A German soccer team has found a great way to keep their fans from bailing on the team: They’re offering refunds. Anyone who traveled to watch Energie Cottbus lose, 4-0, to Bundesliga rival Schalke on Friday will have their admission refunded by the team. You hear people in sports say they “take responsibility” all the time for their team performing badly; This is management actually taking responsibility for their fans’ enjoyment. If only the Lions had done the same thing this past season, Detroit may not be in an economic crisis right now.
on Sep 22nd, 2010 at 4:49 PM
The Seattle Sounders FC did the same thing earlier this year when LA Galaxy trounced them 5-0 at their home field.
Except they didn’t do it to just the boatload of dedicated supporters.
They did it for all 35,000 in attendance – most of whom are season ticket holders anyway.
Refunding tickets is an honorable thing to do and it sends the message to the team that this sort of performance wont’ be tolerated.
But it’s a dangerous precedent to set. Sometimes you just have bad days… and your fans need to understand that.