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Episode 436: Interview with Sounders FC President Hugh Weber
70 Plays2 years ago
When Hugh Weber was officially announced as the Seattle Sounders’ new President of Business operations there was an awful lot going on. The team was deep into the process of updating their visual identity; preparing to open a new training facility that would also house the business side; and had just unveiled their new shirt sponsor Providence Health.
Things have settled down a bit since then, but are getting ready to ramp back up. On Tuesday, the Sounders will unveil that new visual identity and they’re now just months away from officially opening their Longacres training facility.
Last week, we had a chance to meet with Weber to discuss all of these things as well as things like the Sounders’ interest in exploring the possibility of building a stadium at Longacres; how their relationship with OL Reign could evolve; the status of some of the promises around the Providence sponsorship; and learned that the team is currently enjoying very robust season-ticket renewal rates while also taking a record number of deposits on new ticket packages.
A limited version of the interview is available here or wherever you normally get podcasts delivered. There’s also an extended version that’s about 20 minutes longer that is only available to paid subscribers, which you can become for as little as $19/year.
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Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/
You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.
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Transcript
Introduction to Full Pull Wines and Watson's Counter
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Thanks to Watson's Counter for sponsoring this episode. Located in Ballard, Watson's Counter is your neighborhood specialty coffee shop, brunch spot, and now, coffee roaster. Sourcing exclusively high scoring coffees, Watson's Counter has started their coffee roasting project to showcase amazing coffees grown around the world. Their first featured coffee is the beautifully complex washed Ethiopian Odola.
00:00:50
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at Watson's Counter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered.
Interview with Hugh Webber at Long Anchors Facility
00:01:14
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of NOS Adiatus. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me today, very fun experience we're doing here. We're at Long Anchors. I'm here with Hugh Webber, the president of the Sounders. How are you doing, Hugh? I'm doing great. Great to be here with you. Yeah, so we are at this new facility. You guys are still moving in. I guess this is your temporary floor. My understanding is you guys are going to actually be moving the floor down eventually. But it already looks like a real office.
00:01:42
Speaker
And for us, it's a big step because if you think about it, up until or just before the pandemic, this is a group of individuals that have been working remotely the entire time. So it was a huge priority for us to have a home, to come in. And we're currently on the third floor of this building, which we will eventually occupy the first and
Sounders' New Facility and Integration Approach
00:02:02
Speaker
second floor. So it's been great to gather. It's been great for people to work together. But you're right, it looks like a real office.
00:02:08
Speaker
Yeah, there's trophies, there's all kinds of display cases, there's all kinds of good stuff here. It does feel fun and you can look out and you have this great view of what will be the practice fields. They're not there yet, but you can finally see it really coming into, I guess we're running out of time here before it needs to be playable, but you can see where it's going and you can really see the vision.
00:02:28
Speaker
So first team will move in just after the first of the year. Business offices will be fully functional on our permanent floor probably a few weeks later. First time in Sounders history that both aspects of our club will be together. So culturally it's a real defining moment for us. We've always taken a one team approach.
00:02:52
Speaker
But it's been hard to do when you're in three or four different locations. So a lot of excitement. Again, we will continue to have this ethos of being open to our fans. And so we encourage, again, our fans to come down to every training. And obviously, we'll be doing a lot of tours and things here. We want this to be everyone's home.
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, and just to give people a little bit more background in case they didn't know, although the first team has always been at Starfire, basically since the MLS launch, the business offices at first were at VMAC, they were mixing with the Seahawks, and then you moved into... Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square, where all the business offices were, and there was like maybe some, like Adrian kind of went back and forth, but I don't think even Garth had an office. No, he did not. And then since the pandemic started, you guys were 100% remote.
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah, virtually everyone's home address was our signers address. So it's funny, it's it's been incredible. And I say you've been in a short amount of three or four months, people gravitating to the office as a place to congregate and work through things has been really refreshing versus the zoom boxes we've been working with. Yeah.
00:04:04
Speaker
So how do you imagine this changing the
Global Aspirations and Training Site Potential
00:04:08
Speaker
team? I mean, this is really a gathering place for fans, for the club, that has never really existed. So I think that it goes beyond even that, and that we want this not only to be a reflection of our brand and how we show up in the community and how we engage people in this physical space, but
00:04:30
Speaker
reflection of the gravity of what this brand stands for, not just in Seattle, but North America globally, so that when this hopefully becomes potentially a training site for one of the World Cup teams that are hosted here, they'll walk in and say this is among the best that we've seen in the world.
00:04:49
Speaker
So the standards by which we're designing and building this is not just for, hey, our shocks would be awesome to have us all into one roof. The aspirations are much bigger. And I think as fans walk through this space, they'll see, they'll both feel that. What kind of spaces do you imagine fans being able to
00:05:09
Speaker
engage with specifically. Like I don't imagine they're going to be coming up into the offices, but there's seemingly going to be comments or not common spaces, but spaces that are, are, are sort of fan focused. Yeah, for sure. On the pitch and we'll have area gathering areas. It's all contemplated for fans to be able to show up on a regular basis to watch training. That'll be great. We'll have an amazing viewing deck off of the second floor here, which will allow us to do events and bite season ticket holders and invite fans in.
00:05:38
Speaker
We imagine that our philanthropic work with Brave Foundation, a lot of it can be hosted here with Galas and touring of the locker rooms and things. But I think that, again, we don't want this to be like some guarded fortress. We want it to be something that we open up to the community and our fans. So I think there'll be lots of chances for people to engage and be a part of what we've built there.
00:06:05
Speaker
And do you, I realize this is maybe a little outside of your scope, but do you imagine, like, I know there had been some talk of, of, uh, defiance or whoever, whatever the second team is to be playing. I guess, is, are they, is the idea that they're going to still be at start fire? Or is there some.
00:06:20
Speaker
Allowance for potentially having you know actual matches right? Yeah, the next pro there are some some stipulations that we have to have in terms of accommodating number of fans and things like that But we're definitely thinking about how if they're training here how we might be able to host some matches here for sure
00:06:38
Speaker
And so would that be like a temporary type of facility? Or is that like something that I mean, is there everything? Everything's on the table right now. You might hear me say that a lot. If you think about this 160 acre campus, the training grounds for the sounders is just one sliver of it. It's obviously the core cornerstone. It's going to be, again, drawing lots of people to this physical space.
00:07:01
Speaker
I think there's a lot of things we're contemplating in terms of how this becomes a live work play gathering spot for people around Puget Sound and the possibilities are endless and so that certainly is one of them for sure.
00:07:16
Speaker
And so I know a lot of focus, understandably, has been on the training facility and sort of the headquarters. But like you mentioned, this is a huge property. Right. Where are we in terms of some of these apartments and I guess other sort of like live the live elements and live and play elements, I suppose. So it's great about the property if you haven't been here before, if you have, you know, Long Acres was here once. But there's it's proximity to rail. I mean, you can be downtown King Street Station in 10 minutes.
00:07:46
Speaker
It's I think people don't really understand it is lightning. I mean you can be here so fast It's almost hard to contemplate like gives it you can get here faster on the train than you can driving right for sure so so so that opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of like just Having this be a centralized location that connects, you know, the greater southern part of Lake Washington and Puget Sound but I would say
00:08:14
Speaker
the live aspects of it in terms of how we develop spaces for people to come and live, the retail, mixed use. There's about a million square feet of office space now, but also entertainment venues, like maybe an outdoor music menu or what have you are all part of this contemplated plan. So again, the pieces are still coming together, but I would say that we're in high-speed formulation to get a plan in place.
00:08:43
Speaker
So I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't at least ask, even if I have a suspicion of where this is going. But when we first met you, the first press conference, it was asked if there is potentially designs for having an actual stadium here, like the Sounders home. I know Adrian has often talked about wanting to have sort of a palace
00:09:02
Speaker
devoted to the Sounders. Is that something potentially in the cards?
Future Stadium and Fan Experience Enhancements
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Lumenfield has been a great home, a Seahawks great partner, but having a soccer-centric stadium is the dream of any premier MLS club. Of course, it's something we're contemplating and thinking about. There's definitely room here on the site. There's a lot of exploration that has to happen in terms of
00:09:30
Speaker
Is this something our fan base would even consider as a positive? And so there's a lot of work to be done, but I would be remiss and not honest if I didn't tell you we're thinking about it and how we can consult for that for sure. In any case, it's something that maybe it sounds like a long-term
00:09:49
Speaker
idea, not something that is we shouldn't. Well, let's let's be honest, these projects take a long time. Right. Right. So if we're not doing the work now, then we're going to be behind. And so I think, again, there's diligence that has to be worked through, not only again, in terms of the logistics of building something out of the ground takes a long time.
00:10:11
Speaker
but even contemplation about how it would work. How would our fans react to that? What would be that match day experience? And I think the club's commitment has always been to have continual improvement around the match day experience. And so if we couldn't deliver on that promise, I'm not sure that we would take that commitment that way. So there's a lot to think through. And we have really smart people that are thinking about it and try to build a plan.
00:10:40
Speaker
On that same subject, Lumenfield, I think everyone loves the location. They love a lot about what Lumenfield is. But there are challenges to Lumenfield. It does still feel like you guys are a tenant, which you are a tenant, right?
00:10:56
Speaker
The signage, we can do a laundry list of things that are sometimes frustrating. Even things like the concession stands aren't always open on Sounders game day. How much work is being done to make Lumenfield feel more like a Sounders facility, and how much is even possible?
00:11:14
Speaker
Right, so just let me take a step back and tell you my experience has been as both a tenant and an owner of a building and so I've lived both lives. I'm incredibly empathetic what it means to run a building so I know for
00:11:32
Speaker
for the Seahawks. And I think they do a great job of partnering with us and working through some things. But it is different, right? Where we can't make every single decision that we think is beneficial to our fans and the fan experience and for our players and for their experience.
00:11:49
Speaker
So oftentimes you're doing workarounds and are putting processes in place to kind of overcome those things, many of which you probably recognize when you walk in and see things, right? Because you've been to other other arenas and fields and pitches.
00:12:05
Speaker
I think with the World Cup coming up in 26, I think there's a great opportunity. I think the Seahawks are putting in a lot of capital to make sure that this feels more like a soccer built stadium. And so I think with that commitment of capital and some other things that we're doing along with us,
00:12:23
Speaker
know, perhaps refining some of the processes we have in terms of making sure that certain operational things are happening for our fans, it'll feel less and less like, you know, we're a visitor in somebody else's house. And so I think one of the things that I'm sure we'll talk about is how we continually refresh that game, that match day experience and how we're continually upping the bar in terms of
00:12:46
Speaker
The traditions and the habits that fans do, they're unbelievably electric and that's why people come. But are there ways and things we can do to refresh it so that, again, people attend more matches and want to attend more matches?
00:13:01
Speaker
And so I guess one of the other elements of that, and so you have the World Cup coming in 2026. There's potentially the Club World Cup, I guess, in 2025. I guess there's a chance that Copa America could come in 24.
00:13:17
Speaker
Are there, and so I guess where are we on Copa America, on Club World Cup, and I guess there's even the possibility of a women's World Cup in 27. There's a lot of soccer, a lot of big soccer events potentially coming to Bloomfield. Which is a great thing. Right, which is a great thing, undeniably a great thing, and which does suggest though that there needs to be some accommodations made for soccer being here, right?
00:13:41
Speaker
I would tell you we are in constant communication with Lumenfield and Seahawks about what's happening, what's coming down the pipe potentially, and being ready, and how we can be in a posture of readiness. We don't know. Some of those things haven't been solidified. We don't know what the role Seattle will play. We do know
00:14:01
Speaker
the World Cup of 26 is a real thing and it's coming, everything else is speculative. So I think the best we can do right now is just be ready and understand from a facility standpoint, which is the context you and I are talking about, how we can be ready again to host. I think Seattle has proven to be a remarkable soccer community. I think it's, you know,
00:14:25
Speaker
proven to be one that I think that FIFA generally would want to and North America would want to showcase. So again, all we can do right now until we actually know specifics is just be ready.
50th Anniversary Crest and Fan Involvement
00:14:40
Speaker
And I guess one of the specific areas, and I don't know that you will have an answer for this, but it feels silly to be talking about playing surface, but do you think
00:14:50
Speaker
putting grass in at Lumenfield is a viable permanent solution? That's a complicated answer, right? Yeah. Because it's not easy to take turf and then replace with grass and put turf and replace with grass. And plus, Lumenfield, as you know, if Coldplay is playing tonight, there's a lot of activity in that field, which is not really conducive to grass. So it's a complicated answer.
00:15:17
Speaker
when an event like FIFA, you know, World Cup comes along and you're like, okay, that that's something we're going to have to adapt to. So I think that work will definitely be done for that. All the others, I think it's going to be interesting to watch this unfold. You know, I think that there is a literally a cost associated and timing issue. And we'll again, we're just gonna have to adapt when we know more details about when these things are coming.
00:15:40
Speaker
And so I guess one of the things that we haven't talked about yet, but is related to all of this, and it's related to the facilities, it's related to everything. You're getting ready to start this multi-year process, and the big kickoff is March the 50th, which is the 50th anniversary of the Sounders. There's a big announcement coming up next week. I guess where are we in that process, and what has this been like to go through?
00:16:08
Speaker
I want to make sure I understand your question. So there is a kind of a pivotal moment for the history of the franchise, right? You've got this looking back at 50 years, which is unbelievable. And I would say it's kind of like if you think of other sports in the original six, like Seattle is one of those cities that you would say soccer originated.
00:16:30
Speaker
and North America here. And so part of us is celebrating that and bringing, you know, credence and, you know, bringing it forward. But part of it is dreaming about the possibilities of what we could be in the next 50 years. And if you look, and I'm sure this will unpack a lot more as we talk about the growth of MLS, we talk about growth of soccer in North America, we talk about the branding of the Sounders. All of this is about
00:16:58
Speaker
how we are positioning ourselves to scale this brand. It's been unbelievably successful in the last 50 years, but how do we take it what is currently the peak and take it to the base camp and say, okay, we have another, you know, ascension to happen and getting people thinking through that and what that looks like.
00:17:21
Speaker
This march to the 50th is just again that moment in time where we're saying all this amazing work and all the success this franchises has is now becoming the base of where we want to go and I think that's you know, not just in MLS, but it's
00:17:39
Speaker
How do we rank and think about ourselves and versus other North American professional teams, whether it's football, baseball, whatever? And how do we think of our brand amongst the global soccer community? And how can we, again, take advantage of all the tailwinds that are happening in MLS right now to differentiate this moment?
00:17:59
Speaker
And so I don't think it's been officially announced, but it's been a pretty clear underlying message that one of the elements of March the 50th is going to be a new crest or an updated crest. And I think it's important to say, not a full rebrand. There doesn't seem to be. This is still the Seattle Sounders. Of course. The fans have named this team twice. I don't think we want to go to bat the third time.
00:18:28
Speaker
No, and it seems like one of the things I loved about this process when it was announced about 18 months ago was how involved they wanted to make the fans. This is not just a design exercise. I think it was an honest thing when Taylor Graham was calling it a brand exploration. And so how are you feeling about where you've ended up now?
00:18:51
Speaker
So democracy and sport is a real thing. That's been part of the Sounders' DNA since the beginning, even pre-Drew Carey, which that was kind of a table stakes idea for him.
00:19:08
Speaker
What I feel great about is that the work is amazing, the diligence and the engagement and the thoughtfulness behind the storytelling and why we did certain things, the details associated with it. I've been involved with a couple other, as you call it, brand lockups or whatever changes.
00:19:28
Speaker
Oftentimes that process is handed over to people like Adidas or Nike or whatever and they come up with the designs and they you know Tell you what they can manufacture and then they come back to you and say why certain things work or don't This was just the inverse of that. It was like this is what's important to us. This is what we want to do. This is What we believe our community stands for engaged community
00:19:53
Speaker
leaders and others that have been in and around this brand and you know I would say that initially everyone's going to have a different reaction you know oftentimes when you see a brand change it's like wow well that's different and you don't know how to react to it and then the authenticity of what the work is I think eventually connects with you and so I think this is
00:20:19
Speaker
One that everyone that I've heard that has seen it has been really excited about it and energized about it, and I think it's going to be fun for the fantasy.
00:20:30
Speaker
So you've been working in professional sports a long time. I imagine you've gone through something. Don't make me feel so old. Vaguely. Yeah, right. Vaguely like this. A few times. Yeah. How has this process been different or similar? Again, oftentimes it's done in a dark room with a few designers and a few stakeholders. And then you kind of like slide it out from under the door and you hope the fans don't puke on it and you move on. And this was totally different.
00:20:59
Speaker
I'm actually shocked. You and I talked just before we started this and you hadn't seen any of the renderings or pictures of it, which is, again, unbelievable to me because in order to engage so many people, there has to be a level of trust. And I think initially there was this context that said, hey, listen, we want to pull you in, but you got to be, you know,
00:21:22
Speaker
You have to be protective of this because if we wanted to have the effect that we wanted to have, eventually, if it leaks out or things kind of leak out, it's not going to be as powerful. So people have been extremely committed to that and it's been great.
00:21:40
Speaker
I was just thinking about this today is how you've engaged all these stakeholders, all these fans. Not professionals. Unbelievable, isn't it? Just random people. It's one thing to show it to a brand and say you can't show this to a bunch of people. It's another thing to show it to a bunch of fans. Right.
00:21:58
Speaker
Don't overly describe this to anybody. It's a tough thing to... Well, let's not forget, too, that we will hopefully compete deep into the playoffs this year with our current crest. And we will hopefully put a cap end on, again, a great lockup that's been really... I mean, I walk around Seattle and see people wearing it everywhere. It's obviously something that people feel proud to wear. But the reason we had to announce it now is that as you start putting out
00:22:27
Speaker
merchandise orders and you have big retailers starting to buy stuff, then it leaks out and you're done. So again, we'll likely be able to celebrate and share with our fans soon and then they'll see how it comes to life more in January and February.
00:22:46
Speaker
And I guess, just kind of curious, is there a chance that, like, are people going to be able to buy stuff with the new mark immediately? Well, limited supplies for sure. We've got some internally produced, some items that we will be able to work with our season ticket holders and members and other people. But yeah, I think the real flood of things will come when mass production happens and just after
00:23:15
Speaker
which I guess is part of why it hasn't leaked out yet. Correct. Yeah. So one of the things that you sort of alluded to with this is it's a popular brand. You genuinely are dealing from a position of strength. We don't see a lot of re-brands in North American soccer. Re-brand is the wrong word. Refresh. We don't see a lot of brand updates when things are going well, when it's already popular,
00:23:43
Speaker
When people are already, you already have a lot of brand relevance, and I think that is, to the degree that I've seen negative feelings about this, it's just the unknown of, I like what we have, I don't want to, and I'm scared that it's gonna get worse.
00:23:59
Speaker
And that makes this a different process. It also makes it, I think, kind of exciting. We've never had a US soccer club launch with this much built-in popularity, or put out a brand with this much already built-in popularity.
00:24:15
Speaker
I don't know, how does that change things when you are sort of, you don't want to mess things up as much as you want to move forward? Right. But being a part of the value and ethics ethos of who we are as sounders, we are progressive. We're not standing still. We're not living on the laurels of the past. We are zigging when others zag.
00:24:37
Speaker
There's so much to why this is important for us as we continually, again, think about this moment in time is not like the pinnacle, but the base camp. Like, how can we double our fan base? How can we get people out there? And is there something and I'm not saying brands do that, but the energy and refreshment around, again, potentially just a different look or a connection to a different generation or whatever. And I think you're going to see there's there's an initial kind of like
00:25:08
Speaker
primary, what they call the primary, and there's a bunch of secondaries that speak to different audiences. So I think all of those things speak to the fact that we're a team, a club in motion. Like we're not gonna sit back and just say, isn't that cool? And again, even some of the brands we think of that haven't changed, Yankees, Cowboys, they have changed. There are iterations and things that are different. And I think this is probably in line with that kind of thinking.
00:25:36
Speaker
And so this is all coming at a time when MLS is enjoying, I think, its most relevant period, right?
Leveraging MLS Popularity for Fan Base Growth
00:25:43
Speaker
We have the degree to which there was people worried about the Apple TV deal. I think there's a lot more agreement that it looks almost like a genius move to move to Apple. And to capitalize on, especially now that Messi has come to the league, how well positioned do you think the Sounders are to take advantage of this generally increased
00:26:03
Speaker
popularity and at the same time keeping up with kind of new injections of money into the league that the Sounders haven't really had to compete with before.
00:26:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really interesting point. If you look at some of the most successful commercial MLS teams, they're all the most recently added, right? So there's fresh perspectives. You look around the board of governors room, and yes, these are billionaires who are owning multiple teams in different leagues, and now they're bringing different ideas to MLS.
00:26:36
Speaker
So yes, it is a different moment in time. And I think I said this a few months ago when we sat down, was that part of my gravitation toward this opportunity was the fact that this felt a lot like the NBA 25 years ago. It was this moment in time where I felt like there was just a step function change coming for soccer and MLS. That being said, I think that
00:27:05
Speaker
You know, the Sounders have always been, you know, leaders and leaders among, you know, among our peers. But I think the peer group is changing, right? I think we have to think about how MLS clubs fit in with not just is it one of the top seven leagues in the world, but are potentially can we be among because even if you look at we've talked about the English Premier League, like there's five or six teams that are separate from the other
00:27:29
Speaker
Can dwell, right? And so we have to start being more sophisticated about how we're thinking about growing. And let's be honest, I mean, Messi is a transformational injection ingredient into MLS, but he wouldn't have come here if the soccer wasn't good enough, you know, to at least, you know, and more importantly, maybe to be part of something at the ground floor that is, again, growing the sport, you know, faster in North America than anybody could.
00:27:59
Speaker
I think the Apple deal, to your point, the challenge that we have as a club is that we now have to think about our brand and how we show up, not just with the zip codes around, you know, the Seattle Puget Sound area. We have to think about how we're showing up globally because our matches are now, you know, watched all over the world. And so how we build our fan base, this is again back to
00:28:23
Speaker
People who identify with who we are and what we stand for aren't just in Seattle, they could be anywhere. And so all of those things happening in MLS has gotten our internal group, our management team thinking about how we are engaging in a way that again is big brand and yet super connected and intimate with the people who live here.
00:28:44
Speaker
Well, and I think that's sort of been one of the interesting challenges I think that the sounders have seemingly embraced over the years is that part of what is the acknowledgment that part of what makes them globally interesting is being locally relevant. And the level of engagement that you get from Seattle folks into the team, and that's what sort of makes it interesting to everyone else. And I'm curious, how do you go about balancing knowing you need to sort of grow this?
00:29:14
Speaker
being relevant here is still probably the core element. It is 100% the core, right? But at the same time, you know, it's funny, I think we, and again, I'm native, you know, when I'm in, if I'm in New York and I see someone with a sounder's hat, I'm like, I got to go up and talk to him. I'm like, what's the story?
00:29:32
Speaker
They're not always from Seattle, right? And so there's a sense of pride we feel when there is this reflective admiration from people who aren't from here. And I think that's all I'm saying is that we have to give people a reason to pick this team and obviously success on the pitch is a big part of it. But also I think we stand for something maybe to your point, like, wow, that's a team that's been successful in a community and that means something to me. But oftentimes, as you know, people pick teams for different reasons. So we have to tell those stories, right?
00:30:02
Speaker
And I guess sort of all related to this is, you know, we've seen, one of the things that we've seen with Messi coming to the league is sort of dynamic pricing, really being tested in a way that I don't think we've seen tested in MLS at least before, where you're seeing all of a sudden, you know, tickets that were sold for 50 bucks being sold. Surge pricing. Right. Taylor Swift, welcome.
00:30:26
Speaker
Right. Yeah, exactly. And we see it with the sounders too. And the sounders have sort of been playing with the idea of dynamic pricing for years. And I'm curious...
00:30:37
Speaker
where you fall on how that's been working and what some of the drawbacks might be. Right, so here's the truth of it. We live in an open market and whether we want to admit it or not, a match against our rival is worth more than someone in the Western Conference from a small city who wins. A Wednesday game against the Rapids.
00:31:02
Speaker
So it's supply and demand. And so instead of saying all games are equal, we've said, listen, some games have more value than others. And we just want to let you know this is the relative value. We spent a ton of time researching what tickets actually sell for, what they're posted at, what they eventually sell at.
00:31:24
Speaker
And that's why when season ticket members buy their tickets, they may have an average ticket price, but we try to show them that these tickets have more value than these. And I don't think it's necessarily good or bad. It's just the reality of the market. And so we just try to be realistic in how we're pricing those things. It also unlocks actually for people who have
00:31:52
Speaker
restrictions around pricing and being able to afford to come to games, if you can take some of those Wednesday games and open them up as an opportunity to say, listen, our get-in price to come to some of these games is incredibly affordable, then it opens the door for, again, for us to expand our fan base and have more people come to matches. And related to that, how are season ticket renewals going this year?
00:32:20
Speaker
Yeah, amazing. It's actually our best year ever. Oh, yeah. So yeah, so we've to this point have more deposits on than we've ever had in the history of the team, obviously other than the inaugural open the floodgates. But yeah, so it's gone really well. I think some of that is
00:32:39
Speaker
You know, when I came, I said we have to build value for our season ticket members. We have to show that there's a reason that they should invest and have their credit cards run once a month or whatever it is. And I think that there's different ways that that shows up. I think having
00:32:56
Speaker
more flexibility and more customized benefits based on it. So a lot of things we're coming out with now I think are really geared toward identifying packages that help people manage their schedules, manage their budgets, get the stuff they want when they want it. And I think that's kind of resonating with people.
00:33:17
Speaker
When you say the most deposits, is that renewals or is that a combination of renewals? Renewals are actually trending significantly better than last year. In our business, if you can renew 90% of your seats, you're doing a great job.
00:33:34
Speaker
We were a little below that this last year. We'll be above that this year. And then when I talk about deposits, I'm talking about new people who are raising their hand and saying, hey, I want to be part of the group and part of the membership. So both of those are trending, you know, better than they ever have. And renewals is a process that takes months, you know, because people, we started the process and then people are wait and see, you know, some people are fence sitters and then over time,
00:34:04
Speaker
you know, we'll know by you know, December so where we ended up.
00:34:16
Speaker
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00:34:34
Speaker
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00:35:34
Speaker
Let's win another one