Seattle Ticketing Fiasco – Prices Lowered And Availability Confirmed

The Seattle away ticketing fiasco took a step closer to being resolved this evening.

For those following the story here yesterday and on Prost Amerika and the Metro, it was becoming increasingly obvious that some pretty big miscommunications and misunderstandings had been rife in the whole clusterfuck and that the Whitecaps would need to move pretty swiftly to resolve an issue that was quickly spiralling out of control with anger and resentment.

And they have.

Vancouver Whitecaps confirmed to AFTN this evening that the price we were quoted for a single match ticket on Monday evening was incorrect. Uniglobe originally told us that our ticket would cost $43 and change and would include HST. This was a mistake and the ticket would be costing $35 and there would be no HST.

This was good to hear because earlier today, we were forwarded an email from Vancouver fan Ruth Kerbes who had it confirmed to her by Bart Wiley, Seattle Sounders Director of Business Development, that Seattle had sold Vancouver the tickets for US$28 each.

This confirmation also puts paid to speculation by some that the tickets were sold at the group rate of $26.

The same tickets, if purchased on Ticketmaster, would set fans back US$36.20 on Ticketmaster, depending on fees and delivery method, so the $35 Canadian cost is bang on the button for the correct amount.

We’re glad that the pricing aspect of single tickets has now been resolved to what should be everyone’s satisfaction. We still feel though that charging $159 for a day bus trip to Seattle is not an acceptable pricepoint.

The Caps also confirmed to us that despite reports and rumours elsewhere, the ticket only option was NOT sold out and only 70 tickets have been sold. Uniglobe had earlier confirmed that they had a block of 535 tickets, so with 465 tickets remaining, all Southsiders looking to get a ticket should pretty much be able to secure one.

The Southsiders executive board will hopefully be confirming shortly what their plans will now be for the Seattle game, so keep checking their forum for full details.

Now that things seem to be getting sorted out for the Seattle game, fans attentions are already moving to the Portland match on August 20th. Will there be more hostilities? We hope not and the process should now at least move a little bit smoother.

We asked Portland Timbers what they felt about how things were playing out in Vancouver and what problems may lie ahead for the game down there in August.

They were loathe to get drawn into the debacle and told AFTN:

“We will not comment on the methods of distribution by the other two Cascadia teams; each team has different circumstances which dictate their own methodology.

We look forward to visiting supporters from both Vancouver and Seattle coming to JELD-WEN Field to create an even more dynamic atmosphere during Cascadia Cup matches in Portland”.

As we earlier reported, both Portland and Seattle have given supporters groups their full allocation of tickets, whereas Vancouver are classing all season ticket holders as falling into the “supporters group” classification.

Two final points I want to make clear here.

The Southsiders have never asked for the full allocation of tickets. Paul Barber may refute the role that the Cascadia supporters groups played in the increased ticket allocation from 150 to 500, but let no one be in any doubt, if this hadn’t been vociferously raised by the Southsiders and others back in October, we would ALL be fighting over a much smaller amount of tickets.

In this Seattle situation, without AFTN and other media running this story, and the Southsiders becoming very vocal, ALL Caps fans would have ended up paying $43 for tickets as no one would have known better and there would not be so many travel options on the table.

Some fans may criticise the Southsiders for being too loud and mouthy in the press but they’re not just doing it for themselves, they’re doing it for all of us.

What is now important is that everybody now moves on, stops the bickering and gets down to real prioriry here and that’s making sure that everybody that wants a ticket to the game can get a ticket to the game and we create the best football atmopshere possible to cheer our guys on to the three points.

I have a feeling that Uniglobe’s phone is going to be red hot tomorrow.