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Houston Dynamo’s season ticket sales, sponsorship revenue skyrocket ahead of 2024 season

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Feb 21, 2024

Following the Houston Dynamo’s most successful season in recent years and major investments into its home stadium in 2023, the club is seeing a significant increase in interest from both season ticket holders and corporate partners ahead of the 2024 season.

On the field last season, the club reached the MLS Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2017 and won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, its first title since 2018 and fourth overall. Off the field, the club invested millions of dollars into upgrading its seating and building a new premium club at Shell Energy Stadium. The club also added multiple new local restaurants partners to its concessions last season.

Ahead of the Dynamo’s MLS 2024 season home opener on Feb. 24, season ticket sales are up 20% year over year, HDFC President of Business Operations Jessica O’Neill said. That increase is a direct result of the Dynamo’s performance last season and the investments made into the stadium, she said.

Additionally, the club shifted some of its ticketing strategies last year to drive more value for season ticket holders. That included halting almost all discounted tickets and flash sales. O’Neill said that the increase in the season ticket base is an early indicator that some of those ticketing strategies are having a positive impact.

While the club isn’t unveiling any major infrastructure improvements to the stadium this season, it is adding 251 new padded recliners for its sideline seating, replacing the folding chairs the team used before. Those with tickets for the sideline seating will also have access to the new East Club, a luxury those ticket holders did not enjoy before. Those seats are about 80% sold through for the season, showing that there exists a strong demand for premium seating options at the stadium, O’Neill said.

“People see and feel that the building and the experience last year — and even more so this year — is elevated,” O’Neill told the Houston Business Journal.

The club has been approaching its business with a “startup with a history” mentality, a mindset that was evident as it unveiled the Dynamo’s new purple jersey for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. That mindset permeates the team’s ticketing strategy, as well, as the club is “leading with curiosity” to understand different groups of fans, O’Neill said.

She specifically mentioned four groups of people the club wants to understand better: existing Dynamo fans, soccer fans who aren’t MLS fans, sports fans who aren’t soccer fans and the business community. The club is realigning its resources and strategic priorities to focus on the different needs of these groups and, ultimately, entice enough fans to continually sell out Shell Energy Stadium.

The club also takes pride in being the most affordable professional downtown sporting experience in Houston, as O’Neill described it. On SeatGeek, the club’s official ticketing partner, tickets for this season’s games start at as low as $21, with the highest starting price at just $35, as of Feb. 20. That low barrier to entry gives the club an opportunity to expand its reach in the community and get more first-time Dynamo fans into the stadium.

“That (pricing) is important to us to make sure that people can test the waters with our experience,” O’Neill said. “With soccer, especially as we get closer to the World Cup and people are curious about the game, we want there to be a low barrier to entry.”