know that will be the big game of the year. You know that you will sell those tickets even with the upped cost. It is less about locking out cowboy fans and more about selling a premium item at a premium cost. They aren't worried about locking out Dolphin fans, they just know that they won't sell anything extra so why try. Dallas is their money maker which is why they didn't want to leave our division in the first place.

Good points. It's funny how people cringe at the America's Team nickname, but do all they can to profit off the fact that that's exactly what the Cowboys are!

 

[yeahyeah]

Cardinals.....haha!!...like rootin for a mule in the Kentucky Derby.

 

[Eddie]

I was wondering how they were going to keep opposing teams' fans out. I thought they were going to make people sign an affidavit of loyalty or swear allegiance to the Cardinal flag or something like that.

 

[zeromaster]

Sounds like the plan either involves blackouts or massive subsidies for the missing ticket sales.

 

[Hostile]

They would have better luck holding out their hands and trying to stop the Mississippi River than to keep Cowboys fans out of the stadium. It is our 9th home game.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

Cardinals fans have "created a decisive home-field advantage" the past two years, and the team wants to keep it that way by discouraging single-game ticket sales to Cowboys fans, team spokesman Mark Dalton said.

It probably has nothing to do with, none of their opponents fans wanting to come see their doormat of a team or nuttin!?

 

[Meat-O-Rama]

This is a great idea in theory. Too bad people like me who have Cardinals season ticket holder friends are going to use it to get tickets for cheaper than they would have been through stubhub. For those crying about having an extra game tagged on, try finding a pair of standalone tickets for the Cowboys/AZ game anywhere for less than $100 (which is the lowest cost for a pair of tickets)

 

[Beast_from_East]

Sounds like they will have an empty stadium.

It doesnt matter, we are going to kick their *** up and down the feild regardless of who is watching.

We could play in the freaking parking lot and still beat them by 3 TDs easy.

:laugh1:

 

[bbgun]

This is an idiotic approach. Even Cardinals fans won't like having to buy tickets to a preseason game of no interest just to go to the Dallas game. I agree with you guys, either there'll be just as many Dallas fans as usual or there'll be no fans there at all.

Exactly. The Card season-ticket holders get screwed far worse than the casual Dallas fan. Then again, how would we react if supermarkets demanded that we buy bread with every purchase, whether we needed it or not?