That said...
Section 8 will never require "membership". It will always open to any and all that want to join in. It's imperative that we push the mission statement to every Fire fan and that the ISA continues to encourage individual supporter groups to form.
Proposal:
1) A voluntary $30 contribution gets you a gift (t-shirt?), with $10 going to the Chicago Fire Foundation.
2) A voluntary $50 contribution gets you a gift (t-shirt and scarf?) with $10 going to the Chicago Fire Foundation.
3) Anyone who buys a season ticket through us gets the smaller gift (t-shirt?) with $10 going to the Chicago Fire Foundation.
Other potential benefits for people in these three categories could be decided later.
Some of the reasoning behind the idea:
- I think it's important that we continue to push season ticket sales. It helps strengthen the ISA and the Club as a whole. Not everyone can buy a season ticket though. I know we have a number of people who live out of state that might want to buy in because they can't make all the games so other options would be available to them.
- We're looking at new online store options that would allow us to do tiered pricing. Individual tickets for games could be priced differently for contributors and those just looking to get in the section. We could keep public pricing such that we're no longer the cheapest ticket and avoid groups buying tickets in the section while still passing on the group saving to the active base. That is, you still see the $15 ticket price while other see and pay the $20 face value.
- I believe in a couple of years we'll be a half a million dollar organization. Not long after that we'll crack the million dollar a year mark. We have elections every year and they're going to have to become more formalized. There will be a day soon when ballots will have to be made ahead of time and out of staters will be able to become involved. Local elections will one day have to limited to the core in some way to keep them honest.
- A structure like this will give an easier opportunity for those outside of Section 8 to get involved. Quite a few people appreciate what that section does and want to contribute. Structure like this will help some of them do so.
- If we can get 1000 season ticket sales/contributions, we'll raise $10,000 for the Chicago Fire Foundation before the season even kicks off. How awesome would that be?
- The Fire should have a club membership option, but they do not. This system could be the precursor to what the Fire should be doing.
Any and all discussion welcome.
Old threads on the topic:
2007: http://www.soccerpub...showtopic=22844
2009: http://www.soccerpub...showtopic=32697