Season Ticket Rip Off

[havanatopia]

I have been looking at Colin Sextone's reply to the complaints of the big season ticket hike. While I believe the man is stuck between a rock and a hard place; i.e. revenue needs to catch up with higher wages etc, his explanation of exactly why he has put them up so much and how they lack any real incentives or loyalty discounts is staggering in it's utter lack of empathy.

As I understand it a season ticket for an adult in the Williams is above £400.00. I believe Oldham, who missed out on promotion, is actually pretty similar...so, OK so far, perhaps. But why is it that a Sunderland season ticket can be had for a paltry £144. A Premiership team. I believe that is an adult ST. Now, even if it wasn't I believe it is still lower than our Under 16 price. There are any number of comparisons... S****horpe is a good one...£289...QPR....£350. Wigan, one league above us is, apparently cheaper even than Oldham. What is going on???

Well, it seems quite simple... top flight football can effectively hold prices down and even reduce them due to the 'lottery' win of Setanta sport and Sky pouring tens of millions in per team even if they finish 20th. We all know, pretty much, about all of this.

I only see the gulf widening and many clubs who do not have such affluent revenue generators will see fit, forced, however you wish to word it, increase ticket prices and, more to the point, punitively.

All of which, perhaps, is of little or no fault to Bristol City. BUT...Mr. Sexstone, the fans deserve a somewhat more respectful explanation and, for example, why discounts and/or incentives were not put in place over and above City Foundation members. Lets not forget that many season ticket holders are not City Foundation members but have been buying ST's year in and year out for a very long time.

Why, for example, could you not offer a reasonable discount to a second person accompanying a season ticket holder who has held that ticket for at least one season; loyalty. Or, offer a non-season ticket holder a discount for every 4th match; loyalty. Or, give a 10% discount for any fan buying a home ticket who produces an away ticket; loyalty. We have given loyalty in bucket loads this season, home and away... how about some in return..instead a slap in the face is what we are offered and then a somewhat patronising explanation.

By all means follow the mantra of our Chairman and keep a keen eye on revenue and expenditure but while you are about it have a thought, once in a while, for the very people who perhaps keep you where you are. Empathy is everything in this business and, right now, many fans feel they are not on the receiving end of much of it.

We all of us want success; we have tasted it this season. Don't drive loyal support away for the sake of the incessant drive for corporates because when finally the bad times return which is as sure as night following day, the corporates will be the first to desert and where will you be then?

Edited May 23, 2007 by havanatopia

[robins72]

I found out today that a season ticket for Derby is £360!! and they could be in the premiership next week!!

[Bristol Boy]

I found out today that a season ticket for Derby is £360!! and they could be in the premiership next week!!

Villa ARE in The Premiership and a Holt End Adult ST is cheaper than an EE or Atyeo.

Oh and as a note to the poster-excellent post-but my ST in The Dolman is £455 (£105 up on last season) and only £20 cheaper than a seat behind the goal at Old Trafford.If I paid on the day it would be........wait for it...........£690..........which is £5 per game DEARER than a seat behind the goal at Old Trafford, based on 23 games

The disconnect I've described at our club is becoming a chasm

Can I also make a comment about the income disparity that is in some quarters (EP) being trotted out as an excuse for this hike and moreover to explain why Premier Clubs, in some cases can charge less.They have about £29m more in TV Money.

Fine, however, they also have far higher wage bills, signing on fees, more staff and spend most of that extra income in the transfer market.I can remember Villa spending £14m on Petrov & Young last season.Charlton spent £11m in the last close season.

Edited May 23, 2007 by Bristol Boy

[havanatopia]

Villa ARE in The Premiership and a Holt End Adult ST is cheaper than an EE or Atyeo.

Oh and as a note to the poster-excellent post-but my ST in The Dolman is £455 (£105 up on last season) and if I paid on the day it would be........wait for it...........£690

The disconnect I've described at our club is becoming a chasm

UNBELIEVABLE. The problem, clearly, is the Premiership cash. Having said that on scant evidence of our new league we are still one of the highest. City must hear what the fans are saying even if they do nothing they must hear our voice.

Would like to compare more with the Championship and League 1 & 2 - where we are all in roughly the same boat.

[midland red]

Posted this over a week ago and nothing has changed!!!!!!

Sorry in advance for this rant which will make me about as popular as Robbored, but i have read so many moans about the

hike in prices to watch city next season that i felt compelled to type.

Some things in this life are out of our control i.e. council tax, income tax and interest rate rises that all happen, we moan but we pay, we will go out and buy a new car and as soon as you drive it off the forecourt you have lost a minimum £1500.

Thousands of city fans have been watching absolute dire football for the last nine seasons and i have to be honest the increase is well worth paying just to avoid those trips to the likes of Chesterfield, Carlisle and Tranmere.

We will have the opportunity to watch a better class of football, go to some different grounds, new ones like Southampton who have all four sides covered instead of standing in the pouring rain at Yeovil.

The argument that we are paying the same if not more than some premiership clubs does not stack up, those in the top tier get sqillions of pounds in TV and sponsorship money and the take through the turnstile is a small portion of their turnover, where clubs in the lower divisions are reliant upon the gate reciepts.

At the end of the day averaged out i do not think between £16 - £20 is a lot to ask and i feel on reflection most people will pay, but you are the customer and if you feel the price is too high then exercise your right and don"t pay it, but you have been through a lot in the last 8 to 9 years to miss out on something you have dreamt about since losing to Brighton in Cardiff.

Rant over.

yours midland red.

[Robbored]

Posted this over a week ago and nothing has changed!!!!!!

Sorry in advance for this rant which will make me about as popular as Robbored, but i have read so many moans about the

hike in prices to watch city next season that i felt compelled to type.

Some things in this life are out of our control i.e. council tax, income tax and interest rate rises that all happen, we moan but we pay, we will go out and buy a new car and as soon as you drive it off the forecourt you have lost a minimum £1500.

Thousands of city fans have been watching absolute dire football for the last nine seasons and i have to be honest the increase is well worth paying just to avoid those trips to the likes of Chesterfield, Carlisle and Tranmere.

We will have the opportunity to watch a better class of football, go to some different grounds, new ones like Southampton who have all four sides covered instead of standing in the pouring rain at Yeovil.

The argument that we are paying the same if not more than some premiership clubs does not stack up, those in the top tier get sqillions of pounds in TV and sponsorship money and the take through the turnstile is a small portion of their turnover, where clubs in the lower divisions are reliant upon the gate reciepts.

At the end of the day averaged out i do not think between £16 - £20 is a lot to ask and i feel on reflection most people will pay, but you are the customer and if you feel the price is too high then exercise your right and don"t pay it, but you have been through a lot in the last 8 to 9 years to miss out on something you have dreamt about since losing to Brighton in Cardiff.

Rant over.

yours midland red.

Good rant - most of which I agree with but I would take the point made by several others about the lack of 'early bird' or loyalty discounts. I can understand why the 30% increase was implemented, after all the extra income form the CCC of about a million quid is soon swallowed up by increases in wages and so on but why the club took the decision not have any opening offers is beyond me.

Surely it wouldn't have cost that much to have had an 'early bird' offer of a couple of weeks just to show some thanks to those existing ST holders who have put up with 9 years of dross but stayed loyal.

[TheBerkeleyBoy]

What I'm suprised at is there was no "special deals" apart from City FOundation one - IE a 3 year season ticket at a special price (money in the bank for the club) as mentioned before buy one season ticket get the other at last year prices (limited number say first 5000), re-new before the last 5 games of last season and you get them at special rate (done this before) or general increase of 35% but if you are a current season ticket holder only a 15%(or so) increase.

Something to reward loyalty, something to think I 'll get one for my kids or Misses, something to make you think "lets get down there asap for the "Sale Prices"

Its a suprise because I thought the board were clever last year with some of the special offers for certain games

[Pete1975Legend]

This is getting boring either buy a ticket or don't, quite simple really

[whooosh]

Good evening Mr Sexstone

[Godzilla]

Villa ARE in The Premiership and a Holt End Adult ST is cheaper than an EE or Atyeo.

Oh and as a note to the poster-excellent post-but my ST in The Dolman is £455 (£105 up on last season) and only £20 cheaper than a seat behind the goal at Old Trafford.If I paid on the day it would be........wait for it...........£690..........which is £5 per game DEARER than a seat behind the goal at Old Trafford, based on 23 games

The disconnect I've described at our club is becoming a chasm

Can I also make a comment about the income disparity that is in some quarters (EP) being trotted out as an excuse for this hike and moreover to explain why Premier Clubs, in some cases can charge less.They have about £29m more in TV Money.

Fine, however, they also have far higher wage bills, signing on fees, more staff and spend most of that extra income in the transfer market.I can remember Villa spending £14m on Petrov & Young last season.Charlton spent £11m in the last close season.

Agree, I personally think the TV money arguement is rubbish. Purely for the reason that if we were to get promoted to the Premiership, I can't exactly see us dropping our prices to fall in line with other clubs!

[megansdad]

How about this one Sunderland can accommodate 48,300 Aston Villa 42,553 Derby 33, 597 and Bristol City around 20,000

Given these simple facts it seems pretty easy to work out that our prices will have to be greater than theirs to allow us to generate reasonable revenue and it is therefore far from surprising that they can offer season tockets at less than we can.

[pdgifford64]

I`m absolutely fuming. Getting CCC football at AG next season has to be the BIGGEST slap in the face the club has delivered yet !!

PDG

[Beezey]

[rednotblue]

It's quite simple really, supply and demand.

Yes I agree long-term season ticket holders should be rewarded but sadly Mr. Sexstone is far more interested in lining the clubs coffers.

Solution??

NOBODY buys a season ticket as a matter of protest and a boycott of the first home game, unless the club are willing to drop the season ticket prices. Drastic yes but effective???

[Beezey]

It's quite simple really, supply and demand.

Yes I agree long-term season ticket holders should be rewarded but sadly Mr. Sexstone is far more interested in lining the clubs coffers.

Solution??

NOBODY buys a season ticket as a matter of protest and a boycott of the first home game, unless the club are willing to drop the season ticket prices. Drastic yes but effective???

So your urging fans to boycott the club that has just won promotion to the championship, you want to start the new season in that divison on a downer, reduced funds avalible to the manager, smaller squad than needed ?

A little drastic don't you think ?

[devonrobin]

It's quite simple really, supply and demand.

Yes I agree long-term season ticket holders should be rewarded but sadly Mr. Sexstone is far more interested in lining the clubs coffers.

Solution??

NOBODY buys a season ticket as a matter of protest and a boycott of the first home game, unless the club are willing to drop the season ticket prices. Drastic yes but effective???

sorry ive already paid 4 mine

[Strictly Obi]

i am genuinely sorry to hear that it seems many loyal fans will be unable to afford the ST price increases, but this is the world we live in. I also agree an earlybird scheme should have been implemented for loyal supporters. But you pay for what you get, i think the prices are a sad relection of the state of the game, players wages etc. However i agree with the price increases, and if the club are to compete at this level and attract good players, then prices are justified! I think the Premiership is a different kettle of fish (as stated in an earlier post) as attendance income is not so important when clubs recieve huge TV payments. Overall the prices seem to be in line with most other CC clubs.

[Bristol Boy]

Some things in this life are out of our control i.e. council tax, income tax and interest rate rises that all happen, we moan but we pay, we will go out and buy a new car and as soon as you drive it off the forecourt you have lost a minimum £1500.

Cheap car to start with, then

Thousands of city fans have been watching absolute dire football for the last nine seasons and i have to be honest the increase is well worth paying just to avoid those trips to the likes of Chesterfield, Carlisle and Tranmere.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to reward that kind of loyalty, would it?.Particularly as when we are in the sh1t again, and as sure as day follows night we will be, those people will be asked to keep the faith and buy ST 's again

We will have the opportunity to watch a better class of football, go to some different grounds, new ones like Southampton who have all four sides covered instead of standing in the pouring rain at Yeovil.

Could well be at Yeovil next season

The argument that we are paying the same if not more than some premiership clubs does not stack up,

Yes it does

those in the top tier get sqillions of pounds in TV and sponsorship money

Correct

and the take through the turnstile is a small portion of their turnover,

Wrong.The majority of Man Utds income is till via ticket sales and people visiting Old Trafford on matchdays

where clubs in the lower divisions are reliant upon the gate reciepts.

They may be more reliant in some cases but City, for example, have speonsors & TV money just not as much as Prem Clubs.

Rant over.

Nothings changed because the premise is wrong.We are not competing with Premier League Clubs for ST sales or an audience.Neither will we compete in the transfer market with them, we can't unless SL decides to plough more of his personal fortune into the club and he gives little indication of doing that.

Prem Clubs will have to spend about 4-8 times what we will on wages and far more on transfers/signing on fees, so they need as much as they can get.They are reducing prices for one reason-People stopped going and, if prices go up, even more will.The game is being slowly priced beyond it's customer base and £30 to sit in The Dolman to watch Colchester on a wet & cold Thursday night, ain't going to happen.

As you say, people may well renew this season or buy an ST because of their excitement or the novelty of Championship Football.Corporate Hosp may well boom due to the attraction of the opposition in the main and that's an area where I have no issue with the club cashing in because those are the people who'll walk away, unlike me, if we're relegated or are unsuccesful.

Loyalty may well be a forgotten word in Football-but that cuts both ways as Wigan, Blackburn & Bolton all found out last season.Sunderland previous regime took their fans for granted and lost 10,000 ST Holder last season that they have had to reduce prices to bring back, even on the back of promotion.

Forget the TV because if people walk away from the game it will die and, as you have said, that's even more relevant from a lower league perspective.

[westex red]

Just renewed mine you misserable lot, get a life!!

[westex red]

Just renewed mine you misserable lot, get a life!!

(make that one s, not 2, sorry)

[screech]

The majority of the Bristol public are not City or Rovers fans, in fact I'll bet there are more Man Utd and Liverpool fans in Bristol than City and Rovers put together.

Once you start pricing out the loyal support, they will turn their backs on the club for good, added to that, sky sports is a much cheaper option for the neutral fans and charging £25 -£30 POTD per game is hardly going to entice them to come when £30 a month gets them at least 3 games a week from the premier league.

The fact is Man utd and Liverpool have enough support around the world to fill their grounds whatever the price, Bristol City do not have much to play with, these kind of prices will sort out who can and who can't, a season on from this one and you'll find out who diehards are, who'll pay whatever, and I'm guessing it will be less than 13000.

[Chappers]

Personally, I think many are over-estimating the draw of Championship football. Likelihood is that we will be mid-low table, and after the first few weeks will hardly be packing fans in, especially for the more mundane opponents. Matchday takings may not be that great, and what really worries me is the knock-on effect next year, once the novelty and excitement of promotion wears off. And if we are relegated, the chickens will well and truly come home to roost.

In my opinion, the prices went up just a bit too much, the axing of the early bird was a major error, the limit of 10,000 before inflicting another increase is a major mis-judgement, the lack of cheap family tickets will lose a lot of customers, and potential ones, and the unsympathetic utterances from City (Even if they don't give a damn, just pretend!) don't help.

There just seems to be an assumption (And many posters are also making it) that fan numbers are static, and the increased prices = more money. A bit more thought and care, and we could have had the same revenue with more customers, thus increasing match-day revenues from food/ programme sales as well. And improving the atmosphere!

[Portland Bill]

How about this one Sunderland can accommodate 48,300 Aston Villa 42,553 Derby 33, 597 and Bristol City around 20,000

Given these simple facts it seems pretty easy to work out that our prices will have to be greater than theirs to allow us to generate reasonable revenue and it is therefore far from surprising that they can offer season tockets at less than we can.

The difference IMO is that Sunderland,Villa and Derby will now probably fill there grounds because of there prices being LOWER. But we wont because of the HIGH COST of our tickets.

Surely it would make sense to FILL our ground every other week with more affordable prices.

I was going for the S/T option with my 2 lads this year but now cant afford it.So with POD prices going up big time as well, the 3 of us will probably only go to about 10 home games.

There are bound to be others like me who wanted to get S/T,and we are part of the loyal 8-9000 so i cant see many "floating"fans paying the extra.

If our gates go UP this season i think it will only be because of the increase in away support at Ashton Gate. It could ( and should) have been so different.

Edited May 24, 2007 by Portland Bill

[Portland Bill]

Just renewed mine you misserable lot, get a life!!

Ive got a life but unfortunatly not a money tree

[Bristol Boy]

How about this one Sunderland can accommodate 48,300 Aston Villa 42,553 Derby 33, 597 and Bristol City around 20,000

Given these simple facts it seems pretty easy to work out that our prices will have to be greater than theirs to allow us to generate reasonable revenue and it is therefore far from surprising that they can offer season tockets at less than we can.

So on that basis Man Utds would be fourpence & Colchesters £5,000 :noexpression:

Try again

[Bristol Boy]

I`m absolutely fuming. Getting CCC football at AG next season has to be the BIGGEST slap in the face the club has delivered yet !!

No, the biggest slap was the one in the face of loyal fans & families who've kept this mob in existence for the last nine seasons.

[rednotblue]

So your urging fans to boycott the club that has just won promotion to the championship, you want to start the new season in that divison on a downer, reduced funds avalible to the manager, smaller squad than needed ?

A little drastic don't you think ?

Of course it's drastic, how else are the club going to listen??? If nobody buys a season ticket the club HAVE to reduce them. If fans don't attend games the club has to re-act.

Mr. Sexstone should either rectify his mistake or resign.

It's more terrible that the club are not rewarding loyal fans who have seen so many seasons of nearlyness for nearly a decade.

I for one will be going to the first home game of the season because it is out first home game in the championship., however I won't buy a season ticket because I can't afford it.

I'd like to add that I very much doubt season ticket sales will impact whether or not SteveL makes money available to GaryJ.

[baggsy]

sorry but cant afford to renew, would love to renew after having a season ticket through all the div 3 (league 1) years but this increase is pricing me out of AG.

See you at the small club home game ( when not sold out ) or more than likely the cheaper but bigger club away matches.

[havanatopia]

Midland Red... you have missed the essential point of my thread because I acknowledge the prices [may] have had to go up.

If you read it again over a nice cup of ground coffee you might see it differently and correctly.

[havanatopia]

Good rant - most of which I agree with but I would take the point made by several others about the lack of 'early bird' or loyalty discounts. I can understand why the 30% increase was implemented, after all the extra income form the CCC of about a million quid is soon swallowed up by increases in wages and so on but why the club took the decision not have any opening offers is beyond me.

Surely it wouldn't have cost that much to have had an 'early bird' offer of a couple of weeks just to show some thanks to those existing ST holders who have put up with 9 years of dross but stayed loyal.

Precisely.