[Archived] 2005/6 Season Ticket Sales

[Glenn]

Glad to see it £15-£25 cheaper to kids in the family stand that BBE Lower. Shame they haven't done the same for match day prices. Still, it's a start.

[stuwilky]

free for under 8's. Has that always been the case?

seems a good idea to fill Ewood up

318994[/snapback]

Now read it again Greggy

[Modi]

Anyone else tried to renew on-line?

According to the system, I don't have a season ticket!

************

EDIT - Or does the online option not start til Tuesday either?

Edited May 27, 2005 by Modi

[eddiecolne]

Will be renewing mine as soon as pack arrives, already cancelled sky sports one subscription, £96 a year, to add to season ticket cost. Sky's indulgence with the "Big Boys" means I would rather spend my money on my club. I know Rovers get money from Sky but let the armchair fans pay for it. I had a s/s last year but only saw about three rovers away games on sky, one the semi final. Sod them.

[Mike Graham]

Paul

come to the JW Upper.

There are 2 good seats coming up behind me as the incumbents aare going to move to Norwich. The seats are great and the fans are quiet except me and one or two others.

You will enjoy the banter!!

When the players start to show respect to the fans then people may return to football.

318675[/snapback]

Very important.

This is a bit off topic but it will help my decision. Seriously thinking about moving out of the Family stand into the JW or BBE. I fancy the JW for the better view, the lads want the BBE for the better atmosphere. Now I was going for the BBE until the Tony Parkes game, when an incident occured which put me off.

We had the pleasure of sitting in row 2 behind a young man called SHOTTI (that was on his shirt) and half a dozen of his mates. When Shearer scored Shotti rushed to the barrier, swung himself over the top and held on to barrier, so he was literally, hanging upside down on the pitch side. A young steward tried to help him up and ensure he got back on the seating side. Shotti then grabbed the steward by the throat and made three attempts to punch him. An older steward seperated the pair. We then had to listen to Shotti and his mates abuse the stewards for the rest of the match, which they didn't watch at all. Spoilt my evening to be honest, and I don't understand why Shotti wasn't ejected at the least.

I get very wound up at Rovers, especially if things go badly, and had this been a PL game and I was in a bad mood, I might well have pointed out to Shotti what a complete pillock he is. No doubt this would have caused a problem.

I haven't watched regularly from the BBE for more than 20 years. I'm not prepared to put up with this behaviour - am I going to find similar things are a frequent event? I know it's a minority and 99% of the fans are superb but if I happen to buy the seats behind a "Shotti" I'd probably end up in trouble.

I've purposefully delayed posting this to avoid it being a reaction to my feelings at the time.....and hopefully Shotti will learn how unacceptable his behaviour is to other Rovers fans.

We wonder why attendances are dropping?

318874[/snapback]

[Paul]

Can't afford the JW upper preston, not at £540 x 3 - will have to wait till I'm a senior citizen not long to go.

One of the kids has moved to a Young Aduilt for next season and we fancy a move out of the FS so I've been doing the sums around the ground. The STs are incredible value, WHEREVER you chose to sit, for a family. We will be one adult, one young adult, one junior - (assumming the big ugly one carries on travelling the world and can't get to games )

• first figure is the total for 3 STs, the second the average per seat, per game:

FS - £650 - £11.40

BBE - £705 - £12.37

JW Wing - £500 - £8.77

JW Outer - £645 - £11.49

JW Lower (WO6) - £720 - £12.63

JW Lower centre - £790 - £13.86

RS - Darwen End - £500 - £8.77

RS - BBE - £655 - £11.49

RS - centre - £705 - £12.37

I think one has to look at the average per seat, per game over the season. If we renew in the FS our average cost is £11.40 per seat per game - a total of £34.20 per match. To buy the same seats on a per match basis would cost £79, £72 or £55 depending on the match category.

The one criticism I do have on the STs is the overly complicated pricing depending on the area. It took me a good 45 minutes to work out where each area was and the costs etc.

So to go back to the original queston in this thread - what can be done about ST sales? On the figures above, any fan taking children between the ages of 0 - 21 should be buying STs. While the total takes some finding, the value is tremendous over the season.

What else can the club do? Nothing - PL football for £8.77 per seat, per game. Might as well be free. It's down to the players, always has been and in this day and age will increasingly be so. The team performs people will turn up, another crap season and things will just get worse.

[RevidgeBlue]

Have to agree with 1864 and SG194, I don't mind a modest 6% price increase over 2 years bearing in mind prices were frozen last season but as we are competing in the Premiership and receiving Premiership TV and place revenues I want to be watching Premiership standard players.

Three seasons ago we were watching Cole and Duff, now it could be Dickov and Kuqi? C'mon Rovers get a grip!

Edited May 28, 2005 by RevidgeBlue

[Paul]

Three seasons ago we were watching Cole and Duff, now it could be Dickov and Kuqi? C'mon Rovers get a grip!

319126[/snapback]

Sends a shiver down the spine

[Alan75]

Shiver !!!!!!

More than that. It's depressing, the more I think about how the club has been asset stripped of star players (thank you Graeme) to get into the current situation the more pessimistic I get.

If I need a feel good factor, how the heck are the club going to encourage attendance from the floating supporter.

[philipl]

Just been reading Anfield Road- a very well written Liverpool blog I stumbled across this morning.

One telling comment (bearing in mind they have just won the European Cup), "we are still paying the price of what Souness did even now".

[cn174]

One of the kids has moved to a Young Aduilt for next season and we fancy a move out of the FS

319125[/snapback]

Dont do it Paul!!! Don't abandon the family stand ship

We're gonna stay up there I think. Even though only one out of the 7 of us are actually a junior I doubt they'll make us move - its not as if they'll find anyone else to fill our seats. Other reasons are cost - my ticket will be £195 as opposed to £225 if we move elsewhere. And if we moved I'd want it to be to the BBL and I reckon it'd be quite difficult to get 7 seats near to each other.

Good to see they've brought the U8 thing back (although it may see an increase in kids near me ). Also its cheaper for juniors now than in 94/95.

I think they've got the pricing about right, just need the product to be as good

[SAS]

The prices are reasonable i feel.

I like the how you get free membership this year if you buy a season ticket.

And hopefully the £25 for introducing a new fan will get some people begging others

[brennanboy]

to get an under 8 ticket youve got to of had an under8 ticket in 03/04 and 04/05, the same as last year its nothing new basically this means only existing under 8 can renew their tickets as an under 8 all other under 8s would have to buy a junior ticket

[stuwilky]

Good to see they've brought the U8 thing back (although it may see an increase in kids near me  ). Also its cheaper for juniors now than in 94/95.

319145[/snapback]

Now read it again Clarey!!

Renewals only, as per the last two seasons.

I think personally it would be a good idea to give free Under 8's in the family stand or something, a number of other local clubs started doing this after we did, and they carried on, I wonder why we stopped?

[roversWASmylife]

Season ticket prices, they've gone up, to some's annoyance.

I'm not that bothered, mine's gone up from £210 - £225 and I'll pay it.

At the end of the day, if you want to stick it out, again, you will do, if you don't you won't renew, or buy a season ticket.

I still believe, things under Hughes are on the up.

[Manchester Blue]

You're probably right RIML most will renew. It's the complete lack of imagination that upsets me. It's like they have accepted they won't attract new fans so they'll milk the present one's for all they can.

[stuwilky]

Id hardly call a 6% rise over two years milking Manchester Blue?

[Manchester Blue]

Well look at at this way then. If you had a cow that was on it's last legs. Would you think of ways of getting back to good health, or would you milk every last drop out of it. It's no good pointing to those other cows in that posh field and saying how much better you treat your's. It's still a dying cow no matter how cheap it is.

This season needed imagination and we got stale p1iss instead from our board.

[OscarRaven]

Its easy:

Wins at Ewood are like rocking horse poo (PC mad message board), goals are rare and we play one up front at home to crystal palace despite being all but "safe".

No entertainment = No fans. Simple.

You can ramble on about the importance of being in the premier league, but sport is entertainment. Milking the premier league money has become more important than entertaining the fans. Keep the bussines running, nevermind the football - hell where do you draw the line after all 40 x 0-0 will keep you up, why not play 8-1-1 or even 10-0-0. It will keep the "bussiness" going and preserve the all important premier league "status".

I do bussiness Monday-Friday. Not Saturdays. Thats why I wont be renewing my season ticket.

Edited May 28, 2005 by OscarRaven

[philipl]

The working party that I believe JW was a member of is presenting its report to the Premier League on how to make attending games more attractive to supporters.

Some interesting statistics- attendance at games covered live fell by an average of 10% last season but overall TV viewing statistics rose by a massive 20%.

I agree with Oscar Raven- ten wins in 38 league games over the last two seasons is a huge reason why ticket sales are collapsing at Ewood.

The working party have identified the 4-5-1 system designed to protect Premiership status as heavilly responsible for the decline in entertaining football and are suggesting awarding 4 points for an away win as a way of enlivening the league.

Hmm, don't know if making the visiting teams even more incentivised is the key to getting more Rovers supporters to Ewood.

[Paul]

I'd suggest four points for an away win will do nothing more than increase the gap between the top three and the rest so this is no solution at all. It's good to see the PL is at least discussing several of the issues that concern fans. For me the root of the problem lays in several areas:

• Over exposure on TV

Over exposure in the writtem media

Very average, over-paid players

Totally uncompetive league with around 14 teams just looking to survive

Inconvenient KO times

Footie is no longer special, when I was lad the only information was the sports pages, Charles Buchan's football monthly (fantastic mag) and MOTM. We are now deluged with trite, inconsequential and crap media which is designed to sell product. Personally I no longer even bother to read the general PL match reports. The game is massively over-exposed resulting a declining audience because the product is freely available to all. It happens in every industry, make a product to easy to access and it loses it's appeal.

[jim mk2]

The working party have identified the 4-5-1 system designed to protect Premiership status as heavilly responsible for the decline in entertaining football

319336[/snapback]

Well done the working party. They have identified the problem, though not the cause of it, which is the cost of relegation and the huge disparity between the haves and have nots in the Premiership.

The more I read about the draft system and salary caps in American sport, the more I think it could be the solution to football's probems. It is the only way to create a level playing field (to use a horrible modern expression).

If the US can embrace socialist principles such as clubs all being equal for the greater good of the sport, why not European football ?

[BRFC4EVA]

Personally, i think the club have done very well with the ticket pricing both for matchday and s/t, as long as the the matchday catergories are for the right matches. I would only have Manu and liverpool in the A+ catergory, thus getting 7k of their lot to fork out £32 a ticket. Then, i would have all the remaining A catergory from last yr put in the current £30 A catergory with all the current B staying in B. I would have S'land and Wigan in B and Pne if they go up, in A.

As for the s/t, what else can the club do. I know we have churned out sh1t for the best part of 2 yrs, but how can the club compete without raising prices slightly. Its in line with inflation, which is all i've ever asked for, rather then the 10/15% increases which shouldnt happen. Prem football is still superb value at Ewood, i site the cost per game with a s/t as example for this given by Paul. Get em sold

Edited May 29, 2005 by BRFC4EVA

[Manchester Blue]

There will be 5 games at the A+ category.

We may well be competitve compared to other clubs but we will undoubtedly lose numbers and almost certainly gain very few new holders with these prices.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The 6% increase is good over two seasons but when you break matters down,the matchday price of £30-32 to watch a game of football in this area is pushing it to the limit.I'm lucky enough to be able to afford the season ticket but many with families will see those matchday ticket prices as a complete turn off.

Blackburn is not a prosperous town,unemplyoment is above national average with the weekly wage on average below,one thing I have noticed is that people in this area demand value for money and therefore are more careful as to how they spend their coin.....could anybody on here at present state with hand on heart that £32 to watch Rovers is 'value for money'?

There is nothing the club can do,they are pissing against the wind,like it or not we have a small fanbase and the only future outcome is that the club becomes more and more reliant on the relatively small(by Prem standards) number of diehard season ticket holders to stump up the coin pre-season.

There appear to be so many outside factors working against our grand old club that I honestly fear that in the not too distant future a return to lower division mediocrity inevitably beckons.......and that hurts like hell to say.

Edited May 29, 2005 by SIMON GARNERS 194