Special Deals For Stoke And Southampton Games

[Redhyde]

I cannot see people taking up the offer. As you have to take up the offer in advance, it's using the standard Dolman B block pricing

£52 becomes £47

£32 becomes £27

The thing about floating fans is that they don't plan to go to consecutive games, if they go to the first game they'll go

"I enjoyed that, I'll go to the second one, and great i've got five pounds of it too, bargain i'll definitely go."

They won't go

"wow, £5 off spread out over two matches, i'll definitely pay that large lump of money in one go because i like blindly handing out lots of money for something i don't enjoy enough to go every week to."

EDIT Anyone know (yes i'm sure the ticket office does but i don't care enough to rind them ) what percentage are advance ticket sales compared to POTD? Can't be that high otherwise there'd be a flat rate and the price wouldn't jack up the prices for paying later!

[gamon]

are you going to the Supporters Trust meeting this evening? perhaps you should and tell someone who actually is interested, because all your are bascially doing on here is constantly spamming everyone with your every repetitve view.

stealth charge = credit/debit/booking charge as charged by pretty much ever other part of the entertainment industry when booking tickets via telephone and internet.

Are you?

You are totally out of order having a dig at Bristol Boy.

I have met the bloke during a 3 hour meeting with Lansdown, Sexton, Draisey and Harman. Bristol Boy is a very good fans representative, if he has got something to say he will say it to the club.

An ideal candidate to run the trust if he so wished.

[zookeeper]

Noone's talking about removing the reason they bought it. They bought it to watch 23 games of football in the cheapest way possible and that isn't going to change.

Actually they bought it knowing that they would miss a few games but it was cheaper than paying the pod price. If they bring the price down to 10% above a season ticket missing 2 games makes it just as cheap to buy on the day. That was the choice then and they made the decision knowing the facts as they stood.

It was an incentive for them to buy!!

I think city need to start viewing income for what it should be for a football club, a means to an end. They seem to be focussed on it to the exclusion of everything else, like actually having a game of football watched by the fans.

We're only a business out of necessity, the club's goals should be football goals not revenue ones. Generating revenue is NOT going forward and never will be.

In the short term I think it's likely to yes, you don't need to sell many more tickets. Reducing the prices isn't the only thing that needs to happen though, we need to actually market them and remove the barriers to selling them.

Substantial price reductions that attract more people to the club will without question massively increase the revenue in the longer term. The payoff is a bigger fanbase, and a fan gives the club money for 40-60 years not one season.

Income is a means to an end. The club isn't there to make profit but it needs to break even. The club has to compete on and off the pitch. The team and staff that we currently have cost money and this season we need to break even. It makes income generation vital! Football is a business and should be run as such (which includes keeping the customers happy).

We've discussed the long term vs short term benefits before and at the moment we disagree where the priority should lie.

[Dolman Block B]

Are you?

You are totally out of order having a dig at Bristol Boy.

I have met the bloke during a 3 hour meeting with Lansdown, Sexton, Draisey and Harman. Bristol Boy is a very good fans representative, if he has got something to say he will say it to the club.

An ideal candidate to run the trust if he so wished.

Could,nt agree more Gammon.

He gets a f@@@@@ hard time on here by some fans/people, yet its hard to disagree with anything he says, and his knowledge of BCFC is second to none!

Personally, he can have a arguement or conversation with anyone, but is rarely wrong.

Along with Nibor, the best posters on here by a mile!

Now where,s those pints they offered me......

[Drew Peacock]

The stealth charge is being dropped (or reduced) soon isn't it?

[Bristol Boy]

The stealth charge is being dropped (or reduced) soon isn't it?

I haven't heard that Drew, but I'll welcome it with open arms as a major step forward.

For what it makes us, it can't be worth the hassle and it's an obstacle to doing what's needed.......SELLING TICKETS.

Let's give people reasons to go as opposed to reasons to stay away.

[Bristol Boy]

Actually they bought it knowing that they would miss a few games but it was cheaper than paying the pod price. If they bring the price down to 10% above a season ticket missing 2 games makes it just as cheap to buy on the day. That was the choice then and they made the decision knowing the facts as they stood.

It was an incentive for them to buy!!

Income is a means to an end. The club isn't there to make profit but it needs to break even. The club has to compete on and off the pitch. The team and staff that we currently have cost money and this season we need to break even. It makes income generation vital! Football is a business and should be run as such (which includes keeping the customers happy).

We've discussed the long term vs short term benefits before and at the moment we disagree where the priority should lie.

The problem is that the some of the POD fans who made up about 40% of our average gate last season have bought ST's whilst others are either staying away or attending less regularly.

The 800 or so who didn't renew according to the FCF have joined those absent fans and, whatever your view on prices or solutions suggested surely it's a start if we all agree on one thing.

We haven't got enough fans to fill a fairly small stadium inspite of acheivements on the field being the best in years-Now, we need to find a way to bring people in who are not as committed as we are.

I'm in favour of trying virtually anything to get to the bottom of the situation and resolve it and this latest initiative, whilst welcome and a move in the right direction, wouldn't appear to have overwhelming appeal-Although, in fairness, if the Soton & Stoke games see a big hike in gates, that'll prove us all wrong and that'll be fine with me.

[SE23Red]

Another 8,600 (From Sheff Utd gate of 13,000) Ground capacity is 21,600 at £15 a head.

I know we have to have some segregation but the whole thing needs looking at.

The away fans have averaged 1,200 this season but that goes from 450-2,000 so we need flexible thinking and accommodation.

Don't forget that the 3,500 (home and away) 'happy' to pay £25 will all pay the lower ticket price so a revenue loss of 35k a game comes from them.

Before we do anything, we need to make the games attractive to the casual supporter and it's clear that it isn't at present.

Agreed. My estimate of the sweet-spot with the pricing would be £19 Atyeo, £21 Williams/Dolman, £23 Dolman centre and no stealth charges. That way the club can market* the ability to watch Championship football in Bristol for less than £20, maintain a healthy saving for ST holders, and would need to find ~500 extra fans per game to avoid losing revenue.

*I know - but they could try it!

[zookeeper]

The problem is that the some of the POD fans who made up about 40% of our average gate last season have bought ST's whilst others are either staying away or attending less regularly.

The 800 or so who didn't renew according to the FCF have joined those absent fans and, whatever your view on prices or solutions suggested surely it's a start if we all agree on one thing.

We haven't got enough fans to fill a fairly small stadium inspite of acheivements on the field being the best in years-Now, we need to find a way to bring people in who are not as committed as we are.

I'm in favour of trying virtually anything to get to the bottom of the situation and resolve it and this latest initiative, whilst welcome and a move in the right direction, wouldn't appear to have overwhelming appeal-Although, in fairness, if the Soton & Stoke games see a big hike in gates, that'll prove us all wrong and that'll be fine with me.

Two initiatives that have come from Bristol Rugby this week.

£5 drop on all ticke prices if bought in advance (deadline was today lunchtime) and

an email from the club captain saying how important it is for a loud, passionate and large crowd.

Good ideas in my opinion and easy to do. Email out to all those people who have bought tickets online and see what happens.

I guess what we are arguing is whether to go in with the deal of all deals that drags people off the streets fills the gate or go in softly with the chance to increase it if necessary.

I think a big deal would have recieved a lot of criticsm from season ticket holders.

[maidenheadred]

why does nobody ever note that last time we went up, crowds were crap?

even when we werent obviously going down, and were playing big teams? despite fact we had a much much more exciting pre-season in terms of players signed, and were much more fancied to do well by the bookies?

could it just be that we don't have as many supporters as we think we do.......?

[Nibor]

why does nobody ever note that last time we went up, crowds were crap?

even when we werent obviously going down, and were playing big teams? despite fact we had a much much more exciting pre-season in terms of players signed, and were much more fancied to do well by the bookies?

could it just be that we don't have as many supporters as we think we do.......?

Last time we went up:

Crowds across the whole of football were 20% lower than they are now

Crowds were counted at the turnstile instead of counting ticket sales (meaning the same crowd counts as just under 10% higher now than it did before due to non attendees who've purchased tickets).

Because of this, in relative terms our attendance now is much lower than last time we were in this division despite the fact that we've been top of the league.

We obviously have over 40,000 people who are prepared to watch City. The challenge is to turn some of them into people who are prepared to come every week, and exhorbitant prices simply won't do that and are harming the club's long term future.

[robins72]

Last time we went up:

Crowds across the whole of football were 20% lower than they are now

Crowds were counted at the turnstile instead of counting ticket sales (meaning the same crowd counts as just under 10% higher now than it did before due to non attendees who've purchased tickets).

Because of this, in relative terms our attendance now is much lower than last time we were in this division despite the fact that we've been top of the league.

We obviously have over 40,000 people who are prepared to watch City. The challenge is to turn some of them into people who are prepared to come every week, and exhorbitant prices simply won't do that and are harming the club's long term future.

From going to the question and answer session we have broken even with ticket sales so far this season. That included the money that we have had from sky. Its extremely hard to get people to go and watch football week in week out. The club arent going to give away tickets nor offer reduced ones regularly just to put bums on seats. I think its going to be a slow process of winning over joe public but can he afford every home game?

[Nibor]

From going to the question and answer session we have broken even with ticket sales so far this season. That included the money that we have had from sky. Its extremely hard to get people to go and watch football week in week out. The club arent going to give away tickets nor offer reduced ones regularly just to put bums on seats. I think its going to be a slow process of winning over joe public but can he afford every home game?

Well then frankly the club have got it so completely wrong it's scary.

Noone's asking them to give away tickets, just to charge a reasonable price that makes it even slightly possible to attract new fans. There's not one new season ticket holder within a few rows of me in the middle block of the dolman despite our promotion and there being plenty of spare seats.

It's extremely hard to get people to go and watch football every week when you charge them stupid prices to do so, yes. There is not going to be any slow process of winning over joe public if he doesn't think it's worth buying a ticket even once.

How exactly do they think other Championship clubs from smaller catchment areas with more competition manage to get double our attendance?

Did they pay attention to the experiments done by the likes of Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan?

Do they think that it would be better to struggle to break even this season (and fail - average attendance is going to be lower at the end of the season) and every following season or to use the high we're on now to attract fans that will make the future less of a struggle? Besides, a fiver off tickets likely won't even affect the revenue they generate, they're selling **** all match tickets anyway.

I really do despair of the commercial incompetence of our club sometimes, Sexstone really hasn't got a clue about the mindset of his potential customers at all.

[SE23Red]

why does nobody ever note that last time we went up, crowds were crap?

even when we werent obviously going down, and were playing big teams? despite fact we had a much much more exciting pre-season in terms of players signed, and were much more fancied to do well by the bookies?

could it just be that we don't have as many supporters as we think we do.......?

The frustration for many people is they can see that now is the time to break that trend. City have not been playing this well, been as high up the league or getting so much positive local and national press for a generation.

On the pitch everything appears to be right for the fans to be flooding back. So it seems reasonable to ask if the same is true off the pitch.

It is too soon to be defeatist and accept 13k crowds as the best we can attract, if more realistic pricing was tested and failed then you would have to start thinking Bristol will never be a football city...

[robins72]

Well then frankly the club have got it so completely wrong it's scary.

Noone's asking them to give away tickets, just to charge a reasonable price that makes it even slightly possible to attract new fans. There's not one new season ticket holder within a few rows of me in the middle block of the dolman despite our promotion and there being plenty of spare seats.

It's extremely hard to get people to go and watch football every week when you charge them stupid prices to do so, yes. There is not going to be any slow process of winning over joe public if he doesn't think it's worth buying a ticket even once.

How exactly do they think other Championship clubs from smaller catchment areas with more competition manage to get double our attendance?

Did they pay attention to the experiments done by the likes of Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan?

Do they think that it would be better to struggle to break even this season (and fail - average attendance is going to be lower at the end of the season) and every following season or to use the high we're on now to attract fans that will make the future less of a struggle?

I think we need to realise that the premiership clubs have 40 million pounds to play with that we don't. Whilst I don't agree with what the club have done regarding pricing I can see they're in a no win situation here. With wages doubling from our promotion to the championship the money has to come from somewhere.

[Frome Valley]

I think we need to realise that the premiership clubs have 40 million pounds to play with that we don't. Whilst I don't agree with what the club have done regarding pricing I can see they're in a no win situation here. With wages doubling from our promotion to the championship the money has to come from somewhere.

Premiership clubs have wage bills to match and Villa reduced prices.

This was a huge opportunity to increase fans in the stadium, get young fans hooked, create goodwill all gone before a ball was kicked.

[Henry]

I think we need to realise that the premiership clubs have 40 million pounds to play with that we don't. Whilst I don't agree with what the club have done regarding pricing I can see they're in a no win situation here. With wages doubling from our promotion to the championship the money has to come from somewhere.

They can put the club in a win situation.

Yes the money does have to come somewhere but the point is, if they pricing had been done properly they would have got MORE money in and MORE bums on seats.

So EVERYONE would be a winner. Its so simple, I just don't know why the club cant understand.

[bringbacktherobin]

The percentage of Under 24's turning up to watch live football have dropped from around 25% of the gae to around 10%.

Taken from the football supporter which is the offical magazine of the football supporters federation.

The prices that city are charging proves it.

Under 24's not being able to go into the stand they might want to, ticket prices being too high.

The older element of city arnt going to live forever then what is going to happen?

Under 16 tickets are £16 on the day i think unless you go lower dolman, Under 16's cant afford to spend £16 every other week.

The club are shooting themselves in the foot.

[robins72]

My main concern is not this season but next season and IF we got relegated what would happen then? Would people renew their season tickets?

[Nibor]

I think we need to realise that the premiership clubs have 40 million pounds to play with that we don't. Whilst I don't agree with what the club have done regarding pricing I can see they're in a no win situation here. With wages doubling from our promotion to the championship the money has to come from somewhere.

I think we need to realise that the Premiership clubs that did experiment with the prices MADE MORE MONEY as a result of the increased attendances.

This "money has to come from somewhere" argument is a logical fallacy, getting the pricing right means making MORE money, not less. It's just medium to long term thinking, not shortsighted thinking.

[bh_red]

We obviously have over 40,000 people who are prepared to watch City. The challenge is to turn some of them into people who are prepared to come every week, and exhorbitant prices simply won't do that and are harming the club's long term future.

eh? based on what?

[bringbacktherobin]

Based on the number that has gone to the cup finals

[Nibor]

eh? based on what?

Eh? based on the fact that on several occasions more than 40,000 people have shown up to games.

[Frome Valley]

My main concern is not this season but next season and IF we got relegated what would happen then? Would people renew their season tickets?

Citys gates have droppped second season in this division before same thing happened at Cardiff, Plymouth, Qpr, Sheff W in recent seasons which why we should be doing all to attract fans in now to try and keep them.

[Frome Valley]

eh? based on what?

Dressed in red sighted in Cardiff.

[Seend Red]

Spot on Frome. I said at the time the pricing released for ST & POTD were going to alienate alot of people and the club would pay the price for these decisions in the long term rather than the short.

I'll be very interested in ST prices next season, they will have to tread carefully as the novelty factor would of worn off by then so not as many will be willing to pay up if another OTT price hike is introduced.

[WarksRed]

A crude calculation here

taking out the 9000 season ticket holders from our average gate of 14,000 ..

that leaves 5000 paying an everage £27.50 a ticket on the day ........ that = £137,500

if on the day ticket prices were reduced to £20 average as mention elsewhere on here , we would need 7000 pay on the day for the same revenue ......

ok . theres no allowance for the 'goodies' the extra 2000 might buy ..........

but ..

at £20 average per ticket, do you think we would get an extra 2000 at each home game ???

[Frome Valley]

[Henry]

A crude calculation here

taking out the 9000 season ticket holders from our average gate of 14,000 ..

that leaves 5000 paying an everage £27.50 a ticket on the day ........ that = £137,500

if on the day ticket prices were reduced to £20 average as mention elsewhere on here , we would need 7000 pay on the day for the same revenue ......

ok . theres no allowance for the 'goodies' the extra 2000 might buy ..........

but ..

at £20 average per ticket, do you think we would get an extra 2000 at each home game ???

I doubt very much the average is quite as high as £27.50, but for arguments sake, lets say it is.

I reckon we would get 2000 extra fans, after a few games for the word to spread about and whatnot.

Also the 'goodies' do make a big difference, just say those 2000 spend an average of £5 a game, each game we'd get an extra 10 grand. Over 23 games that equals 230k.

And thats not even including shirts and stuff from the shop....

Edit: we have 9600 STH so thats £16 500 less on the POTD we have to make up by droppin price, so thats 1400 people extra would I think is a easy target to hit.

[Nibor]

A crude calculation here

taking out the 9000 season ticket holders from our average gate of 14,000 ..

that leaves 5000 paying an everage £27.50 a ticket on the day ........ that = £137,500

if on the day ticket prices were reduced to £20 average as mention elsewhere on here , we would need 7000 pay on the day for the same revenue ......

ok . theres no allowance for the 'goodies' the extra 2000 might buy ..........

but ..

at £20 average per ticket, do you think we would get an extra 2000 at each home game ???

Well, first off I think it's quite possible we would get 2,000 extra at lower prices with the correct marketing.

And other than that...

There are 9,600 season ticket holders/prem club members.

There are no POTD sales to the east end (yeah I know folks but it's a different argument) so the 1,200 average away supporters don't get the reduction.

Our average of 14,800, -9,600 - 1200 = 4,000 POTD.

A fiver off prices was what I was suggesting, = £20,000.

That's about 1,000 more a game needed to do more than break even. Entirely realistic I reckon.