Attendance looks dire..

[Fox92]

http://gobarbra.com/...55818f69e4bf1f9

-1...

[absolutelegend]

I'm a season ticket holder, but live in London. I can't make it to most midweek games or some Saturday ones for that matter, but I go to about 16 or 17 home games per season. I know that other people do the same.

I'm in a similar situation to this, miss most midweek games due to work and some weekend ones due to holidays etc. I was weighing up whether to renew my ST until the point when they decided to put it up by £50+. This made my mind up.

I've had about 4 or 5 calls from the club asking me why I didn't renew. Do they expect people to keep forking out more and more no matter what?

I'm now going to pick and choose my games, so the £50+ increase is causing them to loose a lot of business from me alone, amounting to a lot more than that.

[LCFC_FAN_1995]

http://gobarbra.com/...adfad04493ec97f

[Mack]

Bad result midweek.... Game on TV....Some people on Summer hols....

Add it all up and you have what was a pretty average crowd.

HOWEVER If the dimwots sitting in their armchair watching Sky turned out rather than moaning........................

[roachmachine]

Have to agree, the attendance was dire, but strangely the atmosphere in L1 was pretty good today.

Decent performance, good 3 points, got a bit lucky with the pen, prob the least likey of the 3 shouts, tho were long overdue a slice of luck i think.

Not sure how much the lad knew about the clearance off the line from Dyer either, but not to worry it all came good in the end.

Prices are prob the single most important factor in attendances, even more so the stupid kick off times and being on tv. I did 14 away games last yr, as well as having a season ticket in L1, and there is absolutely no way i will be repeating that this season, football is a luxury and its one more and more people are finding they can't afford. This fact however does not have seemed to penetrate the brains of the marketing people, which is why i fear we will be seeing more and more empty seats in stadiums up and down the country..........

[Raw Dykes]

I haven't read the whole thread, so I might be repeating someone else.

I'm no businessman, but wouldn't it make sense to adjust the prices so that the stadium is nearly full most matches? There's often room for an extra 10,000 supporters at the KP. Most of them are put off by the prices no doubt, so why not encourage them and their cash to attend?

[Guest ttfn]

I haven't read the whole thread, so I might be repeating someone else.

I'm no businessman, but wouldn't it make sense

to adjust the prices so that the stadium is nearly full most matches? There's often room for an extra 10,000 supporters at the KP. Most of them

are put off by the prices no doubt, so why not encourage them and their cash to attend?

Whilst in principle this makes perfect sense, it would be a gamble to assume that another 8-10,000 fans will turn up on a match day just because the ticket is £10 cheaper. And that's why they're not doing it.

This also stems from the season ticket pricing. Tickets can't be made too cheap on the day as otherwise season ticket holders will get pissed off.

You might say "well why not reduce season ticket prices?" but unfortunately there is the same problem there as for on-the-door tickets - what happens if people can't afford even the reduced prices? Then you're just chucking money away.

[Raw Dykes]

Whilst in principle this makes perfect sense, it would be a gamble to assume that another 8-10,000 fans will turn up on a match day just because the ticket is £10 cheaper. And that's why they're not doing it.

This also stems from the season ticket pricing. Tickets can't be made too cheap on the day as otherwise season ticket holders will get pissed off.

You might say "well why not reduce season ticket prices?" but unfortunately there is the same problem there as for on-the-door tickets - what happens if people can't afford even the reduced prices? Then you're just chucking money away.

I see. That makes sense. This is why I'm not in business.

I don't think it will be too much longer before attendances drop significantly all over the country if prices carry on rising as they are now, though. I think that needs to happen before the problem is solved.

[Leicester_Loyal]

If we have a bad run of form this year, I can see the attendance dropping below 15-16k.

[lavrentis]

Is it any wonder at £25 minimum?

Greedy bastards

[davieG]

Does anyone doubt we'd get bigger attendances despite significant price increases if we got promoted to the PL?

Not that I'm justifying high prices or criticising those that would pay the extra and go but the club will know this.

[cc_star]

Forest on a reasonably good run... make deadline day signings that should bump up the attendance... have a 3pm kickoff that isn't at an awkward time and isn't on tv so people can't watch it in a pub or at home and they only get 19,000

Derby got 20,000

Fact is, money isn't easy to come by and it costs a hell of a lot to go as a family and then for the typical male 18-30 supporter, who goes with friends, it was on tv so would go to the pub and we still get roughly the same amount as our local rivals.

There should have been some sort of pie & pint deal though

[smudger63]

To be fair,although the premier league attendances seem to be holding up reasonably well, a lot of attendances throughout the football league seem to be going down at the moment, especially at what would be seen traditionally as clubs with good support..

As has been mentioned, Derby had 20000 yesterday, which is well down on what they have got in previous years, Birmingham got just under 15000, Ipswich just under 17000, Forest 19000 and if you go into league one, the attendance that shocked me most was Sheffield United who only got 8000.

All the clubs ive mentioned would be expecting to average comfortably over 20000 in the past.

If this trend carries on, hopefully the clubs will wake up to the fact that they`re priceing themselves out of the reach of their fans, and will start to lower their prices.

I wouldn`t hold my breath though!

[jonthefox]

Forest on a reasonably good run... make deadline day signings that should bump up the attendance... have a 3pm kickoff that isn't at an awkward time and isn't on tv so people can't watch it in a pub or at home and they only get 19,000

Derby got 20,000

Fact is, money isn't easy to come by and it costs a hell of a lot to go as a family and then for the typical male 18-30 supporter, who goes with friends, it was on tv so would go to the pub and we still get roughly the same amount as our local rivals.

There should have been some sort of pie & pint deal though

If you believe thier drivel, thats about 57 million down on last season. Wankers.

[Guest Bilo]

There should have been some sort of pie & pint deal though

That worked brilliantly in the 10/11 season to be fair. £20 for a ticket, pie and pint was a bargain and it was half that to students.

I think we got 28,000 for Doncaster and the same again for Bristol City on a Friday night. Two unattractive fixtures that exceeded by 5,000 our average last season.

The fans are there in Leicester, we just need them to get value for money. The pie and a pint deal was certainly that.

[MooseBreath]

Attendances need to keep dropping before they will lower ticket prices. As things stand they're still making more on a lower crowd at a higher price than they would be with a lower price and a slightly higher crowd. If our attendances start dropping below 16k-17k then that will really give them something to think about.

[Guest Bilo]

Surely they'd make more selling tickets more cheaply?

28,000 at an average cost of £20 a ticket = £560,000

18,000 at an average cost of £30 a ticket = £540,000

£20,000 is buttons to a club, and in all probability it wouldn't even be that with a pie and pint deal, but the difference in atmosphere that 10,000 extra fans would make could be invaluable.

[Corky]

Crowd I expected, given the Sky TV influence, our difficult start to the season and the midweek defeat.

[Stevie Synex]

Does anyone doubt we'd get bigger attendances despite significant price increases if we got promoted to the PL?

Not that I'm justifying high prices or criticising those that would pay the extra and go but the club will know this.

Just reading this topic and I had the same sort of thought on this.

Supporters are within their rights to be critical of the Clubs ticket pricing policy but think ahead to what would happen if we were to make the promised land. Let us speculate for a moment on the effect of the Manchester's & Chelsea's coming to town and the impact that would have on Season Ticket & Match Day Ticket prices.

[reynard]

To be fair,although the premier league attendances seem to be holding up reasonably well, a lot of attendances throughout the football league seem to be going down at the moment, especially at what would be seen traditionally as clubs with good support..

As has been mentioned, Derby had 20000 yesterday, which is well down on what they have got in previous years, Birmingham got just under 15000, Ipswich just under 17000, Forest 19000 and if you go into league one, the attendance that shocked me most was Sheffield United who only got 8000.

All the clubs ive mentioned would be expecting to average comfortably over 20000 in the past.

If this trend carries on, hopefully the clubs will wake up to the fact that they`re priceing themselves out of the reach of their fans, and will start to lower their prices.

I wouldn`t hold my breath though!

I wouldn't hold your breath. Prices can be reduced but costs would need to come down a lot as well. essentially that means player wages would have to drop probably by about 50% to make a significant difference. if all clubs agreed to do this then ok but the first club to do this risks not being able to acquire the players they and their fans want.

Alternatively corporate sponsorship and other revnue streams need to be increased but at the current stage in the economic cylce this is unlikely.

For convenience let's say we have 15k season ticket holders so leaving 17k tickets for general relase including 3k for the away team so essentially 14k tickets to sell for each match.

At £10 per ticket that would raise 140000

At £20 280000

at 30 420000

But how often have we sold out in the last few seasons?

The problem lies in the owners facing a dilemma. By reducing tickets would you guarantee increased attendance by such a significant amount that would negate the reducing of prices?

let's say you can sell 5000 at £30 then that raises 150k. To raise the same amount at £20 per ticket would require 7500 tickets to be sold. I'm not sure they could and any number less than that = less takings.

[AlphaMaleFox]

I'm the only one who don't gives a fvck about an attendance? What I care is good atmosphere and in my opinion the atmosphere was very good yesterday, specially second half.

Old, worn out Ring of Fire was class

[Guest Bilo]

I wouldn't hold your breath. Prices can be reduced but costs would need to come down a lot as well. essentially that means player wages would have to drop probably by about 50% to make a significant difference. if all clubs agreed to do this then ok but the first club to do this risks not being able to acquire the players they and their fans want.

Alternatively corporate sponsorship and other revnue streams need to be increased but at the current stage in the economic cylce this is unlikely.

For convenience let's say we have 15k season ticket holders so leaving 17k tickets for general relase including 3k for the away team so essentially 14k tickets to sell for each match.

At £10 per ticket that would raise 140000

At £20 280000

at 30 420000

But how often have we sold out in the last few seasons?

The problem lies in the owners facing a dilemma. By reducing tickets would you guarantee increased attendance by such a significant amount that would negate the reducing of prices?

let's say you can sell 5000 at £30 then that raises 150k. To raise the same amount at £20 per ticket would require 7500 tickets to be sold. I'm not sure they could and any number less than that = less takings.

That's much more scientific than my incredibly lazy effort!

In fairness, I think dropping matchday prices by £10 a throw would easily get 2500 more 'walk-ups' on the day. Absolutely no problem at all.

If you cite the examples I did earlier, Doncaster and Bristol City in the 10/11 season, you will see two unattractive fixtures that attracted some of the best attendances of the season; and both saw comparatively small away followings. The impact of matchday offers by the club for those games was huge, so dropping prices would have an impact. It's not the only thing the club can do to attract people back to the ground, but it'd be the quickest way of getting bums on seats.

[Corky]

I was pleased with the atmosphere created, seemed to be a unity amongst the fans.

[Kitchandro]

I think the board need to look at what Derby have achieved.

It's too easy to put it down to poor performances and/or a mediocre team, because Derby fans have had to put up with years of the same yet still get 28,000 plus most weeks.

That means cheaper matchday admission, cheaper season tickets, listening to the fans and acting on what they hear and focusing on making the ground as inclusive as possible; rather than do what is being done at the KP now and target more or less exclusively families with plentiful disposable income. The problem I see is that the "matchday experience" is desirable to families with young children but not necessarily fans between 18-30 who traditionally make up a significant part of football crowds.

There's plenty of work to be done and it needs doing before a mediocre season or two brings us down to Coventry levels.

More specifically it means giving out free season tickets

[The Year Of The Fox]

I just wish on the odd occasion you hear the Kop from L1 that L1 follow their chants.

It happened twice yesterday but We just seem stunned that the Kop are singing!