[Archived] Season tickets again!

[thenodrog]

Maybe the owners will decide to sell the season tickets at £100 each and bring in £1.5 Million, if they manage to sell 15,000.If they sell Rhodes and Gestede, they know only too well that 7-8,000 tickets maximum will be sold.If they get double that by selling cheap, the fact that the sale of the two strikers for around £15 to £20 Million will mean the lost ticket revenue won't mean a lot.

To put that in perspective, we once paid a manager £5 Million to sack him after less than 20 games, so money isn't that important to them is it?

I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to say there but I'd wager that if we gave st's for free we wouldn't see Ewood Park full after the novelty had worn off. BRFC simply does not have a strong enough support base to compete at a higher level and devaluing the product is the road to nowhere.

[thenodrog]

Afraid I agree with Theno. If they weren't glory hunters they wouldn't have flocked there for the Liverpool quarter final but stayed away from the league matches.

Just so many Fair Weather Friends who like to give the impression that they are true salt of the earth BRFC die hards. "I was at Wembley/Millenium/Anfield/OT blah blah blah. They've summarised the strength and depth of our support for as long as I can remember Al. Dunno how or why gav still can't see it.

[Stuart]

Just so many Fair Weather Friends who like to give the impression that they are true salt of the earth BRFC die hards. They've summarised our support for as long as I can remember Al. Dunno how or why gav still can't see it.

I'd wager more than half of those who joined the Rovers parts of the ground were not even Rovers fans. I took 10 kids with me and two of them are Liverpool fans. Spit.

[gumboots]

I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to say there but I'd wager that if we gave st's for free we wouldn't see Ewood Park full after the novelty had worn off. BRFC simply does not have a strong enough support base to compete at a higher level and devaluing the product is the road to nowhere.

Ive said this elsewhere - cheap as chips is not necessarily the way to go. Give tickets away and you suggest that the product is not worth watching so that, even when it is, people don't bother to turn up. Now at the moment, much of the time it isn't but you are creating the wrong atmosphere if you send out the message that it's not worth paying for your ST.

[Mercer]

Ive said this elsewhere - cheap as chips is not necessarily the way to go. Give tickets away and you suggest that the product is not worth watching so that, even when it is, people don't bother to turn up. Now at the moment, much of the time it isn't but you are creating the wrong atmosphere if you send out the message that it's not worth paying for your ST.

Some interesting points.

We have one more parachute payment to come (although that's 'mortgaged') and very soon, every £1 we generate in gate money will be invaluable - in previous seasons, our gate money has been a relatively small element of turnover.

In any commercial sphere, getting your pricing strategy right is critical. If you have a strong brand, you should not prostitute its price.

Sadly for Rovers, its brand has been devalued so much, it's now inevitable that its pricing will be in the 'Bargain Booze' range.

It's going to be a long, long haul back financially and getting some equity value back into the Rovers' brand, in fact it might never happen.

I've banged on for two seasons now about the criticality of getting back to the PL and why we needed to replace Bowyer. It was clear that so called stability was only going to destroy our club - it was PL or bust, literally or metaphorically.

IMV, Rovers are one of the most severely under-managed organisations I've come across and the bottom line is that our owners and Exec Management are sadly wanting. Until both are changed, I think we will spiral downwards at an increasing rate of knots.

[Athlete]

It's a hard call STs put em up even more won't renew put them down too much degrades the product not that it's been brilliant this season anyhow..

IMV the price should remain the same as this season and market it has a price freeze

[Darwen Rover 007]

Still no season ticket detail??

[ABBEY]

not surprising tho ,everything about the club is not arsed .

[blueboy3333]

Still no season ticket detail??

no sure if this is true but i was reading something t'other day that said Ipswich have already sold more season tickets for next season than they sold this. I know this doesn't help

no idea about our S/T's. I'd give it a few months yet, they're probably still processing last years

[perthblue02]

Mrs D probably still waiting for Degsy and GB to tell her which European competition we qualify for as #raceforninth champions, before deciding on a price

[Mercer]

I think we will see more and more fans wait until the last minute before deciding whether to purchase or otherwise and this will be based upon whether Rhodes and Gestede are still here.

Personally, I don't think we had 10,000 fully paid up season ticket holders this season. I think we had about 6 to 7 thousand season ticket holders with 3 to 4 thousand 'free designated club season ticket holders' (phantoms) for club use as appropriate eg inflating match attendances. This is a theory borne out by seemingly substantial anomalies between actual numbers on the ground and declared attendances. The club could kill this theory by reporting 'police gates' on a match by match basis.

Even if Jordan/Rudy stay, I see ST numbers falling to 5,000. If they leave, could fall to 3,000.

[K-Hod]

I think we will see more and more fans wait until the last minute before deciding whether to purchase or otherwise and this will be based upon whether Rhodes and Gestede are still here.

Personally, I don't think we had 10,000 fully paid up season ticket holders this season. I think we had about 6 to 7 thousand season ticket holders with 3 to 4 thousand 'free designated club season ticket holders' (phantoms) for club use as appropriate eg inflating match attendances. This is a theory borne out by seemingly substantial anomalies between actual numbers on the ground and declared attendances. The club could kill this theory by reporting 'police gates' on a match by match basis.

Even if Jordan/Rudy stay, I see ST numbers falling to 5,000. If they leave, could fall to 3,000.

No other club does this though, why would Rovers? The attendance is always based on tickets 'sold' rather than the more literal 'bums on seats'.

[JHRover]

Many Rovers fans seem to enjoy speculating that our gates are less than those announced as though we are the only club to do so. Some people seem to relish the day that gates are announced down at sub-10,000 as it would signal a return to the old days, as though what happened 30 years ago has any relevance to 2015-16.

If the club wants to announce gates at 14,000 when they are actually much less then I think that's fair enough. To be honest I'd be embarrassed if we were announcing sub-10,000 gates.

Simple fact is that virtually every club in the country 'lies' about their attendances. We're not alone. There are some people who for some reason buy season tickets then don't go to games, quite why I've never been clear on, but it happens at lots of clubs.

[Rover_Shaun]

But 2013 is relevant to 2015? (your assertion in the Club PR spin topic..rather apt being about spin)

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[stpbrown]

I think we will see more and more fans wait until the last minute before deciding whether to purchase or otherwise and this will be based upon whether Rhodes and Gestede are still here.

Personally, I don't think we had 10,000 fully paid up season ticket holders this season. I think we had about 6 to 7 thousand season ticket holders with 3 to 4 thousand 'free designated club season ticket holders' (phantoms) for club use as appropriate eg inflating match attendances. This is a theory borne out by seemingly substantial anomalies between actual numbers on the ground and declared attendances. The club could kill this theory by reporting 'police gates' on a match by match basis.

Even if Jordan/Rudy stay, I see ST numbers falling to 5,000. If they leave, could fall to 3,000.

Hi Mercerman, but what would be the point of such as conspiracy?

I just put the undoubted large difference between announced attendances and those physically in the ground to a large number of people who bought season tickets due to the relative low cost even if they only had plans to attend a handful of games. E.g. a RIverside season ticket at £250 meant that after about 10 games you would have 'got your money back' when compared with paying on the gate.

So if you can't make midweek games due to work or living too far away or you can only get down once a month, then don't worry about it as you will still see value.

It also means you can just roll up to Ewood on a Saturday without interacting with the ticket office at all and also get priority for away games.

As the season ticket price goes up, the number of these sales will fall.

[Mercer]

Hi Mercerman, but what would be the point of such as conspiracy?

I just put the undoubted large difference between announced attendances and those physically in the ground to a large number of people who bought season tickets due to the relative low cost even if they only had plans to attend a handful of games. E.g. a RIverside season ticket at £250 meant that after about 10 games you would have 'got your money back' when compared with paying on the gate.

So if you can't make midweek games due to work or living too far away or you can only get down once a month, then don't worry about it as you will still see value.

It also means you can just roll up to Ewood on a Saturday without interacting with the ticket office at all and also get priority for away games.

As the season ticket price goes up, the number of these sales will fall.

A cynic would think that 'inflated' gates make better reading for a distant and naïve ownership and also make advertising / sponsorship opportunities more attractive.

When I have been on the ground, always felt that declared gates were 3 to 4 thousand 'over cooked'. Others have also expressed such a view whilst some have been 'privy' to police numbers (needed for health and safety reasons) which have indicated the same.

Blackburn isn't like affluent London clubs, eg Arsenal, where fans will buy ST's and not always use them - it's a hard pressed economic area where every penny counts and I would expect a high percentage of match attendance for those with ST's.

[K-Hod]

A cynic would think that 'inflated' gates make better reading for a distant and naïve ownership and also make advertising / sponsorship opportunities more attractive.

When I have been on the ground, always felt that declared gates were 3 to 4 thousand 'over cooked'. Others have also expressed such a view whilst some have been 'privy' to police numbers (needed for health and safety reasons) which have indicated the same.

Blackburn isn't like affluent London clubs, eg Arsenal, where fans will buy ST's and not always use them - it's a hard pressed economic area where every penny counts and I would expect a high percentage of match attendance for those with ST's.

To be fair I know people that live away from the area that have season tickets, and don't attend every home game, as it's cheaper getting a ST than buying walk-ons.

Not saying this is the case across the board and it applies to loads, but there's definitely a % that do so.

[Mattyblue]

There's no doubt that the 'real' attendance is often lower than the announced crowd, however to say most ST holders turn up every game just isn't true.

All around me are ST holders and out of those say 20 people, I would estimate at least 5 are absent each game, often more for midweek games.

The cheapness of the tickets in relation to the lack of 'must see' action means many ST holders just aren't arsed about going to all 23 matches.

[thenodrog]

I think we will see more and more fans wait until the last minute before deciding whether to purchase or otherwise and this will be based upon whether Rhodes and Gestede are still here.

Personally, I don't think we had 10,000 fully paid up season ticket holders this season. I think we had about 6 to 7 thousand season ticket holders with 3 to 4 thousand 'free designated club season ticket holders' (phantoms) for club use as appropriate eg inflating match attendances. This is a theory borne out by seemingly substantial anomalies between actual numbers on the ground and declared attendances. The club could kill this theory by reporting 'police gates' on a match by match basis.

Even if Jordan/Rudy stay, I see ST numbers falling to 5,000. If they leave, could fall to 3,000.

When I say this town doesn't have enough people dedicated enough about it to support a top team I get stick for it. I guess it's how you tell em eh Mman?

[Rover_Shaun]

5k and 3k is a bit of an over reaction imo

The support is there if the club show willing/nous/balls/ambition/engage

[thenodrog]

5k and 3k is a bit of an over reaction imo

The support is there if the club show willing/nous/balls/ambition/engage

It's got to be dwindling RS... from the 70's everybody's kids with out about them have moved away from this area and their replacements just don't seem as keen somehow.

[stpbrown]

A cynic would think that 'inflated' gates make better reading for a distant and naïve ownership and also make advertising / sponsorship opportunities more attractive.

When I have been on the ground, always felt that declared gates were 3 to 4 thousand 'over cooked'. Others have also expressed such a view whilst some have been 'privy' to police numbers (needed for health and safety reasons) which have indicated the same.

Blackburn isn't like affluent London clubs, eg Arsenal, where fans will buy ST's and not always use them - it's a hard pressed economic area where every penny counts and I would expect a high percentage of match attendance for those with ST's.

Thanks for the reply.

Interesting point about higher attendances giving the commercial side a leg-up - after all who wants to advertise to no-one?

Having said that I'm not sure I buy the conspiracy.

As others have said we all know season ticket holders who don't come every game.

Back in the days of normal pricing, I would guess you were getting 3 or 4 games a season 'free' when buying a season ticket but these days it is half a season. Based on this, who cares if you miss a few or even a lot?

If you combine this with the league season being over in March then it is no wonder season ticket holders are staying away and causing this discrepancy.

If they rise by another 10% this year then I think some of these fans will go back to paying on the day whenever it suits them and this will cause the size of the 'discrepancy' to fall noticeably.

[Rover_Shaun]

It's got to be dwindling RS... from the 70's everybody's kids with out about them have moved away from this area and their replacements just don't seem as keen somehow.

I know they irked you but the Liverpool attendance showed that the spark is still there.

At any other time in the clubs ownership history that spark would be kindled.

[Craigman]

Just a thought, could the Raos purchase tickets for matches in vast quantities and therefore put money into the club, and let others have the tickets, and not even bother turning up.

[stpbrown]

Just a thought, could the Raos purchase tickets for matches in vast quantities and therefore put money into the club, and let others have the tickets, and not even bother turning up.

They could do that if they wanted to for trading purposes but I believe that sort of activity would be disallowed from the FFP return.