BOYCOTT WIZARDS TICKETS!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Two things need to happen. The Wizards need to lose a lot of games, to the point they are less than competitive.
Once that happens, national media scrutiny and criticism of Grunfeld and Leonsis needs to occur.

I believe it is inevitably coming.

Beal will prove to be one overpaid player. Wall is going to become a prima donna who blames teammates. He and Beal will likely both miss games. The awful bench that Grunfeld hastily threw good money at to assemble will prove to be feeble, just like this GM.

Give it about 25 games.

Sent from my LG-H345 using RealGM mobile app

[BigA]

This is a supplement to my earlier post in the Season Opener thread that montestewart quoted above in this thread.

I went back to look at ticket prices for two early season games in three locations. Note that the price structure for Wizards tickets is now extremely complicated, with many more price gradations by location than when I was a plan holder, and five price gradations depending on the attractiveness of the game.

I looked at the current gate price (what you pay at the Verizon Center box office or through Ticketmaster before fees) and the current StubHub price for equivalent tickets. I also looked at what those tickets would cost if they were purchased as part of a full season plan and a 13 game plan.

I wanted to get a sense of what the value proposition is for plan holders, as well as a general sense of the demand for Wizards tickets as reflected in the secondary market. When I was a partial plan holder years ago, I thought the value proposition was pretty good, and thought that the value for season tickets was better. If you sold some high demand games (not all), you could defray the total cost of the plan significantly.

Here are the comparative prices for Cleveland and Phoenix (not counting in fees, which I don't think would affect things too much):

vs. Cleveland 11/11 (Fri) - Gold Level game

Section 112 Rows K-L (lower center)
Gate (full price single ticket) - $325
StubHub price 11/1 - $290
Full Season - $116
13 Game Plan - $269

Section 109 Rows O-P (lower corner)
Gate (full price single ticket) - $250
StubHub price 11/1 - $190
Full Season - $76
13 Game Plan - $175

Section 418 Row J (upper center)
Gate (full price single ticket) - $69
StubHub price 11/1 - $85
Full Season - $24
13 Game Plan - $74

vs. Phoenix 11/21 (Mon) Red Level game

Section 112 Rows K-M (lower center)
Gate (full price single ticket) - $135
Ticketmaster resale price 11/1 - $72
Full Season - $116
13 Game Plan - $119

Section 109 Row N (lower corner)
Gate (full price single ticket) - $84
StubHub price 11/1 - $35
Full Season - $76
13 Game Plan - $79

Section 418 Row J-K (upper center)
Gate (full price single ticket) - $32
StubHub price 11/1 - $10
Full Season - $24
13 Game Plan - $27

A few quick takeaways:

--I haven't looked at all locations, so there may be additional nuances, but from what I can see partial plans are a total ripoff at this point. Even for the most expensive games you are at worst paying just a little more on StubHub than what you would pay in the plan, and for most games the secondary market will be much cheaper. If a Wizards rep calls to sell you a partial plan, hang up immediately.

--Full season plans are also a lousy value proposition, although not quite as bad as partial plans. You get a pretty good price break on the high demand games, but are paying significantly more than the secondary market for the vast majority of games (25 of the 41 home games are Red Level).

--As far as the overall market, note that there are lots of tickets available for the Cleveland game ten days out, which should be one of the highest demand games of the year. The secondary market is below the gate price in at least the most expensive locations.

If this is interesting to people I can look at prices a few more times as we go through the season. If the Wizards do better than expected, we can expect the secondary market to tighten up and the relative values to change. But even I was surprised at how cheap the secondary market is, even for the highest demand games.

[BigA]

Prices for the Cleveland game should be interesting to watch until the the game. There's considerable variation among resellers, with some asking for more than the gate price even in locations where there is significant inventory available at the gate price (e.g. much of the 400 level). With only 10 days left before the game, I don't expect this inventory to fully clear, which will put downward pressure on the resellers. If the Wizards continue to stumble, tickets to this game could get really cheap on StubHub the afternoon of the game or out on F Street.

[WizTom]

This is great info.
I think you should put a chart like this in every game thread. Even just one section/example, chosen at random.
Heck, it should be included in the opening post of each game thread, like line-ups and such...

#FireEFG

[BigA]

This is great info.
I think you should put a chart like this in every game thread. Even just one section/example, chosen at random.
Heck, it should be included in the opening post of each game thread, like line-ups and such...

#FireEFG

I just put up an update for the Toronto game tonight and will do these when I can if people find them useful.

[WizTom]

Brilliant! I see it there. Nice work.


Milellie, EFG is taking food off your baby's plate!



#FireEFG

[montestewart]

I'm at the game. Lots of open seats. I'm guessing 12-13k in attendance. Pretty poor turnout for a season opener.

[montestewart]

So many empty seats

[montestewart]

The Wizards are doing their part. Make sure to do your part. We're all in this together. No more dough, EGg's gotta go!

[montestewart]

Just got home from the game, there will be lots of tickets for sale this year!!!

[montestewart]

I think Leonis is going to have nightmares tonight belatedly realizing that Grunfeld has buried this franchise for the foreseeable future. He's a very stubborn and naive owner.

Ted owns all of this.

In all the years of losing under the Pollins, the Bullets/Wizards were disappointments and laughingstocks. But through the Michael Jordan debacle, the Juwan Howard debacle, Hot Plate Williams, the carousel of coaches, and so forth, I don't think they ever alienated their most loyal, long-term fans to the extent that they have under Leonsis.

Prior to last season the W-L results have actually been better recently, with two consecutive trips to the second round, the first time that had happened in forever.

The last few days I've familiarized myself with current ticket prices and plans, about 6 years after I gave up my plan. Most of my time as a plan holder was in the benighted Susan O'Malley days. FWIW, I had occasion to interact with her a couple times and she struck me as being a pretty nice person, albeit without the benefit of the double-bottom line management strategies that make tech billionaires.

It used to be that season tickets and partial plans, while certainly luxury items, were within the means of ordinary middle class people. There were incentives for fans to make an upfront investment in coming out to root for the team in person. Those who made this commitment clearly came out ahead of those who just bought single games. Today's structure of plans and prices is completely flipped. It's designed to squeeze every last dollar out of the fan. There's no incentive or reward for loyalty and commitment on the part of fans. The best value proposition for fans is for those who show up on F Street to buy a ticket five minutes before the tip.

The combination of continued mismanagement on the basketball side which we've seen and documented on this board, the aggressive fleecing of the ticket-buying fans that has been instituted over the past few years, and the smug, arrogant, "we know better" vibe that emanates from the top of the organization is unbelievably off-putting. I don't think Ted Leonsis is by any means unique in this. This phenomenon is now pretty common in professional sports, and even much of college sports, in America.

My one hope is that we end up in a place where the Wizards clearly become enough of a liability that Ted comes to realize that loyal, long-term fans are an important asset for a professional sports franchise. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Sorry for the rant.

This.

It's on Ted. If I had had more time to get there earlier, I would have visited the poster making
table and made one that said -

Hey Ted, this is 'the plan'?
Come on Man.

(I wonder if they would have let me make that.

I agree with everything you wrote Big A. You have pretty much explained why I gave up my season tickets after 20 years. I could take the losing years under Abe because I honestly felt he cared about the team and the fans. I don't get the same sense anymore from Ted. The fact that he tried to increase my season tickets by 20 bucks a seat at the end of last year was a slap in the face. I honestly hope more and more fans refuse to go and that place is empty. I want to slap him back.

Great sequence of comments. BigA, your "rant" is nothing more than reasoned analysis in a loud voice. If this thread had its own HOF, your post would be enshrined. Maybe that post should be in the regular HOF.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Save that. Weeks or months from now maybe you could post it on Bullets Forever or WaPo.

Ted Leonsis needs to be ashamed.

Sent from my LG-H345 using RealGM mobile app

[tontoz]

Didnt take long for my avy to become relevant again.

[montestewart]

How in the heck did this fall to page 2. Maybe it and the ADK thread should be stickied.

We're probably already at the point where the best case scenario is to lose as many games as possible, not because we need to tank for a draft pick, because even that isn't going to help. What is needed is 3 years of sustained losing concurrent with the team payroll being over $100M a year. We need Ted Leonsis to feel enough financial pain that he capitulates and sells the team.

We need EG gone and we need Ted gone, and that's the only way it's going to happen.

[montestewart]

I'm starting to feel ripped off on my season ticket plan

[montestewart]

While Leonsis claims everything is going according to plan, the Wizards currently have the worst attendance since the 2004 season.

Small sample size theater alert, but definitely worth keeping an eye on.

http://www.espn.com/nba/attendance

[montestewart]

Lots of ticket holders disguised as empty seats on a Saturday night.

#ThanksErnie

Zero energy in the arena.

From our johnny-on-the-spot reporter, the grim view of the trenches, or perhaps latrines

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Lots of ticket holders disguised as empty seats on a Saturday night.

#ThanksErnie

Zero energy in the arena.

From our johnny-on-the-spot reporter, the grim view of the trenches, or perhaps latrines

Wasn't this the same Johnny on the spot reporter that was urging us to boycott Wizards games. Ahem.

[montestewart]

Lots of ticket holders disguised as empty seats on a Saturday night.

#ThanksErnie

Zero energy in the arena.

From our johnny-on-the-spot reporter, the grim view of the trenches, or perhaps latrines

Wasn't this the same Johnny on the spot reporter that was urging us to boycott Wizards games. Ahem.

In order to defeat the beast, you must be in the belly of the beast. That's where the free chicken sandwiches are.

Ted has to pump in crowd noise during time outs. That's. Just. Sad

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

From our johnny-on-the-spot reporter, the grim view of the trenches, or perhaps latrines

Wasn't this the same Johnny on the spot reporter that was urging us to boycott Wizards games. Ahem.

In order to defeat the beast, you must be in the belly of the beast. That's where the free chicken sandwiches are.

Ted has to pump in crowd noise during time outs. That's. Just. Sad

Leave it to Ted to make chicken excrement out of chicken sandwiches.