Lionel Messi will return to Tennessee on Thursday night as Inter Miami faces Nashville Soccer Club in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is likely that there will be a lot of pink in the crowd at GEODIS Park as a large number of seats sit empty.
Local fans and supporters of the home side are getting priced out — again. Myself included.
While I am not necessarily a diehard fan of the club, I have attended my fair share of matches since the club first reached the MLS level and always come with full voice. I own a lot of merchandise, including pajama pants— which if you ask me is as real as it gets. If tickets to sit in the highest-most point of the stadium’s upper deck were not over $100 each (with fees), there is simply no way that I would miss the opportunity to watch my team try to beat Messi and Inter. Especially in a Cup match!
However, instead of singing/screaming my head off for the boys in gold in the crowd, I will be watching on the couch at home. It’s a real shame because I am not at all alone in that.
And it’s an even bigger bummer for the fans who are more passionate than I. They deserve to be there.
Nashville S.C. ownership is to blame!
Lionel Messi last played in Music City in August for the Leagues Cup final. Ticket prices were through the roof because he had signed to play in the MLS and everybody wanted to see the GOAT.
It was outrageous, but NSC had an excuse. The club was able to blame the cost on the Leagues Cup. Tournament organizers set the pricing.
That is not the case this time, per Section 26.4 of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Regulations.
Participating clubs agree to submit to Concacaf for pre-approval, the pricing plan for match tickets within ten business days of the announcement of the schedule in addition to at least 15 business days prior to any upcoming match that is not already covered by the initial pricing plan.
— Section 26.4
Perhaps CONCACAF required NSC to increase its pricing plan for the Messi match because it gets a cut. Resellers are also part of the price-gouging problem. That doesn’t change the root issue.
Nashville created a lot of outrage with how it has handled the ticketing process.
CEO Ian Ayre and the front office have made it largely unaffordable to attend the match. There are no less than 700 unsold tickets.
And Messi fans are taking over!
To make things even worse, the club seemingly told a bold-faced lie.
Nashville converted two sections of its stadium from bleachers to seats during the offseason. It promoted the two sections as “SEATED SUPPORTER SECTIONS” in every way possible. On the website, in emails to fans… everything.
Here is how it looked online:
Supporter-specific sections are only for supporters. Fans of the opposition are not admitted.
Well, the club has since changed its tune.
The previously-labeled ‘Seated Supporters Sections’ are no longer. Nashville released a statement and actually tried to claim that it was an accident. “Mistakenly labeled,” it said.
Clearly not…
People bought tickets for Thursday’s match in the seated supported section thinking that it would be for only Nashville fans. Supporters who didn’t want to stand throughout every single match bought season ticket packages in that section thinking the same.
They were hoodwinked, bamboozled, lead astray, run amok and flat out deceived!
I am probably still going to watch Nashville face Miami on T.V., even though I am much less inclined to care as result of this debacle. If I do chose to flip on the match, a stadium that would be packed with fans from one of the most passionate sports cities in the country will be full of empty seats— and pink.
What a shame!