Sinner

See, what you describe as a fictional enemy, is a mismanaged and poorly coached team that performs so unsatisfactorily, they might be the only team in the history of the game that could lead a division in such an unsatisfactory and unsavory manner, that loyal fans could be feeling so yucky at this point. The fact that you enjoy this so much, speaks volumes to your masochism. The fact that you see it as fictional, speaks volumes about your disconnection from reality.

BakoSaint

What does it cost to join the waiting list? I am guessing nothing, or a trivial amount. Its basically a free option until they call and say your up, what's your credit card number. There is probably no reason for various scalpers or whoever not to join the waiting list. Heck maybe I should join it. Worst case, they call in 5 years when Dennis Allen is still head coach and is setting all time loss records and I hang up and then a week later add my name back to the end of the list. Best case, they call the day after Arch Manning leads us to a perfect season and I fly in for 4 games and sell the other 5 games to pay for the flights and season tickets. The point is, there is no reason not to be on a waiting list, its basically free, and it just gives you options. But the problem comes if we suck and they call their way through the list and can't sell all the seasons. Then there is no waiting list. And then when you call to say put down my name, they say ok give us a credit card and we charge $5000 today. Most fans and all scalpers will say no. Certain better value seat locations will sell, but lousier ones will go unsold. Suddenly there is no list.

Imagine we win the division at 9-8 this year but get blown out 38-3 by the Cowboys at home in the first round. Then retain Dennis Allen and play a first place schedule next year including playing the entire NFC North and go 5-12 but decide to retain Dennis Allen while bringing elevating Curry to OC for 2025. You could easily start seeing 5,000 people a year cancelling their season tickets and only 1 in 5 dropping the credit card down when they get the call on the wait list. Suddenly that wait list is gone quick even if it is 50,000. And also, what if 1/2 or 2/3 of the waiting list is scalpers? Suddenly it could only be 1 of 10 or 15 who drop the credit card when there is no profit to be made, and the waiting list is gone quick.

BakoSaint

FYI for reference I looked it up and it appears both the Falcons and Panthers do not currently have a wait list for season tickets. Panthers PSL's can be bought from third party at a discount. The Bucs did not have a wait list before they brought in Brady, then they built up a wait list. But under Brady they required fans to make a 2 year commitment to get new season tickets, so many fans who signed up in 2022 could not cancel this offseason and will likely be gone after this year. Wait lists come and go. Ours was built on Brees and Paytons sustained success. As long as we are just another NFC South mediocre team, we should not expect our wait list will last when others didn't. Its not like New Orleans is some giant market with all the fortune 500 companies. There is no wait list for Pelicans tickets. If we don't win, we are just the Pelicans.

AsylumGuido

Scalpers definitely make up a sizable portion of the season ticket base. That's one reason why it remains so difficult to get season tickets. Those third party season ticket holders market mainly to visiting fans. There are large sections every home game that are always filled by opposing fans. They are also dispersed through the dome. It doesn't matter how good or how bad Saints happen to be, the fans from other regions still show up in droves. Unlike Carolina, Tampa, and especially Atlanta, New Orleans is a very hot tourist destination. The Quarter is always packed by opposing fans. New Orleans routinely ranks at the very top of the list for away game destinations.

If season tickets are dropped those scalpers you mention will readily swoop them up since, as pointed out, they are in the same waiting list as fans. The point is the demand is still there for the season tickets regardless of how the Saints are performing.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

Rugby Saint II

Guido makes some very good points about the waiting list. If I can get tickets to a game then I'm going! Win or lose I'll be cheering for my Saints!

Sinner

I guess there are different types of “fans” as there are different types of people in general, and that’s a good thing. We all have different and unique perspectives. I can totally cheer for my Saints (TO WIN) without giving my hard earned money away to an organization of mismanaged millionaires, at least until they can manage to produce a quality product that is thrilling and entertaining. Quido seems to be thrilled and entertained during some of the most dismal and disappointing cycles of our team’s performance, and is proud and happy to pay for the privilege. He feels that a “Boycott” or financial show of disapproval would have no effect on our team’s management making adjustments to win back Fan Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction. We simply see things differently.

WW_Who_Dat

I’ve not been able to attend the last 2 home games and the remaining schedule of home games is uncertain. But to add too AG’s point there is a long list of family, friends and ticket seakers so the seats wont be empty.

These tickets have been in the family since 75. My Father passed them on to a cousin in the late 80 with the understanding they would revert back to me after I returned from overseas.

I will probably transfer them to my son in the near future. Don’t think people will be giving up tickets based on the teams recent performance. Personally I think there needs to been a clean sweep of the coaching staff. There is a large enough sample size to leave little doubt where the nexus of the Saints problems lie. We donot have to like it but we as fans have llittle to no ability to affect those decisions … rant as may.

SaintFanInATLHELL

Next year's schedule is going to be pretty brutal. It's the AFC West and the NFC East. In addition the 17th game is the AFC North. Presume that we win the South, that will guarantee the first place finishers in the NFC and the AFC North along with those two divisions.

And as of this second it would be the Seahawks in the playoffs, not the Cowgirls.

SFIAH

AsylumGuido

You are fortunate to have had your tickets all of these years, WW. I'm hoping I can start a legacy like your family has enjoyed all of these years.

BakoSaint

There are different perspectives to look at this. I won't argue that New Orleans is a popular tourist destination. But its also very popular with a lot of international tourists who don't care about football. For domestic tourists who do care about football, its not a given that they will buy tickets for enough money that scalpers profit. Thats why season tickets were not sold out in the Ditka and Haslett years. It's not that New Orleans was not an attractive travel destination, its that watching Heath Shuler, Danny Wuerffel, Aaron Brooks, Kerry Collins, or Todd Bouman was not how tourists wanted to spend their time in New Orleans. And if they did decide to catch the game, they were looking for a bargain, not getting into a frenzy to bid up to $500 for the once in a lifetime chance to see Danny Wuerffel light up his home field. Sean Payton and Drew Brees made a Saints road game compelling.

Now lets say the Steelers come to New Orleans a year or two down the road. Will some Pittsburgh fans decide that makes a good trip? Perhaps. But if the Saints are in the gutter and Derek Carr is looking like Colts Matt Ryan, that will make it less compelling. They will be less likely to go to the game, and less likely to be willing to pay a lot for the ticket. And even if 2/3rds will still want to go, removing 1/3rd of the bidders on StubHub might cut the market for the tickets drastically. And also you will have less Saints fans bidding on those tickets too. Inventories will soar, prices will fall, and tickets will sell for less than they used to, and fans will get used to paying less.

But Pittsburgh is a good team so even if a ticket sells for $300 not $500 the scalpers may still make money on that game. The problem is, making money in total with all the games. Scalpers have to buy all the tickets, and it used to be that all the tickets features Drew Brees. Now some of the tickets are Carr vs Mayfield or Carr vs Ridder. And they have to buy 1-2 preseason games where the tickets are hard to give away. And then if we are in Ditka/Haslett mode with DA, how many Atlanta, Carolina, and Tampa fans are going to want to come to New Orleans and pay top dollar for tickets to watch a crappy game? If the Saints are bad, and especially if other division teams are bad too which is the case now, scalpers stand to lose money on a lot of games. Sure, they might make money on a few big games, but not as much money if the Saints are bad, the games are less compelling, and you dont have locals without season tickets bidding for those games too. But then they may lose money on a lot of games too with preseason, meaningless week 16-17 games, boring division matchups between two bad teams that play here every year, etc.

And stubhub etc take high fees. To make money on tickets you really need to be able to sell like 4+ tickets a year for twice what you paid and at least sell everything but preason for face value or better. It's very possible for scalpers to lose a lot of money reselling tickets if they have expensive tickets for a bad team without a marquee star. Many ticket holders may be scalpers, much of the waiting list may be scalpers, and they will all flee if they start losing money. So actually, scalpers are a big reason season tickets could fall off a cliff and not be sold out.

I got season tickets when I lived in New Orleans and didn't want to give them up when I moved away so I know how it is. I sold many tickets for awhile so I could afford to keep the season tickets and go to a few games. But over time it got harder. Certain sections can be underpriced and amount to printing money when the team is good, but then price adjustments can come out of the blue and double the price of an underpriced ticket. I am not sure of the exact figures but it seems like a lot of ticket selling sites take a lot of the money, or list your ticket for more than you actually get so if you list for $150 they may show the ticket as $175. And if its a bad game, its hard to break even. And preseason it can be hard to give away or sell for $20. Its also a hassle to list the tickets. Some scalpers may already be losing money, but being close enough to breaking even that they are holding on with the memories of past profits. If we keep DA and the team really gets in the gutter, they may take big losses and drop out.

The Pelicans also play in New Orleans. Tourism is very similar around their adjacent stadiums. But the Pelicans don't sell out, because they don't have a reputation as a marquee franchise with a marquee star everyone wants to see. If the Saints keep losing and Pelicans start winning, the scalpers will get Pelicans season tickets.

Ultimately the best thing we can do to have more home support is win. Our fans will show up and be loud is we win and a few road fans wont matter. If we lose, less of our fans will show up, and we will be like the Washington Generals for road fans to watch their team destroy, even if those road fans happen to get their tickets even cheaper directly from the box office because we are not sold out. We can't not be a tourist destination, but lots of other teams play in good tourist destinations too, and many of them win.

For an example of how scalpers can lose money, look at the Panthers at Saints game on 12/10. Plenty of upper level tickets starting at $35. Plenty of plaza tickets starting at $100. Figure Stubhub is taking at least 15%. And the lowest priced tickets are priced to sell whille higher price are holding out hope for increased demand. Probably more likely demand plummets the way the two teams are playing and prices fall further.