Brisa Attendance Improvement Proposal

[thenodrog]

No

373235[/snapback]

M R-D eh?

[SD4E]

fantastic report, and a big well done to all involved.

someone mentioned about a crack down to make sure the pubs around blackburn aren't showing the games on the foreign chanels- i agree completely, i know 4 ST holders that now pick and choose games, but get to watch a large amount of them down the pub.

Also, when a game is on Sky, we automatically seem to drop a couple of thousand fans off the gate, for example tomorrow night, if it wasnt on Tv i am pretty sure we would have come a lot closer to a home sell out.

It may be a stupid idea, but is there nothing the club could do to entice fans to come to televised games- maybe £5 off a ticket or a fiver to spend in shop etc? #

This would have to work with ST holders too( obviously), they could maybe get £5 back or maybe £5 knocked off next home cup games?

and just being selfish, no drummer please and a singing section.

[Flopsy]

re P&R if you need some kind of feasibility report done - I should be able to help give pointers. Free to BRISA as long as you pay for the transport of my cones

[Blue blood]

Fantastic report well done to all those concerned.

The biggest issues for me as a potential ST next year when have job and income (hopefully!) would be:

1) Being able to change your seat if you bring a friend. Ususally go with family but if were going with other people - which happens to 3/4 games that you can swap seats to sit with them.

2) Student tickets/University and college discounts - baffling why individual young person/student tickets aren't available. I know for a fact that a fair few of my uni friends would be interested in joining me if the prices were a bit lower - even before the Hughes revolution.

3) Parking. Woeful. It must cut down on the older age of support in particular.

4) Singing areas would be nice and help generate a better atmosphere.

Aside from this the reasons for declining interest in football sky, matchday prices, lack of competition and players taking fans for a ride are all sentiments I heartily agree with although not too sure what club can do about them.

[stuwilky]

1) Being able to change your seat if you bring a friend. Ususally go with family but if were going with other people - which happens to 3/4 games that you can swap seats to sit with them.

373271[/snapback]

Thanks for the comments, but just to let you know that you can already do this.

[RovertheHill]

Excellent report. A couple of points. Firstly, and selfishly, I'll be p*ssed off if me and the family are turfed out of the Blackburn End into the JW stand to fall asleep and get rained on. I know you are trying to create an atmosphere in the BBE but why not try to spread it around? Secondly, is there a link between changes in the Blackburn demographic and attendances - for example the disappearance of British Steel - did you research that? Thirdly, and something that has been brought home to me recently, immediatly after Xmas I simply cannot afford (time or money) to do a home prem match, an fa cup home match, a CC home semi followed by another home prem match in the space of a few weeks. So if they were to introduce a winter break - after xmas might be the time. Good luck

[Blue blood]

Thanks for the comments, but just to let you know that you can already do this.

373276[/snapback]

Cheers. Wasn't aware of it and can't remember reading/hearing about it anywhere before.

Does it count for any part of the ground? Can you swap stands?

ST looking more and more attractive.

Edited January 10, 2006 by Blue blood

[stuwilky]

Cheers. Wasn't aware of it and can't remember reading/hearing about it anywhere before.

Does it count for any part of the ground? Can you swap stands?

ST looking more and more attractive.

373280[/snapback]

You have to pay the extra if you move to a more expensive area.

[ihateburnley]

Thanks for the comments, but just to let you know that you can already do this.

373276[/snapback]

This shows how utterly attrocious the marketing department is at Blackburn Rovers Football Club.

Edited January 10, 2006 by ihateburnley

[blue phil]

1.  Less banging on about cheaper tickets.  The club will hardly want to hear that and cheaper tickets to date have done sod all in the way of attracting more fans, Saturdays FA cup tie v QPR was proof of that.

There is a sales concept which should be heeded and that advises against 'under-selling' a good product.  Ultimately it devalues that product!  Beware.

372985[/snapback]

The club might not want to hear it but the economic and demographic factors in the town mean that sooner or later they must address the issue . I firmly believe that if we are to have a long term future kids , if accompanied by a paying adult , must be let in for a nominal fee - preferably for free . Adults might begrudge less paying £25+ a ticket if they can make it a family day out . At the moment they are choosing to spend their brass elsewhere and the club are losing both present and future fans .

We are in a fortunate position at present in that we have the trust fund to rely on . A more professional approach is necessary to maximise the numbers attending even if it doesn't make financial sense in the short term .

On a similar point something desperately needs to be done to help punters get in and out of the area quickly . Park and Ride schemes would help as would improved car park facilities .This also would cost money in the short term . Unfortunately it would also need the co-operation of our woefully uninterested council . Perhaps a PR campaign aimed at them might help .

[Neil Weaver]

Didn't have time to read the whole doc but congratulations to all involved - it must have taken a lot of effort to put together and you've done a fine job. As Scotty said, probably a bit late for suggestions but in case the club pick up on your thoughts and are looking for more.............

- I was talking to a mate who runs a junior club (over here, near Leeds). I've tried to interest him in the 'coaching + game' offer that Rovers run but no success yet : he was telling me though that they'd recently gone on a similar package to Newc (cos quite a few parents follow them apparently). Not entirely sure on what was included - something like a couple of hours coaching, lunch at the ground, and a Prem game in the afternoon - but the cost was something like 50 quid a head, which I'm pretty sure is a fair bit more than Rovers would charge. Shows there is the market out there and cost isn't necessarily the biggest factor. Makes me think there must be the possibility to better market this sort of thing around E Lancs.

- don't know if the bunch I work for still do this but for quite a few years our office (in Leeds) had a handful of STs at Elland Rd (so a couple of reps could take a few potential customers). I'm sure we must have a few 'corporate STs' at Ewood too but is there room for a few more? What if Rovers mailed all/some local businesses, maybe offered an incentive if needed? Same sort of idea could be used for local Working Mens Clubs and the like I would have thought : I'm sure some individual members are ST holders but what about a club having a couple of STs that members could use? There's lots of WMCs/political clubs around the area.

- bit different theme and something along these lines is described in 4.5.3 in the doc : what about using similar ideas to those of other clubs eg the neutral section at Fulham. Now I know the potential for this might be a bit different in E Lancs compared to London (!) but with the Darwen End Upper being empty for about half the games each season, is there an area that could be used for something like this? Similarly, I've spoken to quite a few folk at work who have come to Ewood for the odd game (v Liverpool, Arsenal and the like) to see some of the big names (Gerrard, Henry etc) and we're the closest Prem team and they're always amazed they can get tickets. Is there a way of cost-effectively reaching this audience?

[thenodrog]

Fantastic report well done to all those concerned.

2) Student tickets/University and college discounts - baffling why individual young person/student tickets aren't available. I know for a fact that a fair few of my uni friends would be interested in joining me if the prices were a bit lower - even before the Hughes revolution.

373271[/snapback]

Tell you what....... why don't you go to whatever matches you want and pay back the money when you start work? New Labour thinks it's a workable policy so BRFC may as well follow suit. Getting kids into debt before they start work is apparently quite acceptable to our irresponsible Labour govt.

[bellamy11]

Tell you what....... why don't you go to whatever matches you want and pay back the money when you start work?  New Labour thinks it's a workable policy so BRFC may as well follow suit.  Getting kids into debt before they start work is apparently quite acceptable to our irresponsible Labour govt.

373332[/snapback]

We should only pay the money back when Rovers start winning 15 games a season though!

[trawdenblue]

Very professional document guys, well done.

I particularly agree with the point about "young adult" pricing. My lad is 16 next month and he will be classed as an "adult".

This is ridiculous. I bring three of his mates (1 Bolton, 1 Man u and 1 Burnley fan) to the category B games when it's only a fiver and we sit in the Darwen end. Two of these lads have also bought Rovers' shirts! Two of them are coming tonight.

From next month it's going to cost them £25! I'm afraid they won't be going anymore. Where does a lad of 16/17 get £25 from?

I personally think the Juniors age should be raised to 18 and that tickets should be £10 each for any category.

It's an important age. We're winning over new fans then letting them go when they turn 16!

[Ronin]

Excellent points raised in both the document and this thread. Hope it goes well guys.

the issue of blacking out local pubs that show Rovers games is a good one of making people who want to watch the game go to the ground. Take example of NHL / NFL games in USA, where if the team is at home, then any local broadcast of game is blacked out unless there's a sell out. Granted most of these teams have their own local TV sports networks, and many of Rovers games would be on Sky / foreign satellite TV but I feel as though this would help bring more people to the game.

[Rovers Air Force]

A well thought out document...However, the casual tone could count against you when being read by an executive type. (My own personal opinion, I write reports for the military for a living and the "anyways" etc. would get my guts stomped out!)

Your suggestion about the match-day programme being sold pre-match and from venues other the the immediate surrounds of the club is great, however I do think that it would do little to entice new fans!

The involement of the club in schools is a must, as a suggestion... why not get the players to visit ALL the schools within a 20 mile radius! could easily be done after training each day! In addition every student visited that week gets a FREE ticket for the next home game, with £5 tickets for acompanying adults, and free transport from their school. (If we can't get the ground filled by selling the tickets...them we may as well fill it with kids for free, good PR, gets 'em interested young, and hopefully we could get each child in for one game a season). +the club would not be loosing money! If the tickets arn't sold then they'd get nowt...this way they atleast re-coup lost revenue from the snack/bars.

have local schools invited to watch the teams training, with players using their warm down periods to take the children through football skills, (provided free of charge to the schools).

The season ticket/Ticket bundles (a fabulous idea!)...This one is a little personal for my self, I am a season ticket holder however because I am in the forces and I live (at the moment) in peterborough, the cost of traveling to home game is astronomical. £40 in fuel, £15 food and drink (bought in the blues bar or at half time), £23 per match (20 games, £460 ST with DD costs added), bringing each home game I attend to a staggering £78 per match!!! Havinmg just bought my first home, and living by myself, this is no longer a tenable situation. Sadley I will no be able to renew my ST for next season, as I can only manage to attend about 7 home games a season. Ticket bundles in this case are a great Idea and could help me attend games next season.

An even more radical Idea...The club off-set the prices of ST's in comparrison to the distance travelled by the fan i.e. (prem games only) £1 off each match (18) for every 20 miles travelled, somebody living 21 miles from ewwod = £18 discount, somebody living 60 miles = £54 (3x18) dicount, My self (shortest distance 186ish miles) = £162 discount. This information is available to BRFC through their database... whilst this would only contribute to a £8.1 saving for each match I attended the cheeper ST (£298 with costs) would entice me to renew, even if it did not mean I attendend more matches.

I except that the club will probably not even consider this but you could raise it, even if it is to raise a laugh!

please PM me your responce to these Ideas!

Edited January 11, 2006 by Rovers Air Force

[Glenn]

Cheers. Wasn't aware of it and can't remember reading/hearing about it anywhere before.

373280[/snapback]

Which is a whole different problem, but one we are very very aware of

[Mike Graham]

fantastic

just received a Corporate mailing from Rovers that arrived in the morning post that included a request to hire a box for TONIGHT!!!

Whilst it is unlikely that I would for this game other business people receiving this would wonder at the clubs marketting stratergy.

I must so however that the Club's glossy (which was also used pre season) is first class and deserves credit.

Edited January 11, 2006 by preston blue

[RevidgeBlue]

fantastic

just received a Corporate mailing from Rovers that arrived in the morning post that included a request to hire a box for TONIGHT!!!

Whilst it is unlikely that I would for this game other business people receiving this would wonder at the clubs marketting stratergy.

I must so however that the Club's glossy (which was also used pre season) is first class and deserves credit.

373431[/snapback]

Unfortunately arriving so late in the day, all that money invested in the impressive glossy is completely wasted.

If it had arrived a week ,or even three or four days ago it may have been a different matter.

Apologies if I'm restating the bleeding obvious but it obviously needs restating until the club co-ordinate their PR exercise properly from the ticket office upwards.

Edited January 11, 2006 by RevidgeBlue

[Scotty]

A well thought out document...However, the casual tone could count against you when being read by an executive type. (My own personal opinion, I write reports for the military for a living and  the "anyways" etc. would get my guts stomped out!)

I can't find the word "anyways" in the document. If you can tell me where it is I'll change it.

[Rovers Air Force]

T have selected in red the phrases I would reconsider or deleate.

2.1.1

When you add on the price of a match ticket (typically £30+ per game) to the figures

above, not to mention food and drink, it shows just how much money a committed fan

can spend watching Rovers play every week. And God help them if they have extra

tickets and travel costs to shell out for children or family members.

(Very informal!)

2.5

Unfortunately though, some of the players are letting us down. Barely a week goes by

without a newspaper story outlining a player’s drunken brawl, or sex scandal, or drinkdriving

conviction, etc etc etc. And while the media undoubtedly make half of this up,

there’s still plenty of it that’s true.

(deleate the or and the repeated etc's)

The fans have had enough of it. Increasingly you hear fans saying “why should I pay my

hard-earned money every week just so that <insert your own insult> can blow it all on

partying the night away” - or words to that effect anyway. Football players, particularly

those at the top end of the game, have an image problem - so much so that some fans are

no longer prepared to contribute to their wages by attending matches.

(the ANYWAY)

3.2

The problem is that, given the right equipment, these channels can also be accessed in

this country. It is a moot point as to whether this is illegal or not. There has long been a

law in this country, designed to protect attendances at all football clubs, preventing live

football being televised between 2:30pm and 5pm on a Saturday afternoon. However, an

argument can be made saying that this law is circumvented when showing a foreign

channel.

Whether illegal or not though, there are a number of pubs in and around Blackburn that

regularly show live Rovers matches on a Saturday afternoon. And while this isn’t

particularly a problem for away games (from Rovers point of view), there is no doubt that

the pubs televising the home games attract fans who would have otherwise gone to the

match.

(why repeat it?)

3.2

The club should be doing all it can to sell Blackburn Rovers. We may be a small club in

Premiership terms, but we have a fantastic history and tradition and this should be pushed

at every opportunity. Blackburn as a town has little to really be proud of, but the football

club is the exception. It should be the heart of the community. The bottom line is - the

better the PR, the prouder the fans will feel about the club, and the fans will start to attend

the matches in increasing numbers.

(Please see comment below!)

Overal the document reads asif you are reading it out loud, there a lot of we's as apposed to BRISA feels... or the BRISA membership belives...

To aid clarity, you could also number the parragraphs...

1.1.2

a)

1)

2)

1.1.3

etc

Please do not take the above comment personnaly, it's ment to be constructive.

Edited January 11, 2006 by Rovers Air Force

[Rovers Air Force]

If you want to chat about the above post I will PM you my home phone number and we can chat!

[Glenn]

Unfortunately arriving so late in the day, all that money invested in the impressive glossy is completely wasted.

If it had arrived a week ,or even three or four days ago it may have been a different matter.

Apologies if I'm restating the bleeding obvious but it obviously needs restating until the club co-ordinate their PR exercise properly from the ticket office upwards.

373480[/snapback]

Birmingham managed one better than that, as a loyal Brum fan I was being offered cheap tickets for the Villa game the previous weekend !

Also, I am not a loyal Brum fan, but I did once write them a letter of complaint (that they never replied to).

Also, it was possibly the most amaturish mailing I've seen.

Finally they sent it to

<My Real Name>

Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn

By fluke, whoever deals with the post as Ewood asked Lee if he'd heard of <My Real Name>.

Rovers corporate mailings did impress me a while back. At first I wonderd WHY I'd suddenly ended up on the corporate list offering me a box for the Leeds cup game, but then I realised they must have sent to all ST holders with Leeds addresses, in the hope they'd have Leeds fans at work this making a box viable.

[ihateburnley]

The club might not want to hear it but the economic and demographic factors in the town mean that sooner or later they must address the issue . I firmly believe that if we are to have a long term future kids , if accompanied by a paying adult , must be let in for a nominal fee - preferably for free .  Adults might begrudge less paying £25+ a ticket if they can make it a family day out . At the moment they are choosing to spend their brass elsewhere and the club are losing both present and future fans .

373297[/snapback]

Absolutely Phil. I think the club should consider the fact that if they are not willing to try new marketing ideas or indeed cut the prices of tickets, then surely empty seats might as well be given to kids (accompanied by paying adults of course! ) who can try the Rovers and then one day become full paying adults themselves. I for one would much rather bump our attendance up by a couple of thousand kids if we weren't going to sell those tickets anyway!

[wozaup]

hmmm young adult tickets etc what about us disabled supporters.

We lose all our discounts after this season, we will have to pay full price for a dodgy view and in some places with no roof cover, with no choice of where we are aloud to sit. this should be looked into aswell