A Message from Andy Roeser
by MichaelCage on Apr 3, 2009 5:47 PM PDT
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PrintIs the Clippers entire organization completely tone deaf? With better teams than us slashing ticket prices for next year, did Andy Roeser confuse our team with the Lakers? Yes, the Lakers announced that they won't raise ticket prices next year due to the economy and their fans take it in stride...because they're close to 60 wins and are favored to win the championship AGAIN. Our team on the other hand has the inverse record of the Lakers and we're going to hit 60 losses. We're the laughingstock of the league and the city. And Andey Roeser has the balls to tell us that he understands our pain and will not raise ticket prices. Gee thanks. What an idiot. What a completly dysfunctional, tone deaf, incompetent organization. The Staples Center crowd is going to look like a girls high school basketball game next year for Clippers games. What a way to destroy what is left of the season ticket holder base. This is the last handful of dirt on the grave of Clippers Nation.
Here's the email that we got today from the Clippers:
We want to personally thank you for your loyal support as a Clippers Season Ticket Holder. We understand times are tough and appreciate your commitment to the team.
We recognize the effect the economy is having on our fans. More than ever, we understand that investing your hard-earned dollars in season tickets is a big commitment.
To help make your renewal decision a little easier, we are pleased to announce that there will be no price increase in the lower level for the second consecutive year. In addition, we think you'll be excited to learn about the new benefits, flexible payment options, and tenured Season Ticket Holder programs we have added. You've maintained the kind of enthusiasm we admire in Clippers fans and we are grateful for your dedication.
We remain optimistic regarding our core of young players combined with the experienced leadership of our veterans. We will also have the advantage of one of the top lottery picks in the upcoming NBA Draft, who should give us a boost next season as well.
We need your support more than ever and encourage you to remain loyal for the better times ahead. Your 2009-10 Season Ticket renewal kit will arrive in the mail next week.
We look forward to seeing you next season!
Sincerely,
Andy Roeser
President
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To help make your renewal decision a little easier, we are pleased to announce that there will be no price increase in the lower level for the second consecutive year.
"This kid is the best new talent in the league right now, and I don't care who else you mention." -Suns Coach, Alvin Gentry, on Clippers rookie sensation, Eric Gordon.
So they'd increase the upper levels?
I’d rather hear him say what they’ll do in order to improve our crappy team more than anything else.
"This kid is the best new talent in the league right now, and I don't care who else you mention." -Suns Coach, Alvin Gentry, on Clippers rookie sensation, Eric Gordon.
You're right
It’s like he doesn’t know what’s going on and is just sending you the “standard” letter. Haha, I bet this is the same letter he sent last year and just changed a few words and the year.
"This kid is the best new talent in the league right now, and I don't care who else you mention." -Suns Coach, Alvin Gentry, on Clippers rookie sensation, Eric Gordon.
Clippers tix are pretty low
How much lower can they get
Fiddling while Rome burns...
We will need more incentive to renew than some cheesy “benefits” and “programs.” Much like NBA agents, for us season ticket chumps, this year it will be all about the Benjamins. The games are not really fun to watch any more so why pay those high prices?
Most of the chumps I talk to are planning to watch the first dozen games on TV, let the Clips prove they’re not going to be good, and then buy tickets once in a while on the cheap. Pretty smart plan, no?
Why is it a given that season tickets are supposed to go up every year?
Is that just part of the business model? I think some teams only raise their prices every other year or after a new stadium is built or something. I don’t know about you, but my 7.5k was not well spent and the team didn’t show ANY appreciation when they sold better seats for 1/3 of what I paid for mine.
This does not make me feel like renewing. Anyone else?
In light of other teams...
that have slashed their ticket prices due to the economy, you would think that the Clippers, as awful as we are, would keep prices at the same level is mind-boggling. The Pistons are slashing their prices and yes we know it’s Detroit and that car companies are on their last legs and their city is about to empty out, but they’re a playoff bound team and we’re the worst team in the league.
What the organization did with slashing prices heavily during the season was a slap in our face. Not only did we feel ripped off, but now we have to sit next to a bunch of obnoxious visiting team fans who paid 1/3 of what we paid to laugh at our expense when they’re up by 30. If they lost 40% of their season ticket holders from a year ago, imagine how bad it will be this year. It’s hard to imagine that the dismal renewal numbers will catch anyone by surprise. But with the Clippers organization being what they are, I think they truly have no idea at all how livid the fan base is. Andy Roeser should give himself a big fat 10 million dollar bonus and award Dunleavy a huge contract extension.
Michael,
You are right on, and you said it much better than I did. What’s worse than being a season ticket holder and being surrounded by Lakers fans yelling Clippers suck (I know, classless!)? What’s worse, when Lakers fans pay 1/3 the cost we do! Seriously, WTF?
I can’t even begin to tell you how hard I tried to give tickets away this year. No one wanted them.
I'm sorry they didn't show YOU more "appreciation"...
But seriously…did you expect them to keep the seats empty? When you buy season tix, you are paying a pre-determined discounted price for a seat for X number of games. You are hedging yourself against a high demand for tix. It’s like when Southwest bought fuel at a hedged price before gas prices went up. Brilliant when prices were up, not so brilliant when gas prices went down. Same with season tix….but you just can’t expect the team to leave the seats empty…..they had to sell those seats. That’s where people like me come in and enjoy the Clips for half price. Some revenue is better than no revenue. The game is going to be played regardless, you can have a empty seat that generates $0, or a seat that generates $20 and come concessions. An easy business decision for the Clips to make.
Yeah, it sucks you paid more as a season ticket holder now that the season has played out, but sometimes that happens. I’m sure 2 seasons ago, Celtics season ticket holders felt the same….and like Moki…was planning on boycotting the team unless the Coach got fired. They too were in the NBA cellar, with no sense of direction. Then Garnett and Ray Allen came to town and look what happened.
This is going to be my team, and we're going to rise together.
-Clipper Darrell
Is that why i haven't seen a Moki post since his "turn around" post?
Roger Sterling: I bet there were people in the Bible walking around, complaining about "kids today."
Don Draper: Kids today, they have no one to look up to. Cuz they're looking up to us.
Hey LL
A bad combination of work & illness have kept me away – but I’m back!
As you know I tried to stay positive through most of the season and was feeling EXTREMELY positive when I wrote the “turn around” post. Wow. What great times those were! The Clips had just gotten their butts kicked twice in a row but I SAW HOPE!
Seemed like everyone was getting healthy and I could feel some good games comin! So I wrote “barring further injury”, which of course then prompted more players to get hurt. (I’m turning into Steve! When I write I hope something DOESN’T happen – it DOES!)
What Ruined MoKi’s Fabulous Turnaround Prediction?
1. More Injuries – Camby – exploded eardrum?, Baron – ulcers?, Mardy Collins – ???, AT – Limping around grimacing then shutting it down, Gordon – runs his shoulder into a Perkins screen, ruining his groove and a shot at another ROM
2. Death in Family – Zach flys back and forth for father’s funeral, gets emotional and throws punch, getting suspended
3. Sterling throws a hissy fit – Finally introduces himself to the team, by screaming obscenities at them, singling out Al Thornton in front of everybody calling him the most selfish player he’s ever seen (Wow, he forgot Corey already?) embarrassing him in front of the team AND PRESS, then proceeds to tell Dunleavy to “shut up” when he tried to stand up for Al…
3b. In the same “meeting” Sterling tells the team he’s fully behind Dunleavy and isn’t afraid to trade anyone away. I’m positive every single player in that locker room said the same thing in their heads – “Please, Please trade me! Me! Me! Me!”
4. The very next game, I sat lower level midcourt opposite of Sterling. Amazingly enough, the Clippers looked like they didn’t want to be there. There was even LESS effort and hustle and I could see a couple players snickering as they looked at Sterling. He really showed them who’s boss!
I stopped writing about the losses because I feel I would have wrote pretty much the same thing about most of them. The Clippers have no urgency to win, Dunleavy’s constant barking and standing around do not seem to have any positive affect on the team, the team has no defensive integrity as soon as Camby leaves the floor, ad nauseum.
So I’m back.
Ad Nauseum.
Oasisman, I can appreciate
your “all’s fair in the world of supply and demand” ideology but I do think it’s a bad idea to send 10 cent ticket specials to Season Ticket holders. I don’t care what business you’re running, it’s not smart to DIRECTLY send previous customers who paid full price, offers for the same or better product/service for a significant amount LESS than what they already paid. It just makes your current customer base upset while empowering consumers like yourself who do not value the products/services enough to pay “full price”.
IMHO I believe your “some revenue is better than no revenue” statement is overly simplistic and shortsighted. The seemingly “easy business decision” for the Clips to make only enrages the loyal customer base even more. It’s quite obvious that whomever is in charge of sales over there thinks the way you do. What your thinking fails to take into account is the amount lost in next year’s renewals as well as the loss in brand integrity. (Which the Clippers are already struggling with)
By employing the “some revenue is better than no revenue” tactic this year, the Clippers are basically encouraging fans NOT to renew. They are sending us a message, ironically, even through people as yourself, that they will make better seats available at a deeper discount if you wait. What they have done is given you the ability to say “Yeah, it sucks you paid more as a season ticket holder now that the season has played out, but sometimes that happens.”
I would just like to say that I wish you could understand that your stating the obvious only hurts us STHs even more. Even your post title sounds a bit arrogant. Are you really sorry that we STHs were not shown more appreciation? It doesn’t seem like it. We already paid for a crappy season. We don’t need other fans telling us it sucks but they got better seats for less!
Finally, I have to ask, what do you mean by your last few sentences, “They too were in the NBA cellar, with no sense of direction. Then Garnett and Ray Allen came to town and look what happened.”
Are you being sarcastic? Or do you sincerely believe that two All Stars would be willing to give up money to come to the Clippers, whereafter Mike Dunleavy would take them to the Finals and win it all?
And lastly, to be clear, I am not boycotting the team. I simply refuse to consider paying for any more Clipper tickets, Season or Single game, if Dunleavy is still around. I will still support the team and watch games on TV.
OK, you want me to compare the Clips with the Cavs now?
I understand the pain of the STH’s plight. My point was that there was a reason the Clippers were offering those types of discounts. Do I feel it’s fair at all? No, of course not…but I understand why they are severely undercutting seat prices. An empty, unaccounted for seat is a complete waste. This situation is not unique to the Clips. A lot of teams have resorted to similar tactics trying to keep arenas/stadiums somewhat full, and I can already see a similar situation arising for Angels STH, as you can already get better deals thru their partial plans. Nonetheless, if the Clips are indeed losing millions this year as predicted by Bill Simmons, they had to do this. I’m not defending the organization..it does not bode well for PR….but they have their reasons.
Is it unwise to keep Season ticket prices the same? Only time will tell. The loss of renewals has to be something they considered…..i think. My only guess as to why is that they think the economic downturn is temporary, and they will have a good draft, I don’t know. I do agree that seeing an email for 10 cent deals is not really tactful…and pains even me to see. I didn’t really see the details of that email, but it did cheapen the Clippers name a lot. “80% off” would sound better than “10 cents”.
I was not being sarcastic in the last two sentences. Offseasons can dramatically change fortunes in the NBA. There’s no reason why I can’t compare the Clips with the Celtics. A bball team is a bball team……except for the Lakers.
This is going to be my team, and we're going to rise together.
-Clipper Darrell
The discounted tickets only bother me a little
I thought the Clippers had a chance of making the playoffs (don’t I look stupid now) but I was a little off on my prediction. I’m more upset that they have done NOTHING to convince most STH they even value our business and want us to come back. Its alot easier to get us to renew than it is to find a new STH altogether (come on, they already know most STH can afford it, like the team to some degree) but instead of throwing us a bone that would save them money on marketing they rather burn their bridges with many of us and try to find chase after some loose change. Honestly if they decide to upgrade me a couple of times I’d might consider giving them another chance as they would at least appear sympathetic towards our plight but to me it sounds like that they just don’t get it.
If they offer an additional discount next year to current STH then I’d might even renew but they are so disconnected from reality I pretty much don’t feel like giving them any money period out of sheer principle.
FA in 2010.
No I don't expect them empty - but it makes ZERO business sense to undersell them.
Maybe the Clippers could have shown some class and DONATED them.. And your SERIOUSLY comparing the Clippers to the Celtics? Please…
18 wins
this season. Checkmate.
FA in 2010.
by ClipperChuck on Apr 5, 2009 11:10 PM PDT up reply actions
Awesome...
we have one more win this season than the Celtics have championships. We should put that in our marketing campaign next year. I bet they can talk Oasisman into buying a 20 game package with that. I mean I can see the Clippers being an extremely hot ticket next year especially with the GDP expanding like 10% and the Clippers contending for a title. I think Roeser and Sterling must have that in their revenues projection. Those two guys should be put in charge of turning around GM and Chrysler. They’re brilliant.
Here is what I will tell them
to go outside and kick some rocks. I’d go old school on them and egg their house if I knew where they lived.
FA in 2010.
give me an idea
i been thinking about getting being a season holder, but can u give me an idea how much? how much is yours if your a holder?
Ticket Prices
Kaynam 20 – the cheapest seats in the lower level are the 200 seats behind the baskets. If you get them in a corner section like 214 they’re actually very good seats. More behind the basket not so good. I think they go for $34 each. If you move lower and stay behind the baskets – like 115 where my seats are – they’re $50 a ticket. Again if you stay towards the corners they’re good seats, more towards the basket not great. I agree with MichaelCage, I paid about $8,800 for four seats this year and spent the year thinking what a total waste of money that was, especially since the Clippers were constantly running ticket specials offering as good or better seats for less, and you could easily pick up better seats for less on Ebay. Logically it makes no economic sense to buy season tickets for the Clippers (or even the Dodgers for that matter) because it is almost always possible to get better seats for any game (except once in a blue moon, like when they play the Lakers) for much less and you don’t get stuck with tons of tickets for games you can’t or don’t want to go to. As someone else noted, its hard to even give the seats away. I can’t count how many times I offered someone basketball tickets, they got all excited, and then begged off when they found out it was the Clippers, not the Lakers. The only reasons to have season seats is if you love your seat location and want the same spot for every game, bragging rights (an oxymoron as far as Clipper season tickets go) or because you think eventually the Clippers will be a hot ticket and it will be a buyers, not sellers market.
by Clipster Hipster on Apr 4, 2009 9:02 AM PDT reply actions
Correction
The last sentence should “…it will be a sellers, not buyers market.” Sorry, a little dyslexic this morning.
by Clipster Hipster on Apr 4, 2009 9:05 AM PDT reply actions
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