urbanSTL

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Jun 30, 2023

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑

Jun 30, 2023

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Jun 30, 2023

Official. Kind of cool it’s the first game back for the coach. It is an official window so in theory some big names could be here.

Probably not the biggest of names, since it's in-season for Europe.

We’ll see. All the Europe teams are off that weekend since it’s an official open window set for national team competitions. So some are speculating big names will be here since it is his first game back and all team members are available to be called home to play. But it is a friendly so who knows

They've gotta get club approval to leave - don't think too many would be keen on letting their dudes get jet lag and risk injury for shits & giggles

For those who were upset a while back that CITY wasn't already investing in DeSoto park, here's some good news: https://www.stlcitysc.com/news/stl-city ... foundation

Continuing in the club’s mission to be an exceptional neighbor and create a lasting impact in the community through the power of sport, St. Louis CITY SC is partnering with American Family Insurance and the U.S. Soccer Foundation to make soccer more accessible to all by installing 11 mini-pitches across the St. Louis region, with the entire project designated for completion by the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Today, CITY SC announced the first three mini-pitch locations: Ferguson; Fairmont City, Illinois; and DeSoto Park in the City of St. Louis. The DeSoto Park mini-pitch is currently in progress, with the Fairmont City mini-pitch scheduled to break ground this fall and Ferguson next year. The remaining mini-pitch locations, with input from area residents, local park and recreation departments, and community groups, will be finalized and announced in the future.

Love to see it.

"The mini-pitches serve as an important extension of the club’s CITY Futures platform, providing children and adults access to play in spaces that will instill hope and foster well-being. In addition to events organized and staffed by St. Louis CITY SC community coaches, the club will partner with the City of St. Louis Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, along with other municipalities and community organizations, to create ongoing programming around the new mini-pitches."

"CITY Futures’ impact on the St. Louis regional community is far and wide:

• Approximately 1,500 kids have participated in CITY Futures training and clinics since the program launched in 2022
• CITY SC has coordinated more than 350 clinics, camps and training sessions
• Activities are spread across the region with 5 outdoor satellite locations and 17 different schools hosting indoor training sessions
• There are 3 World Wide Technology CITY Cup events each year, featuring up to 300 players ages 7-12
• Nearly 60 community coaches are currently on the CITY Futures roster
• Identified 34 kids to advance to the CITY Futures Select program"

St. Louis City SC owners eye adding National Women's Soccer League team

With St. Louis City SC excelling both on and off the field, CEO Carolyn Kindle said the owners of the first-year Major League Soccer club are mulling the possibility of bringing a women’s team to the region. Asked at Sports Business Journal's AXS Drive conference in St. Louis about adding other sports franchises to the group’s portfolio, Kindle said her family, which owns the team along with World Wide Technology CEO Jim Kavanaugh, is keeping an eye on the NWSL. 
“That’s definitely on the radar of something to invest in because, quite frankly, the caliber of female players we have in this region, if there's an opportunity to provide them opportunities and pathways as well, I think the family and the ownership group would be excited about that,” Kindle said. 

Based on St. Louis City’s early success, there’s every reason to believe St. Louis would support a team in the country’s top women’s soccer league. Kindle said the club has now received more than 100,000 deposits for season tickets at the 22,423-seat CityPark. “People knew they weren't going to get a ticket, but they just wanted to show support any way they could,” Kindle said. Meanwhile, the club’s development team, St. Louis City 2, drew more than 9,626 for a recent match, the largest crowd to attend an MLS Next Pro match. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2023/09/21/st-louis-city-sc-owners-eye-adding-womens-team.html

^That would be fantastic! I hope they're able to do something quickly.

In addition to the NWSL, I wonder if the NBA is paying attention to this swinging success

Have a theory that since the Rams left, the share of ticket spending that people make annually has shifted dramatically towards sports at the expense of other experiences like live music.

This is all anecdotal, but the past five years I feel like STL is left off more and more tours. Acts who do come here don't sell out like in other markets.

I went to two major concerts in STL last year, Odesza and Rufus Du Sol at Riverport and STL Music Park respectively. Both venues were maybe 50-60 percent full. This is a serious underperformance when other similar size cities had to add 2-3 extra dates for similar sized venues.

Again, totally anecdotal. I would be interested to see some hard data analysis

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote:Have a theory that since the Rams left, the share of ticket spending that people make annually has shifted dramatically towards sports at the expense of other experiences like live music.

This is all anecdotal, but the past five years I feel like STL is left off more and more tours. Acts who do come here don't sell out like in other markets.

I went to two major concerts in STL last year, Odesza and Rufus Du Sol at Riverport and STL Music Park respectively. Both venues were maybe 50-60 percent full. This is a serious underperformance when other similar size cities had to add 2-3 extra dates for similar sized venues.

Again, totally anecdotal. I would be interested to see some hard data analysis

Bad marketing or those performers you mentioned don’t have a large following here. Morgan Wallen played 2 nights at Busch both were incredibly well attended.

Unfortunately while prior to Covid I was an avid concert goer, since Covid I have gone to 1 total concert event. Prior to it I would do between 7-10 a year. The thing bothering me is the overall price increase to many of these events.

stl07 wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

In addition to the NWSL, I wonder if the NBA is paying attention to this swinging success

As covered in many different threads - NBA will expand to Seattle and Vegas next. If St. Louis ever gets an NBA team, there needs to be a billionaire potential owner who pushes it through. (Yes, I know Chaifetz tweeted something a while back but that's it, so let's not act as if he's actually seriously trying to land a team on his own) So yeah, I'm sure the NBA has their own expansion dashboard with top cities they'd consider in the future, but there's nothing at all right now outside of pure fan speculation and pipe dreams.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

Have a theory that since the Rams left, the share of ticket spending that people make annually has shifted dramatically towards sports at the expense of other experiences like live music.

This is all anecdotal, but the past five years I feel like STL is left off more and more tours. Acts who do come here don't sell out like in other markets.

I went to two major concerts in STL last year, Odesza and Rufus Du Sol at Riverport and STL Music Park respectively. Both venues were maybe 50-60 percent full. This is a serious underperformance when other similar size cities had to add 2-3 extra dates for similar sized venues.

Again, totally anecdotal. I would be interested to see some hard data analysis

I’m note sure I follow this. The rams left so people put MORE money to sports than when they did when they were here?

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

Have a theory that since the Rams left, the share of ticket spending that people make annually has shifted dramatically towards sports at the expense of other experiences like live music.

This is all anecdotal, but the past five years I feel like STL is left off more and more tours. Acts who do come here don't sell out like in other markets.

I went to two major concerts in STL last year, Odesza and Rufus Du Sol at Riverport and STL Music Park respectively. Both venues were maybe 50-60 percent full. This is a serious underperformance when other similar size cities had to add 2-3 extra dates for similar sized venues.

Again, totally anecdotal. I would be interested to see some hard data analysis

I’m note sure I follow this. The rams left so people put MORE money to sports than when they did when they were here?

The Rams leaving made people realize how hip and awesome baseball is.

Maybe it’s because Rufus Du Sol and Odesza are relatively unknowns and very niche

St. Louis is getting some interesting events that others aren't. 

Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan are doing a four-city US tour that involves Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and... St. Louis. 

Still, it'd be nice to see more. 

dweebe wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

Maybe it’s because Rufus Du Sol and Odesza are relatively unknowns and very niche

St. Louis isn't exactly cutting edge musically.

But we were one of 5 US cities to get Eric Clapton's small tour. Plus if you look at Metallica's tour list, the inclusion of us is oddball.

I think demographics has a lot to do with it. We are way more like Detroit, Baltimore, New Orleans etc. than Denver, Portland, Nashville, etc. St. Louis is much more of an urban, hip hop market than people care to admit. We typically get all of the hip hop and r&b tours.

dweebe wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

goat314 wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

dweebe wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

St. Louis isn't exactly cutting edge musically.

But we were one of 5 US cities to get Eric Clapton's small tour. Plus if you look at Metallica's tour list, the inclusion of us is oddball.

I think demographics has a lot to do with it. We are way more like Detroit, Baltimore, New Orleans etc. than Denver, Portland, Nashville, etc. St. Louis is much more of an urban, hip hop market than people care to admit. We typically get all of the hip hop and r&b tours.

The Weeknd, Drake, 50Cent, Travis Scott and others have bypassed St. Louis recently.

I'm pretty sure 50 Cent was just in St. Louis in July. Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Beyonce, Nas and Wu Tang have all been to St. Louis very recently. Not to mention huge underground indie rapper and St. Louis native Smino does a local festival every year. Not to mention one of the biggest and most controversial new female rappers Sexyy Red is bringing a lot of exposure to the city.

dweebe wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

goat314 wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

dweebe wrote: ↑

Sep 28, 2023

The Weeknd, Drake, 50Cent, Travis Scott and others have bypassed St. Louis recently.

I'm pretty sure 50 Cent was just in St. Louis in July. Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Beyonce, Nas and Wu Tang have all been to St. Louis very recently. Not to mention huge underground indie rapper and St. Louis native Smino does a local festival every year. Not to mention one of the biggest and most controversial new female rappers Sexyy Red is bringing a lot of exposure to the city.

It's not a blanket statement: but there are some big hip-hop/rap/R&B tours that have bypassed St. Louis

Hell, SZA is FROM ST. LOUIS AND WEARS A BLUES JERSEY ON HER ALBUM COVER and it still took the second leg of her tour to come home.

Some only go to major cities so not coming here I don’t see as some big deal. Weeknd did something like 23 North American dates. I am pretty sure all were bigger metros than us. And if we get skipped for a few others sometimes dates and venues just don’t line up.

But I’m not sure what this has to do with an MLS thread anyway.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

I went to two major concerts in STL last year, Odesza and Rufus Du Sol at Riverport and STL Music Park respectively. Both venues were maybe 50-60 percent full. This is a serious underperformance when other similar size cities had to add 2-3 extra dates for similar sized venues.

Again, totally anecdotal. I would be interested to see some hard data analysis

I too would be interested in seeing data on this.  Not sure I buy it. But, as often happens, I may be very wrong!

In a related note, many many people believe that GNR canceled the show here due to poor ticket sales.  No idea why that was the case.  GNR sold upwards of 30K tickets in Busch.  Many stops on the current leg of the GNR tour are at venues at 20K or less.  So, STL would have been in the top ~25% of cities with the top ticket sales.

TBH - and I do this too - I feel that STL people tend to *look* for reasons why we are uniquely sh*tty compared to other cities. 

We're like the 21st biggest US metro - that alone is why so many big tour skips us.  When you add Canadian cities like Toronto, Montreal (let alone Vancouver), we're like 25.  

I'd guess people in every city that's around us in metro pop feels the big tours skip them.

soulardx wrote: ↑

Sep 29, 2023

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

I went to two major concerts in STL last year, Odesza and Rufus Du Sol at Riverport and STL Music Park respectively. Both venues were maybe 50-60 percent full. This is a serious underperformance when other similar size cities had to add 2-3 extra dates for similar sized venues.

Again, totally anecdotal. I would be interested to see some hard data analysis

I too would be interested in seeing data on this.  Not sure I buy it. But, as often happens, I may be very wrong!

In a related note, many many people believe that GNR canceled the show here due to poor ticket sales.  No idea why that was the case.  GNR sold upwards of 30K tickets in Busch.  Many stops on the current leg of the GNR tour are at venues at 20K or less.  So, STL would have been in the top ~25% of cities with the top ticket sales.

TBH - and I do this too - I feel that STL people tend to *look* for reasons why we are uniquely sh*tty compared to other cities. 

We're like the 21st biggest US metro - that alone is why so many big tour skips us.  When you add Canadian cities like Toronto, Montreal (let alone Vancouver), we're like 25.  

I'd guess people in every city that's around us in metro pop feels the big tours skip them.

People seems to forget how many people from smaller markets travel to St. Louis for events on a regular basis. At 21st largest metro, St. Louis is still a relatively large market and most Americans live in a smaller market for sure. Like St. Louis is still larger than Nashville or Vegas, but obviously momentum and press is very important. Personally, I think St. Louis is one of the worst marketed cities in America. Decent product, horrible packaging.

I think most people are overthinking this or trying to connect dots that shouldn't be.  It's all about scheduling and the available dates just didn't line up. Taking a look at all of their tour dates from September 12 through the end of October kinda paints the logistics picture clearly. At best, between load in, playing the concert, load out and then traveling to the next city the fastest they can play from one city to the next is two days. MAYBE they could have done an overnight load in and overnight load out before or after Kansas City, but that's really really unlikely. And while the Cardinals have been playing away games from the 22nd through the 28th, I'm going to bet there were already other private events booked. And yes, I know that maybe they could have cancelled someone's wedding or a corporate event in the suites to get the concert in but that's still a hurdle scheduling wise that plays a factor.  All this to say, I really do believe that scheduling has everything to do with it being cancelled now and nothing to do with their view of the STL market.

GNR's past tour dates:
September 12th: Knoxville, TN
September 15th: Hollywood, FL
September 17th: Atlanta, GA
September 20th: Biloxi, MS
September 23rd: Kansas City, MO
September 26th: San Antonio, TX
September 28th: Houston, TX

Future dates:
October 1 - 27th: Essentially all west coast. Venues are mostly California with stops in Salt Lake City and Denver before heading to Mexico.