Summer Soccer Pass Announced

A recent offer from New York City FC caused a stir among loyal supporters. On Tuesday, June 12th NYCFC’s twitter account announced a Summer Soccer Pass timed to coordinate with the 2018 FIFA World Cup. With this pass, soccer fans would get seats in category 6 of Yankee Stadium to the remaining 10 home matches for only $99. Under the terms of the purchase, the ticket holder would not get the same seat for each match, would not be able to resell or transfer tickets, would not get the benefits of season ticket holds like Cityzen points and merchandise and food discounts, and would receive their tickets via their Ticketmaster account roughly 4 hours before game time.

Those of us, myself included, who sit in category 6 pay $26 per seat per match (Founding Members pay slightly less). I quickly called my NYCFC ticket rep to voice my concern about the team undercutting their valued season ticket holders. A representative from the team tried to assure me that these tickets in no way undercut those of season ticket holders. Yes, they were paying $16 less per match but they didn’t get the other benefits mentioned above. The representative on the phone really talked up the value of Cityzen points. This made me wonder, what’s the actual value of a Cityzen point and is it enough to make up for the difference in season tickets versus the Summer Soccer Pass.

Determining the Value of a Cityzen Point

Many fans might say the rewards offered through the Cityzens portal are priceless. I, myself, have had the opportunity to participate in the City Send-Off, the Shot on Goal, and first access to the Etihad City Football Academy. There’s no intrinsic value to these events. They are, like I said, priceless. So you have to dig deeper to really find the value of a Cityzen Point. Luckily a recent offer on the portal made calculating the value of a point easier.

For the upcoming June 24th math versus Toronto the team is offering a concession reward. For 500 points you get 2 hot dogs, a bag of chips, and a soda or water. Using current prices for concessions, those items would cost roughly $22 if purchased with cash and the 10% discount for City Members. Therefore we can calculate that each City point for this reward is worth roughly 4.5 cents. A New York City FC home kit pin is also currently being offered for 150 points. Based on similar pins sold through MLSStore.com the cost of the NYCFC pin should be around $8. In this instance, your points would be worth about 5.3 cents. So there you have it. What’s the value of your a Cityzen point? About a nickel.

Earning Points

Much of the value associated with Cityzen points is how quickly and how many you can accumulate. Following the team on Twitter and tweeting with the #NYCFC will earn you 5 points a day. Attending home matches and getting into the stadium 30 minutes prior to the start gets you a cool 75 points. Every home win earns you another 25 points. There are other ways to earn City points, like answering trivia questions on the Cityzens portal, making purchasing merchandise through mlsstore.com, and attending away matches. If you attended every home game during the season, tweeted 365 days a year, watched away matches on YES Network at 10 points a pop, and even attended some of those away matches you might top out at 3,000 to 4,000 points per seat in a given year. And at a nickel a point, your looking at $175 worth of “value” from your City Points. For the majority of fans sitting in categories 4 through 6, spending between $442 and $629 a year for our seats, that seems like a good return on your season ticket investment.

The True Value of Season Tickets

Face it season ticket holders, you’re not going to get tickets for $9.90 a game. However, I think many of us are quick to overlook the value of the things we do get from the organization. Every spring we receive our membership gift which includes scarves and other goodies. Those add value to our season tickets. We receive discounts on merchandise and concessions at the stadium. Even at the 10% off, you’re probably saving $40-50 over the course of the season. These also add value to our season tickets. There’s also discounts on away tickets, parking at Yankee Stadium, and the ability to transfer tickets from one game to another. Finally, and most importantly, I wouldn’t discount the value of Cityzen points. If you maximize your opportunities to earn points, you can use them for some memorable experiences or items that Summer Soccer Pass purchasers won’t be able to earn. So before you burn your season tickets outside NYCFC corporate offices in an act of defiance or act irrationally by canceling your plan for next season, take a breath and truly think about what you get from this team both on and in particular off the field.