[Archived] Season Ticket Sales

[RevidgeBlue]

For those obsessed with such things, as part of a discussion about next season's pricing policy it was revealed at the Fans Forum last night that the final figure for S/T sales was 15,316.

This included healthy half season ticket sales of 5-600 which apparently were a lot better than last season's half season ticket sales, and were more in line with the year before that.

The overall figure was around 2,500 up on the previous season but we still lost around 1,000 ST holders due to natural churn, meaning we attracted around 3500 new ST holders this time.

The overall effect is that if attendances for the remaining eight home games are as projected, we will recover around two thirds of the 1m in income "lost" through reducing prices.

The Club think this is a pretty good result as several other Northern Clubs like Bolton, Boro and Wigan are seeing sharp declines in their attendances, as were Citeh prior to the takeover.

A proposal was aired last night as to next year's pricing but this can't be revealed until it has been finalised. I would expect though it will be announced in the next month to six weeks.

[waggy]

brilliant news a extra 3,500 season ticket holders,lets hope the pricing is as competative next season,as i am only 50/50 on renewing mine next year

[modes98]

i am only 50/50 on renewing mine next year

I'm in a similar position. After the first few games i would have renewed 100% but the past few months have been awful to watch. The only major plus point is it would be my last year as a young adult so it would be worth taking it at around the same price or even with a slight increase.

Great news on overall sales though. A good reward for the club after spending the money on reducing prices.

[SAS]

i am not renewing mine next year, however my chelsea supporting brother will "have" one next year

[stuwilky]

i am not renewing mine next year, however my chelsea supporting brother will "have" one next year

You mean you will be using a junior ticket as an adult Scott?

[John]

I have not used my season ticket yet!

Not sure if it has been mentioned elsewhere, but anything of interest mentioned at the Fans Forum last night??

[thenodrog]

brilliant news a extra 3,500 season ticket holders,lets hope the pricing is as competative next season,as i am only 50/50 on renewing mine next year

That suprises me waggy. BRFC .... Use it or lose it imo.

[cletus]

That suprises me waggy. BRFC .... Use it or lose it imo.

It`s not as simple as that Theno.

People have lives away from Blackburn Rovers.

Daily life in general is getting more & more expensive....petrol, gas, electricity, bread, mortgages, council tax......the list is endless, & none of it is getting cheaper.

I bought this years season ticket with my annual bonus from work (we get it in May/June) There`s rumours of redundancies where i work & no guarrantee of a bonus this year. The 'stigma' of not re-newing my ST is waaaaay down on my list of priorities at the moment.

I applauded BRFC for their lowering of ST prices. Because of this, i bought my first ever ST. Some of you on here may remember me complaining about prices long before this.....& i voted with my feet. I would`ve been a hypocrite if i`d not bought one, after all my whinging.

Hopefully, Rovers will keep their prices low (if not the same)

& hopefully i will be able to take advantage of this & buy my 2nd ST.

.....but if i find i cannot justify the expenditure, i won`t put myself in the doo-doo just to keep people on here happy.

UP THE ROVERS!!

[Mattyblue]

THREE points off a Champions League place and we have dedicated fans like waggy etc considering not renewing, lets face it Blackburn Rovers days as a Premier League club are numbered. What more can Blackburn Rovers offer you than cheap prices, Premier League football, top players, top manager, cup semis, european trips and constant pushes for top 6 finishes?

The prices ARE cheap, I dont care what anyone says, but yeah obviously some fans will struggle to pay, thats fair enough. But for the fans who might not renew because 'the football on offer is poor' that is an absolute joke. In october we were all in raptures, 3 months on despite a bad run we are still in contention, is that not a sign of a good side? Reading threads like this makes me want to cry, of course theres more to life than Rovers, but are you all not massively proud of what our small town club achieves year in year out?

do you not feel like getting behind them by buying a season ticket, taking the bad runs of form as a matter of course as a football fan? Bloody hell lads some of the dross weve put up with over the years, a crumbling ground, having a glorious long distant past but with no hope of ever emulating it. Thing is we are emulating it NOW, this is one of the greatest spells in the clubs history!

FFS get behind the club and buy a season ticket.

Up the Rovers

[thenodrog]

THREE points off a Champions League place and we have dedicated fans like waggy etc considering not renewing, lets face it Blackburn Rovers days as a Premier League club are numbered. What more can Blackburn Rovers offer you than cheap prices, Premier League football, top players, top manager, cup semis, european trips and constant pushes for top 6 finishes?

The prices ARE cheap, I dont care what anyone says, but yeah obviously some fans will struggle to pay, thats fair enough. But for the fans who might not renew because 'the football on offer is poor' that is an absolute joke. In october we were all in raptures, 3 months on despite a bad run we are still in contention, is that not a sign of a good side? Reading threads like this makes me want to cry, of course theres more to life than Rovers, but are you all not massively proud of what our small town club achieves year in year out?

do you not feel like getting behind them by buying a season ticket, taking the bad runs of form as a matter of course as a football fan? Bloody hell lads some of the dross weve put up with over the years, a crumbling ground, having a glorious long distant past but with no hope of ever emulating it. Thing is we are emulating it NOW, this is one of the greatest spells in the clubs history!

FFS get behind the club and buy a season ticket.

Up the Rovers

Thats all very well you saying that Matty but if beer goes up 5p per pint then it's nailed on that BRFC will just have to manage without any support at all.

..... But should BRFC manage another high profile Cup semi final / final appearance then the town will suddenly be chock full of p1ssheads singing "500 miles" and proclaiming their continual and undying support for all things blue and white.

Limp imo.

[Paul]

brilliant news a extra 3,500 season ticket holders,lets hope the pricing is as competative next season,as i am only 50/50 on renewing mine next year

I'd never criticise anyone for not ebing able to afford an ST but why start a thread asking why we have no money?

In the dark old days I had an ST because the club needed the money. Seems to me those days are returning. In the sense the club need as much as income as possible to help Rovers compete.

[Hughesy]

I can tell you right now that me & the girlfriend (she has no choice) will have a season ticket next year, and the season after, and the season after.......etc.

At our prices it would be daft not to, even if i could only make it to half the games.

ONE LOVE - BRFC

[bellamy11]

ONE LOVE - BRFC

Bloody hell, not you too! PadihamPedro is starting a craze.

Have to agree with Matty's post. We really will miss the good times when they are gone. Without the support, it only takes one disastrous season to set us back a long, long way.

[Damage]

After considering this issue for the last 10 years and admittedly changing my mind about 25 times ...... I have now come to my final conclusions!

The major attendance problem facing BRFC is all about supply and demand - there are too many seats for too few supporters, and short of demolishing the riverside and replacing it with a hanging-gardens-of-babylon style "decorative" end, or signing OBL at centre-half we are stuck with this problem! Is there anything at all that we can do about this?

To my mind, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that it isnt even worth buying a season-ticket - it is much more cost effective to purchase tickets on a match by match basis. Assuming attendance at all league matches a season ticket would probably save me 10% over individual tickets. Well considering that most people actually miss at least a couple of matches, well we are saving nothing! And what about that match on a cold January night? If I didnt have a season ticket I probably would go and so I am losing out even more! I have known this for many years but still continue to buy mine and 2 childrens - crazy in todays world of economics I know - howvere there are a lot of people who are not crazy and pick and choose their matches. In effect they pay less per match attendance than I do as a season ticket holder.

Now its all great for the club to have cheaper tickets but it hasnt altered the supply-demand dynamics at all! It is still as easy and as cost-effective for people to buy tickets on a match-by-match basis. And we all know that the occasional punter comes to watch us play against the top teams - we have seen from past promotions that they wont come against fulham and pompey becasue they arent interested no matter how low the price! The club should accept that and charge them the going rate when they want to watch united and pool!

The club have tried something pretty radical with its pricing policy this year which is to be commended, however I don't think it is quite right. There is still no incentive to buy a season-ticket! So much so that unless the pricing policy is again altered radically I will be buying tickets on a match-by-match basis next year and save myself a tidy sum in the process by not going to those matches that I cant attend or dont fancy. There are many others out there who are of the same mind!

So what is the solution to this? First and foremost the club must act on pricing to so that it is clearly visible to all that a season ticket is MUCH more cost-effective than match-by-match prices. I would suggest a ratio of at least 2:1. This can be acheieved by a further relatively small reduction in season-ticket price coupled with a quite significant increase in matchday ticket prices. The following would make sense to me:

ADULT ST - £250

CONCESSION ST - £120

ADULT MATCH - £30-35

CONCESSION MATCH - £10-15

For all those that will undoubtedly complain that they can only get to a few matches each season and so will lose out ..... the club should adopt the attitude of TOUGH! IF you aren't willing to commit to BRFC by buying a season-ticket (cheapest in the premiership!) then wtf should the club commit you with cheap walk-up ticket prices for premium matches in the premiership!? It is a harsh competitive world out there! Do asda and tesco give disounts for people that only shop there once a month!? DTF!

The club should reward the fans who commit to it and are its lifeblood! Its season ticket holders! Everyone else is fair game to be expolited to maximum effect.

Cheap, matchday tickets devalue the product. Dont give it away for peanuts! Let have some pride in the product and if there arent enough fans out there then so be it!

O and get some stewards on the turnstiles who will actually do some work! There are literally hundreds of adults coming into the ground on kids tickets! Again devalueing the product.

ONE LOVE - BRFC!

Oh and the missus and kids (well on a friday anyway).

n me xbox and wine

[CAPT KAYOS]

Good post Damage and well explained, however alot of what you mention is what Theno has been rattling on about in one form or another quite a while wrongly or rightly.

However, I don't know if the intention is as you mean it as the 'too many seats for too few supporters' is the one that sets the tone specifically for me so I presuming your meaning is to commit people to s/t sales

Difficult to gauge, but set the price for the walk on as you suggest and I would hazard a guess the sales would be virtually nil or negligible to the extent of not making any difference and even at the price s/t are quoted the question has to be asked whether there would be a significant increase to make it worthwhile - IMO most of who would buy S/T are buying them anyway already.

I agree with your comments about the club making the savings of the season ticket 'stand out' but I have said before -Rovers in theirself are abit unique for many reasons and us fans are never happy.

As we all know, the club can hardly be faulted on its efforts in attacking the issues it faces/ has faced thus far - the question is how far can they go.

To me its not Rovers that has the problem in itself - just caught up in the malaise of the modern game and is feeling the effects far more than a lot of clubs for obvious reasons.

[thenodrog]

or signing OBL at centre-half we are stuck with this problem! about this?

He's rubbish him...... he hides when the going gets tough.

[Damage]

Difficult to gauge, but set the price for the walk on as you suggest and I would hazard a guess the sales would be virtually nil or negligible to the extent of not making any difference and even at the price s/t are quoted the question has to be asked whether there would be a significant increase to make it worthwhile - IMO most of who would buy S/T are buying them anyway already.

walk on sales are negligible now except for matches against the top 4! make them pay for the privilege! what exactly is the point of a season ticket? It is basic ebusiness sense - treat your loyal customers better than the occasionals before we all decide to become occasionals! The idea is to get people to move from occasional to season ticket. If they cant commit to that then they can pay through the nose or not bother coming - the choice is theirs to make!

I agree with your comments about the club making the savings of the season ticket 'stand out' but I have said before -Rovers in theirself are abit unique for many reasons and us fans are never happy. all the more reason to do something different than other clubs - the incentive for a season ticket at manu. lpool newcastle everton etc is that without one you cant see the match - at rovers there is absolutley no incentive cos you can always get tickets! walk on fans add nothing to the club - they should pay much more.

As we all know, the club can hardly be faulted on its efforts in attacking the issues it faces/ has faced thus far - the question is how far can they go. in the words of roy walker "its good .... but its not right!" there doesnt have to be anymore money committed by the club - hell leave st prices as they are now but make sure there is an incentive to buy one - at least 2:1 vs walk on prices!

To me its not Rovers that has the problem in itself - just caught up in the malaise of the modern game and is feeling the effects far more than a lot of clubs for obvious reasons. totally contradicts your comment above about us being unique! this is a particular problem to BRFC and to a lesser degree bolton. we need a unique solution! i know 10s of people that used to be st holders but now go to 3/4 matches a year - xmas meet up, manu, lpool - they will still go these matches so we should screw em - maybe they will see the light and get a st again! currently absolutely no incentive for them to change their habits.

[Damage]

There are perhaps an average of 2-3000 walk-on BRFC supporters for each match but I would suggest there are more like 10-15000 walk on BRFC supporters that attend a few matches each season - we need to give them an incentive to change their habits and commit to the club. The only leverage the club has (aside from the pie-in-the-sky £50m transfer-investment dreams of the sycophants that populate other threads) is price! We have one-off cheapies but this doesnt work cos people wanna see manu or pool not fulham and pompey. We have tried total cheapies (now) and this has had some impact but it has hardly been a rip-roaring success! The thing we havent tried is incentiving people to commit to the club through a season ticket - there must be a BIG price differential between walkon and season tickets. The club must reward its loyal fans ....... rather than both loyal and occasional fans as at present! I am not a spring chicken anymore and my love for BRFC is like a 20 years old marriage - comfortable! I dont have the same passion anymore and go for my kids and "something to do"! It will take nothing for me to ditch the season ticket in favour of match-by-match purchases. In fact the small push may happen as my sons swimming club has moved from friday to saturday - now match-by-match purchases will be MUCH more cost effective for me!

[sussexrover]

I can understand your viewpoint with regards to trying to maximise the number of people buying Season Tickets by increasing the incentive to buy one and agree these supporters are key to the clubs ongoing development. However, I don't feel that trying to price people out of occasional attendance is necessarily the way to go.

Given where I live the only reaslistic option for me is to attend on a match by match basis - and this is in no way down to the opposition. In the last couple of seasons I have attended games against all manner of opposition varying from Manchester United down to Fulham, Sunderland, Bolton and Leeds (Carling Cup). Now I am fortunate enough to be in a position whereby increasing the cost of tickets would not be enough to prevent me from attending where possible.

However, the area that would concern me would be the future supporters of Rovers. Those of you who regularly attend Ewood may be dragging your kids along regardless of what they may want and hopefully spreading the support in that way. But what about if its the other way round. When I was younger (and lived close to Ewood) I was always desperate to go to games but as my dad was never really a big football fan (he is now a well and truly converted Rover) and there was no chance of him buying a season ticket for us both. However what he was prepared to do was take me to maybe 3-4 games a season as a walk-on. This was enough for me to maintain the interest. Given the current TV climate, if the situation was the same now and my dad had been priced out of taking me to individual games perhaps I would have ended up just seeing the big 4 on Match of the Day and developing an affinity for one of them - after all 20 seconds on Match of the Day every week is hardly going to make you care about a team regardless of where you live.

Apologies for a bit of a ramble!

[Exiled in Toronto]

Damage is correct in that, because of Ewood's over-capacity, the benefit of holding a season ticket is less compelling than it is for 'bigger' clubs. I would guess that guaranteeing your seat location is now the main positive if you can see yourself missing a couple of games a season, but even that can turn sour given who sits around you.

The trend in many other industries is to reward regular customers not with cash reduction but with added value benefits. If I buy a season ticket at the Toronto Blue Jays, I get one match in an executive box, meet the player events, bits of merchandise (ha!) and various other things that make me feel special.

As Ewood is also oversized in all its other facilites along with seats, perhaps there could be draws for season ticket holders to get a game in those seemingly permanently empty boxes in the Blackburn End. Is that lounge in the Darwen End reserved for season ticket holders, or still some kind of hospitality venue?

[RevidgeBlue]

I disagree completely that the way to go is to make walk on prices prohibitive, imo we have to continue the excellent work we started this season in making both ST prices and walk ons as affordable as possible.

With all the mucking about with the fixtures for TV (and god willing there will be even more disruption as we will qualify for the proper stages of the UEFA next season) it simply isn't viable for many people or those who work shifts etc. to have a ST.

Reduced walk on prices have also produced a large increase in the away travelling support which would be lost.

As a final point, if you are giving the entire Darwen end to the other team, for League games I think we are now almost at the point anyway where if you want a good seat, you need to have a ST. I'm not sure there's no incentive.

[b12_simon]

As a final point, if you are giving the entire Darwen end to the other team, for League games I think we are now almost at the point anyway where if you want a good seat, you need to have a ST. I'm not sure there's no incentive.

That's certainly true for the Blackburn End Lower. Decent seats for walk-ons are in very short supply, decent pairs of seats are rare as rocking horse.

PS by decent I mean not right by the corner flags - compared to many grounds I've visited (and the Riverside) there aren't any truly bad seats in the BBE.

[roverthemoon]

Why do I buy a season ticket ?

1. So that I can sit with people around me that have become friends through supporting rovers.

2. My seat is guaranteed for all matches.

3. Good value. If I cant attend I ensure my ticket is used by someone who may become a future supporter.

4. Hassle free. Not having to obtain tickets for individual matches.

5. Priority for high profile matches.

[Damage]

I disagree completely that the way to go is to make walk on prices prohibitive, imo we have to continue the excellent work we started this season in making both ST prices and walk ons as affordable as possible. reasonable progress made rb but i will guranatee that the status quo will see us return to the historic trend. radical thought is required.

With all the mucking about with the fixtures for TV (and god willing there will be even more disruption as we will qualify for the proper stages of the UEFA next season) it simply isn't viable for many people or those who work shifts etc. to have a ST. yeah and I have a st and the changes arnt bloody condusive to me! why should an occasional pay less than a st holder? in effect that is what happens if i miss 2 matches which I do! if walk on prices were in effect twice as high as st prices there would be much more incentive for people to buy st

Reduced walk on prices have also produced a large increase in the away travelling support which would be lost.why should BRFC share this handout with away supporters as well as occasional BRFC walk ons and st holders? reward your loyal supporters not the people passing through!

As a final point, if you are giving the entire Darwen end to the other team, for League games I think we are now almost at the point anyway where if you want a good seat, you need to have a ST. I'm not sure there's no incentive.rubbish! now if we could get another 4000 season tickets then people might start to worry about getting a ticket, where they might sit! at the moment your choice-of-seat argument is an actual disincentive to attend rather than an incentive to buy a st!!

[Damage]

I can understand your viewpoint with regards to trying to maximise the number of people buying Season Tickets by increasing the incentive to buy one and agree these supporters are key to the clubs ongoing development. However, I don't feel that trying to price people out of occasional attendance is necessarily the way to go. price is not the main reason why people are occasionals - its related to match times, other interests etc and the fact that it makes economic sense to pick and choose because they can. we need to force the issue and have people decide do they want to watch BRFC as a st holder or watch occasionally and pay a premium price (especially against manu and pool) or are they gonna stay down the pub! most of the people I know would not come less frequent in the pricing structure i have advocated and 1 or 2 of them might even decide to get a st.

Given where I live the only reaslistic option for me is to attend on a match by match basis - and this is in no way down to the opposition. In the last couple of seasons I have attended games against all manner of opposition varying from Manchester United down to Fulham, Sunderland, Bolton and Leeds (Carling Cup). Now I am fortunate enough to be in a position whereby increasing the cost of tickets would not be enough to prevent me from attending where possible. no disprepect but BRFC needs to sort out its own backyard before it starts to worry about occasionals from the south coast, london and the midlands. and as you said, cost of ticket is not main factor in your purchase decision!

However, the area that would concern me would be the future supporters of Rovers. Those of you who regularly attend Ewood may be dragging your kids along regardless of what they may want and hopefully spreading the support in that way. But what about if its the other way round. When I was younger (and lived close to Ewood) I was always desperate to go to games but as my dad was never really a big football fan (he is now a well and truly converted Rover) and there was no chance of him buying a season ticket for us both. However what he was prepared to do was take me to maybe 3-4 games a season as a walk-on. This was enough for me to maintain the interest. Given the current TV climate, if the situation was the same now and my dad had been priced out of taking me to individual games perhaps I would have ended up just seeing the big 4 on Match of the Day and developing an affinity for one of them - after all 20 seconds on Match of the Day every week is hardly going to make you care about a team regardless of where you live. the times they are a changing - so many things to do now! so reward the people that actually commit to the club through a st and screw the rest! if they dont like it they can buy a st. simple as

Apologies for a bit of a ramble!