February 16, 2007 Toronto FC ticket sales (from Toronto Star)
Toronto FC plays hardball with Beckham fans
L.A. game could be sold out by time single-game seats go on sale: Team
Feb 16, 2007 04:30 AM
MORGAN CAMPBELL
SPORTS REPORTER
If you want to see David Beckham play at BMO Field this summer, you'd better buy season tickets.
Some soccer fans phoning Toronto FC for tickets report being told they can't buy tickets to the Aug. 5 game against the L.A. Galaxy unless they purchase season tickets or a multiple game package.
MLSE chief operating officer Tom Anselmi says ticket agents probably just misspoke while explaining the best way to guarantee a ticket to Beckham's visit.
Nevertheless, he expects season ticket and multiple games to account for nearly every ticket to the L.A. Galaxy game – likely to be Beckham's regular season MLS debut – long before single-game seats go on sale in early April.
"By the time we go on sale with single game seats there will be very few seats left because there's so much demand for it," Anselmi said yesterday. "We may have some for the game but it's too early to tell."
Of the roughly 20,000 seats at BMO field, Anselmi says about 1,000 go to corporate sponsors, leaving the rest available to the public. Of those remaining seats, 12,500 have already been sold as season tickets.
Anselmi said the club will cap season ticket sales somewhere between 14,000 and 15,000 seats, then start selling multiple game packages.
He expects packages including the L.A. Galaxy game to sell quickly, leaving few tickets available for Aug. 5.
Ottawa fan Ryan Hardy was furious when he was told by a ticket agent he'd need to buy season tickets or a multi-game package.
``Toronto FC has begun to alienate their would-be supporters with their hardball tactics to make money off the Beckham craze.''
Anselmi denies the company is holding tickets to the L.A. Galaxy game for ransom. He says it's normal for teams to offer season tickets and multiple game packages before selling tickets to single games.
"It's just the sequence of events," he said, pointing out that the Raptors and Leafs also sell tickets this way. "You sell them in descending order."
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