westex red Posted June 11, 2022 Report Share Posted June 11, 2022 Been a season ticket holder for many many years, and been down the gate since I was 11 years old, being an old git now with walking issues, I would happily pay the price of my season ticket to be able to watch City on BCTV as I can no longer make the games, home or away, which was the usual things I did. Really miss the gate, only made a few games at home last season, and none away, would love to watch every one of their games, no matter what the cost! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowshed Posted June 11, 2022 Report Share Posted June 11, 2022 On 10/06/2022 at 07:03, Olé said: There's an absence of overtly dissenting voices on this thread so if for no other reason let me try out the argument against (besides the revenue/attendance point several have flagged*). It comes down to whether people who follow football see themselves as supporters or spectators. I think the vast majority will say the former - and I think the two are materially different. Support is active not passive, it's meant to represent a level of effort and investment to consummate your allegiance. A spectator is a viewer: passive and purely entertainment focussed. Every one of us I hope remembers their first game, the first time they walked out into a stand (normally into Ashton Gate), the first time they saw live football and the scale of their ground. We need to protect the effort required to experience that buzz, to be able to properly support your club. Otherwise some people will never experience it or others never get addicted to it. Football is not meant to be 'Netflix' or fans will get bored at Bristol City Season 3 Episode 9 and switch over to Forest Season 1 Episode 1 and that might be that. Allegiance requires effort. Allegiance is also about proximity - a convention that would be destroyed by unlocking TV access to any club. And it is about being able to support (as in physically get behind) your team. Even for away games the VPN stuff hasn't sat right with me. How many people hand on heart would have ever made that extra effort to get to an amazing away game if they never had to? Making an alternative and universal point of access to football that requires no effort may stop large numbers - even generations - of people from having experiences that bond them to us. You don't build affinity and loyalty without effort and experiences. A viewer is someone who can switch off. Get people hooked on these experiences, and as we all know, we all come back. (*And obviously the revenue/attendance point is not to be ignored: at a time when football finances are precarious, it's insanity to introduce a lower cost / lower commitment access point). Your referring to what is termed anchoring. Your experiences anchor your affinity and support emotionally. Lessen the experiences and your affinity and sense of belonging to BCFC diminishes. This is not exact because the same does occur to fans who attend for a variety of reasons. An example can be what has happened to atmosphere, standing and fan behaviours. As these behaviours have been controlled, managed the less visceral football experience effects fans, and some fans don’t come back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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