Yet another Liberty season subscriber came up to me post-game and asked me about where the Lib were going for the next three years. (Newark!)
The lack of information coming from the Liberty management is giving me a serious case of deja vu. So I went back into the Helen archives to pull a letter I wrote six years ago.
August 10, 2004
Ms. Blazejowski,
As a seven-year subscriber to the New York Liberty, I’d like to express my profound disappointment in how we, as season ticket holders, were treated during the process of moving from Madison Square Garden to Radio City Music Hall.
Instead of making the selection process transparent, you presented RCMH as a fait accompli. Instead of explaining and educating subscribers on the hows and wherefores of the decision making, you left the door open for plenty of disgruntled “They don’t know what they’re doing” and “Why on earth did they choose RCMH!” talk. And there has been PLENTY of that.
Instead of acknowledging the challenges of the move, you sent out a cheery “How much fun is this going to be!” letter. You missed an opportunity to be clear with subscribers on what the seating/sightline issues were going to be. You missed a chance to get us on your side.
Instead of offering subscribers flexibility in their subscription plans, you insisted that the purchase of all the games was a hard and fast policy. No chance to purchase only the MSG seats. No chance to put your season subscription on hold. You missed a chance to make us feel like you understood our concerns.
When some subscribers vociferously and stubbornly complained, and that “hard and fast policy” changed, you did not then go back to those season subscribers who had been told, “It’s all or nothing,” and say, “We’ve modified our policy.” You missed a chance to make us feel like the best interests of ALL your subscribers at heart, not just the ones who harassed you incessantly.
Instead of inviting subscribers to an open house at RCMH to see the various seating options and challenges and get their opinions, you created some obscure seating selection process. Was it by price? Was it by longevity? Was it by throwing darts? We would love to know how we, as seven-year subscribers to club seats 12 rows behind the visitor bench ended up in Row L, forty rows back. And how can you be so unaware of section dynamics as to separate them so profoundly? You missed an opportunity to make us feel like respected fans and that you understood the camaraderie that develops between groups of season subscribers.
Instead of being proactive in the RCMH seating process and making it clear that changes were possible, you left it up to subscribers to gripe amongst themselves and discover that a phone call to the subscription office produced miracles… such as seats only 20 rows away from the court. You missed an opportunity to diffuse discontent and prove you were service oriented.
Hey, we love our New York Liberty. We truly and profoundly do. But this has made us wonder why on earth we bother being season subscribers. You claim we’re the greatest fans but, compared to our friends in many other WNBA arenas, we sure aren’t treated as such.
With the possibility of MSG renovations forcing another eviction, is it any wonder that we’re concerned on how we’ll be treated in the not too distant future?
Sigh. Sometimes deja vu sucks.
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