Sockers Season-Ticket Sales Rise as Effort Begins to Save Franchise
Early response from the Save Our Sockers campaign, not scheduled to kick off in earnest until Thursday, has given the club’s front office confidence that the goal of 3,500 season tickets is attainable.
After the campaign was announced three days ago, the club received 100 deposits by close of business Friday and nearly 100 more when a skeleton crew opened the phone lines Saturday.
If the trend continues, officials hope to have 600 season tickets going into Thursday’s telethon on the Cable Sports Network (Cox Ch. 4, Southwestern Ch. 15, Jones Ch. 25, Coronado Cablevision Ch. 6A).
The nearly 200 are beyond the 2,200 sold last season. The club is shooting for a 100% renewal rate with those.
“Of the 200, most are new season-ticket deposits, plus current season-ticket holders asking for additional seats,” said Tim Latta, director of marketing.
Though Latta said no one is sure how to gauge the response, he found it encouraging.
“No one really knows what to expect since this is our first Save Our Sockers campaign,” Latta said. “We were really looking more long term, hoping to get the majority of our numbers on Thursday (during the telethon), but this kind of response is encouraging. People aren’t waiting. They want to come forward now.”
Since Monday, when owner Ron Fowler announced he can no longer fund the club, behind-the-scenes negotiations have commenced with local groups interested in owning the team.
Fowler will keep the front office open until June 30 in hopes of securing a new investor, but Earl Foreman, commissioner of the Major Soccer League, would prefer to have the matter settled by June 15.
Deposits can be given by phone at 224-GOAL. Season tickets start at $100.
MOTOR SPORTS
Ivan Stewart of Alpine won his second desert off-road race in as many tries Saturday, averaging 48.03 mph in a single-seat Toyota to capture the SCORE Baja 500 at Ensenada, Mexico.
Stewart finished the grueling 428-mile race in 8 hours 54 minutes 38.28 seconds, nearly 23 minutes ahead of Danny Letner of Orange in a Chevrolet pickup.
Stewart won the SCORE-HDRA desert racing championship last season and earlier this year won the HDRA Nissan 400.
