Home Tickets - The Club Has (Still) Got this Wrong

[Xiled]

I've just been looking to buy two adult tickets for friends who want to see the Norwich game.  Despite the fact that the stadium has been at least one third empty for Hull and Preston (stay-away season ticket holders?), there is an absolute dearth of decent seats available:

• South stand - 4 seats in total available, all single seats
• Upper Lansdown - only available with the purchase of a junior ticket
• Lower Lansdown centre blocks - none available
• Lower Lansdown end blocks - quite a lot available if you're prepared to pay £38 for an adult ticket
• Dolman centre blocks - quite a lot available if you're prepared to pay £38 for an adult ticket
• Dolman end blicks - quite a lot available if you're prepared to pay £34 for an adult ticket  

Now, I don't consider any of those £34/£38 "premium" seats.  The original Dolman seats are cramped for people over 6 foot tall and the lower seats are affected by rain if it turns out to be wet on December 15th (!)  The lower Lansdown seats would be okay but £38 each....

What I think I'm trying to say is that there is very little incentive for anyone to buy a ticket (over one month in advance) with such limited choice and only expensive options available.

The match has been moved to 5:30pm presumably to allow for television scheduling.  With the current malaise affecting the team, is the crowd realistically going to be much over 16,000?  I've got my season ticket and that offers good value but it seems to be at the expense of people who want to see a small number of games per season.  The non-attending season ticket holders are now becoming increasingly evident.

The membership scheme still takes 5 homes games to make it worthwhile.  I know there are several "bring your mates for a tenner games" but this isn't going to be one.

Rant over.  I'm going to ask my friends if they're prepared to pay either £34 or £38 each for a ticket.  I'm sure they'll choose to stay away 

[Marcus Aurelius]

Market segmentation at its best. 

[Xiled]

You've got me there Bristol Sport.  I'm such a dip sh*t, I can't even enter the email address that I've been using for 20+ years and been using to buy online tickets since they were first available.

[BCFC1512]

The amount of empty seats in south stand was ridiculous at the pne game despite it being “sold out” online

[Brann-red]

We’ve got two seats next to us which have been empty all season in the south stand - s24. There’s always seats empty yet like you say , there never available to buy. 

Is this really from season ticket holders who just don’t turn up. Doesn’t feel quite believable does it ?! 

[Xiled]

3 minutes ago, Brann-red said:

We’ve got two seats next to us which have been empty all season in the south stand - s24. There’s always seats empty yet like you say , there never available to buy. 

Is this really from season ticket holders who just don’t turn up. Doesn’t feel quite believable does it ?! 

I know for a fact that it isn't just season ticket holders.  The row in front of me is occupied by a succession of different people each matchday but those tickets (8 or more) are not available to buy on the Bristol Sport site.  It's possible that they've already been sold for Norwich but as they were empty for Preston (and have been for a number of other games) this seems very unlikely.  The game is over a month away and I don't get the sense that there's a rush for tickets.

Similarly, s18 of the South Stand never appears to available for sale.  This time it's showing as "sold out" but I would be surprised if 50% of the seats end up being occupied.  They're probably linked to hospitality as a number of them are padded but they're in a decent corner location and I would rather put my friends there than exposed to the elements at the bottom of the Dolman.

[JBFC II]

The south stand thing is funny, every game BS claim it to be sold out but it never is. 

It would be great if we could follow the German clubs in allowing St holders to put their tickets up for sale for games they can't make, then we'd start to see real attendance figures at least... 

[weepywall]

Seat next to me in S19 has been unused this season but is never available to buy.

[phantom]

How many of the seats are "freebies" for staff / friends / family etc that just don't get used? 

Look back at Brentford away top tier furthest right block, was less than half full for the same reason 

[BessexRED]

4 hours ago, Xiled said:

I've just been looking to buy two adult tickets for friends who want to see the Norwich game.  Despite the fact that the stadium has been at least one third empty for Hull and Preston (stay-away season ticket holders?), there is an absolute dearth of decent seats available:

• South stand - 4 seats in total available, all single seats
• Upper Lansdown - only available with the purchase of a junior ticket
• Lower Lansdown centre blocks - none available
• Lower Lansdown end blocks - quite a lot available if you're prepared to pay £38 for an adult ticket
• Dolman centre blocks - quite a lot available if you're prepared to pay £38 for an adult ticket
• Dolman end blicks - quite a lot available if you're prepared to pay £34 for an adult ticket  

Now, I don't consider any of those £34/£38 "premium" seats.  The original Dolman seats are cramped for people over 6 foot tall and the lower seats are affected by rain if it turns out to be wet on December 15th (!)  The lower Lansdown seats would be okay but £38 each....

What I think I'm trying to say is that there is very little incentive for anyone to buy a ticket (over one month in advance) with such limited choice and only expensive options available.

The match has been moved to 5:30pm presumably to allow for television scheduling.  With the current malaise affecting the team, is the crowd realistically going to be much over 16,000?  I've got my season ticket and that offers good value but it seems to be at the expense of people who want to see a small number of games per season.  The non-attending season ticket holders are now becoming increasingly evident.

The membership scheme still takes 5 homes games to make it worthwhile.  I know there are several "bring your mates for a tenner games" but this isn't going to be one.

Rant over.  I'm going to ask my friends if they're prepared to pay either £34 or £38 each for a ticket.  I'm sure they'll choose to stay away 

We have nearly 16,000 STHs and Norwich will bring a few, it’ll be 20k.

[RedM]

14 hours ago, phantom said:

How many of the seats are "freebies" for staff / friends / family etc that just don't get used? 

Look back at Brentford away top tier furthest right block, was less than half full for the same reason 

Staff tickets and other comps ( schools, competition winners etc) aren’t scattered all round the place, they are in one specific block 

[ExiledAjax]

14 hours ago, JBFC II said:

It would be great if we could follow the German clubs in allowing St holders to put their tickets up for sale for games they can't make, then we'd start to see real attendance figures at least... 

I honestly don't get why this isn't done.  Also, surely it would make the club more money as they would effectively sell the seat twice - once to the ST holder and then once again to the POTD person.

[Between heaven and hell]

12 hours ago, BessexRED said:

We have nearly 16,000 STHs and Norwich will bring a few, it’ll be 20k.

on paper maybe,  but not in the ground my friend.

People will stay away because its on the tele and the pub option on a Saturday evening is more attractive than being in the ground.

Yes the attendance will be shown as 20k but realistically I would think between 16 and 17k max.

Unless of course we sack the little one and bring in someone who knows what their doing.

[phantom]

39 minutes ago, RedM said:

Staff tickets and other comps ( schools, competition winners etc) aren’t scattered all round the place, they are in one specific block 

Explains the empty block at Brentford then

[Guest]

15 hours ago, weepywall said:

Seat next to me in S19 has been unused this season but is never available to buy.

S19 is the staff/comps/flag/mascots block - only on sale if demand elsewhere is high/sold out. 

[The Original OTIB]

15 hours ago, phantom said:

How many of the seats are "freebies" for staff / friends / family etc that just don't get used? 

Look back at Brentford away top tier furthest right block, was less than half full for the same reason 

Loads of empty seats at Reading as well.

[RedM]

20 minutes ago, Tomarse said:

S19 is the staff/comps/flag/mascots block - only on sale if demand elsewhere is high/sold out. 

S18

[Laner]

15 hours ago, JBFC II said:

It would be great if we could follow the German clubs in allowing St holders to put their tickets up for sale for games they can't make, then we'd start to see real attendance figures at least...  

Great idea to increase revenue (i.e. selling two seats for one game) but not to give accurate attendance figures.

The only way to get accurate figures is to count the number of tickets scanned through the turnstiles at entry. It's not rocket science and it's technology available now to the Club, if they chose to use it. Which I'm sure they do for business monitoring - the real progress would be if they shared this figure to a wider audience.

 

[phantom]

16 hours ago, JBFC II said:

It would be great if we could follow the German clubs in allowing St holders to put their tickets up for sale for games they can't make, then we'd start to see real attendance figures at least... 

This is already done in this country

 

[JasonM88]

2 hours ago, Laner said:

Great idea to increase revenue (i.e. selling two seats for one game) but not to give accurate attendance figures.

The only way to get accurate figures is to count the number of tickets scanned through the turnstiles at entry. It's not rocket science and it's technology available now to the Club, if they chose to use it. Which I'm sure they do for business monitoring - the real progress would be if they shared this figure to a wider audience.

 

You can see those figures in the Bristol sport website 

[Mr Popodopolous]

13 minutes ago, JasonM88 said:

You can see those figures in the Bristol sport website 

It has posted a few but limited in number and in updates.

 

Quote

 

Recent football attendances included:

Nottingham Forest	18,246
Middlesbrough	16,075
Blackburn Rovers	16,587
Sheffield United	17,140
Aston Villa	21,083

 

 

[Laner]

Is the Forest attendance this season? BBC has 22,395 so that's 4,000 no shows? 

[JBFC II]

21 minutes ago, Laner said:

Is the Forest attendance this season? BBC has 22,395 so that's 4,000 no shows? 

I guess it was early August and loads would have been on holiday, makes sense tbh

[CHIPLEY RED]

I've wondered the same myself.

I'm no longer a ST holder so POTD usually a week or so in advance and I have never been able to get 2 tickets in the South Stand, I'm sure not all are season tickets.

I even bought my Boxing Day tickets on the day they went on sale at about 10am and the stand was sold out.

 

[bengalcub]

It's actually embarrassing how tinpot a club we are at times.

[Xiled]

27 minutes ago, CHIPLEY RED said:

I've wondered the same myself.

I'm no longer a ST holder so POTD usually a week or so in advance and I have never been able to get 2 tickets in the South Stand, I'm sure not all are season tickets.

I even bought my Boxing Day tickets on the day they went on sale at about 10am and the stand was sold out.

 

This was exactly the reason for my original post.  On the face of it, there are still plenty of tickets available for future home games but in reality the choice is far more restrictive than it should be.  The South Stand has excellent views, the best atmosphere and the cheapest adult tickets for home fans.  There have been hundreds of empty seats during recent matches that we know are not all absent season tickets and yet it's not possible to buy two seats together for games that are 4 and 6 weeks away.

Okay, so sit somewhere else is the answer.  But with that restrictive alternative choice, some people will just not bother.  It's revenue lost for the sake of tackling the ticketing situation and actually making all empty seats available for purchase.

The club has been complacent during the last two seasons because attendances have been on the rise since the Lansdown Stand was completed.  But this season, our mixed results and the Sky red button option has significantly hit the crowd that actually passes through the turnstiles.  The club can celebrate 20k+ crowds but we know that the number attending is perhaps 75% of this figure.  The atmosphere is affected and we end up with games like last Saturday against Preston (one of the worst I have ever witnessed).  Food and drink takings must be significantly affected.

I hesitate to use the word tinpot because there are always reasons why ticketing is more complicated than the outsider would see with limited insight.

I made a long and waffling post about the release of season tickets for the Upper Lansdown about 18 months a go.  At the time, the club penalised the fans who put their money down first because their choice was restricted to the end blocks (W8 and W9) where latecomers might have got lucky with more central Upper Lansdown seats that were in the lower rows.  I could see the reasons (stewarding etc) but it was stupidly unfair to people who wanted to commit to a full block of 23 games months before the start of the season.

The whole set of ticketing arrangements needs an overhaul.  Empty seats should be made available to purchase wherever possible.  Genuine incentives should encourage fans to buy tickets for every home match.

[phantom]

10 hours ago, Xiled said:

The South Stand has excellent views, the best atmosphere and the cheapest adult tickets for home fans.  There have been hundreds of empty seats during recent matches that we know are not all absent season tickets and yet it's not possible to buy two seats together for games that are 4 and 6 weeks away.

I really hope that this isn't a factor - try to get more POTD people to pay higher prices

[Bar BS3]

I don’t think the club can be blamed for people who have bought tickets, not going/sitting in their allocated seat. 

I don’t think ticket re-sale is relevant unless it’s clubs where the ground is generally sold out. 

What I have said before and still think, is that a section of the Atyeo should be made a no frills, cheap POTD area. If away allocations are limited to 2,700 then exactly as was done in the Manchester games, we could sell £20/25 tickets, to members for a home section in there. First come, first served. No bars, no additional cost or services, just cheap seats for those who need them. 

They could even be sold 2 weeks in advance. Giving people the chance for more affordable seats, with the SS being sold out. 

[Xiled]

1 hour ago, phantom said:

I really hope that this isn't a factor - try to get more POTD people to pay higher prices

Those POTD people are often fully signed-up supporters.  Some are people who have been visiting Ashton Gate for 50 years or more.  If the only adult tickets for the Norwich match are £34 or £38, why wouldn't the club offer them the choice of the South Stand at a (very slightly) cheaper price (£32)?  And not dictate where they have to sit when there are clearly so many seats available.

-----------------

Bristol City Ticket Office: "You'd like a seat in section 20 of the South Stand for 15th December against Norwich, let me have a look to see what we have available...."

Bristol City Ticket Office: "We have one seat available, row 32, seat 31"

Customer: "That's incredible, you've sold all the other seats for that entire block despite dozens of them being empty most weeks?"

Bristol City Ticket Office: "Ummm....yes.  That's exactly what's happened.  Would you like that seat?  Your daughter will have to sit in the Dolman Stand where we have another empty seat.  Is that okay?"

[CHIPLEY RED]

13 hours ago, Xiled said:

This was exactly the reason for my original post.  On the face of it, there are still plenty of tickets available for future home games but in reality the choice is far more restrictive than it should be.  The South Stand has excellent views, the best atmosphere and the cheapest adult tickets for home fans.  There have been hundreds of empty seats during recent matches that we know are not all absent season tickets and yet it's not possible to buy two seats together for games that are 4 and 6 weeks away.

Okay, so sit somewhere else is the answer.  But with that restrictive alternative choice, some people will just not bother.  It's revenue lost for the sake of tackling the ticketing situation and actually making all empty seats available for purchase.

The club has been complacent during the last two seasons because attendances have been on the rise since the Lansdown Stand was completed.  But this season, our mixed results and the Sky red button option has significantly hit the crowd that actually passes through the turnstiles.  The club can celebrate 20k+ crowds but we know that the number attending is perhaps 75% of this figure.  The atmosphere is affected and we end up with games like last Saturday against Preston (one of the worst I have ever witnessed).  Food and drink takings must be significantly affected.

I hesitate to use the word tinpot because there are always reasons why ticketing is more complicated than the outsider would see with limited insight.

I made a long and waffling post about the release of season tickets for the Upper Lansdown about 18 months a go.  At the time, the club penalised the fans who put their money down first because their choice was restricted to the end blocks (W8 and W9) where latecomers might have got lucky with more central Upper Lansdown seats that were in the lower rows.  I could see the reasons (stewarding etc) but it was stupidly unfair to people who wanted to commit to a full block of 23 games months before the start of the season.

The whole set of ticketing arrangements needs an overhaul.  Empty seats should be made available to purchase wherever possible.  Genuine incentives should encourage fans to buy tickets for every home match.

I actually don't know what is going on with this our newest "best" stand.

If you POTD then you seem to have a choice

1) Buy early and generally have a poor choice in seats without a great view but better atmosphere

2) Wait and hope the upper Lansdown gets opened up with better views but, because its always opened so late, a poor atmosphere due to the type of fans who buy there tickets so late (not having a go at those fans BTW)