To the Fire: It's Time to Make Good on Your Promises
Posted by: Administrator in Untagged on Nov 17, 2008
$25k: The Fire could spend at least that amount of money on employing cheerleaders at Toyota Park next season, or they could finally pay Section 8 Chicago the $25,000 they owe us and are refusing to make good on. The loss of that money this season seriously impacted all of our activities, but out of respect for the team, we decided not to go public with this until the season was over. As we enter the offseason, we still have no guarantee from the team that we will ever receive payment from them. We are now taking action and receiving legal advice to find out how we can get the money owed to us by the very team we are dedicated to supporting.
The bulk of the $25,000 owed to us by the club, about $15,000, comes from unpaid commissions on ticket sales in Section 118. This money was earned through Section 8 Chicago's efforts to promote the section to supporters in a deal with years of precedence, which was reinforced in a written document agreed upon by the Fire and Section 8 Chicago during the offseason.
The remainder of that $25,000 comes from the loss of Section 8's megabandera by the Fire at Toyota Park earlier this year, the $10,000 cost of which the club promised to reimburse. Section 8 leadership kept quiet about the loss for months after being privately told the Fire would provide funds for a new megabandera to be made. Yet this is a promise that has been broken by the club, even though the Fire continue to use the image of the megabandera -- paid for entirely by supporters -- on their website.
While replacing the megabandera is important, the missing money from the ticket commission left a gaping hole in Section 8 Chicago's budget, which meant we had to scramble for emergency scarf sales and preorders of new merchandise late in the season just to guarantee buses to away games.
It's due to extensive efforts to promote a vibrant supporters section and fuel ticket sales that Section 8 Chicago receives this commission. The agreement with the Fire stipulates that the Section receives 75 cents for every individual game ticket sold and $1.50 for every season ticket sold in Section 118 in bimonthly payments. The first payment for this season was due in June; months of protracted discussion later, and we're still waiting for the Fire to cut that first check or even confirm they actually ever will. As a non-profit organization with a tight budget, this money is not easy to replace.
The ticket commission deal began back in 2004, with an agreement that then Fire President Peter Wilt said was “a way to incentivize S8C to promote ticket sales in S8.” Wilt added that the Fire agreed to the commission to help ensure Section 8 Chicago thrived to support the team. “We also saw it as a way to help S8C become more sound financially, which would allow it to increase its support through improved game atmosphere and road trip support,” said Wilt.
Indeed, due to the agreement, Section 8 Chicago has worked tirelessly to promote sales with a particularly strong season ticket drive in the previous offseason encouraging supporters to buy to support both the Fire and Section 8 Chicago. Gail Ferraris, a long time season ticketholder, said, “I buy season tickets every year so that I can specifically support Section 8. If there were no Section 8, I would not buy season tickets.”
The deal continued under President John Guppy, and was reinforced in writing this offseason, confirming that the new club ownership under Andell Holdings also recognized the importance of the commission and agreed to continue it. The document states that “A ticket stipend of $1.50 per Season Ticket and $0.75 per non-Season Ticket will be donated back to Section 8 Chicago NFP for tickets sold in Section 118. Tickets sold in Section 117 will not be included in the 2008 ticket stipend program.”
Yet confusingly, the Fire are claiming that their refusal to pay the ticket commission this year is justified due to several benches having been broken in Section 117 – a separate issue, and relating to a section that was not even included in the ticket commission. And despite Section 8 leadership's urging, Section 117 has not had its benches reinforced like those in Section 118, which has not seen similar problems with broken benches.
Section 8 Chicago has made repeated and extensive efforts to work out a resolution with the Fire front office throughout the season about the ticket commission and bench issue. After months of frustration, Section 8 Chicago's board of directors' chairman Ben Burton recently personally contacted Fire owner Andrew Hauptman to address the issue. Hauptman delegated the issue to Fire President Dave Greeley, who told Burton on November 10th that the Fire could not currently resolve the situation.
Burton explained that the missing ticket commission payments have severely impacted the Section's ability to budget throughout this season, and directly impacted away travel to crucial recent games. “We weren't able to lock down buses ahead of time for the Conference Final, so we won't be able to take as many people as we could.”
Burton said that the Section already had to cancel one of the two planned buses to KC for the second road trip, which kept a large number of people from going to support to the team, because the Section's cash flow was severely restricted by the Fire's continual delay in resolving the ticket commission issue. In the long-term, Burton added, “The way this has impacted on the cash flow situation has and will increase the cost of everything the section does for supporters, and is even reducing the amount we will be able to give to charity this year."
$25k: Pocket change in the Chicago Fire's budget that they could spend on cheerleaders, or on fulfilling their obligation to Section 8 Chicago to allow us to do what we do best....support the Chicago Fire.
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