'We Do Not Want to Get Stuck with Someone Who Likes the Yankees'
MatchingSox.com, a dating site designed for fans of Boston’s beloved baseball team, puts a price on finding a Red Sox soul mate.
VIDEO: Patrick Lowery and Dawn Graham met on MatchingSox.com, had their first date at Fenway Park and eventually wed in September 2007.Page 2 of 2 -- Yet Lowery and Graham made it to the altar. Their September 2007 wedding was a Sox-themed celebration.
“Our cake top and toasting glasses had the Red Sox logo,” said Graham.
“Patrick had Red Sox on the bottom of his shoes,” recalled Lampa, who attended the wedding. “He got his picture taken with his Red Sox hat.”
Those looking to join MatchingSox can create a profile and post photos of themselves for free. Access to view or contact others on the site currently costs $44.95 a year or $9.95 a week.
WEB SITE
♥ Athletic Dating: "Where athletes work out their relationships"
♥ Singles on the Net: Company with online dating sites for football fans to fishing fanatics
“If anyone is willing to put their faith in trying to look for someone to spend their life with, why not spend the money?” argued Lampa. “It’s like people will spend that money going to Match.com, or they’ll even pay 100 bucks to go see a baseball game. I thought it’s lower than the price of a ticket.”
Even in the current turbulent economy, Lowery said, the potential gains from online dating are worth any cost of admission.
“We want to find ‘The One,’ and you can't put a price on that,” he said. “It's worth the investment for a possible lifetime of return.”
However, Lampa is considering dropping the membership fees.
“I thought it was reasonable, but in these economic times, it is time to do away with it,” he said. “People that live in other states are not going to pay to go on and see that there’s not a lot of people in Iowa or something like that. So I figure make it free, make it more of a social networking kind of thing and that will just have the fans flock to it.”
Besides, Lampa added, he’s not making a profit from the site.
“Basically all the money I’ve made has covered the expenses of the original start-up cost, and I also did a redesign two years ago,” he said. “So, nothing has really been made yet.”
Formulating a strategy for advertising revenue is part of Lampa’s game plan for the site in 2009. Along with “drafting” new members, he hopes to host group outings to Fenway Park and Red Sox-themed bar nights for Boston-area singles.
“They should pick MatchingSox, because they want to share their passion of being a Red Sox fan,” said Lampa. “All the other things — the Chemistry thing, the eHarmony thing — you can spend hours filling out that form, where you go to MatchingSox and be like, ‘All right, I know I want a Red Sox fan.’”
Lowery recommended the site for “fun people who share a great devotion to the Red Sox.”
“It’s really a great way to start a possible relationship,” he said. “The passion runs so deep. You’ll be meeting fellow Red Sox fans, so they can’t be all that bad, right? In the worst case, you might make some new friends.”
YOUR COMMENTSWho does online dating work for?
MORE DISCUSSIONS >>