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but i thought SA couldnt buy seats!!!!?!?!?!
Saints sell more than half available seats in San Antonio
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO - The New Orleans Saints sold about 50,000 of the 99,000 tickets they're offering for three games in the San Antonio Alamodome on Wednesday, the first day they were made available.
The Saints, displaced by Hurricane Katrina, are holding back approximately 32,000 tickets per game so season-ticket holders can have first dibs. While it may be difficult to reach them all, or for them to reach the club, the team will sell anything that's unclaimed 10 days before each game.
The Saints have not announced plans to give away or reduce ticket prices for Louisiana residents, many of whom are living in Texas, including thousands in the San Antonio area.
Roughly 33,000 seats per game were available Wednesday and fans began lining up by 4:30 a.m. for the 10 a.m. opening of the ticket window. Lines stretched an estimated quarter-mile as folks wanted to make sure they got tickets to the first NFL regular-season game in the Alamo City.
"We had high expectations, but we're still overwhelmed by how many people came out here," said Paul Corliss, Saints director of community relations.
Connie Kowal, the team's senior director of marketing and business development, was amazed that the club was even able to have such a concentrated effort considering how unsettled things remain around the franchise.
"Two weeks and two days ago we were hit by a hurricane - and we are selling tickets?" he said. As for chances of a sellout, he said, "We're hopeful."
Chip Haass, a San Antonio city councilman who was at the Alamodome, said phone lines at the stadium ticket office failed due to the heavy demand of people trying to buy tickets.
"The corporations here really haven't started to buy their blocks of tickets yet, so most of those tickets sold today were bought by your average Joe Fan," Haass said.
The team announced Monday it will play four home games in Baton Rouge, La., and three in San Antonio because of the extensive damage to their usual home, the Superdome. The Saints already are practicing in San Antonio.
Their first "home" game has been transferred to Giants Stadium. The Saints will meet the New York Giants at their place on Monday night.
The games in San Antonio will be Oct. 2 against Buffalo, Oct. 16 against Atlanta and Dec. 24 against Detroit.
Ticket brokers are advertising tickets for $40 to $300 per game, compared to face value of $30 to $125.
San Antonio city leaders are hoping the NFL will notice the response to the Saints and will consider the city in future decisions regarding location of franchises.
"The initial returns from today's ticket sales effort has been unbelievable and a testament to the passion of the area's NFL fans," San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger said in a release.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...l/12646184.htm
but i thought SA couldnt buy seats!!!!?!?!?!
Good job, San Antonio.
They probably would have sold more if they didn't have all those glitches on their computer system.
I wish they weren't waiting until 10 days before each game to sell the season ticket holders seats. But oh well, I guess they have to give them a chance to say yes or no to wanting them.
i've got my tix...took me 40 minutes on the computer...but I got them...
Everybody who cares about this cow town at all better buy Saints tickets. If the Dome is filled and rocking, the Saints might stay longer.
Do your part.
I don't get to go.
so don't count me in.
Already got my tickets to the Lions game.I'll be a section across from you and Kori
somebody tell everything once ya'll get back k?Already got my tickets to the Lions game.
Tiger Stadium at LSU would be a much better venue in my opinion. And as far as noise level goes, LSU is insane. I had the pleasure of attending a game there a few years ago, and that place rocks!!! Loudest outdoor venue I've ever been to.Everybody who cares about this cow town at all better buy Saints tickets. If the Dome is filled and rocking, the Saints might stay longer.
Do your part.
I am very impressed with the outpouring but be real. The MO(fo) dome holds 65K, the FORMER Superdome, now known as On Earth, held 88K. That is a heck of a lot of seats to make up for.
I applaud the citizens of SA. I myself am sitting in Section 121 on 16 October 2005.
I still stand by my earlier posts. SA cannot support an NFL team with the resources we have now, unless the prices are jacked up. Remember folks, we are only talking about three games, not a full season.
If we can support an NFL team I would certainly be behind it, but we are only getting a "pre-season's" worth view of what it means to support an NFL franchise. It is much more than supporting our Spurs.
For those of you who are not old enough to remember, the Spurs were not always good and were far from contenders, which is exactly what the Saints are now and always have been.
I remember the Hemisfair 3/4 empty and it was not for a WNBA game. It was for the Spurs. I remember the MO(fo) dome 1/2 empty (and for you critics, I mean the part that was on the side of the CURTAIN that housed basketball).
How will we
1) Support a mediocre franchise?
2) Be able to afford them with such a SMALL venue (unless we JACK up the prices)?
Just a few thoughts from a skeptical one.
GO SPURS GO!!!
The Saints are undefeated ding dong.
Actually the Superdome hols a little over 72,000 not 88,000!I am very impressed with the outpouring but be real. The MO(fo) dome holds 65K, the FORMER Superdome, now known as On Earth, held 88K. That is a heck of a lot of seats to make up for.
If these games don't sell out 33,000 seats per game (32,000 are being held for season ticket holders) DAMN quick, it will be the final nail in the coffin of SA's chance to get an NFL franchise within the next 15 years. (I'm buying mine tomorrow morning)
Assuming the tickets sell out by this weekend, it might convince Benson to play next season here (or at least half of it). But long-term you have similar challenges in San Antonio as you do in New Orleans.
-An aging, out of date stadium in need of renovation or replacement that cannot provide the revenues that new, state of the art stadiums can. (at least SA's is functional though)
-Compared to other NFL cities, a relatively small television market (but the NFL performs very, very well in that small market.
-Compared to other NFL cities, a relatively limited corporate base. (would def. need to reach out to Austin in this regard - Dell, Temple-Inland, Freescale, Applied Materials, Samsung, AMD, 3M, etc.)
I think the best way to counter these challenges is for there to be overwhelming, sustained public support/demand for tickets. Today was def. a great first step. But if it tapers off, it really won't have mattered that much.
I know I'm probably going to be flamed any second now by the "San Antonio is the 8th largest city in the US, WE CAN support an NFL team" crowd, but I think we should get into this with our eyes wide open: The odds are not in our favor, and there is at least one other city the NFL wants to see a team in before they even consider a San Antonio team. (Don't forget Bob McNair paid the NFL a $900 million franchise fee to get a new team in Houston that the league was originally not very interested in compared to their collective lust for the ad revenue an LA team would bring in.) Is it an exciting possibility? No doubt. Is it worth getting hyped up about? Absolutely. Can it be done? With enough public support, yes. But we're kidding ourselves if we think The Saints will relocate here without serious "incentives" from the city/county to do so.
The first step is selling out these three games in record-setting time, though.
I got some top row tickets right at frickin 10 am.
i am pissed, and I plan on calling someone tomorrow about it.
If Ticketmaster.com gets it act together, then they'll probably sell out much faster. Today there were a lot of glitches online (as well as in person). Hopefully it's all worked out now. I wonder how many of the 32,000 ticket holders seats that were being held have now been released (meaning the people have informed them that they don't want them).The first step is selling out these three games in record-setting time, though.
1-0, ha! So are my Nebraska Cornhuskers at 2-0 and I am surely not claiming BIG XII Championship stuff...but then again, we have sold out 270 straight home games and we hold more than 78K.
Hey...Maybe if we could sell out the MO dome and sell pay per view at the sports bars to make up for the other 23,000 unsold seats, then we could support an NFL team. Do you think that the folks at FATSOS, DAVE/BUSTERS, CHAMPIONS, etc... would pay the price to make up for the 23,000 missed (assuming we sell out for all eight home games)? I think not.
Perhaps, we should sell seats in the SBC center to offset the 23K seats. Do you think 23K in SA would pay to go watch it on the big screen in SBC? I did not think so. That is the dilemma we have to deal with and address if we WANT an NFL franchise.
Then again, the RCA Dome only holds about 61K. But, the Colts are a winning franchise that came from another city with a winning tradition.
Heinz holds 64K for the Steelers. McAfee 62K for the Raiders. Again, teams with huge fan bases and legacies.
I would love to have an NFL team, I just do not think SA is ready to step up to it yet.
San Antonio has enough of a corp. base to support a team.
SBC, Time Warner, Clear Channel, Tesoro, Washington Mutual, Toyota, HEB, Worldbank, Verizon Wireless, Frost Bank, IBC, USAA, SWBC, MCI, Valero, etc.
Last edited by TheWriter; 09-14-2005 at 09:30 PM.
Nebraska blows.
72K paying patrons, 88K total. Actually, if you look at the "official capacity" it is closer to 69K. Depends on the event and cir stances. By the way, it has been proven that 25K can ruin the place! Tacky, but true.
Bottom line is...we will not have an NFL team until we have a stadium worthwhile at housing and NFL team.
Enjoy the three games, I know I will. In 2006, I will look to my 6.00 Friday Night Football ticket as my best sports value during football season.
Um, even if 23k wanted to, the SBC Center holds less than 19,000 max.
TheWriter should change his saying from Buddy's to San Antonio's .
E-pinion. They're like assholes, everyone has them.
No a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.
18,797 or at least stan kelly says that when there's a sell out
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