Guest Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Dropping ticket prices to get bums on seats is counterproductive. If you work on the very basic assumption (I've ignored season tickets for simplicity) that we have 20,000 people paying £30 per match thats £600k per match. If you dropped prices by just £5 you'd need to attract 24,000 supporters just to make the £600k, drop prices to £20 and you are looking at a crowd of 30,000 just to make £600k. The simpler answer is to improve the product and shudder 'match day experience' and get more people paying willing to pay premium prices. The product is what it is. 22 guys chasing a samll ball around a field. The match day experience is what you make of it. Some people may like dancing girls at half time, others thai fighting, others junior 5 a sides but that isn't why they pay their entrance fee. getting on for £100 for a family for 90 minutes is disgusting. Reduce the prices or only the well off or the single man can afford to come. That's just my opinion.
fleckneymike Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Yes but if 50% of those 30k spend a fiver on a hot dog, beer or whatever it maybe, thats another 75k in the coffers. less a bit of extra minimum wage for serving it.And that doesn't allow for dad who ends up buying his kid a scarf, shirt, whatever it maybe. filling the ground on £30 a ticket maybe great in the top flight because you can get away with it, but at this level in the current climate, get them in with offers and watch them spend the same money on cr@p essentially without even knowing they are doing it. Those hot dogs and beers aren't free, income from food sales is very small revenue stream. I don't believe that there is evidence to suggest that an additional 4000 people would visit every week if only it were £5 cheaper let alone 10,000 more if it were just £20 a ticket. If price is also their major concern they are unlikely to then go on to spend money on food, drink and merchandising. As it stands you have 22,000 people willing to pay what some believe to be premium rates for an average product, there is no need to lower your prices.
Jace Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Ticket prices are expensive but its the £120 petrol that stops me going to home matches plus £85 for a hotel if I stay over since I'm not from Leicester and don't know anyone but an extra £50 for x2 tickets doesn't help
Babylon Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Ticket prices are expensive but its the £120 petrol that stops me going to home matches plus £85 for a hotel if I stay over since I'm not from Leicester and don't know anyone but an extra £50 for x2 tickets doesn't help Excuses excuses!!
fleckneymike Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 So how old are you? When do you think Football was created? It used to be the game of the people. It's only recently become the game of corporations. The professional game has always been subsidised by benefactors. It may no longer be the local factory owner who subsidises the club but a wealthy foreigner but non the less the game has never belonged to 'the people'. I'm not disputing that ticket prices are expensive, but so are cinema, theatre and theme park tickets. If you want to go way back into history and start with the Cambridge rules and then the Sheffield rules and look at the backgrounds of the men who established the modern game you'll see they weren't working class.
ithuriel Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Looks like only two matches for me over August and September, cant make midweek matches due to work and the Blackpool match is on the box so none of my mates are going. That leaves Peterborough and a match near the end of September.
fleckneymike Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 For once I agree with fleckneymike. First time for everything The owners aren't fools. I'm sure they have 'war gamed' all sorts of ticket price scenarios prior to agreeing on this seasons prices. Each time they will have taken into account 'add on' sales from things like food, drinks, merchandise etc. The realty is that lowering the prices by a few quid wouldn't add that many more to the average gate. To do that the prices would need cutting dramatically, and that simply isn't a viable business option. That's awfully decent of you to agree with me. A thread on ticket prices crops up every season and always seems to ignore basic economics. It would be nice if prices were lower but it makes no financial sense to do so whilst so many are willing to pay a premium price. I think the club have made sensible moves by keeping the store open during the game so family stand holders can access it, the move to a more varied food menu could also see benefits. Ideally you need supporters to get to the ground as early as possible if you are going to maximise food and drink sales so that'll be the next big area to break. We saw moves towards this last season with fans fairs and Christmas markets etc. I'd expect to see shopping and dining complexes open up on the surrounding sites to increase revenue streams (Freemans common is just that little bit too far away).
volpeazzurro Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Stopped having a season ticket a couple of seasons ago after many many years for me and my son due to a change in employment. Last two years we have been going down as and when we can afford it in the 'Just the Ticket' section. Looked at getting two tickets for Peterborough and just can't afford/justify the cost as there's two others at home to consider when forking out such a considerable sum of money. In the current climate, whilst I wouldn't expect the club to actually drop match day prices significantly, would it have been too much to ask to have frozen the prices instead of putting them up? After all, lets be honest, last seasons efforts were hardly a feast of entertainment and has much in reality changed for the club in terms of outgoings? We've got rid of a few few players including the odd higher earner and bought in ones which on the face of it will be getting lesser paid contracts. I'm afraid its the radio again for me this year and perhaps a few less real match day experiences, which in some peoples eyes on here puts me into the 'not a real supporter' bracket I suppose.
Babylon Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 That's awfully decent of you to agree with me. A thread on ticket prices crops up every season and always seems to ignore basic economics. It would be nice if prices were lower but it makes no financial sense to do so whilst so many are willing to pay a premium price. I think the club have made sensible moves by keeping the store open during the game so family stand holders can access it, the move to a more varied food menu could also see benefits. Ideally you need supporters to get to the ground as early as possible if you are going to maximise food and drink sales so that'll be the next big area to break. We saw moves towards this last season with fans fairs and Christmas markets etc. I'd expect to see shopping and dining complexes open up on the surrounding sites to increase revenue streams (Freemans common is just that little bit too far away). If they had reasonable beer prices and actually served something that didn't taste like rats piss I know a lot of people that would go straight to the ground. As it is they end up spending hours in the pub over the road before instead.
Kitchandro Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 The normal match prices are one thing, then you've got the attendances of all the local derbies and other big games being rubbish because they insist on upping them even further. You can try and justify it but it's too much money whichever way you look at it. We didn't reach the 30,000 mark last season and it's hard to see us doing it again in the Championship, which is not a fair reflection of us as a club. Even if we make it into the Premiership, how much is a game against Man Utd going to be? Are we just going to raise the prices to the point where we've got less than a full house for those games? Is it the point of view of the owners that if the stadium is nearly full, they aren't charging enough? Where does it end? Why not just charge 10,000 people £60 per match, surely that's as financially beneficial as now?
Kitchandro Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 If they had reasonable beer prices and actually served something that didn't taste like rats piss I know a lot of people that would go straight to the ground. As it is they end up spending hours in the pub over the road before instead. And it puts people of queuing for stuff at half time as they know they'll miss the start of the second half
Babylon Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 And it puts people of queuing for stuff at half time as they know they'll miss the start of the second half I still don't understand why they can't grasp the fact you need to pour a load in advance. I've been to away games where they have row after row of beers already there and ready to go. We have about 6 pints pre poured and nothing else.
Grey Fox Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 That's awfully decent of you to agree with me. A thread on ticket prices crops up every season and always seems to ignore basic economics. It would be nice if prices were lower but it makes no financial sense to do so whilst so many are willing to pay a premium price. I think the club have made sensible moves by keeping the store open during the game so family stand holders can access it, the move to a more varied food menu could also see benefits. Ideally you need supporters to get to the ground as early as possible if you are going to maximise food and drink sales so that'll be the next big area to break. We saw moves towards this last season with fans fairs and Christmas markets etc. I'd expect to see shopping and dining complexes open up on the surrounding sites to increase revenue streams (Freemans common is just that little bit too far away). Don't get used to it. But on this point I do. Like it or not the club is run as a business. They want to make as much profit as they can. Like I said above, the owners would carefully analyse all pricing levels before they decide on which to go with. The aim for them is to pick the level that makes the most overall profit, not get the most bums on seats. That aim might not sit well with some, but that is how things are in reality. I'm sure all of us, including me, would love ticket prices to be lower. If you don't like the clubs motives or feel you are getting value for money then vote with your feet, don't go. If enough did that then the club might change the prices, but not until. If you are priced out then I feel for you, but the club wont care less as long as they are making as much profit as they can already. They would never admit that because it would be a PR disaster, but I suspect it's true. I don't have to like or agree with it, but that's the way things are.
davieG Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 If they had reasonable beer prices and actually served something that didn't taste like rats piss I know a lot of people that would go straight to the ground. As it is they end up spending hours in the pub over the road before instead. Unreserved seating would also get the irregulars/variable groups in early to bag their seats together.
Babylon Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Unreserved seating would also get the irregulars/variable groups in early to bag their seats together. No worries there as there are huge gaps of empty seats they can all move to.
davieG Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 No worries there as there are huge gaps of empty seats they can all move to. This is true, why pay for an expensive seat when you can move to one from a cheap seat Just the Ticket > Kop, simple!
Babylon Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 This is true, why pay for an expensive seat when you can move to one from a cheap seat Just the Ticket > Kop, simple! Shhhhhhhhhhuuusssshhhhhh.
Grey Fox Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Unreserved seating would also get the irregulars/variable groups in early to bag their seats together. A friend of mine, who lived in Italy a few years back, got himself a season ticket for AC Milan. He said even season ticket holders don't have a reserved seat, everyone can all just sit anywhere they liked. The problem was that half way through the season he lost his season ticket whilst out after a game. The club wouldn't give him a new one because he could have just given it to someone else and they wouldn't know. If that happened here you could go to your seat and find the bloke who had your ticket. So that was one downside. Not that it couldn't be overcome now with the scan card entry system in place I suppose.
Babylon Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 If that happened here you could go to your seat and find the bloke who had your ticket. What idiot would knowingly sit in someones seat with a lost/stolen season ticket?
Grey Fox Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 What idiot would knowingly sit in someones seat with a lost/stolen season ticket? Well exactly, so the club could just issue you a replacement, where as over there they couldn't/didn't. Edit: Think I know what you mean now, they could just use it to get in and sit elsewhere. I guess I don't have the mind of a hardened criminal like you do. Come to think of it I bet some people actually do/did that. The new card system will be their worst nightmare.
Babylon Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 Think I know what you mean now, they could just use it to get in and sit elsewhere. I guess I don't have the mind of a hardened criminal like you do.
ADK Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 So long as people pay the ticket prices they will continue to up prices.
DifferentViewOnFootball Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 My season ticket increased by £400 this year, I'm not rich, just a fool. If you want to be there you can afford it!
brockmyster Posted 17 August 2012 Posted 17 August 2012 £22 for an u18 ticket in J or K is daylight robbery what 14 or 15 year old can afford that
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