Sunday, May 8, 2011

Iowa Barnstormers Sit Fans - More on the ArenaFan Online Article

If you read my comments on the KC versus VooDoo game, then you may have noticed that I mentioned talking with BC Slasher and Sharon Soares.  Yes, the subject of the Iowa Barnstormers Ticket Holder Code of Conduct came up, and no, they do not understand where the owners of the Barnstormers are coming from.

I want to take a couple of minutes and dig a little deeper into the issue.  I did a little digging to find the attendance for the Iowa Barnstormers versus the attendance for the Kansas City Command.  So far, the highest attendance at the Sprint Center for Kansas City is 5,438.  According to BC Slasher, about a thousand of those fans were Iowa Barnstormer fans in KC for the game.  That sheds a little different light on the KC attendance issue, but we're not going to discuss that here.  If you look at the Iowa Barnstormer attendance records, you will see that they are doing a much better job of bringing in the fans, with a high of 10,552 and a low of 8,103.  One can easily say that the Iowa Barnstormers are doing a much better job of bringing in the fans, even with a season that is not much better than the Command.

Okay, with that said, let's talk about seats.  If the Super Fans in Iowa are sitting in the same place as the Flight Crew in Kansas City, they are in the front five rows of the End Zone.  Yesterday, in my discussion with some of the Flight Crew I was told that there is generally several rows of empty seats behind the Super Fans.  This was very visible last night during the game, and those who couldn't afford the cost of the first five rows were sitting back in the sixth row and moved up when the game got started.  I doubt that this is the case in Iowa.  I am willing to bet that there are people sitting in the first five rows of the end zone, so you can't compare what you can get away with at Sprint Center to what you should be able to get away with at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

I am going to restate my position.  I fully agree with the owners.  Just because you paid for those seats does not mean you have the right to obstruct the view of those behind you.  No, it does not make it easier when someone stands constantly, because they are not standing still constantly.  The opinion that it is more disruptive when someone bolts up out of their seat does not fly.  That person may block a moment in time, one that I can reclaim from the overhead scoreboard TV.  But when they stand constantly, they are blocking ALL of the game, and I didn't pay to sit in my seat and watch the overhead scoreboard TV the entire game.

Let me take a wild speculation here.  Should the Kansas City Command start bringing more people in, should there be a demand on the seats behind the Flight Crew in the End Zone.  Should the people who buy these seats complain that they can't see because the Flight Crew is constantly standing, and these complaints make it hard to sell those seats, the management of the Sprint Center will tell the Super Fans to take a seat in the same manner as Iowa.

Remember, its about making money not the Super Fans.

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