[Archived] Price Of Football Survey

[JHRover]

The BBC have released the results of their latest Price of Football survey for 2016.

Some of the results relating to Rovers:

• Rovers cheapest match day ticket is 19% below the Championship average (£18)
• Our most expensive match day ticket is 3% below the Championship average (£35)
• Our cheapest season ticket is 17% below the Championship average (£279)
• Our most expensive season ticket is 30% below the Championship average (£399)

• A Rovers replica shirt costs £48 for an adult which is 6% above average

• Contrary to popular myth there are a number of other Championship clubs that all offer cheaper season tickets than Rovers. Namely Wigan, Huddersfield, Birmingham, Fulham, Burton and Barnsley - all offer season tickets for less than the £279 at Rovers. Wigan and Huddersfield offer season tickets for £179 in some areas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37988939

[tomphil]

I'm glad the myth of cheapest in the leagues has been busted at last. Also shows it's possible to operate competitively with cheap tickets if it's run correctly.

How many of those clubs have supplemented their income with 30 million pounds worth of sales in the last 18 months or so ?

How many are run by so called billionaires ?

As always our problem is Venkys and partners who've created and continue to create a large black hole ready to drop right through. The cheap ticket prices at Ewood have become an absolute necessity over the last 5 years to try and hang on to dwindling support and tickets in Blackburn always have to be a bit cheaper anyway as it has one of the most low wage incomes in the country in terms of the town itself I'd guess.

[JHRover]

We're at the cheaper end of the scale and so we should be for two reasons. Firstly we are in one of the least well-off parts of the whole country, so it is simple economics that the local population will be generally worse off and less able to afford expensive ticket prices than say Norwich or QPR supporters in generally more affluent areas. Secondly the 'product' that we've been exposed to over the last 5-6 years means that the only chance the club has of maintaining decent crowds has been by keeping prices 'low' from the Premier League days. An increase in price combined with the disgrace we've witnessed over a sustained period would be catastrophic for attendances. Not some natural cycle of decline back to normal service of the 70s and 80s, but large swathes of people feeling that they've simply had enough of this and don't want to take part any more.

Also worth factoring in is that whilst clubs like QPR benefit from vastly greater local incomes and thus can charge significantly higher ticket prices for their fans, the flip side is that they have to pay bills and staff salaries at London levels whilst we shouldn't have to. So our army of 200+ staff, the majority of whom aren't players or coaches, ought to be on much lower wages than their counterparts in West London - stewards, burger bar staff, office staff etc.

There has indeed been a train of thought since John Williams delivered his pricing initiative that Rovers virtually give tickets away and even then we struggle to get decent gates. These stats seem to suggest that isn't the case. Whilst we are in the lower reaches price wise we still charge competitive prices for this league which are actually significantly more than some others like Wigan. Up until this season we've been averaging 14,000+ despite the shenanigans behind the scenes. It seems now people have had enough after the Lambert debacle, Coyle appointment and another summer of no ambition and millions of pounds in sales.

Indeed the question must be how have Huddersfield done it? Lower ticket prices than us, yet have been able to assemble a squad challenging for promotion and haven't had to sell the family silver to do it.

Why do we have supposed billionaires yet have to rely on selling all our best players and spending nothing the other way?

Evidence is there that if you get your house in order that you don't need 'billionaires' or 20,000+ gates or £500 a head season tickets. Cheston's power point presentation tried to convince the support that we can't compete in this league but I'm simply not buying it.

[McClarky]

Looking at the movement of the prices over recent years, it looks as if Rovers have caught up a lot of other clubs or at least are on an upward trajectory while the average is flat. The logic there Is probably that our crowds have been decimated so much those who remain are not price sensitive so they can charge a bit more and it won't effect the gate at all. Probably right as I don't think any amount of price cuts would bring more people in.

Expect to pay more those who still go I reckon.

[AshleyClifford]

We're at the cheaper end of the scale and so we should be for two reasons. Firstly we are in one of the least well-off parts of the whole country, so it is simple economics that the local population will be generally worse off and less able to afford expensive ticket prices than say Norwich or QPR supporters in generally more affluent areas. Secondly the 'product' that we've been exposed to over the last 5-6 years means that the only chance the club has of maintaining decent crowds has been by keeping prices 'low' from the Premier League days. An increase in price combined with the disgrace we've witnessed over a sustained period would be catastrophic for attendances. Not some natural cycle of decline back to normal service of the 70s and 80s, but large swathes of people feeling that they've simply had enough of this and don't want to take part any more.

Also worth factoring in is that whilst clubs like QPR benefit from vastly greater local incomes and thus can charge significantly higher ticket prices for their fans, the flip side is that they have to pay bills and staff salaries at London levels whilst we shouldn't have to. So our army of 200+ staff, the majority of whom aren't players or coaches, ought to be on much lower wages than their counterparts in West London - stewards, burger bar staff, office staff etc.

There has indeed been a train of thought since John Williams delivered his pricing initiative that Rovers virtually give tickets away and even then we struggle to get decent gates. These stats seem to suggest that isn't the case. Whilst we are in the lower reaches price wise we still charge competitive prices for this league which are actually significantly more than some others like Wigan. Up until this season we've been averaging 14,000+ despite the shenanigans behind the scenes. It seems now people have had enough after the Lambert debacle, Coyle appointment and another summer of no ambition and millions of pounds in sales.

Indeed the question must be how have Huddersfield done it? Lower ticket prices than us, yet have been able to assemble a squad challenging for promotion and haven't had to sell the family silver to do it.

Why do we have supposed billionaires yet have to rely on selling all our best players and spending nothing the other way?

Evidence is there that if you get your house in order that you don't need 'billionaires' or 20,000+ gates or £500 a head season tickets. Cheston's power point presentation tried to convince the support that we can't compete in this league but I'm simply not buying it.

most bizarre thing is huddersfields wage bill will still be a lot less than ours. So there should be no reason we could not also have a competitive squad. Even on paper we have a decent team. They must have a better management team ? Coyleout# venkysout#

[rigger]

My thoughts on the pricing. Is any of it value for money? My answer NO!

[Baz]

My thoughts on the pricing. Is any of it value for money? My answer NO!

Agreed.

Also one thing missing from this survey is the cost per game for a family. Some clubs charge for kids season tickets, some they are free etc.

Also I know at one stage that some clubs refused concession tickets for some away fans.

There is big potential for Rovers to do well in this league if we get the right owners and senior management team, who are willing to re-invest transfer fees into the squad, appoint proven managers and back them. Given that these stats prove that we are on similar financial terms with other teams in this league, you must wonder why we are still losing money hand over fist, using the embargo as a reason for not re-investing in the squad whilst others seem not to have to do so.