Sounders Answer Rest Of Alliance Questions
by Dave Clark on Dec 22, 2011 5:02 PM PST
in Democracy in Sports
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PrintAfter the live Q&A session Seattle Sounders FC committed to answering the rest of the questions that were submitted by Alliance members. Many of these passed through my hands at some point, though not all. Several had to be condensed together as they covered similar issues. But in the final versions of the questions as submitted to the club through the Council or through twitter submissions they answered.
Many of the questions and answers are not of broad interest, but there are a few that should be highlighted.
Two related to finances of the club. First the club announced a 92% renewal rate on season tickets with 1000 new season ticket holders added. During the meeting they announced that every suite is sold for 2012. The other most notable financial situation is that the organization paid "multiple millions of dollars" in transfer fees. Those fees do not show up on any list relating to salary cap or relationship of payroll to wins.
The club is also listening to its fans. Vuvuzelas are no more. Healthy food options are available. Only Seattle gets female and child kits for the alternate uniforms.
Of course many of the questions are answered in a mix of PR and business speak. Let's remember that this Democracy is quite limited as all powers are granted by the owners. Again, the link to the remaining Q&A at SoundersFC.com.
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One little tidbit that I found interesting
The Sounders FC will produce a match day program in 2012. Interesting to see what these will be like. In many European leagues, in England in particular, these can be entire books with interesting stories and all kinds of stats from the season. On the other hand, they can also be just leaflets that list the players and their numbers, like the USL Sounders used to have. Something in between is probably what we’ll have.
I know a guy who produces a nice little stat sheet
with player numbers and formations…
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart Follow @bedirthan Dave's Twitter
by Dave Clark on Dec 22, 2011 6:00 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
A question I forgot to submit...
had to do with the cell coverage at the stadium, which sucks. I’ve heard that new soccer-specific stadiums have been doing a much better job of this. Maybe someone could ask about this in the future.
It has nothing to do with being "soccer specific"
but being new.
When the stadium was being designed good home internet access was 56k and a cell-phone was a large brick.
I will ask, but I’ll bet the team feels that is a provider issue, not a team issue. Just betting.
Btw – what service do you have? I use verizon and can use mobile web and twitter while in the stadium.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart Follow @bedirthan Dave's Twitter
I just mentioned soccer specific...
because it directly relates to other MLS teams.
I use t-mobile.
I'm a stickler for the whole SSS thing
sorry.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart Follow @bedirthan Dave's Twitter
I have Tmo too
Coverage sucks especially during halftime. Usually I’m able to text or browse during the game when less people are using their phones.
by chrisperry1983 on Dec 22, 2011 7:18 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I use t-mobile.
There’s your problem. Verizon works fine for me in the stadium.
Recessionproof since 2009.
I think I get extremely lucky with my electronic connections
Often I’ll be the one person getting reception when no one else does (I’m on T-Mobile), and I’m also the one Comcast subscriber in the world that has never ever had a connection issue.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Dec 23, 2011 3:22 PM PST up reply actions
I have verizon and can also report it works great in the stadium
It gets slow when the stadium is packed for large events like Seahawks games or Keller’s last match, but normally its perfect.
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
by DarthGreedo on Dec 27, 2011 11:21 AM PST up reply actions
It might be an interesting question to see if the stadium would consider leasing out a cell tower attached to the building or something like that, if it didn’t screw up sight lines or the overall appearance of it on the outside.
Sprint voice here as well— the voice is fine during full games but the data service is just crushed.
It doesn't even really have to do with the stadium...
…it’s not the Sounders who provide cellular service, after all. It’s the cellular companies.
I have AT&T and my service is basically dead during events at the stadium. There used to be a cell site on the clock tower at King St Station, but the remodeling there got rid of it.
But what it really comes down to is that the various companies have made different choices in how many cell sites to have covering the stadium. Verizon’s service is the best; AT&T and TMobile stink; and since nobody uses Sprint I have to figure theirs is okay, harhar.
Actually, also worth noting is that the technology that each company uses makes a difference. CDMA, which Verizon uses, is better at maximizing efficient use of bandwidth (which helps in gameday situations) and your phone can be linked to multiple towers at once, which means fewer dropped calls.
The UTMS protocol that AT&T and T-Mobile use isn’t as good at handing off your phone between towers (that’s why you get more dropped calls on AT&T) but if you do have a connection, it has better overall bandwidth.
(Reference- http://mashable.com/2011/01/11/cdma-umts-att-verizon-networks/)
The end result is that in the gameday environment, Verizon users are better off, and it’s not really the Sounders’ issue, it’s the cellular companies’ issue.
Now, the lack of free WiFi in the stadium… that’s the Sounders’ issue. Loved having that in KC when I went to a game there.
by Blue Eyed Buddhist on Dec 23, 2011 1:48 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
ok, so if I my cell phone can take advantage of the wifi in lieu of a poor connection
then free wifi in the stadium would help me out, right?
This is also about the stadiums though
Almost every modern stadium has greater infrastructure for wifi and cell coverage.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart Follow @bedirthan Dave's Twitter
Exactly this
My service had been at&t for a long time… basically, before the stadium fills up, things would be normal, and then with all the people there I pretty much never had service during a game.
Thing is, I only ever tried to check anything on my phone during a game to try and see what our bench was. If they just put that information on the board, it would never have been an issue for me.
You do all the work for us, Honey Badger, and we'll just eat whatever you find.
AT&T
I can’t get/make calls, don’t get texts, can’t go on the internet during a match. I believe it has more to do with the number of people pinging a cell tower than how the stadium was made….and SSS just limit the amount of people at the stadium so that this doesn’t happen :D.
by Toxtr3m34u on Dec 23, 2011 10:15 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
AT&T is working on it
There is a new technology specifically for stadiums that is being rolled out. Unfortunately with a Texas based company, that means the Dallas Cowboys got it long before we folks at The CLink will see it. Won’t help T-Mobile folks, it only will support AT&T customers.
I think there was something I saw about this a couple years ago before Husky football started...
then the games came around, and it was equally as bad. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
You do all the work for us, Honey Badger, and we'll just eat whatever you find.
You can twitter and text at a game?
That’s… crazy. I’m used to my texts to someone on the far side of the stadium queuing up and all being delivered once I walk a few blocks away, and for all tweets to fail and end up hidden in a drafts folder until I find them the next day.
This is also related to the number of people on each tower.
Our large attendance saturates the major cellular spectrums during games and there is only so much that can be done about that.
Sounders 'til I die
by SounderJunkie on Dec 23, 2011 11:43 AM PST up reply actions
I use AT&T
And cannot get a signal at all during a game. The friend I usually go to games with uses Verizon and doesn’t seem to have any problems.
Does anyone know for whom these multi-million dollar transfer fees were paid?
I’m guessing they are talking about converting the montero and presidente loans to transfers, but am not sure.
Mostly for Montero and Fernandez I'm sure
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Dec 22, 2011 7:30 PM PST up reply actions
So the theory would be....
Those transfer fees for Montero are being lumped in with his DP salaried contract (since he’s already getting paid enough for the DP contract without it alone, this makes sense, I just never thought of it).
Montero is a DP based on salary alone
But they also had to pay a transfer fee of at least seven figures to get his rights.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Dec 23, 2011 4:32 PM PST up reply actions
No more horns?
Did I read that right? That makes me very happy. Put a big smile on Jens face also. =D
by SoundersForever on Dec 22, 2011 6:41 PM PST via mobile reply actions
The Cascadia gear was answered simply as "we had some last year"
I hope that means that they will continue to stock such products.
(I believe that what they ahd last year was just the “cascadia summit” shirt, but if I’m mistaken please let me know.
I thought of another question when I read through this a few hours ago, but I don’t remember what that was now.
I would be interested to know what it would take to get Centurylink into FIFA 13, but I suppose its too late to know that now.
Oh yes, I remember now.
The length of the Sounders postgame show is COMPLETELY unsatisfactory. Oftentimes it’s nearly over by the time I get to my car. 710 Kiro’s talkshow hosts badmouth soccer at almost every turn. That partnership is really unfortunate from the way I see it. I certainly wouldn’t be complaining if they switched to KJR (the Gasman always has time for the Sounders, and they have a FM station now)
The thing is though
They will never say anything negative about a partner in public. And that includes that they would not talk about looking to change media partners even if they had plans to do so when the current contract runs out.
I, unfortunately, get that
My question was really “Could we get a longer postgame show?” and then devolved into a “F*** MATT PITTMAN” post.
Who wants the glitter confetti back?
I hated that stuff. Distracting, littered the field and the neighborhood. Bad for birds and the Sound. Please don’t bring it back.
by look4wrd on Dec 23, 2011 9:32 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
Its so shiny!
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
by DarthGreedo on Dec 23, 2011 10:22 AM PST up reply actions
Scarves
This will sound like a small detail to some of you, but here goes.
Can we, please, get longer scarves with the Season Ticket holder package? They are just a bit too short to be easily tied.
(They are also 100% acrylic, which I don’t really mind because I grew up in the 80s and I still remember that song with the line about “100% acrylic.” BUT, since we are asking for things, how about wool?)
Definition
“Continue to look at…” and “Continue to evaluate…” = “No.”
in the range of a couple million dollars...
The response regarding player investment. IMO not nearly enough.
I can’t help but think back to the interview with Drew last year where he was telling everyone of us to go into business with Roth if we ever get the chance. The cash is raining in.
I'm one of those people slightly frustrated by club spending
But any player who would command a multi-million dollar transfer fee would almost certainly carry a salary that is cap prohibitive at this point
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