I tell you what. Anytime management makes a commitment like this, we have GOT to support them. Everyone out there should be promoting the Rattlers.

No one has EVER made an offer to refund your season ticket price if they don't make the playoffs ...
until now.

We are EXCITED!
Ken & Deb

I heard it on the radio and didn't believe it, so of course I came to the website. That is absolutely crazy. I am a season ticket holder and as much as getting my money back sounds good, I hope it doesn't come to that. A winning season and a run in the playoffs, meaning ArenaBowl of course is what I want. Should be interesting.

It is a marketing ploy that can work wonders if they win or destroy them if they lose. If the team doesn't make the playoffs it will be very bad. The team will not only have to pay out a lot of money for season tickets, they will probably lose a lot of those fans who are new season ticket holders. Plus what would that do to the financials of the organization?

Now if the team wins it will be great. The fan base will be bigger and there will be a buzz that the Rattlers are back to there winning ways which can only help the future fan base to increase.

I'll keep my tickets either way - I continue to believe that Rattlers season tickets are the best sports investment in the Valley. But I'm really happy to see management making this kind of commitment. 2008 is shaping up to be a great season!

Nice Move, I like it. The players should respond.

On the chance that the Rattlers DO NOT make the playoffs, and $$$ is refunded...what actual effect do you think that will have on the team? Will they actually refund or will they then offer ticket holders a chance to apply the "refund balance" to the following season tickets....will the Ratts actual reurn cold hard cash.....?

SaberCatFanatic

I received a letter from the team this week in regards to the guarantee. "We will give you a 100% refund of your season tickets if we don't live up to our promise. There will be no caveats, clauses or fine print." I for one expect the team to make the playoffs, if they don't well who knows what will happen.

If your team is smart, then they have taken out an insurance policy that will kick in and pay out if they fail to make the playoffs....Again i am assuming that they were smart enough to do this....what do you Ratt fans think? Could they have increased advertising revenue to the point that it would cover any loss of having to pay back season tickets? This is definately an interesting marketing ploy...it looks like ownership is making an attempt to satisfy their fan base.

SaberCatFanatic

According to an article in one of the local papers earlier this week there was no insurance policy taken out but it wasn't confirmed. As for adverstising revenues that will be interesting as for the past few years the team has not had a local TV deal so only a handful of games have been on FSN. Less than half the games have been on TV the past three years.

If your team ownership are "smart" business men then they have an economic contigency to cover the losses of a possible payout if the playoffs are not reached. I am still banking on an insurance policy and a huge increase in advertising and television revenue. It does not make sense for them tto do a payout unless they are covered.....assuming they are smart business men, if they aren't and do not have a contigency plan, then as a Ratts fan I would be really worried because they are putting the team in possible economic jeporady.

SaberCatFanatic

SCF -

At this point, I doubt that the Rattlers could even get a policy to cover this guarantee. There are too many variables. The team hasn't even been assembled yet. The coaching staff isn't complete. How does an underwriter rate the risk and come up with a premium? If they could get a policy, it would be very, very expensive and you don't recover the premium if you make the playoffs.

There was an article in the AZ Republic, however, that said the net worth of Brett Bouchy's group is $100 million. I don't know if that includes Bobby Hernreich's 30% or Robert Sarver's 10% (yes, he's still in for 10%).

Brett is looking to increase the Season Ticket number from 5000 to 10,000 or more. The average price of a ticket, according to the AZ Republic, is $29.00. I'm not so sure where that comes from but if we use that number and they do sell 10,000 season tickets, we are looking at $2.9 million in season ticket revenue. So the stake for the partners is only $2.9 million out of $100 million or 2.9% of the amount they have committed to the Rattlers.

If this draws fans the way they hope, the payoff for risking only 2.9% is fantastic!

Let's not forget one thing. The goal here is to get people in the seats so they can see what a great game this is and they will come back in 2009 and beyond. The guarantee is for one year, but the goal is long term.

Also, along with making this guarantee, management is doing all sorts of other things to be sure that the Rattlers will be well on their way back to the elite status they once enjoyed in the AFL.

But I guess you don't want to hear about that. By the way, has Grieb re-signed yet? Heh, heh, heh.

I think we have a very smart group of businessmen running this franchise. And I bet they know how to spell "contingency", too.