Tuesday Morning Sentimonies: Riders Listen?!

I was as shocked as anyone when the Riders announced that for 2025, Season Ticket holders would have benefits this season. Now in reality it should not be notable that a team does something the thank its most loyal supporters… but this is the Riders. For the last number of years the only thing season ticket holders have gotten is higher concession prices. 

I find it interesting how things are coming full circle. There used to be a time where the team was so desperate for people to buy seasons that they would have offered up anything short of fellatio (and even that was probably not out of the question for the right corporate donor). As the team was gaining popularity under the Shivers regime, season ticket holder packages included swag, treat a friend vouchers, coupons etc… But then things exploded in 2007 and the team was so popular they could literally have put a Rider logo on your dog’s turd and sold it back to you at a crazy mark-up. They stopped having to try. People were going out of their way to throw money at them. It was it as this point that the season ticket packages started shrinking. No vouchers. Then no swag. Eventually no tickets. For the last number of years the season ticket package was simply an email saying your tickets are now loaded.

So while its probably a couple seasons later than it should have been, its clear the Riders have clued into the fact that the effortless money train is waning and they may have to try again. I think its great. There should be perks for those fans at the core of financially supporting the team. I appreciate their effort here and hope it is the start of a larger trend of fan-centric decision making. 

The other notable thing in the announcement of the perks (other than them misspelling Member Appreciation… they must have had to lay off the proofreader to afford the new perks) was a clear indication that the notoriously tone-deaf Riders may actually be listening to feedback. When announcing the gift for season ticket holders they specified that it was “one per seat”. This is no doubt in response to negative feedback received from people like me when the commemorative rings they gave out were one per account regardless of how many seats were on that account (See? Because of me now they have a warning). 

Do I think they have fully turned the corner? No. This is a team that still gives free jerseys as part of their MVP program but insists you get an MVP patch on it even if you don’t want the patch (why should it matter to the team what you want?).  But this is an important step in the right direction. 

I look forward to looking down my nose at people in the normal lines, as I twirl my lanyard in the season ticket holder line. I mean sure I will just end up in the same long concession line paying the same jacked up prices as those folks. But for that fleeting moment, won’t I be high and mighty.