Last month the New York Yankees announced a new ticketing policy saying, among other things, that print-at-home tickets would no longer be accepted. The fraud prevention measure hasn’t been received well by fans, not least because it seems to be a transparent swipe at StubHub.
The Yankees are, of course, major stakeholders in NYCFC. The nascent MLS franchise also plays at Yankee Stadium, leaving some fans of the team wondering if they would be stuck with the new policy as well.
At first the team said that it was just a Yankees thing and NYCFC would still accept print-at-home tickets.
@NYCFCfan@SneakerheadJav@NYCFCForums just a Yankees policy- we accept print at home tix, same as 2015
— NYCFC Fan Services (@NYCFCHelp) February 17, 2016
But late last week the team took advantage of the Friday Night News Dump to say they were just kidding about the print-at-home thing. This was, of course, two days before their home opener against Toronto FC.
So how did the new policy work out yesterday?
Thanks to member [Albany] for the pic. 8 minutes out! pic.twitter.com/wqaKJ9UmQ2
— NYCFC Forums (@NYCFCForums) March 13, 2016
Yankee Stadium doesn’t care about its customers, the ticket-holders. overtly disrespects them. @Yankees@NYCFCpic.twitter.com/pQOCmT0Jud
— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) March 13, 2016
Yankees Stadium/NYCFC should refund everyone’s ticket today. Game is well underway, outside are seas— not exaggerating— of people in line
— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) March 13, 2016
At non-paper ticket gate & complete standstill. No one getting in 3-4 minutes at least & counting #nycfc@NYCFCHelppic.twitter.com/JHtji9E4Vt
— Mark Garbowski (@mgarbowski) March 13, 2016
Yeaaah.
In an attempt to control the story, NYCFC made a meal of its attendance figures, which led the pack in MLS for Week 2.
Thank you to the 30,315 #NYCFC supporters who came out to Yankee Stadium tonight #WeAreOnepic.twitter.com/ATAGjEret1
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) March 13, 2016
Of course attendance in MLS is measured by tickets sold, not butts in seats.
It’s unclear how long it will take NYCFC to fix this problem and what a solution would look like. The easiest thing would be to revert to allowing print-at-home tickets again, but somehow that doesn’t seem likely. The club will probably investigate and trial some ways to make the lines move faster; implementing those changes could happen by the next home game, or this could go on all season. It’s also not outside the realm of possibility that fans will be told to suck it up and deal. All this because NYCFC is compelled to deal with someone else’s problem.
MLS is back, baby!