[Archived] Can A Empty Seat Sing

[Jan]

I had another commitment on Wednesday. Will try to get there on Thursday. Means hiring a car again. Oh joy!

[T4E]

  RevidgeBlue said:

I never thought this fixture would be a huge draw for the "floating fan" - what is far more of a mystery to me is why 5,000 season ticket holders (who by definition must be reasonably committed) saw fit not to attend.

Don't a lot of teams include all ST holders in every attendance figure, regardless of whether they turn up? Sure I read that somewhere, sometime....

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

  Jan said:

Means hiring a car again. Oh joy!

Unless a nice young man like Tris might be able to give you a lift up from London....

A disappointing crowd on Wednesday evening, but we weren't alone. Fulham only got 10,000 for their game with Bolton. I'm afraid that clubs like Arsenal - who got 60,000 for their match against Newcastle - are in a different league altogether from us.

I feel that Rovers might have got an extra thousand or two thorugh the gate on Wednesday if their previous two performances had been up to scratch. Two years ago we did slightly better in terms of attendances for this competition - 15,631 for a Carling Cup 3rd Round tie against Leeds at Ewood.

I suspect that a couple of thousand people might have been so disgusted with the shambles against Larissa last Thursday - the worst performance since World War 2 according to Fife Rover - and so a number of folk may have thought to themselves: "If the players can't be arsed to put in a proper effort on the pitch why should I be arsed to watch them play against Birmingham".

[Jan]

  Anti Euro Smiths Fan said:

Unless a nice young man like Tris might be able to give you a lift up from London....

.

I've been working in Edinburgh for 14 weeks. Will be there on Thursday- otherwise I have my own car at Heathrow!

[Sandiway Blue]

  RevidgeBlue said:

The gate was slightly disappointing last night but hardly so bad that we need to start passing the revolver round.

I never thought this fixture would be a huge draw for the "floating fan" - what is far more of a mystery to me is why 5,000 season ticket holders (who by definition must be reasonably committed) saw fit not to attend.

Guilty,as i happen to work shifts,2-10 this week.

But next week i am on 6-2 so will be going to larissa game.

[Tris]

  Anti Euro Smiths Fan said:

Unless a nice young man like Tris might be able to give you a lift up from London....

Booked my train tickets weeks ago ...

[Eddie]

  Anti Euro Smiths Fan said:

I'm afraid that clubs like Arsenal - who got 60,000 for their match against Newcastle - are in a different league altogether from us.

What?!? Never.

[waggy]

when all our gate reciepts are added together,what percentage off our total income is it

[RevidgeBlue]

  waggy said:

when all our gate reciepts are added together,what percentage off our total income is it

About 12% - 6m out of 50m turnover.

[waggy]

  RevidgeBlue said:

About 12% - 6m out of 50m turnover.

cheers revidge,so really bums on seats is of little consequence to the club,if we had a full house each week it would only contribute 1/5th off our income.

[Guest fernhurstblue]

  waggy said:

cheers revidge,so really bums on seats is of little consequence to the club,if we had a full house each week it would only contribute 1/5th off our income.

which is ANOTHER reason why freebies shouldn't be given away to our poor mis-understood unemployed members of the community.

[waggy]

  fernhurstblue said:

which is ANOTHER reason why freebies shouldn't be given away to our poor mis-understood unemployed members of the community.

there was a time when attendances mattered,but when tv deals are so lucrative like they are abroad,prices need to come in line with the rest off europe

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

  waggy said:

cheers revidge,so really bums on seats is of little consequence to the club,if we had a full house each week it would only contribute 1/5th off our income.

And DONT now say fans should be let in for free then!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sussexrover]

Average ticket prices

Average ticket prices quoted at bottom.

Seems we aren't too much away from the rest of Europe - average in Serie A £12 a ticket, £16 in Spain - you can get a ticket for £15 at Ewood. Thats pretty much in line.

[waggy]

  sussexrover said:

Average ticket prices

Average ticket prices quoted at bottom.

Seems we aren't too much away from the rest of Europe - average in Serie A £12 a ticket, £16 in Spain - you can get a ticket for £15 at Ewood. Thats pretty much in line.

our dave went to watch weder bremen 2 weeks ago it was 15 euro

[Sandiway Blue]

  waggy said:

our dave went to watch weder bremen 2 weeks ago it was 15 euro

Which is between £10-11.

Hmmm, pity Rovers don`t offer tickets for that kind of money for,say,cup games or something like that!

[Paul]

  waggy said:

cheers revidge,so really bums on seats is of little consequence to the club,if we had a full house each week it would only contribute 1/5th off our income.

Except that if we didn't have that £6m it would effectively reduce our budget by £12m. The board would simply have to take £6m from somewhere else to pay the same bills.

[philipl]

Remember, it has been £7m in £43m ish for the past three seasons.

The reduction in prices of 25% is budgetted to produce roughly a 10% increase in physical attendance if the gate revenue target is £6m.

Birmingham, Vektra and Mypa have no real equivalents from last season but match for match, Arsenal, Man City and Portsmouth have produced 2,000 increases each so far this season over last.

[bluebruce]

  Exiled in Toronto said:

Given some of the other comments, it sounds like it was more like half of season ticket holders didn't show up, and I think it's fair to assume the main causes are neither lack of commitment nor cashflow.

I wouldn't underestimate the inertia of a season ticket holder who, for all the league games, has to absolutely nothing other than turn up to see the likes of Arsenal at al. To see Birmingham reserves they have to a) remember they have to order a ticket, then either go down or phone and subsequently collect. In other words, they have gone from being a privileged guest to a back of the line punter, with all the onus on them to make it happen.

I'm sure with all the technology and database management tools the club keep investing in, they can come up with something that costs very little but makes it easier. Perhaps just turn up with your season ticket card as usual and we'll send you a bill, or add it to your direct debit when wthe cups are over.

I seem to remember that in the past, season ticket holders got some cup games included in their package. I know the board have done great in cutting costs so much, but when they said that prices were back to the levels of however many years ago, they probably neglected to mention that back then you got some cup games included. Maybe it should be brought back, considering Wednesday's awful attendance.

[stuwilky]

  bluebruce said:

I seem to remember that in the past, season ticket holders got some cup games included in their package. I know the board have done great in cutting costs so much, but when they said that prices were back to the levels of however many years ago, they probably neglected to mention that back then you got some cup games included. Maybe it should be brought back, considering Wednesday's awful attendance.

You always had to pay extra for cup matches to be included (going back to about 92 - cant coment on ST's much earlier than that). It was always a gamble - depending on how far the cup run went depending whether you saved any money.

It becomes very expensive for the club in the gate splits as well with things like that.

[waggy]

sorry to bring this up again,but we need to find a solution to our 1/2 filled stadium,i made my suggestion got ridiculed for it,lets have some ideas

[Hughesy]

There isnt much of a solution available at the moment. As you could see at weekend 19,000 were rovers fans, the rest were a very poor support from Reading! The away support this season has been terrible so far!!

[Guest fernhurstblue]

to be fair i think that 19,000 rovers fans isnt to bad (against reading) and is on a par with the home support against more 'attractive' opposition in the form of arsenal and manchester city.

[joey_big_nose]

It must be massively dispiriting for the club that they slashed ticket prices by so much and there is no real change in attendance. Were ticking all the boxes at the moment yet cannot draw bigger crowds.

1. Doing very well in the league

2. Playing high quality football

3. Cheapest tickets in the league

4. Have a good mix of exotic stars and local heroes in the lineup.

I mean you can't really ask for much more. Or if you can I haven't thought of it.

[Hughesy]

Like I said the away support was shocking. I think Larissa brough more than Reading, Birmingham & Pompey!