Tampa Bay Storm give out a ton of complimentary tickets

[Fran]

http://www.tampatrib.com/Business/MGAVJ8FSATD.html

Here are some of the highlights from the article

The Storm still gave away more than 7,800 tickets to
most of their home games this season just to fill the
St. Pete Times Forum, where they play home matches,
records show.

The complimentary tickets, or comps, helped inflate
the Storm's average attendance to 15,064 for four home
games in February and March, according to turnstile
data published by Sports Business Journal, which
tracks sports attendance nationwide.

Sean Henry, the Forum's chief operating officer,
defends the strategy of giving away tickets to home
Storm games. He says it is a legitimate tool to build
fan interest and support in a city with many new
residents, and he noted that a similar strategy was
used to market the Tampa Bay Lightning when the
National Hockey League team was drawing meager crowds
five years ago at the same arena.

Henry said most comps are for upper-level seats and
that the free tickets are needed to draw fans and
produce an exciting atmosphere. The comps generally
are given to area military groups, schools and
athletic organizations, he said.

``When you get a lot of people, you get that energy
and excitement, and it's a better time,'' Henry said.
``You like to be where the action is. We want to make
sure that if you come to this building, you will have
fun.''


All I can is that's a lot of complimentary tickets,
and this team has been around for a while, its sad
that giving away that many tickets is necessary.

I'm sure other AFL teams do that, but I would be
shocked if they gave away that many.

What's the incentive of fans buying tickets if they
get them for free.

Fran

[Pounder]

I wouldn't be shocked.

Tampa has been one of those teams that seemed to be fireproofed against the norm of this league- teams destined to fold or move. Of course, there was a time when Tampa was considered to be one of the stable 5, which included Orlando, Arizona, Albany, and Iowa. Oops on those last two, eh? The remaining three and San Jose are the only franchises to survive in their current markets from prior to 1998. Most everyone else exhibits the same basic property- decent first year numbers, then a steady decline, with sometimes an uptick when the owner decides to give out comps like what is happening in Tampa. (Give Chicago credit for bucking this trend.)

Hand it to the league that they can get good first year numbers in Philly, Columbus, and New Orleans. That, and Colorado, are what props up the league right now. I question how well this can be sustained.