Philadelphia Union sold out the first sections of Union Field at Chester, the team announced today.
Six sections flanking the midfield on each side of the stadium are now sold out for season tickets. (Click here for a diagram.)
The team also introduced three high-end season ticket plans today, ranging in cost from $2,000 to $7,500 per seat. The plans are targeted toward corporate customers and others willing to spend a bit more to be close to the action and gain access to the team.
The Union are scheduled to open their inaugural season at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia pending the completion of Union Field in Chester, which could come by June.
While everyone who is excited about the Union must be pleased that they have sold their “Club Seat” allotment, the new “Premium Seating Option” is more than being “willing to spend a bit more.”
With minimum buy-ins of two tickets for “Field Level Seats” at $2000 per seat, and “Field Side Tables” – a ” private table for four [that] will be along the sideline, not far from the players’ benches” with four seats going for $10,000, “high end” is an understatement. If “Super Club Seats” going for $7,500 a pop is what it costs to get the “the feeling that you’re part of our club!”, what kind of feeling am I supposed to have for the $400 I’ve spent for my season tickets? Am I to understand that I will feel that I am only part of a part of the club? What I will probably feel is that I’ve gotten a bargain and will experience more excitement surrounded by like-minded fans in public seats than “In-Seat Food and Beverage Service” will provide. I mean, c’mon, is the piss-boy also included in the package?
I don’t mean to sound naive, but the corporate speak that surrounds so much of launching the Union – referring to the themselves as a “franchise” rather than a team and references to the on-field “product” can turn the stomach of people like me who are excited to once again have a pro team in Philly and are simply looking forward to some good soccer. I know this the reality of modern sport but it can be such a turn off.
Ed, I feel you, but I think we can take heart from the way the coaching staff has conducted itself. We have a real coach, who’s philosophy is pragmatic and who has an obvious love for the game. He’s recruited players for their talent and not their ability to draw a crowd. What will scrub the Union of it’s corporate and sanitized air (a danger of any expansion team in this day and age [OKC Thunder, anyone?]–unlike Seattle, for instance, who had a team to build on, we are starting from whole cloth) is the quality of the team and its coach, and the nature of its fan support. Philly (not to mention Chester) is a working-class place, no matter how many luxury-class tickets might get sold (and I’m skeptical about that, honestly), and when other teams visit, their first impression might be the shiny new stadium and wine-service on the touchline, but the impression they’ll leave with is the bruises from the tackles they’ve received and the memory of the horrible things we’ve screamed at them from the stands (all in good fun, of course). I’m glad the Union have sold out Club Level, but it’s those of us who can only afford the cheap seats that will make this team feel real.